There’s something unarguably rewarding about brightening an elderly person‘s day, right? These days, I like to think I manage to do it every once in a while over the phone, but it used to be a daily or weekly occurrence for me when I was doing Home Energy Audits, and I miss those opportunities. When you’re replacing someone’s old incandescent lightbulbs with bright LED lights, it makes it very easy to literally (not just figuratively) make their day brighter. There are two customers who come to mind when I reflect on this…
One customer was an older woman who lived alone. Some of her kitchen lights had burnt out, and being up there in age, she understandably didn’t feel comfortable getting up on a ladder to swap them out for new ones. If she were my grandmother or mother, I wouldn’t have wanted her to do that either, and I’m sure I told her so. However, being a sprightly 20-something at the time, it was a quick fix for me - I brought in my ladder and replacement LED lights, and swapped out 3 or 4 of them in less time than it takes to make a microwave meal. The relief on her face, and the gratitude she showed me has stayed with me for years. I remember her telling me that she could finally see her cutting board again, and it was going to make cooking so much easier. Cue the waterworks - is someone chopping onions in here???
The second homeowner who pops into my head from time to time was an elderly man who also lived alone, and had spent years (yes, years) unaware that he could change the angle of his showerhead. When I swapped his out for one that was more energy efficient, I showed him how he could adjust the flow and pivot the entire thing to whatever angle he wanted. I’m not kidding when I say he nearly cried at this discovery. He told me he had spent years scrunching himself down to meet the water where it was, and it had made every shower a miserable experience.
Helping these two customers out took just a little bit of time and effort on my part, but it was occasions like these that made each day really rewarding. My hope for all of our employees and all of our customers is that we can all take the opportunity to brighten someone’s day during every visit - whether it’s a QHEC, an Energy Audit, HVAC appointment, or otherwise.
This story is from Shannon.
Atlas Home Energy
