I did an initial pest control service this afternoon that was THE WORST I’ve done in recent memory.
A private home, apparently a single-parent family, and the woman works in the Bronx, so it seems she keeps an apartment there and comes up to the 'burbs every couple weeks or so. This leaves her six kids (some of whom I assume are adults, she mentioned their work schedules) on their own the rest of the time.
The house stank – stale sweat, old food, dirty clothing, and roaches. Yes, roaches have an odor, and this place had roaches.
Roaches that were trucking around the kitchen floor in broad daylight, roaches that were living in the laptop and the answering machine, little newborn roach nymphs and fat old grandfather roaches, scuttling around everywhere, on the walls, the countertop, the table. There was roach shit crusted everywhere, especially in the cabinets. You couldn’t turn around without seeing a dozen of them.
Ordinarily, I do a clean-out as carefully and methodically as possible, putting gel bait in the cabinet corners and up under the sink and counter overhang. This application was more like caulking a bathtub. I must have used half a tube in the kitchen alone. I was scared to lie on this floor and stick my head under the sink. I’ve dealt with roaches and other vermin for over seven years now, but I was repulsed. I didn’t want any of those little bastards hitching a ride home on me.
I looked in one cabinet and saw at least 50 of them on the underside of the drawer. The only way to rid this house of roaches would be to set it on fire.
Add to this the fact the heat index made it feel like about 105[sup]o[/sup], and I just wanted to get out of there, get home and get into the shower.
We charged them almost twice what we normally charge for an initial service. It wasn’t enough, IMHO.
What a nightmare!
