Meet Sean Ryan — he’s one of the administrative assistants here at O’Grady Plumbing. In addition to answering phones and fielding questions about plumbing problems persistently plaguing perplexed people, Sean is tasked with replicating our inventory system in order to ensure all of the tools and parts we need to do our work is always on hand.

In an effort to get to know the folks who make O’Grady Plumbing run on an hour-by-hour and day-to-day basis, we asked Sean — a Latin-speaking juggler of bowling pins — to tell us a little about himself, his work and his life outside the office.

O’Grady Plumbing (OGP): What did you do prior to coming to O’Grady Plumbing? 

Sean Ryan: I attended the University of San Francisco for three-and-a-half years.

OGP: What attracted you to O’Grady Plumbing?

Sean: It’s a long story. For years I had diabetes and it had not been diagnosed. This was a major setback and impacted my health a great deal. I have known Paul (O’Grady) for many moons and the stars were aligned. All in all, he had the understanding and flexibility to work with me. So it’s been a great fit. (As an aside, I’m looking forward to finishing what I started since getting sidelined with a number of health and family issues. In other words, I’m working on getting back to my A-Game in order to finish my undergraduate degree.)

OGP: When you’re not working, what do you do in your spare time? 

Sean: There are so many things and it is always changing. I can say watching baseball over a few teas has been the new trend. Doesn’t sound too exciting but it’s a great relaxer.  

OGP: What reality TV show should you be on and why would you win or be kicked off? 

Sean: I think we have a reality TV show–worthy crew over here at O’Grady and some of our clients are worth featuring on television, as well. I’m not quite sure whether I would win or get thrown off. It would be a win, I guess, given all of the plumbing problems we resolve. 

O’Grady: What is your all time favorite O’Grady Plumbing success story? 

Sean: That would have to be the Getty house. An engineer advised us to tear out the side of a large Pacific Heights mansion in order to get to a sewer tie-in. The tie-in was directly under the foundation and he said we’d have to dig 10 feet back in and under the house to correct the issue.

Paul didn’t like that solution so he stuck his head in every engineering book he could find until he came up with another solution. We dug down 10 feet and used 36-inch caissons and a 100-ton hydraulic cylinder to push the caissons in and back to create a tunnel. That saved the side of the mansion and eliminated the need to move a lot of expensive artwork. The job had challenges, but we got it done.

OGP: What’s one thing not many people know about you? 

Sean: I can juggle six bowling pins and I speak Latin fluently.  

OGP: On a scale between one and 10, how weird are you? 

Sean: Not very. I’d give me a two.

OGP: What would you do in the event of a Zombie apocalypse? 

Sean: Eat a lot of cheese burgers and yummy food before it all runs out, then kill the crap out of some zombies. 

OGP: Who is your role model?

Sean: My mother. She has always been my strongest supporter and, being an only child, we had a close bond. Unfortunately she passed a few years ago.