Why'd you get into this business?

This morning I was at the rental house to replace the downstairs bathroom sink faucets. One was leaking pretty bad and they were all rusted. Simple, huh? Bought a new faucet set, got my attitude into shape, brought my tools and went over.

The faucet thing actually went pretty well, took out the old sink, cleaned it up and unpacked the new kit. This was going pretty well, except I was still worried about what might come. This is not a good attitude to have in a repair situation with a limited time line. The tenants would be back around noon, and I needed to be done, and gone. I needed confidence.

Putting the sink back in, I realized the plastic nut on the drain was spinning. Each turn resulted in a cracking noise at the broken nut slipped over the threads. This was the last simple part of the job. Why did I need this?

Collecting myself, I took the parts and went over to my local plumbing supply. Presented my broken p-trap to the counter guy. I said "I just want to get something like this, I want to get the simplest thing to make this work".

His answer "Why did you get into this business?".

Why indeed? On the one hand, I was a bit proud that he thought I was a professional instead of the fumbling amateur that I really am. Thinking more while he went out to cut the one foot 1 1/2 inch waste pipe that I needed, I realized what he meant. In plumbing you typically start off with a simple job and then since everything is connected to everything and some of the things are really old and rusty, it becomes very difficult to draw a line and just fix up to that point and beyond that it'll just have to stay the way it is. This is especially difficult since you know there are things over that line that will break at some time. But is that my job? Where's the responsibility?

I got the p-trap replaced, hooked up the supply with new washers and think that will work. But there is always something behind the wall. And the sink didn't sit perfectly flat with the new hookups. I wonder if that p-trap nut broke because of a similar stress over 10 years or more.

Back at home, I'll take a shower and think it over. I'm tired, contorting under a sink for a few hours is quite a workout.