I took a second job. As a plumber.

[BeerMoney]

Its totally great. I feel relaxed at the end of the day, my coworkers are good regular people, and I like seeing a finished product. I am trained as a statistician, but deskwork doesn't seem for me. Overall, it has changed my attitude for the better.

I just thought I'd share.

[TStoneMBD]

a few weeks ago i had a plumber come over to my house because my toilet needed snaking.

wait a second, let me start from the beginning...

my toilet got clogged, and needed snaking big time. i went down to my local home depot and someone there told me to buy the cheapest model snake they had because it works for them and is resilient. so i purchase one for $8 and come back home and get to work.

it immediately breaks inside my toilet bowl and is stuck. so i call a plumber to come over early next morning to take it out and snake it himself.

he comes over an hour later than his scheduled appointment. his hands are covered in filth and he touches my doornob along with my walls and everything else that i recently had to tear down because of this.

he goes into the bathroom and plunges his hand into the brown water and rips the snake out. he holds the snake over my bathroom floor as its dripping like crazy, and says "here", as if im going to touch that thing. i tell him to throw in my shower and he does.

he then whips out the snake of his own, which is covered in crap and goes to work. a few minutes later hes done. the toilet flushes but obviously still needs work, yet he denies that it does and leaves anyway. (without washing his hands mind you).

on his way out he of course touches everything there is to touch in my apartment.

and guess what, my toilet clogs the very next day.

i have yet to pay my bill that they sent me and have no plans to.

i dont think you would ever act this way, but if you would, hopefully this post will change your mind. at least you might get a kick out of it.

THANK YOU MR PLUMBER YOU ARE GREAT!

[BeerMoney]

This is why I'm going into it. There are a lot of incompetents in the trades.. People who can't be depended on, do lousy work, don't keep their word.

I am a responsible person, who happens to like working with his hands. Thanks for sharing the story.

I would have fixed your toilet and charged you through the nose.

BeerMoney

[GrunchCan]

I'm a software engineer in Chicago, IL. I sit at my desk all day and write code. Mentally its stimulating, and pretty rewarding.

There's a skyscraper being built next door to the building I work in downtown. Sometimes during lunch when the weather's nice, I sit outside for 15 minutes and just watch the dudes build the building. I think to myself, "I wanna be a construction worker." Seriously.

[dancraw]

You should check out the movie "Office Space", if you haven't already watched it. You would love it.

[TStoneMBD]

im somewhat with you on that. im not a hands on type of worker. i hate hard labor. however, the thought of constructing something so amazingly brilliant, gorgeous and powerful sounds really fulfilling.

[WhiteWolf]

[ QUOTE ]
You should check out the movie "Office Space", if you haven't already watched it. You would love it.

[/ QUOTE ]

Sounds like someone has a bad case of the Mondays....

[smoore]

[ QUOTE ]
Sounds like someone has a bad case of the Mondays....



[/ QUOTE ]

naw man, hell naw man... I believe you'd get your ass kicked for saying something like that.

[BeerMoney]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm a software engineer in Chicago, IL. I sit at my desk all day and write code. Mentally its stimulating, and pretty rewarding.

There's a skyscraper being built next door to the building I work in downtown. Sometimes during lunch when the weather's nice, I sit outside for 15 minutes and just watch the dudes build the building. I think to myself, "I wanna be a construction worker." Seriously.

[/ QUOTE ]

Writing code isn't bad, and I imagine it can make the day go by fast. However, for me, there are just too many distractions at a desk job.. Internet, telephone, email..

I never get anything done. A day of plumbing goes by sooooo fast sometimes, its great.

[stigmata]

[ QUOTE ]
[The plumber] then whips out the snake of his own, which is covered in crap and goes to work.

[/ QUOTE ]

Isn't this a storyline for a skin flick?

[purnell]

I had no idea you were such a weenie. Plumbing, outside of new construction, has more gross-out potential than garbage collecting. Plumbers are used to it. But [censored] washes off, dude.

BTW, would you rather stick your own arm down there, or just [censored] in a bucket and take it to the dumpster?

[DeanCarl]

I was a Hull Maintinance Technition in the navy many (way TOO many) years ago. That's the fancy name they came up with when they took the Damage Control, Shipfitter and Pipefitter rateings and mooshed them all together. So I go from being a firefighter/flood control (Damage controlman) person to being a friggin' plumber (pipefitter). And I became absolutly amazed at what supposedly grown men (and, later on, women) would stuff down a toilet.

But I'm always happy to hear when a person finds his "calling" in life so enjoy the ... er ... "stuff"! /images/graemlins/smile.gif

Dean

[callydrias]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm a software engineer in Chicago, IL. I sit at my desk all day and write code. Mentally its stimulating, and pretty rewarding.

There's a skyscraper being built next door to the building I work in downtown. Sometimes during lunch when the weather's nice, I sit outside for 15 minutes and just watch the dudes build the building. I think to myself, "I wanna be a construction worker." Seriously.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm sitting at my desk right now, not writing the code I'm supposed to writing, wishing I could spend a few days a week in a shop working with my hands. Mentally stimulating? Sometimes. Fulfilling? That ship has sailed.

[BeerMoney]

[ QUOTE ]


I'm sitting at my desk right now, not writing the code I'm supposed to writing, wishing I could spend a few days a week in a shop working with my hands. Mentally stimulating? Sometimes. Fulfilling? That ship has sailed.

[/ QUOTE ]

The funny thing is, I am more mentally stimulated plumbing than my current job..

[TStoneMBD]

if my opinion that barehanding fecies all day is gross makes me a weenie, then yes im a weenie.

if my opinion that shitting in a bucket is better than sticking my arm in my own [censored] makes me a weenie, then i am a big weenie.

[purnell]

weenie.


I was a bit hyperbolic eh? It's gross. I honestly would rather do it myself unless I had to buy an expensive tool(more than the plumber's bill). But I am a "hands on" kinda guy. I think what I meant was, when you are looking for someone who is willing to stick his arm down your toilet, your expectations of his other behavior should not be too high.

[PokerProdigy]

So this is what some professional poker players do to make a living huh /images/graemlins/confused.gif