Before Wife woke up, I started the coffee and readied for the well planned 15-minute project. I fantasized the victory breakfast, bacon and pancake, as I was fishing for the white Teflon tape. When the J-pipe, the hooked pipe that’s directly under the sink, crumpled with a slight twist of my big and heavy wrench, I sighed and threw out the pancake dream. Put everything down, came inside from the garage, and yellowpaged local plumbers. Within minutes, Wife woke up with a “what have you done this morning” look. Three plumbers would bid for this job and I expected to shell out several hundred dollars that day.
“Now that you are here,” I shook hands with the chosen plumber in jump-suit off a well-stocked van. “Would you mind fixing my leaking faucet in the bathroom too?” He shrugged and added $25 to the estimate.
He started and I came inside. Five minutes later, I heard a groan. The pipe that goes into the wall, broke off. He needed to replace it by first sawing off for a clean cut. Had I kept going, I would not have the tool. “I sure glad that I called you,” I smirked. Half an hour later, he finished the pipe job, started testing, and found water dripping off to the floor. “Your sink is leaking,” he was not pleased. It was a cast-iron sink that weigh about a ton and was as old as this 40+ year-old house. It is a back-breaking job to replace it. He called office and scheduled himself for the next day. After that, he headed the bathroom for the leaky faucet. Should be an easy $25 to make in five minutes.
Fifteen minutes later, I heard another groan. He went back to the van for his torch. “What happened?” I do not have a torch and this has become more interesting. “Your pipe twisted off. I need to cut it off and extend it. It will take about 45 minutes.” “I sure glad that I called you,” second time I said that. He smiled back. We were now buddies.
That 45-minute project became 90 when he broke my faucet. He was now quite hungry. When I handed over my credit card, he said, “You did exactly the right thing. You started early in a day and called a pro when you are in trouble. You would have got into a much bigger trouble than I am about to charge you.”
Wife actually rewarded me a great breakfast. She was glad that I took care of the problem professionally. She knew that I would have wasted more time and money had I not called.
The morale of this story? Know when to ask for help, prepare for the unexpected, and customers do not care who solved the problem, as long as it was solved.
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