😲 My father is a plumber, a man of the old school, who always does his job as if he were doing it for himself. He has often said how proud he is that people trust him with the most important parts of their homes. And although his work was sometimes thankless, he always approached it with full dedication and sincerity. But one day, he encountered an unusual situation.
My father took on a project to completely renovate the bathroom in a luxury home. The owners eagerly discussed every detail. They spent hours picking out tiles, arguing over grout colors, and insisting on a particular sink arrangement. My father was patient. He adapted to their whims, trying to satisfy every request they made.
He worked tirelessly for two weeks: replacing pipes, installing fixtures, and laying tiles. On the last day, when everything was almost finished, he was lovingly adding the final touches. But at that moment, the owners unexpectedly changed their tone.
— This isn’t exactly what we wanted, — the woman said with a dissatisfied face.
My father was shocked: they had chosen every detail, every tile themselves! But it got worse: they stated they would only pay him half of the agreed amount.
My father, who was used to resolving disputes peacefully, tried to explain. But it was all in vain. At this point, most people would probably have given up. But my father was a different kind of man. He took the half payment but decided to teach these “smart” people a small lesson.
For the next hour, he completed the final stage: grouting the joints. But instead of the usual mixture, he used a secret ingredient — a sweet solution made from sugar and honey. It looked perfect, and no one would ever suspect anything was wrong.
Once the work was finished, he packed up his tools, took the partial payment, and left, smiling broadly. The owners, pleased with their “victory,” had no idea what was waiting for them.
A couple of weeks later, strange things started happening. Ants began appearing in the bathroom, first in small groups, and then in whole armies.
The owners called pest control, but this was just the beginning. Cockroaches soon replaced the ants, attracted by the sweet grout between the tiles.
The owners spent a fortune fighting the insects, but nothing helped. They had to replace the entire tile job, including all the work my father had done. The irony was that they lost far more money than if they had just paid him the full amount in the first place.
When my father found out, he just smiled:
— Sometimes, life itself teaches people to be honest.
