I felt just like Jay and Grant, only without the Roto-Rooter uniforms and ghost-hunting on the side.
My bathtub faucet has been leaking, on and off, for several months. It started as just an intermittent drip every now and then, and I got used to just cranking the hot water handle reeeeeeally hard to turn it off. (I have separate handles for the hot and cold. My house is OLD.)
Apparently, though, that only works for a couple months before the leak just says "FUCK YOU" and leaks no matter how tightly you turn the handles.
So I told my landlord (read: my dad) it was leaking. He said he'd call a plumber in the morning, and my mom decided that what we probably needed was a whole new faucet, and we'd better go to Home Depot to get one so the plumber could install it. I took a picture of it on my phone to show whomever was silly enough to ask me if I needed help, and off we went.
This is when we met Ted, the Old Grizzled Home Depot Guy.
I showed Ted my phone picture, and he thought a moment. "Hm... we used to have an old... let me go see." Then he scampered up the humongous ladder and started rummaging around at the top of the shelf. (For those of you familiar with the Home Depot, already this is a feat because those shelves are HIGH. And Ted was pretty darn grizzled.)
When he came back down, I clapped. "That's my faucet!"
"Okay, follow me."
I followed Ted to the aisle with the huge toolbox and watched as he dug around for a screwdriver. "All you need to do is change the washer, if the faucet's leaking." I watched him unscrew the pieces of the faucet. "See this little black rubber thing? That's the washer. And see how this one has a groove in it? All you have to do is flip it over, put it back, and you have a fresh side."
I nodded. "Oh. But what if the other side of the washer is messed up, too?"
He handed me the one he'd just taken off the old faucet. "Here, just take this one."
"Isn't there anything I can actually, y'know, buy from you? Like, what if the washer on the cold water part is messed up, too?"
Ted grabbed a packet of washers off the massive Wall o' Washers, fished one out, and tossed that one to me, too.
"But... but I can pay for that whole package, though!" I protested.
Ted waved his hand. "Don't worry about it. Just change those out and you'll be all set."
I think I said "thank you" about eighty times. Somewhere behind the grizzled beard, Ted smiled.
I came home, grabbed my tools (that are pretty and have flowers painted all over them), turned off the water to the house, sat down in my bathtub, and FIXED THE GODDAMN LEAK. I have never done anything plumbing-related before, and if Ted hadn't taken the time to show me how to fix it, I would've spent hundreds of dollars and a whole stupid day waiting for a plumber.
I have now turned the faucet on and off about a billion times, just sitting there, turning it on and off, watching it not leak, and grinning like a moron. I feel I have now earned my new handbag.
Apparently, though, that only works for a couple months before the leak just says "FUCK YOU" and leaks no matter how tightly you turn the handles.
So I told my landlord (read: my dad) it was leaking. He said he'd call a plumber in the morning, and my mom decided that what we probably needed was a whole new faucet, and we'd better go to Home Depot to get one so the plumber could install it. I took a picture of it on my phone to show whomever was silly enough to ask me if I needed help, and off we went.
This is when we met Ted, the Old Grizzled Home Depot Guy.
I showed Ted my phone picture, and he thought a moment. "Hm... we used to have an old... let me go see." Then he scampered up the humongous ladder and started rummaging around at the top of the shelf. (For those of you familiar with the Home Depot, already this is a feat because those shelves are HIGH. And Ted was pretty darn grizzled.)
When he came back down, I clapped. "That's my faucet!"
"Okay, follow me."
I followed Ted to the aisle with the huge toolbox and watched as he dug around for a screwdriver. "All you need to do is change the washer, if the faucet's leaking." I watched him unscrew the pieces of the faucet. "See this little black rubber thing? That's the washer. And see how this one has a groove in it? All you have to do is flip it over, put it back, and you have a fresh side."
I nodded. "Oh. But what if the other side of the washer is messed up, too?"
He handed me the one he'd just taken off the old faucet. "Here, just take this one."
"Isn't there anything I can actually, y'know, buy from you? Like, what if the washer on the cold water part is messed up, too?"
Ted grabbed a packet of washers off the massive Wall o' Washers, fished one out, and tossed that one to me, too.
"But... but I can pay for that whole package, though!" I protested.
Ted waved his hand. "Don't worry about it. Just change those out and you'll be all set."
I think I said "thank you" about eighty times. Somewhere behind the grizzled beard, Ted smiled.
I came home, grabbed my tools (that are pretty and have flowers painted all over them), turned off the water to the house, sat down in my bathtub, and FIXED THE GODDAMN LEAK. I have never done anything plumbing-related before, and if Ted hadn't taken the time to show me how to fix it, I would've spent hundreds of dollars and a whole stupid day waiting for a plumber.
I have now turned the faucet on and off about a billion times, just sitting there, turning it on and off, watching it not leak, and grinning like a moron. I feel I have now earned my new handbag.