So last night, ten to two in the morning to be exact, our water heater decided it had had enough. And it's not as if it could just decide it was done and not work, no no, in the R household, things must go out with a bang.
So after a $1300 estimate from the plumber to replace the damned thing, L and I decide we will just head to Lowe's and install a new water heater ourselves. Surely our sanity is not worth $1300, no?
After returning from Lowe's a few hundred dollars poorer, L realizes he needs more items and asks me to return and get them. Now let me back up here for a second and relay to you the fact that I HATE going to the hardware store for items that L needs because a) I'm never really sure what the hell it is he's talking about and b) sometimes he isn't either, he just wants me to ask some customer service rep for help.
Soooooo, I trot on into the hardware store (and by trot I mean waddle because let's face it, I feel like I have a watermelon between my legs) and start hunting for a ninety-degree copper elbow and some copper piping to fit. L keeps telling me he needs everything to be 3/4" so this is what I'm picking up, though I'm beginning to wonder how the hell he is going to join this stuff together as it is all the same diameter.
"Um, I don't know how this fits together, L."
"Look for a coupling sleeve."
"Um, there isn't anything here marked "coupling sleeve," just "coupling" and it's all the same diameter, nothing fits into each other."
"Go ask for help."
*sigh*
And by sigh I mean, "I really wish you would get your ass down here and do this because even if I ask for help I STILL DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU NEED SO HOW CAN I DESCRIBE IT??"
So along comes Joe, who is trying very hard to take the "customer service" out of Customer Service Representative.
"I need some kind of copper something to fit into this 3/4" elbow - my husband said I need a coupling sleeve... ?"
"There's no such thing."
"Ok, can you tell me how I'm supposed to make this copper pipe thingy fit into this elbow thingy?"
"That's a coupling."
"What's a coupling?"
"The "copper pipe thingy" you're holding."
"Ok, how do I make it fit into -- "
And without one word he takes the coupling away from me and hands me a 3/4" diameter piece of copper pipe which - VOILA! - fits perfectly.
"Oh, I gotcha. Sorry, I had no idea what my husband needed."
"If you have no idea, why isn't he here getting it then?"
Joe, I misjudged you. You are indeed a smart man.
So after a $1300 estimate from the plumber to replace the damned thing, L and I decide we will just head to Lowe's and install a new water heater ourselves. Surely our sanity is not worth $1300, no?
After returning from Lowe's a few hundred dollars poorer, L realizes he needs more items and asks me to return and get them. Now let me back up here for a second and relay to you the fact that I HATE going to the hardware store for items that L needs because a) I'm never really sure what the hell it is he's talking about and b) sometimes he isn't either, he just wants me to ask some customer service rep for help.
Soooooo, I trot on into the hardware store (and by trot I mean waddle because let's face it, I feel like I have a watermelon between my legs) and start hunting for a ninety-degree copper elbow and some copper piping to fit. L keeps telling me he needs everything to be 3/4" so this is what I'm picking up, though I'm beginning to wonder how the hell he is going to join this stuff together as it is all the same diameter.
"Um, I don't know how this fits together, L."
"Look for a coupling sleeve."
"Um, there isn't anything here marked "coupling sleeve," just "coupling" and it's all the same diameter, nothing fits into each other."
"Go ask for help."
*sigh*
And by sigh I mean, "I really wish you would get your ass down here and do this because even if I ask for help I STILL DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU NEED SO HOW CAN I DESCRIBE IT??"
So along comes Joe, who is trying very hard to take the "customer service" out of Customer Service Representative.
"I need some kind of copper something to fit into this 3/4" elbow - my husband said I need a coupling sleeve... ?"
"There's no such thing."
"Ok, can you tell me how I'm supposed to make this copper pipe thingy fit into this elbow thingy?"
"That's a coupling."
"What's a coupling?"
"The "copper pipe thingy" you're holding."
"Ok, how do I make it fit into -- "
And without one word he takes the coupling away from me and hands me a 3/4" diameter piece of copper pipe which - VOILA! - fits perfectly.
"Oh, I gotcha. Sorry, I had no idea what my husband needed."
"If you have no idea, why isn't he here getting it then?"
Joe, I misjudged you. You are indeed a smart man.
4 comments:
Haha, I could picture that scene so vividly it's scary. I'm glad everything worked out, though... $1300 is a total ripoff for a job that should take a professional plumber less than an hour.
So, just to make sure... L did solder the copper pipe joints together and not just flux them together, right? Cause if not, that is just asking for trouble.
Yes, he soldered everything. You forget that L is quite the handyman and I am the daughter of a plumber. :o)
Yes, well... I guess I didn't know that L's handiness applied to things other than cars. And it was just that you seemed awfully confused about plumbing fittings for being the daughter of a plumber. ;-)
Touche, Kyle. Touche.
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