“Well crap, time to call the plumber” would have been the reaction of the past generation to a clogged toilet. But not for ours.
I was fortunate enough in my youth to have encountered many a toilets to have learned not only to plunge a toilet, but snake one as well. I was with the silent masses who cried against the government regulation to reduce the volume of water per flush in toilets. I had seen my share of rank and foul porcelain fixtures. But not many of my generation has shared my fortune.
Sometime during the cold months of New York when Darkness had majority vote over Light, a friend visited me. During the visit, my guest’s bowel movements had the unfortunate effect of ceasing the water flow in my humble latrine. This being rather soon after I moved into a new apartment, I hadn’t had the chance to procure the essential tools to rectify the situation. Thinking nothing of it, I left for work. As we met later in the day, my friend glowed with pride over having purchased a plunger for me and unclogged the toilet without my aid. I thought the pride was mayhaps exaggerated, but asked nonetheless how the task was accomplished.
“I looked it up on wikiHow first.”
Lo, the story of our generation.
Postscript – After the visit, I had recounted the story to another cohort of mine, however the conversation soon devolved into a comparison of how snaking a toilet might be similar in method to performing an abortion. Verily, the story of our generation.