The elderly couple

I have met thousands of people over the years of all ages.  I have met many people in their late 80’s and even a 92-year-old man and a 96-year-old woman.  I find the conversations stimulating.  To hear their stories and to witness their longevity is just incredible.  Unfortunately, at their age they just can’t physically do the things they could do even just 10 or 20 years ago.  I really enjoy helping them out and they always are so appreciative.  I always leave my information and tell them to call me if they ever need anything.  Again, just like the less fortunate customers, be kind and be helpful.  This isn’t about the business.  This about being a good human being.

Now there is a flip side to this.  People are people no matter what their age is.  I helped an elderly couple get their insurance claim pushed through.  It was a long, arduous process but we finally get it done and we finally got the green light to repair their home.  On the second day, employee number two had not made it to work yet.  I told my customer, this little old 92-year-old man that probably weighed 90 pounds that employee number one would hang the piece of drywall in the laundry room celling. 

What came next shocked me.  He immediately switched from kind, elderly gentleman to Satan himself and yelled the following words: Bullshit!  He will not hang that piece of drywall by himself.  You will have two people hang it.  Keep in mind this was an 8-foot ceiling and a four-foot square piece of drywall.  I was dumbfounded.  The event shocked me.  Stunned!  In my mind I was thinking what the fuck?  But I simply said, no problem, we will just wait for employee number two to arrive.  Long story short, we wrapped up that job without a single thank you.  Especially for the countless hours I spent getting their insurance claim approved.  I don’t drink but days like that make me want to drink.

It all goes back to that saying: You can’t judge a book by its cover.  Just because they are elderly and appear fragile, it doesn’t mean that they are. People of any age can be very ugly.