Moneymaking

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Sometimes one wonders (if ever so briefly), if one has chosen the wrong occupation.

I am sort of used to coming from the dentist with a bill that is about a week’s wage. I also got used to - after having bought a 50 year old house - that, when the plumbing blocks, one has to pay about a day’s wage for a 1-hour job. I can live with that.After all, the dentist has gone through extensive training, has an expensive office full of expensive equipment. He also has a specialized insurace. When the plumber comes to clean the plumbing, he comes in a huge, specialized truck, and takes along an assistant. They come on short notice, not the least.

But the other day we had a plumber-with-a-videocamera over, to have a video-look at our plumbing. He was with us for about 45 minutes, during which he shoved a miniature camera (standard low-rez black&white) down the tubes. A few days later we received a DVD with the original footage, along with an idea of where the problem probably was. Fine up to here. But then we got the invoice - a whopping 6.000 kroner (which is one thousand US dollars). That is for - let’s be fair and include driving time, making the DVD with the short report, for max. 2 hours of work. I get less for a day’s work with a fully professional broadcast camera, a car full of specialized equipment, and of course after having gone to film-school.

This is just ridiculous pricing.

Still, I am glad to be a cameraman, not a dentist, plumber, or even a detal plumber with a little video camera.