It's all relative

Some days are hard. Others are harder

It’s so easy not to write this Substack! It’s been a little more than a week since I posted my last one, and I feel like I’m just getting started not writing.

But that would be a bad way to go. Most of you reading this are subscribers; many (though certainly not enough of you) are even paying subscribers; and I want all of you to keep coming back, paid or not, so that means I keep writing.

Besides, I like to write. Also to not write, but neither one for too long.

So here I am again, after managing several days of distractions, like putting together a new set of requested documents to my car insurance company – shout-out here to the always often-reliable AAA – because they screwed up the last set of documents I provided. Or like trying to teach our 10-month-old puppy Latke that just because it’s okay to chew on his flavored rawhide bones doesn’t mean it’s fine to gnaw on my eyeglasses or our TV’s remote control. You know, life stuff.

One thing I had to deal with was our water heater, which quit working over the weekend, so I had a guy come out Monday to examine it. Not our usual plumber, who always provided service at a reasonable rate. That guy’s no longer answering his phone, maybe because his prices were too reasonable for him to stay in business.

So we called a company who’d helped us out many years ago, even though they were a little expensive. I’m usually looking for a good deal, but last weekend I happened to be looking even harder for hot water. (Pro Tip: Replace your water heater if you can before it conks out completely. It won’t ever happen at a good time.)

They sent over someone named Brad, who seemed to have a lot going for him. He was friendly, articulate, strong and masculine – the kind of guy you’d feel comfortable paying to replace your water heater, unless he was asking for an exorbitant fee, which he was about to do.

Another thing about Brad was, not only did he tolerate having Latke manically jump all over him to lick and paw at him when he showed up, he seemed to truly connect with the little demon. As a plumber or a sales rep or whatever he was there to be, it made sense that he might have pretended to enjoy this frenzied attention, but his affection seemed quite genuine. He mentioned that his own dog was having health issues, and he spent so much time kneeling to pet and play with our indefatigable pup that it was starting to interfere with my day.

At first, I was glad to see Latke make a new friend, but come on, Brad, I’ve got a Substack to write.

So let me just say, the price he finally quoted – are you ready? – $3,525, was twice as high as I thought a new hot water heater might cost. He carefully explained how replacing our current, failed heater, installing a new one and bringing it up to code would make a serious difference to our well being, and we were so desperate to get it fixed, that by the time he gave us a 10% discount, the $3152 he was charging seemed reasonable. Besides, my canny wife had already contacted her best friend, ChatGPT, which told her $3,000 was reasonable in California as opposed to other locations, where one might expect to pay half that or less.

So the deal was struck, and I went back to my office to sulk and worry about how to avoid this kind of disaster in the future.

I was still feeling sorry for myself five minutes later when Brad came back to our door with tears in his eyes. He had just learned from his wife that his own dog had died that morning while he was here giving us our quote and playing with Latke. He asked for our permission to play with him a little more before he went off to his next job.

And suddenly, as losses go, that 3,000 bucks didn’t seem as bad as I thought.