Has life been so thorough in shitting on me that even when something turns out far better than expected, I can’t enjoy it? I once paid a plumber $150 to unclog the very same drain these guys snaked today. When he was done, the line was still clogged, but he still wanted $150. When I complained that he hadn’t unclogged the pipe, he said he could snake it again for another $150.

We seemed to have a misunderstanding about what I had hired him to do. He thought his job was to run the snake down the drain. I thought his job was to unclog the drain. I had no interest in watching someone snake my drain. I wanted it cleared. I was paying for outcomes, not intentions.

A few years ago, I had a young plumber look at the drain. He ran a snake down it and said that he hit dirt. He could feel it. The pipe was broken, and he was hitting bare soil. That didn’t necessarily surprise me, but I wasn’t totally convinced because if that were true, I would expect to see water where it shouldn’t be.

So, you can imagine my surprise when these guys snaked the drain and said they cleared it. They pulled a bunch of roots out of the drain. The water that had previously been standing in the shower was gone, and they seemed confident that the problem was fixed. Then they gave me a bill for $168, just $18 more than that grifter charged me 15 years earlier.

So, why am I not at ease? Why do I think the problem isn’t solved? I guess time will tell 🤷‍♂️