OT A Plumbing Story

Feb 23, 2012 2 Replies

When I lived in a small town in Texas, I put in a gas line to my pool heater. Ran the line to the meter, disconnected the line from the meter to the house and T-ed the line in. I was trying to reconnect the union but was having problems getting it aligned.



A plumber friend of mine came along, stopped his truck and asked if I was having problems. I told him I was having trouble getting the fitting started to connect the union. He said, "I can fix that for you". He went back to his truck, got a couple of wrenches and proceeded to make it look easy.



I thanked him, and he said, "No problem". I was thinking how nice it was to have friends who could help when I needed it. Next week I got his bill for $45.


Hell, he gave you a 60% discount! ;)

The bad news, for a friend that is a kind of sleazy thing to do unannounced.

The good news, most plumbers would charge you double that just to show up.

Up to you to decide how to handle it after the fact. First, I'd send a check. Then I'd find a way to make an offhand comment in a conversation. Like talk about some local restaurants. When he brings up his favorite, tell him you were going to take him and his wife to dinner there, but you got off easy since he sent you a bill instead.

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