Here’s one story about a certified building inspector who I met one day whose life made me reflect on my own. It may mean something or not, nonetheless, it’s an interesting story.
It all started one morning, just as I was about to go to an apartment building that I was going to show to a client later that day. I decided to take a walk and leave my car at home since it was only a few blocks away. Just as I was about to reach the corner of the 2nd block, I saw a man looking down a sewer grate, yelling something I couldn’t hear. As I walked up to the man to see what was going on, he saw me, threw something down the grill and ran away. Of course my curiosity got the better of me and so I peered into the grate. What I saw was the most amazing thing I ever saw in my life.
Down below there was the most luxurious home you’d ever see in your life, at least a home that was underground. And the man there was living a life fit for a king. The man had a balding spot and was wearing a purple robe with fuzzy slippers, while watching a news program on a flat screen television. It was a jarring sight to say the least since how often do you see a 5-star hotel room like quality living space below the streets? I tried to call out to the man, but I wasn’t heard over the din of the day’s traffic. After spending a few minutes admiring the scene, I went ahead to the apartment building.
This is the part where things get weirder still. When I arrived at the apartment building, I met with the certified building inspector who was tasked to do the building inspection. As we shook hands, he seemed very familiar to me. I shrugged it all, thinking maybe I was just too tired. As the day went on, it all seemed to make sense. The voice, the gestures and the way his darted toward me. As the day ended and we bid each other goodbye, it struck me that he was the man talking through the grate earlier that morning. I decided to invite him for coffee to ask him some questions, he accepted. Here is what he told me.
The man who was living underground turned out to be the inspector’s dad. You see, they once lived in a luxurious apartment building when it all came tumbling down. Literally tumbled. Why? Apparently, the building’s owners never bothered to have the building inspected, and so it crashed to the ground. This was the reason why the inspector decided to become a certified building inspector himself. As for the dad, he became deathly afraid of living above ground that he bought a piece of the sewer and made it his own living quarters. Ten years he stayed there and the son always tries to make his dad come up again. And what of the stuff he threw down that day? It was dirt to remind his dad where he was supposed to live.