Never mind that dude Joe the Plumber, or Sam or whatever his name is from Ohio, and his delusions of grandeur. Let's instead give credit to Vic the Plumber who is (unlike Joe)
- a real plumber
- a highly successful businessman
- and a sailor.
Vic entered a Plumbing Apprenticeship Program and after several years of intensive plumbing education he became a Journeyman Plumber. As soon as he qualified for the next step, he became a Plumbing Contractor. Then he became a College Plumbing Instructor and finally a Plumbing Distributor.
In 1995 (three years before Google was founded) Vic started selling plumbing supplies via the Internet, and his company PlumbingSupply.com is now the web's leading and most popular plumbing supplier.
Vic still owns the company but has stepped back from many of his duties to enjoy other activities, including sailing. Vic owned a Catalina 250wk from June 2002 through October 2004, and then purchased a 2005 Catalina 34MKII. He now apparently spends a good deal of his time Sailing on the San Francisco Bay.
Vic also seems to have had the sense to stay out of this year's presidential campaign. Probably too busy sailing. Sail on Vic. You are the one really living the American Dream.
7 comments:
This guy is pretty interesting. I guess I was expecting something salesman-y from his site. But instead, he comes off more like the Plato of plumbing contractors.
From Vic's bio page:
When you consider the contributions that plumbing and sanitation make to the quality of all of our lives,
then much of the other things that we do just seem so much less significant.
Joe,
I served my apprenticeship with Vic the Plumber,
I wrote HTML with Vic the Plumber,
I made my first million with Vic the Plumber,
Joe, you're no Vic the Plumber.
Yes greg and kris, Vic does seem to be something of a Plumping Philospher. Here's another one of his quotes...
"Society is nothing without good plumbing. What the world's poorest one billion need more than doctors, good roads, the Internet and even electricity, is quality drinking water and safe sewage disposal."
Vic the Plumber is quite influential. His "ramblings" where part of my new boat research.
"..Vic does seem to be something of a Plumping Philospher..."
I don't know, he looks in good shape to me.
I like some of Vic's more Zen thoughts:
"Imagine a world without hypothetical situations."
"Why isn't 'phonetic' spelled the way it sounds?"
Congratulations Mr. Tillerman - you've found us a sailing plumber-philosopher we can believe in. And he doesn't quote Nietzsche!
Not to mention that the guy is a Vietnam vet, has created jobs for at least 30 people (judging by the photos on his website), and is a kayaker as well as a sailor. I bet John Mccain wishes he had chosen Vic as his "role model" instead of that other dude.
Here's another one of the quotes from Vic's website...
"An excellent plumber is infinitely more admirable than an incompetent philosopher. The society that scorns excellence in plumbing just because plumbing is a humble activity, and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because it is an exalted activity, will have neither good plumbing nor good philosophy. Neither its pipes nor its philosophy will hold water."
That's what I'm talking about!
Hey Anonymous, If I've said once, I've said it twice, that guy is not Joe, I am. He's Sam, but not the pretty one who sails.
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