'Joe the Plumber' quits plumbing, opens burger joint

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

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Joe Wurzenbacher, known to millions as 'Joe the Plumber,' is no longer plumbing.

'Joe the Plumber' quits plumbing, opens burger joint

by John Johnson, staff reporter

HOLLAND, OHIO – An almost unnoticed slip of the tongue by Arizona senator John McCain yesterday during the final presidential debate prompted Joe Wurzelbacher, known to millions of Americans simply as “Joe the Plumber,” to announce this morning he would be leaving the plumbing business altogether to open up a hamburger shop here in his hometown.

As he watched last night's debate, Wurzenbacher had his “aha!” moment when McCain mistakenly called him “Joe Wurzenburger.” Wurzenbacher reportedly lept from his couch, kissed his wife, hugged his dog, and exclaimed loudly that he now had a name for the burger joint he’d always wanted to open. His wife recalls him shouting, “From here on out, 1501 Main Street will forever and proudly be known as…Wurzenburger!”

Despite being a plumber for over fifteen years, the decision to quit his job was apparently anything but wrenching. Within minutes, he had called his boss and resigned, effective immediately. “The funny thing,” Wurzenbacher said, “is that I quit my job before the end of the debate, so the last few times [the candidates] mentioned ‘Joe the Plumber,’ I had to chuckle because I wasn’t even a plumber anymore.”

Wurzenbacher said all that had been keeping him from opening the restaurant was the lack of a good name. “Sometimes you hear or see something that just removes the blockage and gets your creative juices flowing again,” he said. “And I just know, even though the economy is in the toilet, that this is the right time to act.”

Added Wurzenbacher: “When something that’s been a pipe dream for so long becomes reality, you can’t—at least I can’t—just sit there and watch the opportunity go down the drain.”

© 2008 The Teaspoon Times

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