Piece o' Crap

We've been having this kitchen-related plumbing fiasco which some of you already know about. A while after we replaced the filters in our reverse osmosis system, we noticed a leak under the kitchen sink. This leak has grown from a small drip we hoped was a mere temporary side effect of the filter change, to a rather sizeable trickle.

So, we looked under there and saw that one of the pipes is corroded and leaking. Since we were planning, sooner or later, to get our portable dishwasher plumbed in properly, we figured maybe now was a good time to call a plumber and have him do both of these things, plus replace the grotty old faucet fixture with a new one, and put in a new reverse osmosis system that isn't an off-off-off-brand. This is not the fiasco yet.

The fiasco is that I called on Monday to make a semi-emergency appointment with the plumbing company we usually use (by "usually" I mean we used them once when we first moved in here). They set up an appointment with a guy named Rich for Tuesday between 11 and 1 in the day. Unfortunately, 1:15 rolled around and there was still no sign of Rich. I called the plumbing company and they said, well, we left him a message, but haven't heard from him either. Here's his direct line so you can leave him a message, too. Thinking that perhaps something would be accomplished through sheer bombardment with phone messages, I called and left another one. Rich finally called back and said that someone had called in sick that day and everyone else had to take over the sick person's appointments, so he was running way behind. Thus, we agreed to take an appointment this morning, at 9 am, the earliest available appointment--no delays for us this time, thank you very much.

But no. No, I should have known something was up when I left the house this morning at 9:10 and Rich wasn't here yet. After finishing lunch with friends--well after 1:30--I called Rob and he dolefully informed me that Rich hadn't come yet again. He had not come, it turned out, because he had been sick and failed to show up for work, and also failed to actually call in sick, and so consequently had been fired. Rad.

So now, our plumber from two years ago, Cleve (who now runs the company), is going to come on Sunday morning and presumably offer us an amazing discount in return for not defecting to Roto-Rooter or some other corporate plumbing entity.

I like Cleve, but I still have my fingers crossed. I do not want another appointment time to be, so to speak, flushed down the toilet. Let's see; how many plumbing jokes can I make? I don't want to fall prey to another Rich, who befouled the pristine porcelain of the plumber-customer relationship with the waste-matter of employee irresponsibility. Okay, that's enough.