Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Honest Plumber

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Can you believe it? An honest plumber. I was all set to see my credit card melt today. Instead, I got a major blessing. Joe (name changed to let him keep his job) from Big Name Plumber (name changed to help Joe keep his job) came out and looked at my 24-year-old water heater. He asked the standard questions. “Any problems?” “Nope. It’ll fill my walk-in tub with no problem.” “Then, honestly, I wouldn’t worry about it. You know the saying, ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’” Well, there goes $800 back into my savings account. “When you do have it replaced,” he continued, “it’s going to be expensive.” He showed me all the pipes and things hooked up to the water heater that are no longer “up to code” (which means the code changed, not my water heater). “What, about $3000?” Joe scoffed. “No, more like about $1200-1500.” Ah, inexpensively expensive. Got it. Then there was the clogged pipe that the walk-in tub people told me about. Joe crawled under the house and took a look. “No leak at all,” he reported. He told me to try using Coke (the fizzy “real thing” drink, not the white powder ) to loosen the clog. As long as it’s draining well and not leaking, he said, keep it as is. So he typed everything up on his iPad and handed it to me to sign. “How much do I owe you?” I asked. “Nothing.” To say the very least, I was pleasantly shocked. Anymore, if you say “hello” to a plumber he’ll charge you a $95 service call fee. What a blessing! After he was finished we chatted and made fun of the Air Force (he’s an Army vet) and the Coast Guard before I sent him on his way with a handshake (yes, folks, a handshake) and a prayer that his day was as blessed as he had just made mine. One day I’ll have to shell out the money for these things...and you know who I’m going to call!!!! Speaking of “call,” here’s The Call with a very appropriately-titled song! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=db_tYjM6y3o