I have been a self-employed plumber for over 25 years and I have had many interesting experiences during that time. I get to experience the good feeling when I really help out a homeowner through a sometimes harrowing situation, and help to make everything turn out well.
I will never forget one call I made in the middle of the summer in Suffolk County, Long Island where I live and work. The call mentioned a plugged up toilet, and they were getting desperate. This sounded interesting already.
When I arrived at the home, the wife was in tears and the husband had that far away look of despair. The husband said,” follow me”. He took me to the bathroom that went with the mother in law room, and the toilet was full to the rim with feces and sewage. He said that he had tried to get it loose with the snake he had purchased at Wal-Mart, but to no avail. I said, “hmmm, let’s go up on the roof”.
I really thought that instead of attempting to go through the mess in the bathroom, I would just go on the roof with the power snake and make short work of this project. The problem was, though an hour later we still had no progress from the roof of breaking through. I asked the husband where the cleanouts were, and he didn’t know. I walked around the house, and found the only one clear at the other end of the house.