I’ve learned a few things in my time on this planet, and one of them is that you NEVER, EVER mess around with certain people.

That includes cops, the IRS, the DMV…and plumbers.

Because plumbers can make your world a total mess!

Check out what happened when this plumber got screwed over.

How a plumber deals with a bad customer.

“I’m a service plumber and I have a ton of stories of petty revenge for people that have screwed me, but this one is my favorite.

About 5 years ago the company I was working for was called by a realtor we had dealt with in the past to winterize a home she had listed because the owner had already moved into their new home.

This was gonna be juicy.

Now I have to explain something to everyone that reads this: realtors are the single worst group of people for a service plumber to deal with.

As a contractor they tend to hold no value for your time as a commodity, usually want to be billed and, almost always want a discount because they “bring you a lot of work” (which is bull ****); this particular realtor was the worst of the worst, she also happened to be a major *****.

I was sent to the job and arrived with everything I needed exactly when my dispatcher said I would, I waited in my truck another 45 minutes for the realtor to show up and then she complained because she wanted the spot where I parked; I moved my truck for her to make her happy.

Once I got inside I started my work which was pretty easy; when you winterize a home you shut off and drain the water from the water lines, water heater and, fixtures; after the water is removed from the fixtures you pour RV antifreeze into the p-traps and toilets.

Homes are winterized to make sure water in the plumbing doesn’t freeze and get damaged in case the furnace fails or the power goes out, realtors and banks usually do it to protect a property that isn’t occupied.

I was just about done and I noticed that the main water valve into the home had a very slight drip, the valve was at least 50 years old and was showing its age.

To be honest, this didn’t matter much because when I was done in the house I was going to shut the water off at the street anyway.

I could easily replace the leaky valve at that time if they wanted to (it would have taken 5 minutes) or just leave it alone; it really was no big deal, until I mentioned it to the realtor.

Uh oh…

Upon hearing that the main valve had a slight drip the realtor just flipped out, she started yelling about how this was going to ruin her day and then she called the homeowner; the homeowner left his work 30 minutes away to personally examine the situation.

By the time the homeowner was called I had been on the job for about 2 hours including waiting for the realtor.

The homeowner shows up about 45 minutes later with a very arrogant attitude and accuses me of purposely damaging his valve, I explain that the valve is 50 years old and that replacing it was no big deal.

They weren’t getting the picture.

Because he was being a pain I offered to replace the valve for free.

Replacing the valve for free wouldn’t work for him so he and the realtor decided I should just fill the plumbing back up (this made absolutely no sense) and complained about wasting their time with winterizing.

When I was done I wrote up an invoice and presented it to the realtor, while she was going over the invoice with the homeowner I went into the basement to make sure I didn’t leave anything behind.

The basement was clean so I began heading back up when I heard them deciding not to pay me because “I didn’t do anything”.

I don’t think so!

I was very ****** off, as a rule a service plumber is only paid for the time he bills out and collects on; I was out more than 1/2 days worth of pay.

At that time I walked over to the furnace and shut the gas off to it long enough to extinguish the pilot light which will prevent it from working and turned the main water valve about 1/2 way on.

After a curt yet polite exchange with my two newest enemies I decided to let the office handle them.

It was about to get COLD in there.

About 2 weeks later we had a really bad cold spell and we received a lot of calls for frozen/burst water lines, one was from the realtor for the property I wasted her time at.

Because the realtor didn’t pay us for our last encounter we turned her work down.

I ended up working down the street from the house I winterized a few months later, it was off the market.

It turns out the water piping froze and then thawed flooding out the entire home and because nobody was living in the house at the time insurance wouldn’t cover the damages because they were “foreseeable”.”

And here’s how people reacted to this story.

This person asked a question.

Another individual chimed in.

This Reddit user has been there.

Another reader was impressed.

I bet they regret messing with this plumber!

Why would anyone think that was a good idea in the first place?

If you liked that post, check out this post about a woman who tracked down a contractor who tried to vanish without a trace.