You can only give somebody your best advice and hope that they use it to their full advantage.
That’s what I’ve realized over the years as a professional counselor.
It can be really difficult to work with the general public each day and recognize that they probably aren’t going to take your words very seriously. Even though they’re paying you for your professional opinion, people are very good at coming up with excuses to disregard everything that you have said. Recently, this was especially worrisome after I discussed indoor air handling devices and air temperature control with one of my more difficult clients. Admittedly, he is not the most functional person that I console. He struggles to pay his basic bills each month, and regularly has no Indoor air temperature control as a result of his delinquent energy bills. I have been talking with him about more manageable forms of heating and cooling equipment since his central HVAC system is too expensive to operate on a regular basis. I told him he might benefit from a few AC window units and space heaters rather than relying on a massive air conditioning system and forced air furnace. He found that the central heating and cooling devices were too financially lofty for his monthly energy bill. As such, I thought that smaller pieces of indoor air temperature equipment would be a good compromise. However, I told him that he was going to have to be careful with the space heater. If you aren’t aware, space heaters have a reputation for tumbling over and starting a fire. Wouldn’t you know, my client did not heed my advice. He left his space heater plugged in and left the house for several days. When he returned home his house was certainly warm… Because the entire thing was on fire.