Weird Stories from Work

[CaberTosser]

An odd occurrence at work yesterday made me think that it might be fun to do a thread on weird things that have happened on the job that stand out from your usual work days.

Yesterday I got a panicked call from a neighbor two doors over who was noting that there was a major leak in their basement and that some horrible loud alien noise was happening, he also didn't know where his main water shut off was. He asked if I was home but I was not, though I headed over immediately from where I was as it sounded like it needed immediate attention. I got to his house and they noted that the odd noise had stopped. I went to their basement and they showed me the leak on the ceiling above their wet bar. There is no plumbing directly above the wet bar, neither water lines nor plumbing fixtures or even any drain pipes that would pass overhead. The leak on the ceiling had an odd pattern even, I noticed it was directly above the sink drain and the pattern on the ceiling matched the pattern of the sinks basket strainer... then I recalled the presence of the City of Calgary jetter truck down the block. When I left home 1/2 hour previous to my neighbor calling the city crew had just been hooking up the fire hydrant at the intersection to refill their truck, I had to drive around them in the oncoming lane just to exit our street. The crew had jetted the sewer main of our cul-de-sac but I know that the catch basin at that manhole out front also leads straight into my neighbors house as I had that open this year when clearing his plugged main, the issue was the city jetting his sewer contents back onto his basement ceiling! I spoke with the crew who were still right across the street to confirm/notify them of what had occurred. They apologized and noted to call 311 for a clean-up crew.

This was icing on the cake for this neighbor, this year they have had a foundation leak that caused basement damage that was subsequently repaired. Right as that interior finishing crew completed their repairs his main sewer backed up and then I was over there to clear that. Three weeks ago I removed an American dime that was jamming his garburetor, then this past Sunday his furnace needed repair and I fixed that. And then this! I'm also missing about 2 things that weren't plumbing related, but he's had quite a year over there.

Please share your most memorable work days, the weirder the better!