Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Humbling experience of the day

Today I bit the bullet and performed one of my least favorite chores: I scrubbed our bathtub. Just as I was finishing up the job (rinsing off the walls and knob and spout), the drain stopped draining. Dirty water pooled in the bottom of the tub.

I reached in to see if the drain was plugged with hair - nope. I tried the plunger - that only stirred up more muck. So I called our apartment office and asked whether a maintenance man could come and unplug my drain. The assistant manager wrote up a ticket for me.

Two hours later, the friendly maintenance man arrived. When he first came to work for the apartment complex and paid a call to our home, he noticed all our sacred art and inquired about my faith. He shared the story of his (recent) conversion to Christianity. So we have a little bond. And maybe he won't tell everyone how silly I am after our encounter today!

Back to the story: after he explained that my long hair was the likely culprit (even though we use a hair trap), he took a wetvac into our bathroom and started suctioning. Then he turned the machine off and called out to me: "Do you ever take baths?"

"No," I replied as I went into the room.

"How long have you lived here?"

"Two years."

"Have you ever taken a bath here?"

"Maybe two when I was pregnant," I answered, remembering the relief a hot water soak provided when I was in labor and forgetting the lovely little soaks I took postpartum.

"Did you use a stopper or did you flip the drain switch?"

"I used the switch," I assured him. Then the lightbulb went off.

"It was up."

Doh! I had accidentally flipped up the switch while I was cleaning it, but I didn't even think about it when the water didn't drain. So silly!

I thanked the maintenance man profusely, apologized for taking his time for something so silly, and lightheartedly proposed that it was probably a pleasure for him to get such an easy job. He agreed, having replaced a water heater and a garbage disposal already today.

As we prepare to purchase a home this summer, I'm thinking about how much I'm going to miss the ability to call the office for maintenance help. Then again, I'm sure I'll learn a thing or two when I have to do it myself (with David, of course). For instance, how bath drain switches work!

7 comments:

Diana said...

I can feel your humbleness.....

Long before I owned a home I did things just like that.

Picture calling AAA because your car won't start only to discover that you had it in DRIVE.

Yes, it's true

Diana said...

I was secretly hoping that David authored this post hehe!

Glad you got it figured out.

Diana said...

That last comment was by me (Adam) not Diana DOH!

Katherine T. Lauer said...

Bwa ha ha! That's fantastic!

Sarah H. Wood said...

I didn't even know what a drain switch was before your post!

Angie @ Many Little Blessings said...

Ugh -- don't you just hate it when stuff like that happens?

Melissa said...

LOL!!! What a great story! :)