I have a love-hate relationship with my pest control company. I love that they come and spray my apartment building and inside my apartment once a month. I love that this service is included in my rent. I like the friendly, older gentleman who usually comes. My feelings for his female counterpart are not so generous.
A couple of months ago, I was having ant problems. I mentioned them to my apartment manager, and she said she would pass the specifics on to the pest control people who were coming a couple of days later. When I got home on that day, there was a card from the pest control company, with a note on the back. I didn't save it, but it was something like: "Don't leave food out or you will get roaches."
It's true. We had chicken for dinner the night before and I had not cleared the bones from the table. I fed The Boy bread that morning, and there were some pieces on the counter still. But we did not have roaches. We had ants. And they were not on the food. They were not on the table. They were not on the counter. They were on the window sill. They were under the window sill. They were coming out of the electrical socket below the window.
I called the manager to see if the pest control had treated my ant area and she said she'd forgotten to mention it. Luckily, I guess, they were still at the complex and came back to treat it. The woman arrived and said "Oh, yes. You're the one who left the food out." I'm not even exaggerating. I was pretty brusk (for me anyway) in return: "Yes and you're the one who left the note." She didn't back down. "Yes. Yes I am."
Now every time pest control day comes I get angry all over again (like today). I feel defensive. I debate what approach I'll take if the woman comes to criticize me again. I stress about having the house presentable, or some semblance thereof. We did get rid of the ants in the dining room after a couple of treatments. Then they showed up in the kids room. Again, not on food. Finally, we got rid of them completely. We still don't have a roach problem.
1 comments:
Consider this perspective:
They are in the pest control business. They take pride in their work and knowledge in the field. This work, and the knowledge they have about it, may give them a great sense of purpose. In the pest control "world" they know with every fiber of their being that leaving food out is "BAD!" They can't help themselves in pointing this out to you for their own sakes as well as for the sakes of the entire building and likely the community at large (from their perspective).
That being said - The comment and note from the Pest Control Lady is not really about you :- )
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