Don't know that I can save your job but I can tell you that the augers you mention can be quite dangerous. Not just any yahoo should be operating machinery they have little knowledge of. Not just any yahoo has the ability to handle the cable. It does take a certain degree of coordination, strength, physical ability. A good understanding of plumbing and of the machines can prevent serious injuries and destruction not only to plumbing but to anything around the machine while it is being used. A cable which gets in a bind can kink and result in difficulty or innability to control the cable and can cause a machine to move which could conceivably and realistically be destructive to anything in it's path. Definitely not for a novice or DIY'er. With a little experience and training these same machines can be easily handled by someone with knowledge of sewers and drains. I have had to break out concrete to repair old cast iron pipes destroyed by a plumber who thought you just run a snake down a hole and turn it on without knowing how to guide it through the ell where it was inserted into the floor drain. On the other hand, if the pipe had been installed properly and was in good shape then there would have been no problem...if there had been no problem then the guy would not have been there in the first place. Too, there's the story of when I was much younger and sent to pump out a septic tank and auger a sewer line. I was wrestling the cable as it was turning and running into the line when my shirt sleeve wrapped around the cable and my arm began to wrap around the cable. Very narrowly I escaped injury but I was very shook up and did have a sore arm, hand, fingers, elbow, and shoulder for a few days. Back then a foot switch was not a common accessory but even if I had've had one the incident still could have occured as these things do not have instantaneous brakes to stop the cable from turning.