“Hubby’s a plumber Mr. Bloombutt, and I’ve seen him calculate fall and do volume/mass calculations without even using so much as piece of paper! Can YOU do calculus equations in YOUR head, Mr. Mayor?”
I’m with you. Try laying out drain line for an underslab application (here in Texas) that has to make bends, slope at a minimum of 1/4” per foot and then tie into an existing line connection. All with 4” PVC. Also trying cutting rafters with bird-mouth cuts. Done both and it’s MUCH, MUCH, easier for me mentally to spend to a day at my office job than doing the above work - I was literally drained after doing that. I have nothing but respect for plumbers and framers who have to do much harder jobs than me (like trying to run drain line between floors in a house and figuring out how to make rafter cuts on some really whacked out roof designs).
LOL! Hubby just LOVES the add ons that get slapped on to a house....big /S
He calls them 'brother-in-law' additions, as in "Well, my brother-in-law said he knew a guy who could build it, so they came over one weekend......"
Or the commercial properties that have a maintenance man work on the plumbing all day, but HE couldn't fix it so he calls hubby....at midnight!
Hubby always yanks them around about it too, asking if their builder was on crack or telling property management companies he charges MORE to fix their 'fixes', but since he is so very good at what he does and never charges more than a reasonable price, they still love him anyway.
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A big Texas SALUTE! to all proud tradesmen.....everywhere!
My dad’s a plumber in NJ who owns the business he inherited from his father. As a child visiting dad on weekends, we would visit relatives’ houses so dad could pull roots from sewer lines, replace or repair water heaters, help remove water from basements and other things that provided us with homemade pierogis, chruschiki, babka, golumpki, etc., as well as praise about my father who never charged family, not even on weekends or holidays. Weekends also saw us inside malls before they opened, so dad could work on the fountains and other plumbing issues. Everyone at Woodbridge, Menlo Park, Brunswick Square, Quakerbridge, Short Hills, Jersey Gardens & Cherry Hill knows “John” - the guy who barely graduated high school; the guy who was held back in grammar school; the guy who tossed a cherry bomb down the toilet in Catholic school, and still beams about how high the toilet lifted from the floor.
The point is, I’m proud of my dad, and I’d like to tell Bloomberg where he can stick a golumpki.
On another note, my dad is in his 70s and he still works every day. For the last few years, I’ve tried to pursuade him to allow my now 17 yo daughter to spend a week working with him, but he won’t b/c she is a girl. His hard work ethic, and his humility have kept him grounded in a middle class lifestyle, but his ability to save allows him to rent a shore house on the beach a few weeks each summer so family can converge and visit together. It’s also allowed him to feed his crazy idea of installing an hydraulic lift in his garage so he can own and baby several old cars.
And lastly, my father earns way more annually than my husband who’s a retired Marine Officer, flying large passenger jets for a major airline for many years now. Joking about having my husband switch careers and become a plumber, my father laughed and said that there’s no money in plumbing anymore. Totally missing my half-joking point, his suggestion was to look at fire protection/sprinkler systems. If you can jump through all the hoops and training and certifications, you’ve got something valuable that everyone wants.
BLOOMBERG IS A FREAKING SELF-ABSORBED J@***$$.