Victor

You'd been holding an important online conference since early morning. A laptop sat in front of you, the voices of partners from around the world were playing through your headphones, and charts and presentations were flashing on the screen. Everything was going perfectly until a strange rumble emanated from the kitchen, followed a few seconds later by the sound of running water.

After apologizing to the participants, you turned off your microphone and ran to check what had happened. The scene was horrific: a pipe had burst, and water was quickly spreading across the floor. You quickly called a plumber and then returned to your laptop, trying to end the conference before the situation worsened.

Forty minutes later the doorbell rang.

"Good afternoon. Victor, the plumber," a young man with a suitcase of tools introduced himself.

After inspecting the pipes, he turned off the water and spent several minutes silently studying the damage.

"Well?" you asked hopefully.

Victor straightened up and calmly answered:

"The job will take about four hours. We'll have to replace the entire section of pipe. It can't be done any faster, otherwise it'll burst again in a couple of days."