I am not a sociable person, and I never have been.
The less I have to put up with people, the more at peace I am.
This makes me ponder if I am in the right career. I am an HVAC installation and maintenance technician at the local HVAC dealer. I am definitely one of the best climate control techs that they have. This being said, my job requires me to work closely with people. I cannot do maintenance on a gas furnace or an air conditioner before conversing with the owners of the heating and air equipment. I must go over the work order with the customers once the work is finished. If there is a need to have the heating and air system replaced, I need to have an in-depth conversation with the owners of the home, so I can explain to them what kind of heating and air system they are going to need and the whole process involved with installing it. On occasion, my customers seem to be bored or unable to understand the concept of needing brand new HVAC equipment, and they have difficulty understanding fairly simple instructions. How tough is it to understand that you need a new A/C system or an up to date gas furnace? One of those bewildering moments came up last Tuesday when I was repairing an A/C unit. It wasn’t until I realized the homeowner had a genuine hearing problem that my anger cooled. She kept turning me around to face her when I was talking, and I assumed she was just being pushy. Then, I realized she had hearing aids, but was still needing to see my lips to understand what I was saying. If people are such a bother to me, I’m not sure that HVAC technician work is the job for me, though I enjoy the work itself.