The Queen's Rambles

I’m feeling traumatized. You know what sucks about being a woman? Men who think women are stupid.

To catch you up to speed, here’s a run down of our plumbing problems:

Several months ago: Turn hot water down to 120 as recommended. Replace hot water knob on shower. These items are unrelated.

Three weeks later: Have dishwasher covered in mold and learn the solution is to turn up hot water.

Eight weeks ago: Have the hot water start acting wobbly while we shower. It goes from cold to water again in really rapid pulses.

Four days ago: Have plumber come out and tell me nothing is wrong, the cold water is probably turning on by itself. By the way, it could be the pressure release valve, but your home warranty won’t cover that.

Three days ago: Notice a big leak under the water heater. Call home warranty place and am assured that someone else will come out and that I won’t have to pay another co-pay.

Today: A different guy from the same company came out. The first guy was your typical mid-west white farm boy. This guy was like something from Jerseylicious with his open shirt, gold chains, rank cologne smell and Napolean attitude.

He agreed there was a leak. Then he tried to get me to say that the leak wasn’t there when the other guy was here, then he tried to get me to pay the co-pay. Not gonna happen.

If I wouldn’t pay the co-pay? He would tell the home warranty company that the leak was my fault and I would have to pay the whole bill myself.

Yes, that’s a threat. I can’t believe I was threatened in my own home. He also said a bunch of other bullshit, like I had a really old water heater that must be replaced immediately but our home warranty company won’t replace it and even if they did we would still have to pay a lot to have it brought up to code. It was horrible. I was turning really red and starting to shake. I told him to leave, but then he suddenly said he would fix the problem. He called the home warranty place and tried to argue with them, but in the end he ended up fixing the leak and we didn’t pay a dime.

Thankfully I had arranged for Mike to come home and be with the plumber while I went to go pick Erik and the carpool kid up from school (we had a five hour window). The guy left to get a part and came back and did the work while Mike was home so I didn’t have to see him again.

I will never, never allow that company in my home again. I am calling the home warranty place to find out if they will cover the cost of the pressure relief valve (which I’m hearing from several people is the problem, thank you guys!) and if not, I will start calling around to plumbers and seeing if I can get some estimates. If our water heater really needs to be replaced (very doubtful, it is only 8 years old), I’ll get it replaced by someone else. I sure as hell won’t be giving that company any money (ARS Rescue Rooters if you are in the Germantown area).

I hate pig-men. I don’t run into it often because I am married to a man who would never treat a woman that way. Most of my friends are married to good guys. I don’t often have to deal with mechanical issues or other blue collar issues.

I grew up with the attitude, though. My dad’s a plumber and he and all his contractor buddies would sit around talking about “stupid bitches”, with bitches being any woman no matter who smart, stupid, nice, or bitchy she actual was. I can’t stand it. Why do men think women have no brain? The guy didn’t try to give Mike the run around. I’m very upset. I need to go see my chiropractor and his massage table (he doesn’t massage me, the table is electric).