The story takes place in the week leading up to Christmas. I was in Massachusetts doing free Home Energy Assessments as part of the Mass Save Program, and it was snowing. I was looking forward to being with my family in Maryland for the holidays and I had one or two appointments left before I was home-free.
For one of these final appointments, I pulled into a long, unplowed driveway - picture some snowy New England woods, me in my little Nissan Versa, spotty cell service, just hoping I wasn’t going to be stuck forever at this house, 3 days before Christmas.
Through the program in Massachusetts, not only was the Energy Audit no cost to the customer, but the direct installs were unlimited and no cost as well. This meant that we might replace any number of incandescent lights with LEDs, as many lowflow aerators and showerheads as the customer wanted, and however many programmable thermostats they needed (it’s a robust program!). It also meant that some of the Energy Assessments were for folks who just wanted the “free” energy saving products, and weren’t really interested in digging any deeper into home improvements like insulation.
From the moment I started speaking with this customer, I could tell she was in the latter category - no problem. Her house was a double-wide, so there wasn’t really an attic to inspect anyway, and she made it clear that she just wanted the new lightbulbs and low flow products. As I made my way around her home with her, I realized that what I thought was clutter was in fact a pretty extreme hoarding situation. She had papers and books and large plastic tubs all stacked high, with paths winding through her home to the bedrooms and bathroom. At one point I looked around to throw away some light bulb packaging and I realized there wasn’t a trashcan in sight. “I’ll take that” she said to me. I’m not sure what she did with it from there.
Near the end of the visit, I replaced an aerator on her bathroom faucet, and to my demise it would not stop dripping water after the new one was in - this is not normal, and not good. She stood in the bathroom doorway, kind of blocking me in, and her face went from friendly to somber. “You’re going to fix that, right?” she asked… and my blood went cold. Of course I would figure out fixing it, but at the time, I’ll admit I was a little scared of her.
If you’ve ever dealt with someone who has an issue with hoarding, you know it’s hard. She told me that her late husband was an inventor, and that she couldn’t bring herself to throw any of his belongings away. I’m not sure if this was true - I assume it was - but what I know for sure is that she was in a lot of pain and felt intense shame about her situation.
Obviously I’m not a mental health expert, but I can say that doing these appointments in peoples’ homes taught me so much - about myself and about others. This was just one of the few people I think about when I need a reminder to be kind to those around me. You really never know what struggles someone is going through at home, and I think with the holidays coming up, it’s important that we take care of each other and give people grace where we can.
This story is from Shannon.
Atlas Home Energy
