Many years ago (only old people can use “many” in front of “years ago”) I worked in an office that had a brilliant maintenance man who could fix anything. His one failing, however, was that he could be easily distracted.
One day, he took on the faulty urinal in the men’s washroom on our floor. He disconnected the pipe below the porcelain fixture and, called away, left the job temporarily unfinished. He also left with the pipe for some reason. And he failed to put up a sign warning potential users of the room that the facility was out of order.
The washroom was in plain sight of my desk and I watched as digusted fellow male employee after enraged worker, left the washroom less happy than when they entered it. After seeing this parade of unhappy men leave the washroom, I suspected something was up, but no one said anything, as I recall.
But I have a very short memory and I soon paid a visit to the bathroom with its dysfunctional urinal to take care of some business. As things proceeded, I thought I heard an unusually loud sound of running water and finally looked down to see my shoes covered in moisture of some sort whereas they had been dry when I entered the room.
I left as miserable as my fellow workers had done before me. What made matters even worse, if that was possible, the washroom was carpeted for some reason so the fun never ended.
I think someone finally put up a sign. I don’t remember how this unfortunate incident was brought to a resolution, but I have a feeling the maintenance man’s projected pay raise was put on hold. Also on hold was the reason for our visits to the washroom. Instead, there was a steady stream (unfortunate word choices) of the males among us heading for a restaurant across the street. One after another, we all returned with a coffee in hand as our price for using the facilities there.
However, if I remember this right, that place didn’t have the best coffee in town and it went through us like you-know-what through a goose and so the cycle continued. Back home, I left my shoes on the front porch overnight to dry out.
The things a man will endure for a paycheque.
©2023 Jim Hagarty
