My parents owned a small home building since before I was born, but I was raised working with our dad as the superintendent.
As a teenager, I did a lot to help out with the upkeep and maintenance of the building. My father was a bit surprised, and upset even, when I decided I wanted to go to college. I was the 1 who tested the Heating and Air Conditioning system and kept it working, and he was anxious that I wouldn’t be around. Who would take care of the heating and cooling systems in the apartments when I wasn’t home? I was going to the local university, so I intended to stay at home on the weekends. That being said, I would have a lot of studying to do. I suggested that my parents hire an Heating and Air Conditioning contractor to have on-call if it was necessary, but my parents didn’t love this idea. Ultimately, they grudgingly agreed. This was important for day to day maintenance of the units, however I figured the job would still be mine when I was home for the summers. I guess I had the wrong impression! The current Heating and Air Conditioning professional who was kept on retainer had taken over the job entirely. She even came to the apartment and had breakfast with my parents. I was so jealous that I could have spit. I complained about how easily I was replaced and commented that I was no longer needed around here. My parents laughed in my face! They said they could not replace their own child! As far as replacing the Heating and Air Conditioning professional I was trying to be, they needed 1 and this woman was available. She was also a lot of fun to have around.