The Plumber's on Crack

So there's this ongoing saga with the plumbing in my condo that started about a month ago by now, which started with my hot water tank . . . and evolved into the temperature & pressure relief (TPR) valve, to the thermal expansion tank, and finally arrived at the water pressure regulator on the supply line of the water main. Yes, I learned all of this myself. Well with the help of others such as friends, family, and of course my good friend Google.

Now, I could go ahead and get technical in the explanation as I've gone from zero knowledge to somewhat of a subject-matter expert on the topic, but I'll spare the details. This blog entry is about the plumber. And yes, I'm going to name names.

I'm finally to the point where the horse is so dead, it's not worth beating anymore, so I have been calling around for estimates.

One such company, Blind and Sons, was to give me a free estimate. I scheduled an appointment with them for this morning at 8AM. Supposedly the visiting technician's name was "Bryan", so I instantly chalked this up to a good-karma-kindred-spirit thing and had a high expectation for the outcome.

The Blind and Sons guy was supposed to be at our house at 8AM. When at 8:15 he wasn't there I called them - they couldn't reach him. But he obviously "got the message" and so called me back at 8:20 to tell me he was around the corner but in "bumper-to-bumper" traffic and would be at our house in 10 minutes. (I was like, I know Akron among the best; where the hell are you finding bumper-to-bumper traffic in Akron?? It's far more likely that he didn't feel like getting out of bed.) So I told him basically to "hurry up because I'm missing work."

20 minutes later my car was packed and I was pulling out of the driveway . . . and he pulled up.

So as he farted around getting out of the truck I opened the house back up and let him in - and scolded him for being late. (I know - me??!) He proceeded to blather about a three car pile-up and other B.S. (and not the "Bachelor of Science" kind).

Needless to say, I was already done with this guy and I think he was done with me. I quickly explained the problem and he wrote an estimate: over six hundred dollars!

As I nearly laughed at him - I said - I can't believe I waited around for this. The parts you are charging me for - $119 for the TPR valve - can be purchased at home depot for $11. The expansion tank you're charging $200 or whatever is like $40. So I said, "I think we're done here."

Good grief. So much for a "free" estimate, because you get what you pay for.

At work at 9. So pissed.

I called Jeff the Plumber back and he'll be at our house at 9 on Monday to do the work for half that amount.

When I got to work . . . for some reason I felt the burning need to find out if I should tip the plumber for his work when he has completed it (come Monday). I'm so glad I googled about tipping your plumber because I got my answer. Here's the answer I'm going to go with, courtesy of 4plumbers.net:

Is it customary to tip a plumber?

"if your [sic] a guy no, if your [sic] a female it is customary to say (in a sexy voice) “ohhh, i dont have any money to pay you, is there any other way i can pay you?” then you turn on some berry [sic] white and its end of story

if ur [sic] chuck norris just round house kick him in the face as payment and tip"

Oh, in unrelated news: Happy Birthday, Rog!