taylor12•1mo agoMost Upvoted

Shoutout to that dude at the Ace Hardware who saved me $200 on a pipe repair

I tried fixing a leak under my kitchen sink in St. Louis with some cheap epoxy putty from the grocery store, wasted $15 and made the drip way worse over 3 days. Then a random guy in the plumbing aisle told me to just get a $6 slip coupling instead of calling a plumber. Anyone else had a stranger steer you away from a bad DIY decision?

2 comments

2 Comments

robert_bell1mo ago

Oh man, that guy is a legend! Slip couplings are such a lifesaver for copper pipe fixes, I learned that the hard way too after trying to solder with a torch in a tight spot under my sink and almost setting a towel on fire. It's wild how one simple tip from a stranger in the hardware store can save you a couple hundred bucks and a weekend of frustration. I bet that guy has saved a ton of folks from calling plumbers just by hanging out in the plumbing aisle.

carr.lee1mo agoMost Upvoted

And the crazy part @robert_bell, that guy probably doesn't even know he's a local legend. He's just some retired plumber with nothing to prove, hanging out giving free advice. Most of these big hardware chains hire people who can't tell a pipe wrench from a tongue-and-groove, so these random heroes fill the gap. I bet he's seen ten different people walk in with the exact same leaky pipe issue and walked them through the fix in under five minutes. Real talk, those dudes are worth more than the store's entire "how to" section.