A skilled, reliable plumber is a valuable commodity in any location. That fact is particularly true if one has serious damage leading to leakage or is doing home renovation requiring complicated connections. As a result, plumbers can be quite expensive; just another reason why having one who does a job right the first time is key. But such an observation is obviously from the perspective of a homeowner, not a plumber. What is it like to practice this important trade? The article linked below gives readers an idea. For example,
6. YES, THEY GET HIT ON...
Tradesmen have a short-hand for flirtatious customer encounters: “near-sex experiences,” or NSEs. “It’s not like I flirt with customers, like, ‘Hi, help me take off this shirt,’” says Mike, who is happily married. “But female customers can flirt. I’ve been hit on.”
Yet the above is hard to reconcile with the following:
UNLESS THEY’RE COVERED IN POOP. WHICH HAPPENS A LOT.
Cleaning out drains means getting rid of waste clogs backing up the line, and they have to go somewhere. If a plumber is stationed at a point of poop access, odds are he’s going to get hit. On one of Mike’s first jobs, he was accompanying his supervisor while they were snaking a second-story drain above them. “He wasn’t paying attention, but he heard it,” Mike recalls. “30 to 40 gallons of raw sewage. His face was six inches from the pipe.”
Yikes! Read more behind-the-scenes facts about plumbers at mental_floss.
Of course its no help for long term problems, like roots, corroded or improperly installed sewer lines, or things like plastic bottles being flushed. But plumbers are only too happy to perform temporary and superficial fixes for problems (like roots) when it suits them, too.