Learning the world of plumbing supplies is exhausting and rewarding all at once
18 months and change into this new career, I am basically Rocky Balboa.
I should preface this latest dose with a disclaimer: I am not a fixer. The opposite, actually. When it comes to anything being fixed around my house involving anything that a caveman couldn’t use-aka power tools-it’s my wife who does the work. I lift stuff for her, make sure she doesn’t hurt herself, and continue to watch her fix it. It’s either her, my dad, my sister, or making a call.
I wear the “can’t fix shit” label like a badge of honor. Look, you can lean into what you can’t do, or just feel bad about it. Life moves too fast for us to be good at everything; whining about it only enhances the empty vessel of purpose. I prefer to straight up tell someone-a AAA driver, mechanic, or anyone involved with potentially fixing stuff-that I can’t fix shit. It makes the next 15 minutes much easier to navigate through. It would be like telling Chuck Norris that you don’t know kung fu, or Keanu Reeves that you never saw The Matrix or John Wick, so he has to kill everyone for both of us.
That gorgeous, frozen food-melting lady that I share a life with does all the fixing, so me entering the world of plumbing supplies feels like Shaq entering the world of acting in films. Since you can’t be that guy who a plumber can discuss copper fittings and drainage issues with PVC pipe with, I just play someone who could discuss those things. That is until I learn them better and digest them, and then I can do those cool conversations where the person talking to you doesn’t realize their words are melting into my brain.
Like anything in life, learning something complex takes time. It’s like Michael Jordan standing at that three-point line on a court, firing basketballs at the net in hopes of learning how to do it more consistently. Repetition breeds confidence, no matter what the field is and how old that person entering is, because you have to fail at something to get better at it. You have to get knocked down, get back up, and tell yourself that getting knocked down again is happening very soon.
Yeah, it’s a job and it’s how I pay my bills, but a job that you like and don’t hate makes the whole operation run smoother. Think of your job like the oil change of your life; avoiding it is potentially hazardous for the whole thing. Soon, other areas start to overheat and self-destruct, causing an operation shutdown. Keeping a job that you like and don’t hate isn’t easy for everybody to find, but I’m in that sweet spot.
Each day, the goal is to not fuck up, or screw up less. Errors lead to more time dispatched to other workers in the building, which can pull away from other tasks and clog a business up like leaves in a gutter. As long as you limit mistakes, the time necessary to learn doesn’t hop on a treadmill and leave your ass behind. Again, it’s that confidence that needs nurturing.
It’s hard. Let me tell you. Facing down a plumber who needs a part to finish a job before rain or the sun shuts them down, there is a pressure that doesn’t really go away. Sometimes I imagine if I was a classic slacker and only wanted to do enough to get through the eight hours unscathed--but that’s not how my mom and dad raised me. They always told me, “work hard, keep your head down, and remember that everyone in that building was in your position at some point.”
Add in a hot warehouse that can make the head boil and empty a closet full of towels in my home, and the job only gets harder. I am convinced there is something between heat and critical thinking that can’t get along. If life wasn’t full of hurdles, how would we feel that unbeatable sense of satisfaction after doing a good job? The reward is what makes it great, not the hardness of it. Sorry, Jimmy Dugan.
Here’s the thing. My knowledge of PVC sizes and arrangements is night and day compared to a year ago. Same thing goes for no hub cast iron fittings, something that bamboozled my mind last year. You don’t understand what goes into plumbing until you see the hundreds of parts laid out in front of you. A tank, bowl, wax ring, bolts and screws, and a few other things go into a usable toilet. It’s all in the details.
Every day, I am a little less dumber in this world than the day before. Lather, rinse, repeat. Whether we like it or not, a robotic nature must take shape for something to sink in, but then we get to tinker with the nuances.
It helps to have a great hobby like writing. Oh, and that wonderful woman that I am married to who fixes all of our shit at the Buffa Estate… She works at Crescent Plumbing Supply as a showroom leader/manager/badass woman. It’s like having your trainer in house, someone who can sit you on a stool and knock the occasional sense into you. Don’t believe what they tell you about working with your spouse; if you’re in love with her, there’s no problem. Also, she makes a mean lunch inside five minutes.
Don’t believe the rumors about starting a new job/field after 40. That’s what I did, and it’s slowly coming together. As the great Brock Lotus once said, “time and experience, son.”