
In this story, Don Giuliano tells about an experience he had at work one day, a decision he made, and how small things can make a big difference.
My job takes me to many places, from factories to restaurants to residences. I work as a self-employed Heat and Air technician and electrician. I had a service call this summer at an apartment complex of six units.
This story happens in Apt# 1, the tenants are not home, but a key was left under the front door mat. So, I let myself in and was confronted with a mess of toys, clutter, trash, food, clothes, just stuff laying around on the floor, piled on top of furniture, a mess. Usually, there’s a particular smell that goes with places in this condition, but thankfully it wasn’t present. These apartments are small, so the indoor portion of the AC and Heating system is in an enclosure under the stairs, and the access door is in the downstairs laundry/bathroom behind the clothes washer.

To access the indoor Air Handler Unit, I needed to disconnect the washing machine and move it enough to open the door. To get behind the washer, I needed to step on top of the commode seat then onto the dryer, then jump down behind the washer. Now the washer and dryer were covered in clothes, dirty and clean, but at this point, I couldn’t tell the difference.

I gathered this stuff up and piled it on top of the clothes dryer and worked on the equipment. The job required the use of a wet/dry vacuum to clean out a plugged condensate drain line of the system. I needed to fill a jug of water at the kitchen sink to test the drain line but found that the sink was so full of pots, pans and dishes that I couldn’t get to the faucet without taking the dishes and pans out of the sink onto a cluttered counter.
Also, I needed to access the outdoor portion of the heat and air system, which we in the trade call a Heatpump Condensing Unit. That piece of equipment had tables, chairs and car parts piled up against it. This stuff was pushed aside to access the unit.
Ok, so the equipment was now fixed and tested, and all was working properly. As I was putting the clothes washer back, reconnecting the water lines, and packing up my tools, I found that I had made a watery mess from where I had placed the wet/dry vacuum on top of the clothes washer, and now there were boot prints on the commode seat.
At this point, I felt both the satisfaction from performing a successful repair on the equipment in a timely manner, but also irritation at all the mess in that place that I had to deal with. I also felt a strong impulse to leave the additional mess I made, because, well, “Who is going to notice more mess in addition to the mess that was already there?”
Then I decided to take the position: “No, I’m not going to add to this mess, but will clean up my own, because that is what I’m responsible for and I will not add to what is already there.” So, I cleaned up the water and commode seat, and returned everything as close as I could remember to its original state, locked up and left.

Yes, this is a small story about a small thing, but I do believe these small things add up. It is easy to just "go with the flow" and sometimes that pressure is subtle or not immediately apparent.
I remember as a child playing in the surf at the beach and I would look to the shore, see my mother laying on a towel reading, then splash around for a while, look up again, and notice that she appeared to have moved down the beach a hundred yards. Obviously, she hadn’t moved, I had been carried along by the offshore current.
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