It really is a shame to watch someone struggle and feel powerless to help their situation.
I don’t know if there’s anything more heart wrenching on earth than seeing another man suffer without any useful suggestions for resolution.
It makes you feel small and useless, like you don’t matter at all. That is exactly how I’ve been feeling for about six months now, watching my acquaintance and designated Heating and Air Conditioning expert struggling to keep his heating and cooling business above ground. You see, since moving into city over 15 years ago, I struck up a fast friendship with our closest acquaintance the first time that our A/C equipment failed. I called the local Heating and Air Conditioning dealership, and when the ventilation expert arrived, I was surprised to be introduced as his neighbor. He patched up our cooling system in a jif, and left without accepting any payment. Since that day, I have been his loyal client and closest confidante in town. He tells me everything, including his perilous business standing as he tries to compete with the newest Heating and Air Conditioning shop in town. See, these young gentlemen rolled into our quiet town about a year ago, and started trying to shake up the ventilation industry. They began offering absurd deals on up-to-date heating and cooling equipment, reduced Heating and Air Conditioning repair plans, and free unit upgrades in order to drum up business. Well, it began working. My acquaintance has lost over half of his usual heating and cooling customers, and he doesn’t know what to do. Short of giving away free supplies and services to acquire back customers, he’s feeling doomed to go bankrupt. That’s why I absolutely can’t tell him about my brand up-to-date dehumidifying system and repair plan, with free upgrade.