No, really.

I was watching this show (you know, on one of the educational channels) about living in Alaska.  They certainly are a hearty, independent, do-it-yourself kind of group.  Probably because they have to be.

They were describing the job of a remote maintenance worker.  This fellow is one of twelve `plumbers’ who have to cover hundreds of miles of territory.  Since they can’t put pipes underground due to permafrost and contents freezing, the sewage pipes are above-ground.  Apparently there was a problem and this poor fellow had to travel to a city one hundred miles to get there.  He had to go by plane, hoping the weather would be ok to get back out.

He needn’t have worried; it took forever to find the source of the problem.  Meanwhile, in an interview with residents of the town, they had no sewage or running water for two or three weeks and were quite happy to see the maintenance man.

With all this in mind, can you imagine your plumber (or electrician or repair man) getting in a plane just to fix your problem?  Jeez - they can hardly be relied upon to answer their phones, no less actually showing up and fixing the issue.