What could be easier than changing a hose? Not switching two hoses, that’s for sure.
A good friend of mine, envisioning a side career as an amateur handyman, decided to do that recently. The disastrous results only pointed once again to how the simplest of tasks in today’s world can become torturous and run into more money than any of us expected.
His incident only related in him getting soaked, hoses popping off and spurting water over his work clothes, but if it had been you or someone else trying a slightly more complex task, who the heck knows how bad things could have gotten.
His situation began innocuously enough. He is having some work done on his house. The workers rehooked up the washer and reversed the hot/cold hoses. The first batch ruined some of his wife’s clothes when they were done in scalding water.
He figured out the problem and tried to reverse the hoses in the morning. The cold went on fine. The hot coupling was dodgy, but he got it in place. He turned the water back on. The hot hose popped off and saturated him – as he was getting ready to head off to his real job. Curse words ensued, I’m sure, then he screwed it back on and firmly tightened it with channel locks, then turned the water on. The hose stayed in place, but leaked at the coupling point badly.
Now he has to grind on the contractor to come fix the mess. As he puts it, “WHAT COULD BE EASIER THAN SWITCHING OUT TWO HOSES?!??!?”
One would certainly figure it to be an easy job. But like many other tasks today, it’s not. Sometimes you have to bite the bullet and hire the professional.
Today, I watched a guy describe to a saleswoman at an appliance store a leak on top of his stove that went into the dials, causing them to short and release smoke. He wanted to fix the problem and was talking to the woman behind the counter about what piece he needed and how to put it in. I thought, “Nope, don’t do it.” Listening to him, I started to comment, asking questions about whether he was good with appliances and had he ever done that type of replacement before. He was already hesitant about his talent level, and my questioning made him even more so. I don’t know how it turned out, since I left before he decided whether to purchase the quick fix or not. Hopefully, the task didn’t involve hoses and water, too.
The friend with the hose problem got his golf clubs regripped for a measly $90 dollars. Eleven clubs, including labor, for that price. A good deal.
Another friend mocked him, saying he could do it for $25. Now the smart person is the one who recognizes his value and his limitations. For 65 bucks, is it worth it to have someone else who knows what he is doing regrip your golf clubs? I think so. You won’t find one flying out of your hands and clobbering your playing partner in the jaw from the mediocre job that would occur if you let your friend do it.
Our lives are littered with these examples. You may be an expert on a few types of projects. If not, you have to pay.
More things were free AND easier 50 years ago. Less complication allowed more people to tinker, be a handyman and finish household, car or appliance projects themselves. That is WAY LESS THE CASE today.
Most projects are harder, more complicated and expensive with the advent of more complex technologies. We feel impotent and poorer because we don’t know what we’re doing.
Fix what you can. Hire the professional when you can’t. Minimize the products you own that have too many directions or wires. That’s my best advice.
A good friend of mine, envisioning a side career as an amateur handyman, decided to do that recently. The disastrous results only pointed once again to how the simplest of tasks in today’s world can become torturous and run into more money than any of us expected.
His incident only related in him getting soaked, hoses popping off and spurting water over his work clothes, but if it had been you or someone else trying a slightly more complex task, who the heck knows how bad things could have gotten.
His situation began innocuously enough. He is having some work done on his house. The workers rehooked up the washer and reversed the hot/cold hoses. The first batch ruined some of his wife’s clothes when they were done in scalding water.
He figured out the problem and tried to reverse the hoses in the morning. The cold went on fine. The hot coupling was dodgy, but he got it in place. He turned the water back on. The hot hose popped off and saturated him – as he was getting ready to head off to his real job. Curse words ensued, I’m sure, then he screwed it back on and firmly tightened it with channel locks, then turned the water on. The hose stayed in place, but leaked at the coupling point badly.
Now he has to grind on the contractor to come fix the mess. As he puts it, “WHAT COULD BE EASIER THAN SWITCHING OUT TWO HOSES?!??!?”
One would certainly figure it to be an easy job. But like many other tasks today, it’s not. Sometimes you have to bite the bullet and hire the professional.
Today, I watched a guy describe to a saleswoman at an appliance store a leak on top of his stove that went into the dials, causing them to short and release smoke. He wanted to fix the problem and was talking to the woman behind the counter about what piece he needed and how to put it in. I thought, “Nope, don’t do it.” Listening to him, I started to comment, asking questions about whether he was good with appliances and had he ever done that type of replacement before. He was already hesitant about his talent level, and my questioning made him even more so. I don’t know how it turned out, since I left before he decided whether to purchase the quick fix or not. Hopefully, the task didn’t involve hoses and water, too.
The friend with the hose problem got his golf clubs regripped for a measly $90 dollars. Eleven clubs, including labor, for that price. A good deal.
Another friend mocked him, saying he could do it for $25. Now the smart person is the one who recognizes his value and his limitations. For 65 bucks, is it worth it to have someone else who knows what he is doing regrip your golf clubs? I think so. You won’t find one flying out of your hands and clobbering your playing partner in the jaw from the mediocre job that would occur if you let your friend do it.
Our lives are littered with these examples. You may be an expert on a few types of projects. If not, you have to pay.
More things were free AND easier 50 years ago. Less complication allowed more people to tinker, be a handyman and finish household, car or appliance projects themselves. That is WAY LESS THE CASE today.
Most projects are harder, more complicated and expensive with the advent of more complex technologies. We feel impotent and poorer because we don’t know what we’re doing.
Fix what you can. Hire the professional when you can’t. Minimize the products you own that have too many directions or wires. That’s my best advice.
