The Week That I Almost Gave Up Plumbing.

Let's see, this past week was to put it mildly a catastrophe!

I had a toilet tank break and a piece slice my hand.
There was the dishwasher that tried to electrocute me.
Then there was Wednesday. First I woke up late (a good start), then I cut into a live water main that I was told was dead (as in no water). It was the hot water main for a retirement community. When I cut it I had to run and get a trash can to catch the water. Then I had to get a Styrofoam bowl to shield my hand from the scalding water. Fortunately my co-workers showed up to help but even with their efforts we couldn't turn the water off. Finally we used a tool to hold back the water while I soldered a valve on the line. I was drenched. Of course during all of this my supervisor payed a visit, NICE. Later I went onto my next project and while soldering set off a smoke alarm that was hidden away from my view. Luckily the retirees did not have to evacuate. Well I thought I was done and turned on the water only to discover a leak that I couldn't get soldered. While I tried to fix it a huge glob of hot solder and flux dropped on my hand, giving me two nice blisters, ouch. The foreman came over and helped me out. I left work and went to a friends house for a "quick" side job. All I had to do was replace the works in a toilet tank. I told my friend it would be a good idea to replace the bolts that hold the tank to the bowl, because they were coroded and would cause problems later. Well they were so coroded that I couldn't get them loose with my wrench and had to cut them off with a saw. Add to that the size of this bathroom was about what you would use for a small closet and the electric baseboard heater digging into my back, well it was not fun. After I got them cut I repalced the parts in the tank and put it back together. Well par for the course on this day meant that it leaked at a couple different places. Off and on 2 more times and I finally got it fixed. 2 hours for a "quick" job. I went home got a hot shower, a nice meal and wondered if I should check the want-ads.