I occasionally have instances of stubborn RCs that don't want to indicate dreaming when they should, but if I'm suspicious enough that I'm dreaming, I won't be quick to give up but will continue trying other RCs and will usually eventually manage to get one to give. Sometimes it just seems to take a moment to get the ball rolling. I don't very often get dreams in which all RCs persistently want to pretend I'm awake no matter what I do. Whenever one of those occur despite my best efforts, I try not to worry about it much; I did the best I could.

If this happens a lot, where you think you could be dreaming but can't make the RCs work, it could be something that improves with experience or mindset. Also, be persistent with the RCs and try to trust them to work. Maybe you could even make the whole experience in itself an RC. “I think I've got to be dreaming but can't make my RCs do what they should? Maybe I am dreaming!” I haven't actually tried that, but maybe you could find a way to make that workable. Or perhaps just leave the room and go about things as if you were dreaming for a while, while watching for any signs that make it more clear. Sometimes these problems take a bit of creativity and outside-the-box thinking to solve.