For a man in Singapore whose toilet bowl got clogged, paying a professional S$100 for a five-minute job to unclog it was all worth it.
Matthew Zachary Liu took to Facebook to share his experience with a choked toilet, preventing him from flushing anything down and “threatening to overflow instead.”
After consulting with Google, which is the norm nowadays, and stumbling on many ways to fix a clogged toilet bowl, Mr Liu got working to address the problem.
He tried pouring hot water, pumping the hole, and pouring liquid to loosen the pipes. “I even attempted to dismantle the whole toilet bowl,” he noted.
He then made the wise decision of calling a professional instead. “The plumber came, used his tools, poked the hole five times, flushed twice…problem solved. In 5 minutes. And he billed me S$100,” said Mr Liu.
At this point, he didn’t know whether to laugh at how quickly the problem was resolved or cry that he had spent so much time trying to do it himself. He admitted it was always a choice between spending time “Googling” or hiring experts at a price.
“Because with professionals, whether a plumber, photographer, doctor or basically whatever…we’re not simply ‘paying for their time,’ we’re paying them a premium because they have the experience, skill, solution to serve or solve whatever we may be seeking.”
He added that the plumber could do it in five minutes “because they are damn good at what they do and deserve whatever they charge.”
Netizens agreed with the post, noting plumbers and electricians have highly-specialised skills; hence they could charge a high price.
“If you think you can perform as well as them, then DIY. You are paying for their years of experience,” said Facebook user CheeHao Lee in a comment with over 235 likes.
“Paying an expert in their field of expertise saves time and agony. The time is never just about the time on site, including the time to travel to the site and knowing what to do,” added Facebook user Felix Kim.
Facebook user, Valerie Woo, noted that the S$100 was a reasonable amount to pay than to have a clogged or burst pipe with sewage flowing out. “S$100 to me is a really small price to pay for peace.” /TISG