GM Conversation

The GM of mom’s AL community answered his cell phone on the first ring. He shared that:

• He’s been to mom’s apartment 5 times to help her with the thermostat.
• The thermostat isn’t programmable.
• Mom is randomly pushing buttons when she doesn’t think the mini-split/thermostat is working. This takes the mini-split off of ‘automatic,’ where it will keep the apartment at the temperature you desire.
• They have indeed changed out the thermostat three times.
• They have provided mom with a ‘cheat sheet’ for the thermostat, hoping she could follow the directions. When the GM has gone to help mom, she snaps, “I did too follow the directions…” He gets the unit to work by following the cheat sheet, immediately.
• The GM agreed with me that she doesn’t have the capacity to follow the instructions. 
• Mom is the only resident that can’t handle their thermostat.
• The GM doesn’t want to put a cover on the thermostat because it would essentially isolate mom from the environment of her apartment.
• The GM didn’t bring up mom’s ‘special status and discount’ in conversation with her. Further, that he would never discuss finances with mom. He offered that she was likely confusing/confabulating this with the phone bill she received from Clear Rate Communications. He did explain the city taxes on the phone bill to her. This makes perfect sense.

I shared:

• The last thermostat mom dealt with actively was in the winter of 1978.
• She was never (ever) able to handle the thermostat at her Mainland house, even after I programed it, and coached her in person and by phone repeatedly, for years.

My daughter shared with me:

• The maintenance guy is looking into trying to rig mom’s thermostat so, with minimal input, mom can make its red light turn on. The red light is the key. If the red light is on, mom thinks everything is working.