I don’t know how to do that
My grandfather was a plumber. My dad was a plumber. One of my brothers followed in their footsteps and is about to retire after over 35 years in the business. A cousin is a pipefitter. A couple of in-laws are plumbers. One niece married a plumber. It’s always nice to have one in the family for times when the toilet backs up, or the water heater fails, or the ejector pump gets clogged. Or the skills (?) to handle those things yourself.
My grandfather on the left, and my dad,
sitting at dad’s “office” – the family kitchen table.
I spent a few summers working with my dad digging ditches and running out to the truck to get things for him (step ‘n fetchit). One of dad’s employees – Jim Jordan – is the one who taught me there were some jobs where you should just say, “I don’t know how to do that.” For instance: wading through a water-filled crawl space to clean out a stopped up sewer pipe! Nope. Sorry. I don’t know how to do that. And now is probably not a good time to try to teach me! Not if you want that toilet working soon.
The Plumber should be one of the heroes of modern society. In the 19th century, in many parts of the world people moved closer together for work in Industrial Revolution jobs. Typhoid, cholera, and dysentery killed thousands due to problems caused by improper handling of human waste. Modern plumbing methods, and our Hero the Plumber, helped eliminate this means of spreading infectious diseases. Look at societies today with poor sanitary sewer systems and you’ll see a high infant mortality rate and a low longevity.
U Squad is in Cambodia right now and some have been showering/bathing with pond water, while drinking and cooking with rain water. Several of the racers have contracted Typhoid. They’re now paying a lot more attention to the source of and cleanliness of their drinking water, and some teams are actually cooking their own meals to ensure they’re prepared properly (at least under sanitary conditions). Here in the States we take clean running water, indoor plumbing (sit-down toilets and not squatty potties) for granted. Sometimes it takes a trip to a foreign land to appreciate all we have.
Here’s a picture of a Cambodian squatty potty. Interesting note: if you do a Google search for images of squatty potties many of the pictures were posted by World Racers! Credit goes to Kayla, G-Squad June ’12 for this one — When you’re done with your business you simply dip the pail into the big bucket of water and toss it into the pit – no Tidy Bowl blue stuff here!
So — a tip of the hat (and a long-tailed tee shirt to cover up the plumber’s butt) to all the plumbers out there. Protecting the health of our nation.
A neighborhood plumbing supply house in Beijing. The store isn’t much
wider that the front door. Not much deeper either.
Three Things the Plumber Must Know
- Hot’s on left, cold’s on right and sh . . . sewage runs downhill.
- Payday is on Friday
- Don’t chew your fingernails
By the way – congratulations John on your retirement.
