Clock shop owner has hands on his time
We are to set our clocks ahead before we goto bed tonight.
AUSTINTOWN -- What's most noticeable upon entering the store is the constant ticking of clocks.
"It gets a little noisy sometimes," said Ben Mischey, owner of Big Ben's Clock Shop, 3841 Mahoning Ave.
Calling it music to his ears, Mischey has adjusted so well to the ticking and chiming that he can tell by sound alone the specific clock that chimed and the time it shows.
"It doesn't bother me," he said.
Mischey has about 125 clocks in for repair and more than 100 for sale.
With daylight-saving time beginning at 2 a.m. Sunday, he could spend a lot of time changing all his clocks.
It isn't worth it, Mischey said. It would take a good part of the day to change all the clocks. Besides, most of the clocks aren't set right anyway.
"I just don't bother, except when I demonstrate." he said.
How to do it: When customers want to hear how a clock sounds, Mischey moves its hands, forcing the clock to chime.
He recommends setting a clock by moving the minute hand. If the hour hand is moved forward, the clock may read seven, but chime six, he said.
Mischey's home has a clock on almost every wall. He plans to change those this afternoon.
Daylight-saving time is marked by moving clocks ahead one hour.
He also wants to be sure that his store clock visible from Mahoning Avenue is changed, so that it is correct Sunday morning.
Not all businesses have the same difficulty adapting to time changes.
Jan Diglaw, an administrative assistant with ADT Security, said its computers are updated online through corporate headquarters.
Their home security units do not have an internal clock. The computer that receives a signal from a security system will record the time.
Danyell Jordan, a customer service representative with Ameritech, said that company's computers and phones automatically adjust to daylight-saving time.
Customers, however, need to refer to their pager and cellular phone manuals to change the time.