The sewer backed up at the house today. Well not actually the house but the toilet in my back office… but that is the last stop before entering the main line. So, any drainage from the house was coming out my toilet. Not a pretty thing.
So, I call the roto-rooter folks who say that a “technician” would be over within an hour… which he was. Cool. He asked where the “vent” was and I said that it was probably in my neighbor’s garden. I explained to him that an old back alley road use to run between the the properties and at some time the residents (way back when) were offered the option of extending their lots, etc… and that whoever lived here bought half the alley. However, this I happen to know left our water shut-off in my neighbor’s yard and probably the sewer vent as well.
He dismissed this stating there was no such thing. Almost insisted the vent was under my shed… and for an extra $250 they could run a video camera down my toilet to locate the exact location of my vent. What do I know about crap… I said OK… but if I found it before the “crappy video crew” got here… we save $250. Poor Kien and I ripped and dug under the shed for about an hour and a half. Finally, the logic of the vent actually being in the neighbor’s yard started to become more apparent to both of us.
I decided to call a different service… explained the situation and they seemed open to my notion that the vent could actually be in my neighbor’s yard. I called roto-rooter back and canceled my original work order. The new local guy comes by and presto… yes, the sewer vent IS actually in the neighbor’s yard.
Clog unplugged… I save a bunch of money and roto-rooter loses business due to the absolute thinking of one of it’s employees. I’ve always maintained that any kind of “absolute thinking” will always do you in.
Later, as Kien and I were driving to pick up a pizza I shared that an incident like this in times past would have just pissed me off to no end and just ruined my day. The difference now is that “the job just needs to get done.” He agreed that he too felt the same way… both of us smiled at the common life change in attitude. (We also compared receding hairlines.) We got our pizza, got home and shared some time together stuffing our faces in the afternoon sun.
So, that’s what sucked more than half my day. Special props to Kien who had to put up with crap on his first full day here! BTW… if you are a local… he is gigging at Tokyo Gardens tomorrow (Saturday) night. Worth catching his show… really.