Doofus Dad Tropes
When is a trope not a trope? Hot water heater edition.
Doofus Dad tropes are really annoying.
One of the most common in sitcoms and commercials is the dad who can’t do laundry right, buys the wrong product, or burns dinner. Insert just about any easy, day-to-day task.
Sometimes it’s all about Dad mangling a repair job.
What bothers me about the trope is when it gets picked up as a universal truth. Reality is much more complicated.
Is the behavior actually weaponized incompetence? Run through the reddit relationship threads and you will find multiple examples of this behavior. r/relationships has story after story of men (and some women) who claim to be unable to wash dishes, wash or fold laundry, clean a house, or make basic food.
I’m sorry, how do you become an adult and not be able to make a simple sandwich?
Don’t answer that.
The other end of the trope is a dad who attempts to fix something mechanical. Is there a more systemic problem to solve rather than a fast repair? For this one, I turn to a continuing issue in our own home.
Our hot water heater died a month ago.
It’s a First World Problem (FWP).
We can boil water to wash dishes, take showers elsewhere, or do a sink bath, and wash our laundry on cold (which we were already doing). It’s annoying but not a life-threatening emergency. My Dear Sweet Husband (DSH) has been trying to repair it.
BTW: he’s been in the building trades for over 30 years. He knows how to build and fix things. He can read an electrical schematic.
We have bought parts multiple times.
He has machined a part.
He has placed, removed, and placed again, the same part several times.
He has measured gaps, cut fingers, and been crammed into a very small space over and over again, trying to get the thing repaired.
Most of the month has been spent waiting for a part to arrive while he runs another diagnostic.
Doofus Dad? Oh, hell no.
As the observer in this situation, I am pretty sure he’s running into every homeowner’s worst appliance nightmare: planned obsolescence. Yes, parts are available, but the system is builder-grade.
{Pause for update call from husband…}
Confirmed: Planned obsolescence.
DSH called in a plumber this morning. He gave DSH the 4-1-1.
The system, the Rheem Performance water heater, sold through Home Depot, is a pile of crap. We were lucky to get nine years out of it.
The plumbing company doesn’t bother repairing the model because the replacement parts are also crap. Home Depot doesn’t even sell them, and they are the exclusive retailer for this water heater.
Now begins the pain of shelling out for a new system.
And one piece of advice: check your system. If you have one of these, consider replacing it before it goes out.