Member-only story
KINDNESS
A Mercedes in the Driveway Means Money, Right?
But not dial-up AOL
When we first moved to this retirement community, I helped my neighbors with computer problems at no charge. As my wife’s difficulties increased, I gave that up.
“Neighbors” here were about 800 homes back then — I live in an “Over 55 Active Adult Community”. I know that sounds like condominiums or cramped apartments, but no, we have individual homes on quarter- to half-acre lots. It’s a nice place, mostly middle class to upper middle class. Wealthier people tend to buy into the places with golf courses; we don’t have one of those.
I mention that because I was a little surprised to see a higher-end Mercedes-Benz in the driveway of a woman who had called me for computer help. People here can afford new cars, but we generally don’t drive Mercedes.
When I went inside, she explained her problem. Her computer had died a few months back. She had used AOL on it, but when her son bought her a new computer, he had installed Earthlink for her because he couldn’t get AOL working. She wanted her AOL back.
I had another surprise when she showed me her setup. She had a modem. This was 2006; cable internet was available at our community through Comcast and FIOS was busy laying their cable. A Mercedes in the…
