Small Annoyances Grow Up

Weirdness in the Air, Weirdness Everywhere!

My bathtub faucet is dripping so I called the plumber a few weeks back. The guy with the butt crack arrives and tells me, "Lady, you gotta order the valve from the manufacturer- I ain't experienced in this high-end plumbing. Call me when it comes in. It will cost $356 plus the hourly fee to fix it."Well, I wasn't born yesterday so I immediately tear up his estimate and return to the Yellow Pages and XXXX out his name, stoopid plumber. And I look for a plumbing outfit that says it knows what it is doing- I pick a place that is owned by the FIL of the wife of a friend of TY's, only four degrees of separation, right?

Today Plumber #2 arrives and this one looks like someone out of GQ in a too-clean jumpsuit. He arrives with little booties to put over his boots so as not to soil my bathtub. He pats Molly and agrees she is the cutest. I have full faith he will be able to install the valve because he is clean and well spoken AND apparently has experience with 'high end plumbing'. I give him the valve from Kohler and I hear him talking on the phone.

He calls his guy back at the shop because he cannot get the cover off the damn set to even get to where the valve might be.

He calls the guy at the plumbing supply place.

He calls the manufacturer to get instructions on how to proceed.

He calls the retailer where I bought it and ordered the valve to be sent out.

He is sitting in my bathtub waiting for one of them to call back and taking pictures of my tub set with his cell phone because he likes it so much. Still in his booties.

We give up after an hour, he tells me he has to go back to the shop, they have to check to see how to proceed, he has to get the calls back from his calls, and he writes me up an estimate to fix my slow drip for $392. And that is assuming that the valve I have sitting here is the correct on which he assures me they will not guarantee because it's 'customer supplied'. This isn't me, and it sure isn't Molly but we are making our own versions because this is getting stranger and stranger. The Fancy Plumber will call me next Monday with the information he finds out and we will make a new appointment then. I pay him (cough cough) $130 for ALL HE DID today spending 30 minutes with me and driving from his shop a few blocks away, but he won't charge me the visit fee next time, he says. Rest assured.

So the bathtub still drips, my cupboards in the next room are totally ripped apart because we couldn't find an access panel to shut off the water to the tub, and I think these prices are totally off the charts for a friggin DRIP. But if I want to sell the place, if there is any chance of ever getting out of here, I need basic maintainence taken care of, right? Also, I hate to leave here for half a year with the drip progressing any further, until this is the situation: It only took me seven years to get the twinkle ceiling light issue straightened out, so I guess it's normal that this is next.

I would let this guy in if there was some guarantee that his fix would be more than duct tape and baling wire.
Meanwhile this IS me, I decided that if a hat was good, a whole tin foil head was better still. Molly did not agree so she is going naked.

and so it goes.