Fri Dec 20, 2019. Last day before Christmas break at the little bar I go to. I had been invited to stay for the Christmas Party afterwards.
But this was before that.
My early crowd from work had left, and I was at a small table. Beside another table. At some point two guys sat there, and I talked to both of them a bit, and sort of eaves-dropped with their knowledge a bit more. The guy across the table from me told me he worked installing gas furnaces. I sort of showed my appreciation of people who do work of a more real, tangible nature than I do. He briefly described the process of descending on a house and getting a new furnace installed and working, with old equipment removed, within a few hours.
December 26th. Our hot water heater suddenly springs a large leak. And, in hindsight, our emergency drain was somewhat plugged. But I turned the input water cutoff off almost right away. Can't be same day service. So Dec 27, someone (a sub-contractor to the main company) comes and says he'll need to infract our furnace if he puts in a new water heater and he can't vent the water heater out our existing chimney like the old one.
Eventually after several days of turmoil we succumb to replacing our 28-year old obsolete (parts hard-to-find) furnace as well as the water heater. (We alleviated our discomfort a little bit by using hot water from a 55 cup electric coffee urn I went and bought from a nearby consumer restaurant supply store).
So finally on January 2nd, everything is due to be replaced. Now the chief technician of three (at one point four, when they called an electrician to verify the usage of a particular plug for the new gas water heater which requires electricity whereas the old one didn't) was the guy I'd seen in the bar.
I'm positive of it now. Sort of embarassing considering various things about our house, mostly the excess clutter, and also some disrepair.
I'd suspected during the time he was there. And would have asked except the name of the bar is "Kickoff". It sounds like it won't sound comprehensible if someone isn't familiar with it. Compared to "Molly's" or "The Bent Elbow".
In hindsight I could have just asked if I'd seen him "in a bar on Dec 20", but then, to me, Kickoff isn't just "a bar". Perhaps I never wanted to confirm it.
I sort of think he must have recognized me, because I'm a more unusual-looking individual than he is, and he just didn't want to cause potential problems.
He implied he visits Kickoff occasionally, but is not really "a regular". I'm now a once-a-week "regular".
At least now we have a modern furnace and water heater with modern side-vent non-chimneys.
If I ever notice the individual (whose name I cannot remember from either meeting) in Kickoff again, I'll go over and see what happens when I re-introduce myself.