I had to step her through the inspection process
It was not a great way to do an HVAC inspection, I admit, but we managed to suss out the root of the issue
I have never been accused of being handsome, and with my wild facial hair and my tattoos people will sometimes look twice at me. I swear, underneath all the exterior weirdness I am a very normal person, I just look a little scary. When I am on the job my work shirt covers up most of my tattoos, and of course I am always well groomed… but I guess I still look intimidating to some people. Last week I had a service call for an old lady who lived by herself, and she was nervous about letting me inside to work on her air conditioner! I told her that I understood, and I only wanted to help her with her A/C issue, I did not want to intimidate her. So I went and sat in my work van in her driveway and I called her on the phone, and had her go to the thermostat. I told her to take off the thermostat housing and tell me what she saw. From there I stepped her through a basic HVAC inspection of the key components, and had her describe everything she found. It was not a great way to do an HVAC inspection, I admit, but we managed to suss out the root of the issue. I explained to her that I would need to come in to finish the actual repairs and get her air conditioning working again, but I could send out a different HVAC tech later in the day if she preferred. But by this point she was more comfortable with me.