Good help is hard to find

So I'm sitting in my apartment listening to a plumber banging around in my bathroom. My parents spent the night last night. My dad went to shower this morning and for some reason felt the need to stand in the shower while turning the water on. Perhaps he thought he wouldn't get hit by the stream, which was somewhat foolish considering it's a small shower and I have two shower heads, or maybe he thought the water in my pipes stays toasty warm all night long. It of course does not, so as soon as the shower came on he found himself flailing in attempt to thwart the attack of of very chilly water. Evidently he felt the shower extension rod would make a suitable weapon to to parry the spray, as he manged to pull on it hard enough to snap the pipe. What does it mean when your parents are breaking things at your place instead of the other way around like when you were a kid?

The damage looked to be pretty minimal, just a 4 inch long, 1/2 inch black abs pipe broken off at the threads. I've dealt with this several times before working on a sprinkler crew, as fixed shrub risers are 1/2 inch diameter black abs and are constantly getting busted by careless gardeners. There is a small hand tool made just for this type of thing. It costs less than $4 and worked nearly every time. The few times it didn't we'd just use a hacksaw to cut most of the way through the broken piece in several places, then pry it out with a screw driver and hammer.

I called my landlord who is out of the country, and asked that I hire a plumber to ensure that it is properly taken care of. I understand this, as he doesn't know me and it is his place that is on the line if something bad happens. I made an appointment with roto-rooter for the evening. So the plumber has now been here for about 90 minutes and still hasn't been able to get the broken off piece out, because he doesn't have the right tools and apparently lacks the ability to what he has work. He initially starting by trying to drill it out, which of course did nothing but shave off plastic making it harder to gain a purchase with any other tools. It's taking most of my will power not to barge in, tell him to watch and learn, and fix the problem. The best part is that he's charging over $200 for his expertise.

And dad, sorry about the ribbing, but I find the whole thing hilarious.