15 Stories That Prove Repairmen Are Full of Surprises

Typically, when we call a professional tradesman, we expect simple things: to fix a tap, put up wallpaper, or assemble a wardrobe. But sometimes, you might get a free ticket to a stand-up show along with the service. Our heroes encountered professionals exactly like this who left behind so many emotions that clients still recall their antics and share stories about it online.

• This is the most romantic story I recently encountered. Our boiler started malfunctioning. We urgently called a repairman. He could come only after his shift and arrived at 10 p.m.
  Since the man was hungry, he accepted a coffee. I made him sandwiches, laid out some candy and cookies, and brought them to him. He said, “No, no, thank you, my wife is waiting for me with dinner at home. I’ll just have a sip of coffee, and that’s it.”
  I said to him, “At least try the cookies. They are delicious, and we don’t have them here. I recently brought them from Germany.” He replied, “Really? In that case, can I take them for my wife?”
  He carefully wrapped the cookies and candies in a napkin and put them in his pocket. A hungry man. He didn’t even take a bite for himself; he took it to the one he loved. To bring a treat and enjoy her dinner.
  It was so sweet! And it touched me deeply! By the way, the man isn’t young; he’s middle-aged. © glafira2011
• Once I accidentally messed up the settings on my sewing machine, so without much thought, I found a repairman and called him to fix it. A man around 60 years old came over, looked at it, told me how much it would cost, and started setting it up. Meanwhile, he called his wife and said, “You can book a manicure today.” It was so sweet. © tursyntaeva9218
• The radiator in the bedroom wasn’t working. We called a repairman. He fixed something yesterday and was finishing it today. The result: all the radiators in the house stopped working. © dasha_yoga_hammock

• Recently called a technician to install a garbage disposal in the kitchen, replace the bidet shower and the faucet. He kept saying, “Everything is in good condition; why replace it?” He didn’t respond to my “I want to.”
  While installing the garbage disposal in the kitchen, he said, “You’re not a café; you don’t have that many vegetable scraps. Why do you need it? Whatever makes a child happy.” I replied, “If I were a child, you wouldn’t have received the order.” © alina__khismatulina
• One time, we had our air conditioner fixed, and the technician was thrilled by how it was mounted. He said, “Can I take a photo? This looks like something out of a catalog.”
  That was incredibly pleasing because initially, the air conditioner was installed in a completely different place. There was a lot of discussion about relocating it as we wanted. Even the ceiling was remodeled for this. © veronikamaribu

• We were doing renovations and called in a couple of guys to work with drywall. Sure, there were some quality concerns, but that wasn’t the main issue.
  One day we came home and found cut-off jean legs in the bedroom. We couldn’t figure out where they came from until we realized the builders were sewing shorts in our bedroom and left the legs behind. Shortly after that, I learned how to do drywall myself. © darwinn_** / Reddit
• Called in a plumber to work in our bathroom. Came home, and there was a huge crack in the middle of the bathroom floor and scratches all over our bathtub. The floor was a mess, and it honestly looked like the plumber and the apprentice had been in a fight. Left a handwritten note saying, “Could not finish bathroom due to underlying problems.”
  It was a small plumbing service, and when I tried to call many times, no one answered. Tried to get in contact and report the event, but after months we gave up because we just always came to dead ends. Still baffled about what actually happened that day and have never gone out while service people have been in my house since. © owlette23 / Reddit
• My mom had her kitchen floor and backsplash retiled when I was in middle school. She got charged double for the labor. Here’s how the explanation went when my mom asked why the final cost was higher than the quote.
  Don’t remember the exact numbers, but this was the logic: “Well, I did 20 hours worth of work. And then I had someone here helping me, and he did 20 hours of work. So that’s 40 hours. Times 2 of us comes out to 80 hours of labor.”
  My mom was just like, “Oh okay” and wrote them a check. © Chosen_Fighter / Reddit

• This was in an apartment long ago, but my former slummy landlord’s contractor used our bath towels to wipe up caulk, used my sketchpad as a surface on which to cut drywall (slicing through a third of it), and left a pile of construction dirt and garbage on the bed. Par for the course with that apartment. © bearily / Reddit
• I don’t know about the dodgy tech guys my acquaintances talk about, but I got lucky here. My boiler stopped working, and for the first time in my life, I had to call a handyman. Thought it would be tough, even started to get nervous, but then I found this guy on a more or less decent website and gave him a call.
  He showed up the next day at the agreed time, put on the shoe covers he brought along, did everything he could, and charged exactly what he quoted over the phone. I was just thrilled with him! I left a positive review for him, and later I received a message from the man thanking me, as he got a bonus at the end of the month. Wow! © Not everyone will understand / VK
• For ages, I couldn’t find a good plumber to fix my leaky faucet issue. It drips every day. No matter how many times it got repaired, after a while, it would start dripping again. Sometimes it lasted a day, sometimes two, and the record was a whole 4 days without leaks!
  One day, a strange number called me. I picked up, and there was a man. He got the wrong number and apologized. A couple of days later, I accidentally dialed him back due to call history. He decided to joke around and sent a message offering his services.
  Turned out he was a plumber! We had a chat; he came over and fixed the leaky faucet in an hour. Not once has it leaked since! Apparently, the universe took pity on me and sent this magical specialist my way. © Not everyone will understand / VK

• Once, the flushing mechanism in my tank broke in the middle of the night. Tired of listening to the sound of water, I posted an ad online.
  Within half an hour, a man nearly 6 feet 6 inches tall with a perfect face, body, and a charming accent walked into the house. He changed everything in 10 minutes and left quietly. And I sat there thinking that I’ve been looking for a man in the wrong places all these years. © cavalife_energy
• I called a repairman to fix the washing machine. Everything went smoothly. Just as he was about to leave, he said, “For this kind of job, you should pay extra.” I got suspicious.
  He smirked and said, “You’re a girl; why don’t you keep track of your personal belongings?” He handed me a gold chain that I had lost a long time ago.
  Turns out, he found it during the repair. And he started laughing, saying he scared me. Indeed, a valuable find!
• Our toilet clogged, so we called a repairman. An hour of struggling, nothing found. “It’s completely clear,” he said. My husband insisted the problem was real. Another half hour passed.
  Then suddenly he ran over to me, grinning, “Caught you!” and showed me a teapot lid! Turns out, I poured tea into the toilet recently and didn’t even notice the lid fall in! My husband was standing there, super pleased, and I was blushing!
• I recently called a repairman; the washing machine broke down! He came and fixed everything in 10 minutes. Meanwhile, I was cooking something and left the kitchen cabinet door open.
  Time to pay. I pulled the money out of my wallet, and then he said, “Miss, instead of money, can I have a jar of pickles?” I was stunned!
  He explained, “I happened to see them in the cabinet. We’re getting together with friends tonight, and it would be perfect! Besides, there wasn’t anything complicated with your washer.”
  So I thought, “Sure, why not!” I gave him the biggest jar, and he left happy.

And these stories prove that hiring a repairman is always a total lottery.