# Lycan and the Plumber



## Jelpy (Nov 8, 2009)

I just about had to fight the Plumber off to keep Lycan this weekend. The toilet tank wasn't holding water so I'd called a local guy to take a look at it. Lycan was wandering around the house when the plumber came over and bounded up to greet the man. Plumber looks at Lycan and says.

"He's pretty."

"Oh, thank you. " I said. "I got him at the pound."

"Really? He's mine."

"Uh, Sorry?"

"He's my dog, Teddy. TeddY?" Lycan, happy to respond to anyone who is giving him attention, cavorts over to get a head pat. "He responds to his name."

"Yeah, he'd respond if you called him liverwurst. He's not your dog."

"My dog was lost. You got your dog at the pound. He must be my dog."

"No. He was turned in by his previous owner, who also provided his pedigree. He was not picked up as a stray. He's MY dog."

"oh no? Watch this: Teddy, sitzen." The plumber uses the same gesture I use for sit and Lycan obediently flops down and starts scratching an ear. "He knows German."

I take a deep breath. "He doesn't know german; he sat down in response to your hand signal. He is NOT your dog."

"I can make him lie down"

"So can I, and he's going to do so any second anyway because he's tired of sitting." I snap, wondering if we're going to come to fisticuffs.

"Teddy! PLATZ!" By which point Lycan has already decided he's bored and going over anyway. The plumber looks up triumphantly. "See! He's-" The man pauses as Lycan flops on his side and covers his face with his paws. "Teddy, that's not....Teddy: PLATZ!" 

Lycan rolls onto his back and waves his paws, inviting a scratch. The plumber starts to look significantly less confident. 

"He's not acting like Teddy."

"That's because HE'S NOT TEDDY! His name is Lycan. I can give you the name and phone number of the previous owner AND show you his pedigree. "

The plumber stands there with a crestfallen look on his face, peers closer at Lycan's nether parts and turns an accusatory look on me. 
"You CASTRATED him!" The words "You heartless bitch!" are unspoken but deeply felt. 

"The pound doesn't let you leave with the dog until it's fixed. Even if this was your Teddy, he'd still be missing his manly parts. Now if we can move on, the toilet is back here."

Grumbling and muttering the plumber replaces a part, sticks me with a $140 bill and leaves, but not before leaving me with the helpful advice that I should only speak to him in German. German shepherds are, after all, from Germany and that's their first language.

The amazing thing is, I think he billed the time he wasted arguing with me as part of his 'working hours." :help:


Jelpy


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## Veronica1 (Jun 22, 2010)

Wow - that's crazy! Did the guy actually think you were going to say, oh ok, take the dog then?


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## Jelpy (Nov 8, 2009)

I think so. And if I had genuinely thought it was his Teddy, we'd have worked something out; I wouldn't want to keep someone from their beloved pet. By the time we got to the point of him telling me (with all the assurance of the truly clueless) that he would learn faster if I spoke to him exclusively in German, however, his chances of getting Lycan under ANY circumstances were nonexistant. 

Jelpy


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## Good_Karma (Jun 28, 2009)

So amazing the people who think GSDs speak German. You were very patient with this man. I think I would have gotten irritated.


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## arycrest (Feb 28, 2006)

Good_Karma said:


> So amazing the people who think GSDs speak German. You were very patient with this man. I think I would have gotten irritated.


I used to work with a guy who was so stupid that he warned a co-worker who was adopting a 2 or 3 day old baby from South America that the baby would have problems growing up in the US because he'd only be able to speak and understand Spanish (and NO, he wasn't kidding).


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## Stosh (Jun 26, 2010)

People kill me- when I was walking Stosh, a woman asked 'what nationality is he?' I said German but he was born here and I have papers to prove he's legal


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## shilorio (Mar 21, 2010)

we just adopted chucho and we were walking in a park on the island we adopted him from and a man comes up to us, "did you adopt that dog from the shelter?" my dad hesitated to answer,, my dad then said ".. his name is duke" duke is what the shelter folk called him,, then the man siad, oh i thought he was a dog i knew, then my dad said "well he is from the shelter" then the man said "CHUCHO!!!" and al these people came over to visit him! it was so sweet and they were thanking us for taking him and everything,, then when we came back to seattle a totally different tryed telling us it was his dog! and that he lost him around pike place market! but when we adopted and saw his owners on orcas island!


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## VChurch (Jun 14, 2010)

That's a crazy story!!!

Sobacca was stray and walked in our garage as a puppy and I have always been worried about that happening to me -- granted he's now four years old (I've had him since he was a baby, couldn't have been but eight weeks old) and the odds of it happening seem a lot slimmer. I don't know what I would do if someone ever told me that he was their dog; I think my heart would drop out of my chest.


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## Hunther's Dad (Mar 13, 2010)

If that happened in my house, the only two words that would have mattered to the plumber would have been "you're fired."


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## Jelpy (Nov 8, 2009)

Didn't occur to me 'til after the fella left. Does anyone know if $140 is the going rate for replacing the flush/flapper mechanism on a tank? Or did he stick me with a high bill out of spite?

Jelpy


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## Jessiewessie99 (Mar 6, 2009)

Whoa. He is crazy.lol. We have had Tanner for about 2 or 3 years now, but I don't think we will ever find whoever dumped him on the streets. He was brought into the shelter as a stray.

My mom would have gone off on that dude if that happened to us.


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## paulag1955 (Jun 29, 2010)

Jelpy said:


> Didn't occur to me 'til after the fella left. Does anyone know if $140 is the going rate for replacing the flush/flapper mechanism on a tank? Or did he stick me with a high bill out of spite?
> 
> Jelpy


I don't know if it's the going rate, but it seems really high for a job I've done myself.


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## bluecoyote (Aug 16, 2009)

This guy would have been out of my house about 20 seconds into this conversation.


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## AbbyK9 (Oct 11, 2005)

> Does anyone know if $140 is the going rate for replacing the flush/flapper mechanism on a tank?


If this was a weekend call, that may well be the going rate. I don't know. However, you probably could have fixed this yourself for relatively cheap. We've had the same issue when we lived in Virginia (toilet just kept flushing) and it was a very easy fix. Shut off the water, go to the store for part, put part in. It's pretty self-explanatory.


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## Jelpy (Nov 8, 2009)

The last time I tried a "Simple repair" on a toilet it resulted in a cracked tank, a sunday evening Plumbing call (I couldn't get the water turned off) and an extremely painful bill. This led to my first rule of home repairs:

1. It's only simple if you're successful. 

Meanwhile, I think I'll keep a close eye on my Lycan puppy. He's such a goofball he'd go bounding off with the plumber or anyone else without a second thought to it. 

Jelpy


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## Shavy (Feb 12, 2009)

Jelpy said:


> Didn't occur to me 'til after the fella left. Does anyone know if $140 is the going rate for replacing the flush/flapper mechanism on a tank? Or did he stick me with a high bill out of spite?
> 
> Jelpy


I think a $100 service call is standard (at least it is here in NYC), but the extra $40 seems unreasonable to me, considering it probably took him 5-10 minutes to replace and the part itself is inexpensive. I highly doubt it had anything to do with spite, though.

Always get a quote BEFORE they come, and make sure they stick to it!


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## Melina (Feb 20, 2010)

Some people are down right insane...

Did anyone read that in a kind of comical manner as I did? (Not that it was at all funny, just the sheer ridiculousness of the whole thing made it somewhat humorous). I envisioned the whole scene as a kind of Monty Python-esque sketch.


*English Accents*


"Oh, hello, 'tis my dog!"

"Your dog? I got him at the pound!"

"No you didn't"

...Closer inspection

"You've castrated him!"

"'Tis but a scratch"

"A scratch? His balls are off!"


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## Jessiewessie99 (Mar 6, 2009)

Melina said:


> Some people are down right insane...
> 
> Did anyone read that in a kind of comical manner as I did? (Not that it was at all funny, just the sheer ridiculousness of the whole thing made it somewhat humorous). I envisioned the whole scene as a kind of Monty Python-esque sketch.
> 
> ...


:rofl:


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## Chicagocanine (Aug 7, 2008)

Melina said:


> Did anyone read that in a kind of comical manner as I did? (Not that it was at all funny, just the sheer ridiculousness of the whole thing made it somewhat humorous). I envisioned the whole scene as a kind of Monty Python-esque sketch.


Not until you posted that! :spittingcoffee:

I've had people try to tell me some weird things, like my Golden Retriever MUST be an old dog because she had white whiskers. She was only about 2-3 years old at the time. Her whiskers had always been cream-colored.


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## Jelpy (Nov 8, 2009)

Yeah, the whole conversation struck me as having kind of a surreal quality. I've noticed many portions of my life seem to veer into the ridiculous. I'm not sure if I attract this kind of thing or if my perception of reality is to badly tilted that I just view them oddly. 

Jelpy


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## Stogey (Jun 29, 2010)

Stosh said:


> People kill me- when I was walking Stosh, a woman asked 'what nationality is he?' I said German but he was born here and I have papers to prove he's legal


That's just funny stuff right there now !!! :thumbup:


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## chicagojosh (Jun 22, 2010)

lol, what a crazy story. fight the bill!


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## KingsMom (Mar 7, 2010)

The story is great for a laugh! Some people are rally, really dense!  -- and yeah, $140 is pretty high........but considering the time he spent, maybe not.


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## tonkatuff81 (Jul 13, 2010)

Sounds lik a "Seinfeld" episode.


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## RadarsShadow (Nov 16, 2009)

My first response would be to get out the second would be that I'm calling the police.


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## StryderPup (May 16, 2009)

Wow! That would make me so nervous. That guy sounds like a piece of work. I would be worried he may try to come back.


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