At 6:40 on a holiday evening, a pipe under a kitchen sink lets go. The homeowner shuts off the valve, mops with every towel in the house, and picks up a phone. She searches for a plumber nearby. The first result she taps says "Open 24 hours." She calls. It ...
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At the end of November, the owner of a small pool service company sits down with his end-of-season email report. The numbers look good. A large share of his customers seem to have opened his "Thanks for a great summer" email. He feels pleased for about a mi...
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A couple is buying their first house, an older brick ranch two counties over from where they rent now. Their offer was accepted on Friday. Their agent says they have a short window to schedule an inspection. On Saturday morning, one of them types "home insp...
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At 9:40 on a Thursday night, a tenant on the third floor gets a text. It says the water will be shut off "for maintenance" tomorrow. It doesn't say for how long. It doesn't say why. It doesn't say who to call. She has a baby, and she starts wondering how sh...
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There is a wooden recipe box behind the paint counter of a family-owned hardware store, and it holds the most valuable thing in the building.
It isn't the cash drawer or the key machine. It's a set of index cards, one for every customer who has ever had ...
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