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[–] • 0 pt

Gonna be honest , if his life choices are this bad with his health. I don't think I'd be hanging around him for any other "insights" he might have. I mean, if he has a trade...really be thorough if you want his help on a project (in that area)

In my 30's I had a "plumber" friend, who I'd known since middle school and when I asked him to help me out on changing out my water heater to a tankless system he said "no problem" and came over having already been a 6 pack in and I had to ask him to not touch anything. I researched it and ended up doing it myself. I then saw his "work truck" and it was indicative of how he lived. He had an apt and so I never bothered ever going there...I'd always meet him in public or he'd come to my home & only after this instance did I re-evaluate what he brought to both myself and the group of friends I'd had for 20+ years. What he brought was drama, alcoholism, and need.

I haven't talked to him now in 10+ years and while I feel bad that his life is shit, it's he who put himself there. Me sticking around him would've only brought me to his level.

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[–] • 0 pt

This reminds me of the plumber I worked with last year. He was so fat and disabled he couldn't carry his tools and had to have knee surgery to replace both knees but it's been delayed because of covid.

His teeth are all gone so he has to gum all his food down and he was told by the doctors that he'd have to lose weight to get his knees done. He did lose some weight but was still needing to shed another ten pounds.

He thinks he's a conservative but when the covid bullshit came he right away started wearing a mask, then would wear a plastic shield and end up having me go back into houses because he kept leaving it behind.

There was quite a bit of separation between his work quality and what he claimed his work quality was. He told me when he soldered copper pipes he'd only had about two leaks in his life but every job we went on he'd end up with a leak on the last joint or two and on ABS piping he'd sometimes forget to glue a joint. Once I almost freaked out because he was hooking up a sink with pipe only to one side. He totally forgot about the sink being a double kitchen sink. Early onset dementia? Imagine trying to squeeze in next to him in a small bathroom?

The worst was when one day his ass reeked so bad I almost vomited. Honestly, it was worse than opening a septic tank. That pissed me off. I mean, how fucking hard can it be to take a damned shower at least once or twice a week? Greasy hair, three day old clothes and always wearing sweat pants that have a hole in the ass and no underwear. He did call me up for Christmas and say he missed me. Yeh, I bet he did. Only other guys who would work with him at his wages were drunks and losers. One day I worked from 7 in the morning until 11 at night and partly because of his errors. On that job I was exhausted and he's up on the ladder doing work I could have and should have been allowed to do and he asks me to hand him his screwdriver. I did. Then he sets it down within reach and asks for it again. I handed it to him but now I'm puzzled. He sets it down and once more asks for it. This time I snapped, reminded him it's the third time he can't find a screwdriver I just put in his hand and he needs to keep track of his things. "Calm down, calm down!" was his response. Sure, I'm supposed to be patient like an angel.

Oh, and his truck? I'd try to organize it and maybe on Saturday he'd take one of his drunks with him and I'd come back on Monday to find it in shambles. Over and over. Every week. On one level I liked the guy but on other issues he and his other guys drove me nuts.

This reminds me of the plumber I worked with last year. He was so fat and disabled he couldn't carry his tools and had to have knee surgery to replace both knees but it's been delayed because of covid. His teeth are all gone so he has to gum all his food down and he was told by the doctors that he'd have to lose weight to get his knees done. He did lose some weight but was still needing to shed another ten pounds. He thinks he's a conservative but when the covid bullshit came he right away started wearing a mask, then would wear a plastic shield and end up having me go back into houses because he kept leaving it behind. There was quite a bit of separation between his work quality and what he claimed his work quality was. He told me when he soldered copper pipes he'd only had about two leaks in his life but every job we went on he'd end up with a leak on the last joint or two and on ABS piping he'd sometimes forget to glue a joint. Once I almost freaked out because he was hooking up a sink with pipe only to one side. He totally forgot about the sink being a double kitchen sink. Early onset dementia? Imagine trying to squeeze in next to him in a small bathroom? The worst was when one day his ass reeked so bad I almost vomited. Honestly, it was worse than opening a septic tank. That pissed me off. I mean, how fucking hard can it be to take a damned shower at least once or twice a week? Greasy hair, three day old clothes and always wearing sweat pants that have a hole in the ass and no underwear. He did call me up for Christmas and say he missed me. Yeh, I bet he did. Only other guys who would work with him at his wages were drunks and losers. One day I worked from 7 in the morning until 11 at night and partly because of his errors. On that job I was exhausted and he's up on the ladder doing work I could have and should have been allowed to do and he asks me to hand him his screwdriver. I did. Then he sets it down within reach and asks for it again. I handed it to him but now I'm puzzled. He sets it down and once more asks for it. This time I snapped, reminded him it's the third time he can't find a screwdriver I just put in his hand and he needs to keep track of his things. "Calm down, calm down!" was his response. Sure, I'm supposed to be patient like an angel. Oh, and his truck? I'd try to organize it and maybe on Saturday he'd take one of his drunks with him and I'd come back on Monday to find it in shambles. Over and over. Every week. On one level I liked the guy but on other issues he and his other guys drove me nuts.

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[–] • 1 pt

"he thinks he's a conservative"...yep. I know a lot of tradesmen who , when shit hits the fan will blindly support party over thinking.

Yikes, I think it's less likely a case of early dementia and just a substandard focus on quality. Quality of his hygiene , his work, and how his performance impacts others. I dread having to have an actual job done and going through guys like that to find someone who knows what they're doing , is willing to do it, and isn't going to charge 10x's the amount (because they know the market).

Plumbing has gotten worlds easier since PEX came into play. Not having to sweat, solder, and test multiple multiple connections turned most 5 hour jobs into an hour and a half (or less). Which was necessary due to so many plumbers being addicts, convicts, or low IQ clowns who lack pride in their work.

I'm not sure I could've made it an entire day with your friend. He probably has no idea why he's depressed (drunk) or in the position he's in either.

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[–] • 0 pt

The guy is totally against drinking and drugs so he gets credit for that but then, according to him he loves pastries. In my mind, that's worse than having a couple of beers. Just way worse on your health and his shows. I think what ruined his knees was because he was so heavy when he went down on his knees he would sort of slam down every time.

Another thing that kind of galled me a bit was his customer base. Many of them were very poor so he wouldn't charge that much and of course I don't get much either since it's a percentage.

I could have done better getting more jobs for him as the percentage would have been higher so that's on me. It's my first time working as a plumbers assistant so I did learn a great deal and I have to give him some praise for that as he loved to tell me about the work.

One job we did embarrassed me. It was an old friend of his, an 80 year old black grandpa with a house shared with his daughter, her kids and his wife. Apparently he'd gone there a couple times to clean out the main sewer line and had installed a two way cleanout. Then had to return again for a repeat. Maybe he had told the guy his huge tree in front of the house was the problem as when we went by the tree had been cut down and the old guy was out there trying to cut the stump out by hand. I'm asking the plumber, "Where's his grandkids? Why aren't they helping him?" It offended my sensibilities to see a frail old man out there hacking on massive stump. We'd go by every so often to other jobs and the guy would either be out there working or the stump would just be there as a reminder.

So one day we went by and I asked the plumber to stop, telling him this can't go on as the old man is going to die on that stump. It's not right.

So, we get out and I express my concerns and tell the old man he needs help. I'll help. We negotiate a payment of $100.00 which is insanely cheap but I would have done it for free. I remember people taking advantage of my Grandpa and I felt the same way in this case. You don't leave an old man to do this sort of stuff. No way.

So, I start driving over there on my own and helping the guy. I brought a sawzall with some good blades as it was a hollowed out half rotted stump and I figured I could cut it enough to split it, dig out the roots and remove it by sections.

We worked on it for three days and finally got it all out. The man's neighbor came over to berate us for doing it the hard way as he worked for the city and claimed he could have had it out with some quick work using a stump grinder. I point to the half uncovered old clean out where the main line drops down to the city line. "Oh, and you would have missed that?" The old cleanout had been buried underground years ago, no one knew it was there and the tree had encapsulated it, gone down to the union and broken apart the joints to invade the line.

Well, I dug the trench, made a good job of it and gave plenty of room to replace the area. Since I'm not certified the plumber came back and tried to get down into the trench. He's too fat, fell, and I had to get boards and wrestle him out of the trench. If it hadn't been so shameful I would have laughed at how it was like beaching a whale trying to haul his 400 pounds out of that trench. Well, maybe 340 pounds as he'd lost weight and looked like a half deflated whale. Just a whole lot of loose blubber spreading out. Huge shirt and holy sweat pants with some ass showing. Good Lord!!!. So he stood by while I did the work. I've already done about six of these as the man can't get into a trench but for some reason he insisted on bird dogging me which annoyed the hell out of me.

So, he's telling the plumber he'll pay him later and the plumber is saying, "Ok". He slips me a wad of bills, about $360.00. Unknown to him his granddaughter had slipped me a couple 20s the day before.

Real cost for the job should have been well over $1,000.00 so the old man got of cheap but honestly, I would have done it for free just so I don't have to think about the old guy dying on top of that nasty stump.

Imagine the mess if his neighbor had used a stump grinder. They'd be going to burger king to shit for a week at least.

The guy is totally against drinking and drugs so he gets credit for that but then, according to him he loves pastries. In my mind, that's worse than having a couple of beers. Just way worse on your health and his shows. I think what ruined his knees was because he was so heavy when he went down on his knees he would sort of slam down every time. Another thing that kind of galled me a bit was his customer base. Many of them were very poor so he wouldn't charge that much and of course I don't get much either since it's a percentage. I could have done better getting more jobs for him as the percentage would have been higher so that's on me. It's my first time working as a plumbers assistant so I did learn a great deal and I have to give him some praise for that as he loved to tell me about the work. One job we did embarrassed me. It was an old friend of his, an 80 year old black grandpa with a house shared with his daughter, her kids and his wife. Apparently he'd gone there a couple times to clean out the main sewer line and had installed a two way cleanout. Then had to return again for a repeat. Maybe he had told the guy his huge tree in front of the house was the problem as when we went by the tree had been cut down and the old guy was out there trying to cut the stump out by hand. I'm asking the plumber, "Where's his grandkids? Why aren't they helping him?" It offended my sensibilities to see a frail old man out there hacking on massive stump. We'd go by every so often to other jobs and the guy would either be out there working or the stump would just be there as a reminder. So one day we went by and I asked the plumber to stop, telling him this can't go on as the old man is going to die on that stump. It's not right. So, we get out and I express my concerns and tell the old man he needs help. I'll help. We negotiate a payment of $100.00 which is insanely cheap but I would have done it for free. I remember people taking advantage of my Grandpa and I felt the same way in this case. You don't leave an old man to do this sort of stuff. No way. So, I start driving over there on my own and helping the guy. I brought a sawzall with some good blades as it was a hollowed out half rotted stump and I figured I could cut it enough to split it, dig out the roots and remove it by sections. We worked on it for three days and finally got it all out. The man's neighbor came over to berate us for doing it the hard way as he worked for the city and claimed he could have had it out with some quick work using a stump grinder. I point to the half uncovered old clean out where the main line drops down to the city line. "Oh, and you would have missed that?" The old cleanout had been buried underground years ago, no one knew it was there and the tree had encapsulated it, gone down to the union and broken apart the joints to invade the line. Well, I dug the trench, made a good job of it and gave plenty of room to replace the area. Since I'm not certified the plumber came back and tried to get down into the trench. He's too fat, fell, and I had to get boards and wrestle him out of the trench. If it hadn't been so shameful I would have laughed at how it was like beaching a whale trying to haul his 400 pounds out of that trench. Well, maybe 340 pounds as he'd lost weight and looked like a half deflated whale. Just a whole lot of loose blubber spreading out. Huge shirt and holy sweat pants with some ass showing. Good Lord!!!. So he stood by while I did the work. I've already done about six of these as the man can't get into a trench but for some reason he insisted on bird dogging me which annoyed the hell out of me. So, he's telling the plumber he'll pay him later and the plumber is saying, "Ok". He slips me a wad of bills, about $360.00. Unknown to him his granddaughter had slipped me a couple 20s the day before. Real cost for the job should have been well over $1,000.00 so the old man got of cheap but honestly, I would have done it for free just so I don't have to think about the old guy dying on top of that nasty stump. Imagine the mess if his neighbor had used a stump grinder. They'd be going to burger king to shit for a week at least.

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