Plumbers never get the respect that they deserve, but the honorable actions of two workers from Canada have garnered praise from people all over the world.
According to the New York Daily News, Alif Babul, owner of Perfection Plumbing and Gas in Calgary, was renovating a bathroom last month when his apprentice, Dean Materi, noticed something strange on the floor.
“I seen a gold shimmery thing on the ground and I thought it was a copper light fixture,” said Materi, who was working just his second shift with the company. “But when I went to shovel it up, it seemed kind of heavy. I picked it up and it was a gold brick.”
As it turns out, the mystery object was not just any old gold brick. It was a cellphone-sized, one-kilogram bar of gold worth over $40,000. Apparently, the home’s owners had hidden the gold under their tub and eventually lost track of its whereabouts.
“Who stores gold bars underneath their tub, right? Kinda crazy,” Babul said.
There are 104,852 plumbing and sewage companies in the U.S., and it’s safe to say that every one of them would love this type of publicity. While Abdul will certainly get a few more service calls as a result of this story, it’s worth noting that the homeowners didn’t even tip him for returning the gold bar.
“At least we did the right thing!” Abdul said. “Hopefully karma comes our way. Good karma.”
According to the Daily Mail, this is not the first time that Abdul has stumbled across something valuable on the job. In one instance, the veteran plumber discovered several rare original Daredevil comics during a repair, which he also promptly returned to their rightful owner.
The gold bar is inscribed with the letters “JM” and a pair of crossed hammers. It also bears the stamp of Johnson Matthey, a major British chemical company that started out in the precious metals business in the early 19th century.
Oddly enough, the home’s owners made a fleeting reference to their lost treasure just hours before the big discovery.
“I talked to them the night before and they were like ‘you know what? we are missing a one kilogram bar of gold,’” Babul added.
It’s unfortunate that Babul and Materi didn’t receive any type of compensation for their troubles, but the heart-of-gold plumbers are happy with their decision and have been enjoying their newfound celebrity status.