But yet it’s my fault

Friday morning as I am about 25 miles (40 kilometers) from home at work, my wife calls me. Crying and on the verge of losing her sanity as she described to me of a great crisis threating her. There was a water leak under the kitchen sink. And so I took the time to calm her down as I realize that my day was going to be a long one.

Under the sink, the floor area was wet as the sound of rushing water could be heard. As she endeavored to place the phone under the sink for me to hear it, I could only hear her getting more frustrated by the second. She had already taken everything out from underneath the sink and was looking all around for the leak.

I asked her repeatedly if there was a valve of any kind under the sink. At this point I must say that I myself don’t know what’s under the sink. The only time I look under there is when I have to get a trash bag. So as she is looking at the pipe work for a shut-off valve I began to learn more ways to curse in Japanese. And so I took her word that there was no shut-off valve there but that it must be under the house.

And since she is not the type of person to go crawling under there, she did made arrangements for the plumbers to come out as quick as they could to fix it. I went back to work with constant updates of how many towels she had to use so far with most of the back wall becoming very soggy and falling apart. Not to mention a blanket or two to keep the water pouring all over the floor. Never have I’ve been so scared to answer my cell phone.

But I got through the day and by the time I reached home after 6 PM, the plumbers were already there fixing the problem. A small pin-hole leak. After they left I looked at the water damage as well as the repair work. And what I say next would have led me on an odyssey of curse words, name calling and utter frustration. 

Directly under the kitchen sink was the water cut-off valve. I did quickly point this out to her. And after a demonstration that moving the lever would have prevented so much water damage underneath the sink area.

She quickly tried to change the subject. Going so far as to say that the level was hard to operate. I could see her point. The level only moves in one direction to turn the water off and the other way to turn it back on. Finally she played the female card. Stating that I should have left work and came home to take care of this family crisis. The house that she has raises our two boys is falling apart because I had something better else to do. 

So I played the man card. I just said “Whatever” and walk away.