A Long Time

The plumbing manager at the company I work for is an old family friend, and like an uncle to me. About three weeks ago he asked me if I would mind helping out on a plumbing job(as I had only been trained on the drain cleaning part of the job and don't really have any plumbing experience, I was to be cheap labor and get a little experience). I told him I didn't have a problem helping out and was told it would be a 2-3 day job. Then, I was given the bad news. He named the plumber who was running the job. This guy is a good plumber but had never done a big job like this and is also an asshole of epic proportions. Myself and another trainee were sent in the first night and after being given instruction on how and what parts of the floor were to be cut the plumber went home and left us to it. We were given gas powered concrete saws to cut a floor in an enclosed area and then not given any way to vent the area in question. So by the end of the night nothing was accomplished, as the other trainee and I were getting sick from breathing the carbonmonoxide and could only stand to be in the room for about 10 minutes at a time before we had to get out and get some air for about a half hour. At my old PI gig the owner had a motto: 5 P's, Proper planning prevents poor performance. At Noon on the day the job was starting I was in the office after working a few hours in the morning and saw the plumber on the phone trying to line up some floor saws after having known about this job for over a week.

Well, after several set backs and a lazy head plumber, a 3 day job turned into 2 weeks and I broke training and started my regular schedule the day after we finished the job. So, I finally have my days off, but, yesterday I was too tired to blog and had other stuff that required my attention. So here I am today.

Happy Valentines Day.

Last week on a morning I made it back to the shop for something, I ran into one of the senior drain techs. He told me something that broke my heart. Through some odds coincidences he had met one of my best friends a few weeks before. And had found out that this friend was fired from their job for stealing a few days before. I have considered this friend like a brother for most of my 28 years. This friend has always had a problem with lying, but for the most part it seemed like he was only hurting himself and has always been a "shirt off his back" sort of guy. He has been there for me for years. However, the little piece of information that had just been passed on to me really brought some older issues to the forefront and over the past few years I have become less tolerant of his lies. So I decided that when he finally told me that he had lost his job, if he didn't give me the true account and made up some bullshit reasons, I was going to confront him with what I knew. I know this could end a friendship that I have held very dear to me, but, I have decided that by letting him lie I am not being a very good friend, either.

Today this friend called me and gave me a false account of what happened and I let him know what I knew. At that, the conversation ended. I wanted to do it face to face so that he wouldn't be able to leave before I said my piece. I still love this guy like a brother, but unless he can start taking responsibility for his actions and take a little pride in who he is, I don't know if I can be his friend again. I hope this is a wake-up call for him and he straightens himself out. I really don't know if I did the right thing by letting him know and not doing it in person. And it hurts to think that we may not be friends again, but, for now what's done is done.