# I need a sure-fire waker-upper! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 31, 2014, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-sure-fire-waker-upper/684965 "2014-03-31T04:57:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-sure-fire-waker-upper/684965/1 "2014-03-31T04:57:04Z")
Natalie, whom I’ve mentioned elsewhere, sometimes sleeps late; her uncle and Mark, another resident in the house, holler through the window (she keeps her door locked) or try other things to wake her up on weekday mornings–so she can get her little girls up in time for me to take them to school. (I don’t live in that house; I drive over.) I wonder whether cymbals or an air horn would be a good investment. Any suggestions? ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-sure-fire-waker-upper/684965/2 "2014-03-31T05:01:28Z")
Is this some kind of obscure reference to _The Beverly Hillbillies_ or what? Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-sure-fire-waker-upper/684965/3 "2014-03-31T05:30:07Z")
Clock radio, loud as can be, tuned to a station that plays music you really, really hate. Maybe back it up with another alarm clock that has a nasty, ugly, evil buzzer sound, and set it to go off two minutes after the radio. I currently use a multi-sensory device: an electric fan on a timer. The fan is aimed into a frame that has several strings of wooden beads. So I get the whir of the fan, plus the rattle of the beads, plus the air blowing across my face. It is almost pleasant to wake up to. Almost… ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-sure-fire-waker-upper/684965/4 "2014-03-31T05:37:10Z")
To Stranger: No. To Trinopus: Sounds good. 😃 I have fantasies about bombarding her with limburger cheese, silly string, spiders, or all three. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![TravellingBarman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@TravellingBarman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TravellingBarman)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-sure-fire-waker-upper/684965/5 "2014-03-31T08:07:02Z")
She needs to get a [Potato clock.](http://englishclasses.no.sapo.pt/g17%20big%20apple.htm) ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-sure-fire-waker-upper/684965/6 "2014-03-31T08:22:04Z")
When I resided in the BEQ at Pearl Harbor SUBASE (no roommate at the time), I set my stereo to a station with music I didn’t like. Then I picked up a timer switch at Radio Shack, set it to my desired wake-up time, and plugged the stereo into it. Much louder than a clock radio, and it was on the other side of the room, so I couldn’t just roll over for a moment and turn it off. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-sure-fire-waker-upper/684965/7 "2014-03-31T09:47:35Z")
Sounds to me like Natalie needs to act like an adult and wake her own self up so so she can get her kids off to school. Seriously, this is a basic fundamental to being an adult. Even more so if you’re a parent. Jeesh. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-sure-fire-waker-upper/684965/8 "2014-03-31T11:00:32Z")
I could be evil and say that you need to hook Natalie up with a guy/gal who doesn’t sleep late; someone who will crank her -ss out of bed in the morning bright and early. I seem to remember that when visiting IHOPs at 5AM, many of the people there were military/ ex-military, so that might be a pool to search from. Why get her a clock that plays reveille when you can get her a bugler willing to put their horn up to her ear at dawn? ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-sure-fire-waker-upper/684965/9 "2014-03-31T11:04:37Z")
> [@Shakes](#): > > Sounds to me like Natalie needs to act like an adult and wake her own self up so so she can get her kids off to school. > Seriously, this is a basic fundamental to being an adult. Even more so if you’re a parent. Jeesh. I agree! She’s 28, and her daughters are 5 and 3…her uncle tells me she continues to go out partying (I’ve seen her dressed to the nines) and he claims she gets home real late…:rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-sure-fire-waker-upper/684965/10 "2014-03-31T11:10:48Z")
> [@Count\_Blucher](#): > > I could be evil and say that you need to hook Natalie up with a guy/gal who doesn’t sleep late; someone who will crank her -ss out of bed in the morning bright and early. > I seem to remember that when visiting IHOPs at 5AM, many of the people there were military/ ex-military, so that might be a pool to search from. > > Why get her a clock that plays reveille when you can get her a bugler willing to put their horn up to her ear at dawn? I’ve known the family for almost 30 years now and they (except for Maureen) tend not to take to military discipline. Why have **I** hung around them for so long? Ulterior motive, you could say… ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-sure-fire-waker-upper/684965/11 "2014-03-31T11:13:46Z")
Natalie needs to quit locking her door. She’s already expecting too much from her roommates, but locking the door so that they can’t even shake her is ridiculous. Aside from being late for work, what the hell would happen if there was a fire? ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-sure-fire-waker-upper/684965/12 "2014-03-31T11:16:05Z")
> [@TravellingBarman](#): > > She needs to get a [Potato clock.](http://englishclasses.no.sapo.pt/g17%20big%20apple.htm) 😃 ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-sure-fire-waker-upper/684965/13 "2014-03-31T11:25:12Z")
> [@PunditLisa](#): > > Natalie needs to quit locking her door. She’s already expecting too much from her roommates, but locking the door so that they can’t even shake her is ridiculous. Aside from being late for work, what the hell would happen if there was a fire? Natalie doesn’t worik–she gets public assistance. (Sher did tell me, though, that once she got her car–and she has one now–she internded to go to the local community college and continmue her educastion as a medicasl assistant.) As for the door, it’s the one and only time I ever saw a bedroom with a lock and no knob on the outside (at least). In another thread I noted that her uncle installed a deadbolt lock on the front door which locks from both sides. No allowance for a fire there, either. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-sure-fire-waker-upper/684965/14 "2014-03-31T12:24:40Z")
I’m not sure why this is your problem. Ice down the pants and super soakers filled with ice water work well on my fifteen year old. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-sure-fire-waker-upper/684965/15 "2014-03-31T16:06:31Z")
a doorbell buzzer on the inside of the bedroom, a doorbell on the outside of the bedroom. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-sure-fire-waker-upper/684965/16 "2014-03-31T16:55:14Z")
What I used on mornings when I absolutely had to get up: A digital appliance timer. You know, the kind you use to turn a lamp on and off when you’re not home? Get one of those, plug it in, and set it for the time she needs to wake up. Then, take her vacuum, switch it on, plug it in to the timer, and put the vacuum near the bed but not anywhere that she’d have an easy time reaching the switch. The sound of a vacuum roaring to life should be enough to wake up anyone. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-sure-fire-waker-upper/684965/17 "2014-03-31T16:58:27Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > I’m not sure why this is your problem. > [@dougie\_monty](#): > > Ulterior motive, you could say… I _think_ that’s the polite euphemism for wanting to get into somebody’s pantaloons. Natalie, Maureen, Uncle Buck, someone else, I dunno. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-sure-fire-waker-upper/684965/18 "2014-03-31T21:30:23Z")
Go passive. Tell Natalie you’ll be there at X oclock to pick up her kids to take them to school. Be there at X oclock. Leave at X+5 minutes oclock, with or without your young passengers. Sooner or later, she’ll get with the program. One way or another. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-sure-fire-waker-upper/684965/19 "2014-03-31T21:34:20Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > I _think_ that’s the polite euphemism for wanting to get into somebody’s pantaloons. Natalie, Maureen, Uncle Buck, someone else, I dunno. Perhaps it is, but not in this case; My association with the family began before Natalie was even born. I pretty much started out doing yard work for Natalie’s mother Adelaide, who is a few years younger than my sister and has impressed me as scatterbrained and indolent. I have a niece of my own who is a few years older than Natalie. My “ulterior motive” has nothing to do with sex. ---
**Author:** ![Thylacine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thylacine/32/1143_2.png) [@Thylacine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thylacine)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-sure-fire-waker-upper/684965/20 "2014-04-01T01:40:06Z")
Battery operated doorbell, uncle can carry the button bit, double sided tape the receiver to the wall or bed head. Those things are designed to be hard to ignore [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-sure-fire-waker-upper/684965.md?page=2)