Sara Duffy

I’ve just finished re-vamping my In-laws office space in their apartment.  (Pictures to follow in future posts).  It turned out to be a much more arduous task than I had expected.  I had to get rid of tons of books, old wooden shelving, a 10 foot long laminate counter top, and much more.  i started by slowly piling things into an old granny cart and carting them over to Housing Works - my favorite place to donate things.  Unfortunately by the 4th trip I had barely made a dent and I was exhausted.  My Mother in Law had given me a coupon for a company called “1 800 Got Junk”.  I found them in a flash online and had scheduled a pick up within minutes for the next morning.  They were curtious on the phone, arrived earlier than the scheduled time, called me to say they were waiting for me outside, crawled down to the basement to help me pull out more junk, and then made sure that i was getting all the possible discounts I was eligible for.  They charge by how much stuff you have, not the time.  We decided that my stuff would take up about 1/8 of the truck so I was charged around $250.  i thought that was a totally reasonable price for the service and they were in and out of the apartment in 30 minutes.

I had to buy a new air conditioner. It was a million degrees in my office and the existing machine had died. Disaster! So off I went knowing only that i wanted one that was as energy efficient as possible. First I stopped at the local hardware store which had a pile of AC’s outside the store. “How much are they?” I asked. “$200 bucks” he said. “I’m looking for one with a high EER (Energy Efficiency Rate)” I said while trying not to look too feminine in my gym clothes pushing my two kids in the stroller. “This one is perfect for you! You can’t get a better EER than this. It’s 8.5.” I didn’t know a lot about EER’s but that seemed like a low number to me. “That seems low to me” I said. “Lady, you’re not going to find a better one than this, I’m telling you.” He replied. I thanked him politely and moved on.

LADY? I’M TELLING YOU? Why is it that when a woman is out shopping for electronics the assumption is that she is stupid and, even more upsetting, that she can be easily swayed into a purchase????? I was furious knowing that if I was a man I would have been treated much differently. The next day I went to Home Depot where I felt sure there must be a great assortment of AC’s and people who will treat me like I have a brain in my head. Wrong again! I basically got the same treatment but this time the guy told me a 7.5 EER was probably the best i was going to find in the market place. I left annoyed and texted my husband (who happens to be an Energy Policy Analyst at the NRDC) what a good EER is. He informed me I don’t want anything less than 10.

Not only was I annoyed that i had been treated poorly but clearly these guys didn’t know what they were talking about. How is it possible in this age of environmental awareness (or lack there of) that an employee of Home Depot is completely ignorant of what an EER is?

I was walking down 23rd street when I noticed a PC Richards store across the street. I went in and was greeted by at least 50 different models. I approached a young salesman and explained what I was looking for. He treated me with respect and helped me figure out what was best for my situation. We decided on a small $150 machine with a 11 EER . He also helped schedule an installer and delivery.

I left there very happy but struck at how difficult it was for me to find a place where i would be treated with respect.