One of my pet-peeves is when I use my God-given right to complain about something and the person I’m talking to responds by saying, “You think you have problems!”.
Instead of getting some well-earned pity for myself, I’m forced to listen to someone else’s tale of woe as I nod my head and mutter, “Oh, I understand”, a few dozen times.
I admit I am always complaining about my central HVAC system after I allowed my recently paroled brother-in-law to install it a few years ago. It has caused me nothing but problems and I am not shy about letting anyone within earshot know how I suffer. That all changed when I saw the movie Apollo 13 and witnessed the accounts of three astronauts who truly had a large HVAC issue. They were about 200,000 miles from the Earth, still headed toward the moon and there were not enough air scrubbers to get them back home. At the time, they did not even know if the moon’s gravity would be able to catapult them toward Earth. My reaction would have been to curl up in the fetal position in a corner of the lunar module but these three brave men used duct tape, spare parts, and advice from NASA to solve the issue and get home safely. I finally did have an HVAC professional get my HVAC system working well so I no longer have anything to complain about. I also keep it well maintained with twice a year professional cleaning. The only thing that remains in need of a “scrubbing” in my house is my brother-in-law who seems to be reliving some nostalgic times spent in the county jail.