Bully

I was in a business today purchasing a part for work. Ahead of me was an older lady who had an electric trimmer on the counter and was talking to the counter man about replacing the rechargeable battery in the unit, which evidently was bad. The business sold batteries but didn’t have any way to do the installation.
The woman was frustrated because she was unable to open the trimmer and replace it herself. She evidently did not have anyone else to help her with this task, which wouldn’t have taken long, but would have taken some tools.
The man sympathized with her, and told her that if she went to a place that sold batteries, most likely they would also do the installation for her. He suggested a couple of places, but it was obvious that the woman was a little unsure about something. I suspect she was really unsure whether the battery place would really install the new battery for her.
I deal with one such battery place on a rather regular basis for work. I told her that the place I patronized indeed would install the battery for her and would do a good job. We left the business together, and I also told her where the place was that I used to buy my batteries.
As we parted, she said she would go to one of the places and see how things worked out. I’d like to know how they worked out for her. I left there frustrated that some things like that seem to be almost insurmountable obstacles to older folks, especially women, maintaining their independence. It was obvious that this woman was in fairly good apparent health and probably could live on her own for some time yet.
You might think that she should just go into one of those battery places and get the work done. However, some of those places aren’t very woman-friendly, and are somewhat intimidating at times if you’ve never been there before. They generally are very masculine oriented, and the help sometimes is little more than some insolent-looking young man grunting behind the counter as the customer interrupts his lunch, his phone conversation, or his nap. They are also somewhat unkempt and not especially pleasant for those of the feminine persuasion.
On the other hand, we all have had to do things we weren’t very comfortable doing. I suspect this woman screwed up her nerve, went into one of these places, and now has a weed whacker that is charging a new battery in her garage. Bully for her.