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 person 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 neighbor and designated HVAC expert struggling to keep his heating and cooling business above ground. You see, since moving into town over 15 years ago, I struck up a fast friendship with our closest neighbor the first time that our AC unit failed. I called the local HVAC 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 customer and closest confidante in town. He tells me everything, including his perilous business standing as he tries to compete with the newest HVAC shop in town. See, these young guys rolled into our quiet village about a year ago, and started trying to shake up the ventilation industry. They began offering ridiculous deals on new heating and cooling equipment, reduced HVAC maintenance plans, and free equipment installations in order to drum up business. Well, it began working. My buddy 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 earn back customers, he’s feeling doomed to go bankrupt. That’s why I definitely can’t tell him about my brand new dehumidifying system and maintenance plan, with free installation.