I'm not sure about Home Depot, but when I worked [generic retail job] and witnessed my manager drive to customers' houses after hours to help install components— even going with her on occasion— it was clear she wasn't getting "paid nicely to go through all that trouble." She did it because she knew if she did that extra bit, those people would be way more likely to come back and spend money at the store. But there was never a guarantee, and almost every time was additional stress she really didn't need.
What the author experienced is something a lot of the tech community seems to lack: empathy. She realized that an elderly couple went far out of their way to deliver a heavy AC unit to a person who might not ever come back to their store. She realized the only reason they were out there was because of her, because she didn't want to wait two weeks.
"She did it because she knew if she did that extra bit, those people would be way more likely to come back and spend money at the store. But there was never a guarantee, and almost every time was additional stress she really didn't need."
It doesn't sound like her job was at risk if she said "no", so if it wasn't worth it: she shouldn't have done it.
I'd consider myself a normal person. Hell, I think I have more sympathy, if not empathy, than the average patron. However, if you choose to do something shitty, you have no one to blame but yourself. If you're forced to do something shitty, then that's a different matter. In this case, it sounds like the people who made the delivery were either A) not all that inconvenienced B) inconvenienced by their own inability to say "no" or C) inconvenienced by an ignorant parent company who chose to chase after a social-media "WOW" story at the expense of their personel.
At most, the author of this post should have said "Oh, if I had realized it was this much trouble, I'd have waited a few extra days." Being deeply upset by something so trivial seems like unnecessarily sweating the small stuff. It's particularly silly because she had absolutely no reason to think that Home Depot couldn't find a strong day laborer on short notice.
Fucking Hell. With all the smart people on HN, why can't we have things like a filter for "author has worked a real job once in their life" or "author possesses overinflated sense of own empathy while directly demonstrating contempt for no good reason"
You know, I'm trying really hard not to flame you, I really am. It comes off as extremely douchey to tell people whose problems are much harder than yours -- and if you have time to comment on HN, this is true -- that they can always say no.
It's extremely presumptuous, to say the least, to enumerate someone else's life options and then write off their current difficulties as a matter of choice. Why don't these old people just go to college so they can get a professional job? Completely incompatible with the idea of being empathetic, which implies understanding of someone's situation on an emotional level, not just a rational level.
"implies understanding of someone's situation on an emotional level, not just a rational level."
You've identified the difference between sympathy and empathy. OK, fine. I have plenty of sympathy, but no empathy in this situation. I deeply understand that this must suck for people who don't have a choice.
All I'm saying is that it's absolutely ridiculous to cry over the fact that somebody else's superior forced them to work late/hard one night. The original author should not feel any culpability for that. If there's any emotion I'd share here, it would be anger at those superiors, not a sense of guilt.
"It comes off as extremely douchey to tell people [...] that they can always say no."
The person I replied to was talking about a different person and suggested that person went the extra mile, hoping for some repeat business. That is absolutely optional. I have no idea if the delivery people in the original story had a choice, but I wasn't speaking about them.
What the author experienced is something a lot of the tech community seems to lack: empathy. She realized that an elderly couple went far out of their way to deliver a heavy AC unit to a person who might not ever come back to their store. She realized the only reason they were out there was because of her, because she didn't want to wait two weeks.
Any normal person would feel like crap.