Replacing a battery and asked if I needed help :(
 

I went to my local FLAPS today to get a new battery for our daughters Tiguan. Typical dad stuff, even if she’s in her 20’s. She always calls me first with car/house issues.

As I was tightening up the connections after the swap, a guy in his 40’s walked out of the store, looked at me and asked if I needed help swapping out the battery. I said thanks, but I was just finishing up. He seemed surprised!

At 62, with grey hair (for 25 years) I felt even older when he asked. 😂

On the flip side, it was generous of him to offer.

Anyone have similar stories?

I get it. I used to be all, “Hay-yell I got this. Don’t you bother yourself.”

Now I’m just happy for anything I don’t have to do myself. I don’t care if it takes twice as long and I have to do part of it over later on.

Should have asked him if he knew how to change a pair of Depends. I'll bet he'd have ran back in the store! :D

Helped a guy put a H7 bulb in his VW yesterday. I was picking up oil at the FLAPS.

Isnt changing a Tiguan battery the same as a Cayenne? Under the front seat?

The touareg is under the seat. Just changed mine last month.

I've got every kind of special tool, even special battery clamp tools. When someone, either a customer or employee proceeds to fiddle fart with stuff like that and not ask my help or flat turn down my help, then I don't feel bad watching them struggle with it. OTOH, people often ask, and that's why I have the jump box, the car lock out tools, etc. I used the Metabo impact wrench the other day to change a girl's tire.

Just curious, did they also ask you if you needed help at the counter inside at point of purchase?

Or just when you were finishing up.

You know, I think it's always a good thing when a sales associate asks a customer if they need help with something.

But I also understand the point you're making here. I turn 67 this month and feel I am still able to take on a lot but am also at the point in life where I don't mind a little help once in a while. And my ego thankfully is perfectly fine with it! :)

We never turn down a request for help. I even have little old ladies come to the store because they know we'll always help no matter what. I've even been asked to fold down a passenger seat and turn off a dome light.

The issue is when I see someone struggling with a tire or dead battery. If they say "No" then I'll be happy to stand by and let them struggle, even though I have all of the stuff to fix the problem and get them going again. I even have employees who get on one and start down the rabbit hole, with no idea that I have the tools to make the job easier. At that point it's a toss-up for me. Do I help the struggling employee or let them learn the hard way to ask for help themselves?

I was carrying something heavy out of a home depot sort of place and a young chick in her 20's asked me if I needed help - really. I'm not that ferkin old.

I should have said "yes. can you get my car keys please, they're stuffed down the front of my pants."

Not quite the same but was throwing a football with my 21 year old son at the beach last week. Leaped for one I should have let go and landed on my ass...I’m sure in a not-so graceful manner. He ran up to me worried that I’d mortally injured myself. Of course, my butt bone hurt like hell (and my throwing arm is still sore) but I’d never admit it.

His reaction reminded me that I’m 62.

You have to remember probably at least 50% of the customers that come into a FLAPS barely know what the ignition key is for 😊 . Dim bulbs of society that couldn't change a flat tire if their lives depended on it 😡 . So when an associate ask's if I need help I just reply no thanks . They are just doing their job .

56 a little salt and pepper, I usually ask the under forty crowd if they need help.

I once asked a man with one arm if he needed a hand getting bags of concrete onto his cart at home depot.
Thought about it after and couldn't believe that I had said that...

Installation is included in the cost/part of the job at my FLAPS for batteries and windshield wipers.

Why, did you do the stationary one-hand opera applause clap? http://forums.pelicanparts.com/support/smileys/clap.gif

I think that it's polite to offer assistance to anyone who might need it, whether it's auto related or tying the shoelace of a small child whose mother has her hands full. I'm also a geezer, 62, but I hold doors for anyone coming behind me even if it's a big dude who could break me in half.

I get the whole deal of young people treating you like you're infirm sometimes but I try to give them the benefit of the doubt, that they are just exercising good manners. My hair started going grey at about 25 but I still have some spring in my step on a good day. :)

I recently saw an older gentleman I know loading a huge pile of 2x10 boards into his pickup at Lowes .
I offered to help, and he declined, but I felt like he may have been slightly insulted by my offer ?
It was nothing more than a kind gesture to a man that I like . I wanted to be helpful .
That being said, I do nearly everything myself . If I am not asking someone for help, I am not looking for help and most times, prefer to to things myself, my way , be that right or wrong. Now go get your shine box

Hey Bill......I'd like to think he appreciated your offer.

Bags of concrete aren't exactly like boxes of fasteners. They are heavy and hard to handle with two functioning limbs.

I think you did good, myself. Keep doing what you're doing - let your heart be your guide.

Old is not the old of the olden days.

Many people in their 50's, 60's and even higher up are both physically strong and mentally sharper than what we had perceived as "old" way back then.

This town gets filled up every weekend by geriatrics testing their mettle. So... flight for life calls have tripled in the last few years. A small price to pay. But long gone are the days like my dad's when he'd go to the golf course on Saturday and then spend the afternoon at Hackney's drinking "Silver Bullets."

I really felt embarrassed when I had to ask for help when I had to replace my battery. I wasn't supposed to lift anything more than 20lbs after they cut my sternum in half to get to my heart.
I did lift the old one out of the car and found out why they didn't want me doing that.

Excuses, excuses...

Under the hood, just in front of the driver.

It was a customer that asked.

The sales person said it had to be installed by a “professional“. From what I read, you need to calibrate the steering sensor after the battery replacement.

I was prepared to do the in car steering wheel calibration, but after starting it up, I didn’t have to do anything. I put it in gear and drove home.

As likely a lifetime DIY guy like me, part of your identity is involuntarily wrapped around that sense of independence and competence. You’re the go-to-guy for your loved ones, and so are many of us. I imagine the offer of help caught you by surprise and a slight irritation as you realized from his perspective why he asked. It was a nice gesture but you’re still allowed to be indignant. Lol
On a much larger scale, I watched my dad go through this and come to grips with it as cancer and chemo ravaged him. It’s tough when the horse you’re riding (the body) starts faltering underneath you.

I ride with a group of mostly 60 something cyclists. At 56 I'm the baby of the bunch.

None of them need help for anything. ;)

Some newer cars like BMWs require the new battery to be registered to the car.

When i worked at a camera store we had a one armed regular customer that came in quite regularly. He had an old Nikon F that you had to remove the back ( it didn't just swing open ) to replace the film. He had no problem rewinding the exposed film and inserting a new roll without help. But he did come in one days asking me to remove some thorns in his hand that he got while planting chestnut trees along some forest trail. He (thought) he was going to bring back the chestnut tree in Connecticut.

Pretty cool; if he could do that with a Nikonos I'd be doubly impressed . . . .

My poor wife (25 yrs. younger than I) was crushed last weekend when we went to our local village parade and craft fair. While looking at toys at one of the booths, the lady in attendance asked her if she was looking for toys for her grandkids. For me, I have to confess that 60 lb. bags feel like the 94 lb. bags from the old days.

When I had to replace my Mercedes ML350 battery. AutoZone said "Hell no" helping me. That was a MOFO to get out. What pissedmeoff the most was when the battery I pulled out tested fine with direct connect to the terminals.

When our daughter was born, a friend of Ms Rocket visited the hospital. The Dr came in and said to her, great to see your “mom” here. Her friend wasn’t happy!😂

That said, she did have a older motherly look to her.

For sure! The Porsche Cayman battery will hurt you getting it out. But the Mercedes ML350 will give you a stroke and then permanent brain damage trying to get that fker out.