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Original poster

To think I’m being a complete CF and not want to ring into work again!

243 replies

MeteorGarden92 · 20/03/2019 08:38

So I recently dropped to PT hours to accommodate completing my qualification. Work are wonderful and supportive but I know it’s a stretch for them!

Yesterday I get a call at 7am from DP who has written off his car on the way to work. He’s ok but car is not! (Second accident in 3 months but neither his fault- he has a 2 hour commute on bad roads).

Obviously I rang in and swapped my day off!! They were fine about it.

This morning he’s taken my car to work and I’ve come down to an exploded dishwasher poring water down the front of my washing machine (and no doubt over the plugs at the bag which I CANNOT get into) I’m 26 and not the most stressful practical with electrics but pretty sure I can’t go out to work and leave the new water feature going!

Rang DP - no answer as he’s no doubt mid way through an operation right now. (Dr) so don’t expect a response from him in the next hour or two and even if he does respond he’s over an hours drive away!

Rang my mum- can’t come over.

Rang the plumbers who didn’t answer yet.

This is the second time the dishwasher has done this in a month! And our car was sick a few weeks ago and had to be rushed into the vets (again by me as couldn’t reach DP at work!

DP and I are getting married in 12 weeks and he would bend over backwards to help...if I could get hold of him, which I never can as obviously they don’t allow mobiles in operating theatres and he spends 50% plus of his working day there!

He’s on a 13 hour shift today- I just feel like it’s always falls to me, and it’s always going to be my career taking a huge hit! I’m sat here feeling terrible about having to ring work again and honestly could just cry!!

OP posts:
FrogsAreMean · 20/03/2019 17:21

Back to you corners ladies! (or should I say children)

This place is crazy but funny as fuck at times!

OftenHangry · 20/03/2019 18:34

I am bit gobsmacked about how many people don't knkw how to shut off water/gas/electric.
It's dangerous. Not only for you, but for your neigbours. Gas explosion can easily flaten few houses at once.

I always thought everyone checked where these things shut off as a first thing after moving. That's what I heard and always done.

puppymouse · 20/03/2019 18:47

I'm 39 and I don't know how my house works

HappilyHarridan · 20/03/2019 20:10

I don’t know where my stopcock is.

picklemepopcorn · 20/03/2019 20:30

Sssh! Harridan, puppy!

Don't own up, pretend you knew all along but find out!

GimmeBread · 20/03/2019 21:44

Wouldn't have a clue how to turn off the gas, water, get out the house if the main door lock broke, put out a fire if the oven decided to misbehave, start the car if it decided to die on me. I'm 49. I'm intelligent, I've got a great career, successfully raised my children to adulthood but I'm just not practical.

I'm the woman who literally couldn't find her way out the bedroom in the middle of the night. I'm also the woman who phoned her husband and asked, and I quote, "can I park here?" (He was at home, I was 10 miles away). I'm ditsy. What can I say? Some of us are - it doesn't make us idiots.

JamButtyLand · 20/03/2019 22:08

My stopcock is behind a drawer in the kitchen. If I didn’t know where it was I doubt I would find it in an emergency.

ButterflyBitch · 20/03/2019 22:18

Haven’t read the whole thread, get it sounds like you’ve been piled on op. If it makes you feel any better, when my washing machine starting spurting put torrents of water (several inches deep in my kitchen) I had to pull a bloke of the street to pull my washing machine out and turn the water off as it was behind it. There’s no way I could have moved it by myself as too heavy.
Still at least I knew the water turner off thing was behind it eh op? even if there was feck all I could do about it by myself

Numptysod · 20/03/2019 22:30

Nurses operating technician can be in theatres

Lockheart · 20/03/2019 22:41

I too am amazed at how many people don't know where the stopcock is in their house or how to turn off gas and electricity.

If you don't know, find out now! It could one day save you a lot of money and stress.

I had an ex whose kitchen ceiling collapsed because a pipe under the bath had come loose and water was churning into the space under the upstairs floor. Initially he noticed a drip from the ceiling but hadn't turned the water off because he didn't know where it was. Next thing you know the kitchen is covered in plasterboard and the builders had to be in for a week to repair everything. What should have been a couple of hours for a plumber turned into a nightmare that took a month to set right.

So please, if you don't already know, make sure you familiarise yourself with how to do these things! Gas leaks and explosions can also be fatal - it's v important to know how to turn it off in an emergency!

OftenHangry · 20/03/2019 23:03

@Lockheart absolutely!
Such a little thing cane save you thousands and can save lives.

I talked about this with few people today and they mentioned when asked that if they were frying something and itcaught fire, theywould just pour water over it. 😮
While I have a designated tea towel I know is shit, to put over it. Considered buying a fire blanket after I accident "flambéd" a dinner once and realised that kind of fire is easier go start than we think.

I call out to MM to compile an emergemcy instructions for ppl to download. Like that it will get to ppl who need it.

Persimmonn · 20/03/2019 23:11

There really should be some kind of handy guide for homeowners to read before they buy a house. It could save you loads of money and save your life too.

My washing machine once started making deep weird whirring sounds. It was really scary and I thought that was it. So quickly googled and found I needed to clean the filter. Didn’t even know washing machines had filters! Anyway, I unscrewed and took out the drawer, and found loads of wet fluff along with a bra underwire. The satisfaction of removing that was immense!

OftenHangry · 20/03/2019 23:26

Guides are out there, but ppl have to go and want to find them🤷‍♀️

LondonHuffyPuffy · 20/03/2019 23:40

I am amazed and slightly appalled at the number of people - mainly women, I think - on this thread who admit to not even knowing basic information about their homes like how to turn off water, how to turn off/ isolate the electrics etc.

Saying you are smart but ‘ditsy’ is no fucking excuse IMHO. You are an adult. You should know how to do these things. It makes me really fucking despair.

Learn how to do these things! It’s not fucking difficult and could at best save your life or at the very least save you a shitload of money. Teach your kids this shit before they leave home.

If you buy an appliance like a cooker or washing machine then RTFM when it arrives and find out how it works. Keep the manual close to hand or somewhere you can find it in an emergency. Learn how your home works and whilst you’re at it learn the basics on how to look after your car.

Woman up.

OftenHangry · 20/03/2019 23:54

@LondonHuffyPuffy I have a manuals folder😂 Mainly for my DH who can't (neger had to) work out our new appliances.
I am also the one pressuring a boiler up etc. Google😁

Persimmonn · 21/03/2019 00:27

I am also the one pressuring a boiler up etc. Google

Me too! I love watching the needle go up, which is a bit sad, but satisfying. I was taught all these things by my dad.

LondonHuffyPuffy · 21/03/2019 00:50

@oftenhangry I have a manuals folder too 😂

And I am very jealous that you and @Persimmon have boilers which need the pressure sorting!

My Dad taught me how to do that too. Other stuff I made myself learn each time I moved

PurpleFlower1983 · 21/03/2019 03:32

Another one here who loves re-pressurising the boiler! Blush I love it when the needle goes up and having the excitemenr of needing to stop ir before it goes too far... Grin

PurpleFlower1983 · 21/03/2019 03:32

Sorry for the typos! It’s 3.30am and I’m in the middle of a night feed!

Lockheart · 21/03/2019 07:20

Re-pressurising the boiler is v satisfying, if over in a flash! Sadly mine is fancy and has a digital.display with no needle so less fun to watch.

I also quite enjoy bleeding the radiators...

OftenHangry · 21/03/2019 07:48

I had to learn that myself, because where I grew up we just use the electric ones, not gas boilers. Bless youtube😁
It is very satisfying. Especially after I bleed radiators.
And since last March, I also know where the pipe which can freeze is... Sat infront of the boiler at 1:30 AM googling pictures😂

@LondonHuffyPuffy yay! I am not alone in my folder madness😁

RB68 · 21/03/2019 07:55

yup folder with manuals
yup to all DIY
yup was my Dad's influence Mum is crap
yup DH useless unless IT or phone related

No stop cock in the house and difficult to fit one as well, we have valves we can use for dishwasher and washer now though (cos I got them fitted). We have to use the main water tap outside in the drive....but that is our house "quirky"

OftenHangry · 21/03/2019 08:03

@RB68 do you mean that part underground? We have some on (under) a pavement which has the ultimate stopcock there, and highway maintanance got some concrete over it so it was a pain to open when we needed to shut it off🙄

NameChangeNugget · 21/03/2019 08:06

Saddened that in 2019, there is such a high percentage of people who don’t know the basics.

Rubberduckies · 21/03/2019 08:22

Thanks to you OP there will be whole new group of women who will now find out how to switch off their water and electric. I agree that a vast majority of young (and old!) adults don't know how to do it. I also agree that it's ridiculous!

I think parents have a role here (speaking to anyone with teenagers!) to teach this stuff. I distinctly remember my parents showing my ds and I how to do these things once we were left at home alone e.g. after school - we were latch door kids.

"Right Rubberduckies, if you ever get home and there's a flood from somewhere, you need to switch the water off. This is how you do it. Then phone me, or mum or go to the neighbour's house."

"If there's no electricity, this is the fuse box. This is how it works. Get the step ladder and flick the fuse back on"

If they had never done this, I'd have never known that I needed to find out how to do it in any subsequent flat/house I lived in.

To people learning now, do just check your stop taps etc actually work....When we moved into our current house we found out our stop tap only switches off about 50% of the water flow. We had to use the tap in the road to fit our bathroom and change the tap!!! If you have water tanks in the loft they will have separate taps too.