turn off the damn water!”
Jesus fucking Christ. This guy’s a dumbass!
Getting a clue, he hurries to shut off the water as I start to move the now soaked mats and equipment out of the way.
I swear to fucking God...if this stuff is ruined, I’m suing the shit out of this fucker!
Finally the water stops and dumbfuck comes strolling back.
“I think you’ve got a hole,” he says, looking up at the pipe with his hands on his waist.
No shit, Sherlock!
“I couldn’t care less about that right now. Get some towels and dry this stuff off,” I tell him, motioning to the mess he made.
“Oh, yeah…yeah, sure, I can help you with that…” he fumbles for words. “Where are your towels?”
You’ve got to be kidding me?
I look up at him like a bull ready to charge at any moment. “You’re a fucking plumber and you don’t have towels?” I ask through gritted teeth.
“Uh…no. Not with me, at least,” Frank replies apprehensively, knowing that he’s probably two seconds away from getting his ass beat.
“Just get the fuck out of here!” I yell, completely done with this fucker.
He stands there for a moment like he’s waiting for something.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” I ask while I’m sure I have steam coming from my ears. “You’re not getting a damn cent…” I take two steps closer so that I’m barely a foot away from his face. “I don’t give a fuck if you get paid by the damn hour. You better hope none of this is ruined ‘cause you’ll be fucking paying for it!”
I can see in his eyes that he wants to say something, but using the small portion of his brain that still works, he decides otherwise and steps around me to leave instead.
Good idea, fucker!
Needing a quick breather to calm my nerves, I stand there for a moment, hands on my hips and eyes shut with my head pointing down, inhaling deeply. It’s just water, I keep telling myself, trying to calm down. Moments like these are when I question if opening my own gym is too much of an undertaking. It’s stressful as hell, far from cheap, and takes time away from my love. Who knows when I’m going to be able to open the damn place now! I’m beginning to think it’s just a money pit that’s slowly eating away at me.
My phone rings, interrupting my mini breakdown, with none other than Mike.
“I could fucking kill you right now–you know that?” I tell him before even saying hello.
He laughs.
“I’m not kidding, fucker–where the hell did you find that dumbass plumber? He didn’t know his ass from his head, and there’s water everywhere now!”
So much for calming my nerves.
“Frank? He fixed all the pipes in my house–did a great job,” Mike says proudly.
“I don’t know what pipes he was fixing of yours, but the dumbass fucked up the ones here and made a huge damn mess of everything.”
“Shit…really?” he asks, now taking me a little more seriously.
“Yeah, I need you to get over here with a bunch of towels. I have a client in a half hour over at the other gym,” I tell him, desperately needing his help.
“Sorry, man, but I can’t,” he says, sounding genuinely bad. “I’m on my way to the doctor with Emma. Kourt thinks she has an ear infection.”
Emma is his one year old daughter, and Kourtney is his wife. Although I’m pissed as hell that he can’t help me, family comes first, so I have to understand.
Rubbing my face with my hand, hoping that it’ll give me some clarity, I exhale and respond, “No, that’s fine. I get it. Take care of your baby girl.”
“I’ll try and make it over after if I can. Kourt should be home from work by 5:30 to watch Emma. I’d bring her with me, but she’s had a nasty fever all day and is miserable.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’ll figure something out,” I tell him, trying to keep my cool. Mike isn’t who I’m mad at. I’m just pissed in general.
“Alright, man. Call me later if you change your mind.”
“Thanks. Good luck with the
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