how stupid is this?
 

some months ago we got a letter from the electric company saying to remove the batteries from our thermostat because they can leak and cause a fire. today we got another letter and this plastic placeholder thing with a warning about batteries on it to put in place of the batteries. when i went to put it in i noticed a warning tag in there. it said not to put batteries in because it could leak and start a fire >_>.

it's not like the batteries in there before were some special batteries either, they were just normal duracell. also, the guy that installed the thermostat apparently put them in there in the first place. not even gonna think about why there's a place for batteries in there when they already know about the problem.

So.. this new battery is meant to be safer than the old battery?

no, it's not even a battery. it's just a plastic cylinder to put in place of the battery so people won't try to put a battery in.

that kinda make sense if it's trying to tell you not to put a battery in?

but it would still work without a battery? then why did he need a battery in there in the first place?

the battery is only a backup for the clock in case the power goes out. the stupid part is that the guy that installed it put a battery in when there was already a warning to not put in batteries in there. not only that but the fact that they even put in something for batteries when they already knew that problem was there