Creepy pest control guy - do I complain?

In My Humble Opinion
1

First of all, it should be noted I’m female.

My landlord called for a pest control guy to come out and treat my garage apartment for termites today. I was here alone when the guy came by - he was a young-ish guy (30-ish, my age), and quite chatty. We make small talk, and I notice pretty quickly that he’s getting a little too comfortable with the chatter, and coming across as a little flirty (in an overly-confident kind of way), asking lots of questions about where I work, school, small talk kind of stuff. It was the kind of “banter” that you’d have with a “buddy,” not a client. He goes downstairs to check out the termite situation, comes back up and at some point, I make a comment about “my boyfriend” being in nursing school. Here’s how it went down:

Termite guy: “oh yeah, Dave?”
Me: “yeah… uhhh… Dave. How’d you know that?”

At this point, I’m trying to think of something he would’ve seen downstairs that had Dave’s name on it - couldn’t think of anything.

Termite guy (grinning): “I dunno, he just sounds like a ‘Dave’ kinda guy. By the way, is he back from Toledo yet?”

Ummm… you see, Dave is in Toledo right now. I give the guy a sort of sideways look :dubious:

Termite guy (still grinning): “Kinda creepy huh. Did that just creep you out?”
Me: “Umm, yeah…”

Apparently he’d gone into the bathroom to check out the termite situation, and saw on my calendar (yes, I have a calendar in the bathroom), in rather unnoticeable writing, “Dave in Toledo” and “Dave back from Toledo.” :smack: I mean, the guy would’ve had to be reading the calendar to notice this. He’s supposed to be surveying the walls for termite holes.

Later on he makes another comment about “can I use your bathroom? It’s just for #1” The guy obviously has very little sense of what’s appropriate to say to a client, especially a girl, who’s alone in an apartment with him. Still, I consider myself a pretty laid back chick. Sometimes too laid back, and then I don’t realize a bad thing when I see it. I told my boyfriend (Dave) about all this, and he is adamant about complaining to the pest control company about this guy. Says that maybe the guy acts inappropriate around another lady, and something happens, or maybe he’s acted this way before, and I could be indirectly helping someone else out down the line.

The fact that I’m even composing this post makes me feel like I probably “don’t need to ask” whether or not I should complain to the pest control company. But, well, I’ve been told I’m too nice, and the truth is I don’t want my landlord to think I’m paranoid, and I don’t wanna get the pest control guy into trouble if he’s just socially awkward or inappropriate. Then again, if that guy were working for me, I wouldn’t want him going into people’s homes and acting like that. :dubious: Hmph.

And this is one of the major national pest control companies. Alright, it was the Orkin man. Dammit.

2

  1. What you do about this should be what makes you comfortable - not just “Because Dave Said So”. If you decide not to make a fuss, that’s your right.

  2. Bug Guy is unlikely to lose his job over one customer complaint. If he has more than one - well, that’s on him.

  3. “Don’t be nosy with the customers’ personal materials” is actually an important job skill that Bug Guy needs to learn.

  4. “Creeping girls out” stops being a cute social approach somewhere around second grade.

3

It’s a free country, so you can complain about whatever you like. His initial small talk, which you suggest you indulged, was not inappropriate—certainly if you were responding as if you didn’t mind it.

His request to use the bathroom was not inappropriate, even if it was phrased a little immaturely.

Reading and remarking upon your calendar was an unwise choice. You don’t say whether this is the only bathroom in your apartment or whether it is your own private one. A bathroom that one makes available to guests and other invitees (and every household is expected to have at least one such bathroom) is considered a semi-public area and you cannot hold it against your guests and invitees if they notice something prominently displayed in that room (which a wall hanging is, however “unnoticeable” the writing is—which, of course, it isn’t, considering that the point of these notations is to get your attention regarding the significance of special dates). Again, guests and others shouldn’t go around making conversation on the contents of the calendar. Certainly not in the way this pest control person did, but it really doesn’t count as a violation of your privacy.

In the future, you may want to consider not putting documents you wish to keep private on display in the main bathroom.

4

“If that guy was working for me” is the key. The people he works for need to know how he talks to clients. Your landlord does not. The only way any employer finds out about problems is for someone to speak up. I vote you call or write them.

ETA: referring to “not putting documents you wish to keep private on display in the main bathroom”: What? I DON’T think of stuff in my home as “on display” and I DO think of thngs written on my calendar as pretty much private.

5

The problem isn’t that he read your calendar, but that he asked you direct questions about it in a way that would and should make any woman (especially one home alone) uncomfortable. The subtext of “I know you’re all by yourself here for x amount of time” is pretty damned creepy.

He may have well said “Wow, you have thick walls here too… Good for muffling a scream, don’t you think?”

I’d report the behavior to Orkin corporate. If it’s his first complaint like this, he’s unlikely to lose his job and will be given better training on how to act professionally with clients.

6

Asking to use the restroom is not a biggie to me.

Asking if Dave is still in Toledo has nothing to do with Termite control.

I think it’s ok if you don’t feel annoyed enough to call his supervisor, but I think you have grounds if you like. His company is not paying him to flirt with the customer.

7

It would creep me out because now he not only knows Dave is away and back, but wanted you to know that he knew (does that make sense?).

ETA: what ** Bob Ducca** said

8

I would complain 100%. He was creepy and acting in an unprofessional manner.

I am like you - I’m nice and often give people the benefit of the doubt. I don’t complain. But I had a sort of similar guy with a weird attitude situation years ago:

Our truck needed new tires, and the dealership was just out of town. They had a service where they would pick up the vehicle while you were at work, do the change, and then drop it off by the end of the day. The guy bringing it back was different then they guy dropping it off, so he called me for an address. (Some of this won’t mean anything to most of you, but it’s relevant later in the story). I said “I’m in the Husky Towers” and asked if he wanted the address. He said no, he knew where it was, and we hung up. The Husky Towers are prominent towers in Calgary, with big ‘Husky’ on the top (the oil and gas company).

About an hour later he calls and says he’s out front. I ask if he’s on 9th Ave., he says yes, so I head down. I can’t find him. I call him, he says he’s right there…I can’t see him anywhere. I ask him to go in to the parkade right across the street from the building and wait by the stairs (self explanatory if you could see it). He calls back, says he’s there. I go to the parkade and walk up and down the full city block and a half of cars and he’s no where. After a half hour of this, with him getting more and more impatient with me and me getting more upset, he calls me back:

“Look, sweetie, it’s not my problem you don’t know where you are. If you aren’t out here in five minutes, I’m leaving.”

Let me tell you, just writing that down brings my blood pressure up. Asshole to the tenth degree, and I’m guessing it was because I was female that he felt he could talk to me like that.

I ended up telling him to fuck off (for real), hanging up and calling my husband in frusterated tears. He made me call the manager of the dealership. I did, and the manager himself brought the truck in to drop it off.

Guess what the mistake was? Apparently, 20+ years ago, our Calgary Tower was called the Husky Tower. For some reason, the two big towers in the middle of downtown that say ‘Husky’ on them never crossed his mind when I said ‘Husky Towers’ - he apparently also didn’t hear the plural either. Oddly enough, both are on 9th Ave. He was an old guy and didn’t really clue in to the name change that occurred years and years ago, plus he felt like he could treat me like that.

I guess what I’m saying is that there are situations where you need to buck up and complain because what he did was not right. You can’t let people get away with bullshit.

9

I’m guessing he thought you were jerking his chain, just like you thought he was jerking yours. For all your high-minded talk here, it certainly didn’t seem to stop you from using a few obscenities with him at the time. (Something he, notably, was able to refrain from doing.) Let’s try to keep some perspective, shall we?

10

You’ve put your finger exactly on why it was creepy. I don’t think the termite guy was a serial killer or anything, but guys doing a job like his have to be extremely careful of how they come across to the alone females that they run into all the time in their job; creeping solitary women out is so very, very not cool. I have guys come into the house on occasion while I’m here alone (fix the cable, hook up the phone, whatever), and it’s always in the back of my mind that I don’t know this guy at all, and I’m at least a little vulnerable. A guy ramping that feeling up - yeah, I’d report him.

ETA: That guy was a real asshole, EmAnJ. My 42 year old husband was born and raised in Calgary, and he wouldn’t have gone to the Calgary Tower when you said Husky Towers.

11

If this happened to any of the women in my life, I’d suggest they call and complain or I would do it myself. No one should ever be made to feel uncomfortable in their own house.

12

You have every right to feel creeped out and nervous about your safety. Definitely call the company and complain… you don’t want to get this guy again if you need a follow-up.

13

Stuff in the bathroom that you make available to your guests and invitees (such as tradesman) is on display, whether you like it or not. Especially if it is hanging right there on the wall.

If you don’t want it to be available to others’ inspection, relocate it to a private area of your home, like your bedroom.

14

Complain. Not just because he looked at your calendar and remarked on it, but that apparently he was TRYING to creep you out and got a kick out of it. THAT makes it EXTRA creepy.

15

That’s not really the issue though, is it? It’s the way he brought it up to her that’s the problem. Or do you think that should be a-ok as well?

16

It’s not that he’s not allowed to read it. But why go out of his way to use that information to try to skeeve her out? It’s the fact that he went out of his way to try to tell it to her in some bizarre manner.

17

I know . . . that’s why I also said this:

I’m not saying he should get the Orkin Man of the Year award, just that he seems like a doofus who acquitted himself rather poorly. Perhaps the best approach is to figure that these things happen sometimes and let it go.

18

Bob Ducca, Poysyn, Cat Whisperer - right, that’s what was creepy - the fact that he read the notes on the calendar and then commented on them in a way that was creepy. He even acknowledged that he was being creepy! I really don’t care if he read the calendar. But I suppose when I jotted Dave’s travel dates down, I was lacking in foresight, not expecting that a pest control person would see it and then know that I’m home alone on those days.

FYI, It’s the only bathroom here, and I have no problem with him wanting to use it - be it for #1 or #2. It was the way he said “it’s just for #1” that was odd. I probably shouldn’t have even thrown that into the post, but wanted to give an idea of what the guy’s other communications were like.

My apartment is a pretty small space - about 200 sq ft on each floor, top and bottom. I actually don’t even have wallspace in my bedroom for a calendar (it’s windows all over and a double door to the balcony). It’s a weird little unit, but I love it. Anyway, the bedroom part is upstairs, with the bed and tv and a couch, and the bathroom and kitchen are down a spiral staircase. Orkin man had to come upstairs and downstairs several times, and was here for over an hour. It’s a sufficiently small space, and he was here long enough, to make me feel pretty antsy (no pun intended) for him to just finish up and leave.

Eggsactly! Most of the time when I’ve had maintenance or service calls, the gentleman seems to be making an effort to be especially uncreepy.
Well, I think I’ll file a complaint with corporate, as Bob Ducca suggested. That way at least if the guy has a history (or a future), mine’s on file. And also with the hopes I won’t get the same guy next time.

19

What I don’t like about his behavior is that he didn’t disclose how he knew about Dave when you asked him to do so. I can understand joking around and making small talk, but when it comes to someone else’s personal life, a professional should either keep shaddup about it or be upfront when asked how they came to know something they haven’t been directly told.

“I dunno, he just sounds like a ‘Dave’ kinda guy” ain’t funny. He showed poor discretion with that and I would have felt uncomfortable too.

20

I think this is the point where I would have said, “Get out. This service call is over.” If he was not packing up his shit in the next 30 seconds, I’d be calling the cops to report a person refusing to leave the premises.

Not because I was afraid of the guy, but because he was about 40 miles over the line. And I sure as hell would be reporting his creepy ass to his employer.

Being proud of creeping out the clients = whack job.