A man shared how a prejudiced customer refused to believe a woman could be a plumber – and what occurred after he turned her away.
The sharer has changed names to safeguard identities.
His Father’s Construction Company
“Many moons ago, I worked in construction, repairs after water and fire damage specifically.
“We typically handle everything on the job site, including hiring third-party painters, plumbers, and electricians, as the jobs we took were insurance jobs.”
He Was Okay With The Male Workers
“The customer was home as I was finishing up putting down new floorboards and molding after a water leak in their kitchen due to cracked plumbing, asking questions about the job and being pleasant to be around.”
The Plumber Arrives
“As I was packing down my gear, the plumber we contracted arrived. I was pleasantly surprised to see that *Helen was the one showing up. Having worked with her before, we have a quick chat as she grabs what she needs from her truck.”
A Young Woman
The plumber wasn’t what the customer had envisaged.
“Helen was in her early twenties at this time, with a year or two on the job but is constantly praised behind her back by her co-workers for her exceptional work.”
They Thought It Would Be An Ordinary Job
“I walk back into the house with her and show her the kitchen, and she gets ready to do her work. I enter the living room with my broom and vacuum to clean up after myself and inform the tenant that the plumber is here and his kitchen will be fully functional once she is done.”
He Refused To Believe She Was Capable
“‘She? Women can’t be plumbers,’ he says as he lets out an annoying grunt. I assure him it is a she and that she knows her stuff. He looks quizzically at me and moves to the kitchen to, I assume, confirm that it is, in fact, a woman. I loosely follow as I sense a situation brewing and because I am curious.”
The “Real” Plumber
“In the kitchen, he lets out a disappointed ‘Hello?’ and after she introduces herself, he asks where the ‘real’ plumber is. She informs him that she is the plumber and will be done shortly. He refuses to believe that she is the actual plumber and asks again where the ‘real’ plumber is.”
He Called Her A Cute Little Girl
“She gives a confused look, and before she has time to respond, he utters, ‘I want a real plumber, not a little girl who cried her way to this job and will screw it up because a cute little girl like you cannot be a plumber.’”
He Threw Her Out Of The House
“This rightfully angers her, and she does not know how to respond. I tell him she is a plumber and is more than capable of a simple job like this. He still refuses to believe this and tells her to call a ‘real’ plumber and orders her out of the house.”
A Call To The Boss
“She gets up and heads over to her car with tears in her eyes. I asked if she was ok, and she said yes but I doubt that was true. She told me to finish up what I was doing while she called her boss. I figured she wanted to be alone for a few minutes and obliged.”
The Boss Stepped In
“Her boss, hearing what had happened, instructed her to stay there while he came over to talk to this fine specimen of humanity. I finished my tasks at the house and stayed to talk with her while we waited for her boss.”
The Customer Was Relieved When a Man Arrived
“When her boss came, we gave him the whole story and watched him go over to the house. Their interaction took place at the front door, next to where we were parked. The owner of the house spat out, ‘Finally, someone who knows their stuff, right this way’ and turned around to show the location of the kitchen.”
He Didn’t See That Coming
“Her boss just said ‘No,’ making the owner turn back.
‘Just because she is a young woman does not mean she is not a great plumber; she is one of my best. You do not talk to any of my employees like that. We will not finish this job.’”
They Walked Away
“After that, he returned to us and said, ‘Let’s go.’ We all left. As our company was the project lead, we would have found a different plumber to take the job. However, my dad does not care for these disrespectful people.”
Refusal Of Service
“Once I told him about that day’s events, he contacted the insurance company and informed them that the customer was disrespectful to his employees and subcontractors and would no longer offer services to this customer.”
He Shot Himself In The Foot
“We still had some carpentry work left at this man’s house waiting for the electrician to finish his work which also was canceled as they were subcontracted and paid by us.”
This meant the insurance company had to contract a new company for the project lead, which had to contact their subcontractors.”
Delays
“The magnificent timing of these events meant that no one had open slots in their calendars for this job.
We have a good relationship with the insurance agents we work with, and we were informed that it took a whole week before this job was completed instead of being finished the next day.”
He Got A Pal To Do The Plumbing
“The bigoted man enlisted a non-professional friend to do the plumbing, which backfired, costing hundreds of euros of damage. And because an amateur completed the job, his insurance didn’t cover it!”
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