What is the Point in a Clock that Doesn't Strike?

This morning, my alarm clock didn't go off. It was set; it just didn't sound. The consequence of this was that instead of waking up at 6:40, we instead woke at 8:40, to the rude shock of realising that we were horribly late.

Now, for me that's not too bad - I got to the office at 10, I get the joy of working until 6:30, and that's it done. (It's a little unfortunate that I also left a bit early yesterday so have some more time to make up, but that's an aside.)

But for LC it's obviously a much more serious matter. It seems it could have been worse, but still...

This is the second time that clock has let us down. The first, it decided the 5-minute 'snooze' should be half an hour long, which cause a panic but no lateness. This time, obviously, was much worse.

But, really, unreliability is unforgivable in an alarm clock. It has precisely one job: to wake us up on time. (The other potential role, of telling the time, is one with plenty of coverage.) If it was consistently late, we could deal with that, by setting the alarm sooner. But if it randomly decides to sound late, or indeed not at all, that's not something we can adjust for.

And it's not even as if we can give it another chance. The consequences are just too grim. Time to introduce that clock to the bin, I fear.