As I was flipping through the channels early this morning, I stumbled upon the Three Stooges.  In this particular episode, they were posing as plumbers for whatever reason.  Of course they managed to get themselves into a very bad mess in typical stooge fashion. This triggered a memory of a similar situation I got myself into, that unfortunately resembled this show.  My apprentice and I were working on a job remodeling a bathroom.  When we were all done, the builder asked us if we could spin the water heater about 90 degrees so he could put a door on the room it was in.  This was a very simple task, since it had plastic pex water pipe to it and it was electric.  All we had to do was cut the water lines, spin it and hook it back up.  Just as we were getting ready to do it, I grabbed the cutters out of my helper’s hand, and for whatever reason decided  to say ”let me show you how it’s done.”  This turned out to be a bad thing to do, and an even worse thing to say. Plumbing is usually a very arrogant and competetive trade.  Without giving it a second thought, I cut right through the cold water feed.  The problem was, I had forget to turn the water off.  As I tried to stop the water with my hand (which is very difficult), I was yelling at my apprentice to go shut the water off.  Cutting into a live water line is a very bad idea, and makes for a very stressful afternoon.  Floor soaked, ego crushed, I went to the truck to gather the towels.  The worst part came when my helper informed me that he knew exactly what was going to happen, but since I felt compelled to ”strut my stuff”, he just let it happen.  This of course angered me more, that he let it happen, but I now realize he did EXACTLY what I would have done.  It is always a fun story to relive and retell, unless of course he is the narrator.   

Pride cometh before the fall.

Below is how it seemed for a few seconds until the water was shut off.