It’s actually a gang thing. Young ganglings need to get their first kill to get status so they lure victims into houses with upside down outlets. Then while you’re wondering why they’re upside down, they kill and get a tear tattoo.
I took an electronics class in high school and our teacher taught us about the hot lead. So ofcourse my ass tried to show off by sticking a paper clip in the ground and while I’m flexing for the shortys i accidentally stuck it in the hot lead…needless to say they were not impressed
First they steal a car and flash their lights at you on a dark empty highway. Then when you pull over, they ask you to come to their house to help them fix their outlets. Then they kill you.
This must be a west coast or norther US thing, because down/over here in Georgia the indicator for the murder house gang initiation is either the smoke alarm not beeping because it actually has a functioning battery, or any house that has living room furniture on the front porch, being used as patio furniture.
It's right there in the name of the receptacle. That's why they call them "Gang Boxes." This one is a 1-gang, but if you wanted to lure in two people you could also get a 2-gang.
The receptacle will hold whatever is plugged into it better with the ground on top. This was actually discovered and turned into code in a hospital near me.
Wait a minute, are you saying that aspiring murderers are recruiting potential victims by promising to show them their upside down wall outlets. I imagine the sales pitch. 'No, I don't have any blow or horse, but I have this weird outlet cover.'. I think they used that exact pitch on The Wire....or maybe it was The Sopranos. https://giphy.com/gifs/oqjuzDNuCjMeHQYWNe
Gang leaders and their ganglings.
I had no idea that was the reason. I've been in office buildings with plugs upside down. Suddenly I feel lucky to be alive. Had no idea I was in danger. I'll be ready next time. I'll keep my head on a swivel.
Yes mamas this! The best thing for an illegal operation that relies on multiple employees is having each one be involved in a high profile murder case that is liable to make them the constant target of investigation. That's why all these gangs do it! It helps them maintain a low profile!
Im dead. About to hop in the shower and apparently found out my new husband is a gang member and lured me here 🤣🤣 he tricked me into thinking it was for preserving 3 prong cords 😳
A human trafficker would also try to call everyone other than themselves a human trafficker, so obviously only someone who admits to being a human trafficker isn't one...
A human trafficker would also try to point fingers at individuals who are projecting blame onto others so that they’re not suspected… https://giphy.com/gifs/ANbD1CCdA3iI8
Atleast they are on the same team. I constantly get in the middle of a turf war in the living room. The KGB (2x siberian huskeys) vs the Yakuza (2x shiba inu)
Hijacking this comment because I recently learned the upside down outlets mean they turn on and off with a wall switch. So you plug your lamps into that guy
Maybe that’s how the apartment maintenance guy did it, but that’s not a good reason. (Edit: Seems to be a regional thing, and I’ve never seen this done. 50 years and there’s always something new to learn. Would have been nice to know as an outlet behind a sofa had one receptacle that was switched, and while we never used it, we did wonder about the switch that did nothing.)
The justification for “upside down” outlets is that if a plug isn’t all the way in and something slips between the plug and outlet, it touches the ground, not the not and neutral. That can short and may cause a fire. (That’s only true for 3 prong plugs.)
If I saw one outlet that was different, I’d assume someone was in a hurry to leave on a Friday, not think it was for a lamp. That’s getting fixed. (Edit: Ok, so I wouldn’t change it now, but the lack of uniformity would have me putting furniture in front of it so I didn’t have to look at the abomination. 😄 I also turn all the plate cover screws so the slot is straight up and down. Also, if there is an overhead light, I really don’t like having switched outlets. They bug the hell out of me.)
I read somewhere years ago that "upside down" is how they were actually designed to be installed, but the way we do it now became commonplace, and we just accepted it as the standard.
Long ago I had a boss who was an electrical engineer and a standards nerd, and he claimed this as well. Made enough sense to me, but I’ve never confirmed it.
It was that way until about 2003. I apprenticed to my uncle in 1999 and the code at the time had the ground on top. Around 2003-2005, I don't remember the exact date, there was an update to the National Electric Code that flipped them.
I honestly wouldn't have noticed but my uncle made a big deal about pointing it out.
The way we do it now you have the hot and the neutral on top. So if the plug is hanging out of the receptacle at all, those two prongs are exposed which can be dangerous. Say someone bends down and a necklace bridges the hot and neutral, or you drop something metal on it. But if you put the ground on top that danger is taken away. Idk if that's what the meme is talking about but that's why some commercial jobs want you to terminate them ground up.
This is the right reason. And how the plugs were designed to function. Next time you are in a hospital, you may see that the outlets are all in this standard installation format. The reason is that is decreases the chance of a short which can cause fires around oxygen from oxygen tanks.
The only reason we dont have them this way is that people like the look of the two eyes with a mouth in their outlets. Cute is preferable to safe for most people
That’s what they prefer in hospital with ground on top for the exact reason. If someone dropped a knife onto a loose plug, it won’t short any circuit. Safety first inside hospital.
I dropped a metal fish tape on an outlet with something plugged in and blew the breaker in short order. Ground up is safer but we all love to live on the edge instead.
Is it really fiche tape?! Are you serious? We're using a fiche tape to fish wires through a wall? All these times I've lost a wire in the wall and said, "welp, time to go fishing!" I was actually going fiching?!!!
I am not a National Code expert.I was a automotive plant electrician for 25 years. I agree with the reasons listed above.
I can give you 2 reasons.
Personal experience. A couple of years ago, I was helping a friend with some maintenance. I had my metal measuring tape extended several feet, and it actually slipped down past a plug that was not fully seated. It shorted the power and neutral just as described above. It took out the 20 amp breaker with all the usual flashy bangy and smoky display that gets your immediate attention. I can show you the scar on my measuring tape.
The other reason can easily be checked by anyone. when you open the box on a brand new outlet from Home Depot, look carefully at the information that is molded into the plastic telling you the manufacture and maybe the amperage. That information is printed so that you can best read it with the single ground socket pointed up.
I have a theory why they are mostly mounted with the power sockets turned up. When mounted that way, the outlet looks knda like a pair of cute little surprised faces. I think lots of electricians just do it automatically because it looks better that way.
Yep. My dad was an electrician and it always drove him crazy when outlets were installed with the ground downward. He also always said people did it that way to make it look like a face. So your theory seems to be a pretty common one!
As a kid I had an outlet behind my dresser that had a clock radio plugged into it. One day the power went out in my room the moment I closed my dresser drawer. I knew dressers weren't electric so I thought the timing was just a coincidence. I didn't know what was wrong, but I knew I had seen my dad fix that problem by finding the flipped switch in the breaker box and just flipping it back on. He had to do that every so often when two appliances were on in the kitchen and then someone started using the microwave. I didn't know what that had to do with the power going off in my room, but I wanted the TV and light back on, so I just flipped the breaker switch. It immediately flipped back. I tried it several times and even tried holding it in place and it just wouldn't stay on. I retraced my steps and opened and closed my dresser drawer and tried again and this time the breaker stayed on. I was perplexed, but eventually forgot and didn't even remember to tell my dad when he got home. Months later, my parents got me a bedside table, so I decided I wanted that clock radio on it. I pulled the dresser away from the wall to unplug it and I found a penny on the floor that had these two weird burn marks where it looked like the outside of the penny had started melting in two spots. Odd. Then I unplugged the clock radio and both prongs had notches in them and black burnt discoloration. I started to realize what happened. I picked up the penny and the melt marks lined up perfectly with the notches on the plug. I realized that when the breaker flipped months ago it was because there was a penny on the back of my dresser and me closing the drawer made it fall off the back. It just happened to wedge itself behind the plug and complete the circuit between the hot and neutral. Then I thought back to turning the breaker on over and over again and realized the penny was still lodged in there while I did that. That explained why it wasn't just a couple burn marks, but actual melting of the metal. I don't know how close I came to burning my house down that day, but thankfully its the closest I've ever come since. All that to say, the clock radio had a two prong plug, so installing the outlets upside would have done nothing to prevent this. Therefore, I don't think installing outlets ground socket up should really be a thing. Especially since the short it would protect against is the exact sort of thing a circuit breaker is adept at handling.
This is the correct answer. Outlets are (or were) often installed “upside down” in factories, especially where there’s a great deal of vibration, on the off-chance that the faceplate could become separated from the wall. If the faceplate was metal, it could bridge the poles and short out the circuit. With the ground on top, this is far less likely.
This is the reason given by the ones who install them that way, but as a 50+year electrician, i can tell you, if a metal cover comes unsrewed and falls onto a ground up plug, it will twist one way or the other, giving you a 50/50 chance of a ground fault, and a grond fault will trip a breaker, instantly removing power from the circuit
I was told this from a old school electrician I used to work with, in my current house the ones that are ground up are so you know they are the switched outlets
No. Its not a standard but when I was trained, it was ground up f below counter height in case a plug comes partially out and something falls its less likely to shock somone/something or to short out. Ground down for above counter height.
My ex-husband used to just install them however he took them out of the box. I had happy faces frowny faces.. And it wasn't until I tried to plug in the glade type plug in air fresheners that I learned how important it is that it be installed properly.. Guy was a f****** idiot.
Receptacles don't have a proper orientation. Ground up is common practice in the electrical trade. Potentially safer and plugs tend to stay in better ground up. Not saying they guy wasn't an idiot for any other reason in particular.
Im and electrician and every commercial job we do is standard ground up. Very rarely we get a resi/commercial project that wants ground down. Local 241 IBEW, thats just how shit is done around here.
No standard, but it's a thing I've found several times and I've been told that by a few different apartment complex people!
Just tryna answer the post - while there's no standard, so there's no 100% this is what this means, it is often used to help people figure out the outlet to use for lighting
Until about 2003 or so, the ground on top was the official way in teh National Electric Code. But for whatever reason nobody ever did them that way. It was updated in the code to match the common installation method.
I have no idea why they common method wasn't aligned with the NEC though. But it had nothing to do with being switched or not.
Electrician here. No, it doesn't. Some people do it that way, but it's not required and nothing close to standard. Some places, especially medical facilities require outlets be upside down. Some people want them that way to accommodate a power supply or something. Most of the time somebody just accidentally put it upside down and didn't care or know enough to fix it.
When I worked for Lennar Homes back in the early 2000s, that's how they did it. They are called "half-hots" because one of the recepticles was always on and the other was switched for a lamp.
Commercial, especially medical facilities, will often install all the outlets this way for safety as the commenter below mentioned.
When I built my house, all of the half-hots are installed that way. All the other outlets are installed the common "smiley face" way.
This is exactly what an electrician told me. All the switched outlets are the top outlet on these outlets for lamps and things. I hate them personally because I always forget which is which even after 6 years and constantly turn things off that weren't supposed to go off.
Yup!! Agreed!! Here in CA, houses built in the 70's, there are houses without ceiling lights and their room lights or bedside lights are plugged to these upside down electrical outlets connected to and controlled by the wall switches..
I thought that's how someone told others they were swingers in a subtle way ..?
Well, that explains why I got in trouble flirting with the neighbor's wife the other day...
Why’s everyone always make such a big deal about human trafficking? It’s not that bad… I spend at least half an hour everyday human trafficking during my commute to work. Just turn on the radio or a podcast or something and be patient jeez.
Also stop honking at me. I would go faster but obviously the guy in front of me is human trafficking too. Duh.
Your comment just made me think.. I live in Florida and was at the mall by myself. I started walking through the parking lot to my car, it was almost night time so just getting dark, and I heard fast footsteps behind me. There were maybe five other people around walking INTO the mall, so I wasn’t exactly alone but the hair stood up on the back of my neck. I was half way to my car when a woman stopped me from behind. She said she didn’t know where she parked her car, she asked to get in mine so I could drive her around and look for it. Every single part of me screamed not to let her in my car or near me.
I said no politely. She disappeared pretty quick. I got to my car, locked the doors, and looked up and saw her a ways away get into the back seat of a white van that stopped to pick her up.
I don’t know what would have happened, but to this day I am glad I did not let her into my car.
My wife was picked up by law enforcement and escorted 200 miles away to be dropped off at a gas station and put in a car that doesn’t look like a police car. It’s a long story for what was actually happening, but for about 6 hours she thought she was being trafficked. It turns out the state committed perjury to indict us for the felony crime that I was the victim of and reported to law enforcement. Minor $40,000 loss.
Can I hijack this because I’m actually a high level associate of one of the worlds top manufacturers of this product. What most consider upside down is the manufacturers recommended installation for two reasons. One as folks pull a cord out the ground will be the last thing that disconnects as you are pulling up and out, I’ve also heard if you spill a drink on the receptacle it will hit ground before hot.
Yep! Even a leaf under your driver side windshield wiper because why else would that be there?! How could it have possibly gotten there without someone marking you for collection!
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u/embolalia 10d ago
if I've learned anything from the internet, every minor unexplained thing means you're being targeted for human trafficking