Pest Control and Bug Exterminator Blog

We had a gentleman call for a service quote, and said he had tiny white bugs biting him.  He said they were jumping all over his house and he had bites all over his ankles and legs.  We sent a technician out to assess the situation and bring back a sample of the bugs in question.  The technician went to the man’s home, and looked everywhere for the bugs the man had called about.  The technician spoke with the man for a long time about where he was when he would get bitten the most.  He said everywhere, not in just a specific area.  He said they were jumping all over the carpets.  He pointed down to the carpet, and helped the technician put them in a Ziploc baggie, so he could show the manager and find out what they were.  The technician looked in the baggie, and noticed… lint.  He told the gentleman that those were not bugs, but in fact, just lint.  The man disagreed, and said that’s what has been biting him.  The technician looked more closely in the carpets to try to find something resembling an actual bug, but could find nothing.  The man was positive that the lint was not lint, but bugs!  The technician thanked the man for his help in collecting the specimen, and let himself out.

Jamie

St. George

Pest-Control-Stories Story 1, D, funny, Lint, St. George

I went to this house in the run down part of town to do an emergency service.  It seemed like the tenants have issues with their rental home.  All five of them sat outside the house with luggage bags in tow when I showed up.  Unfortunately none of them spoke English fluently.  In broken sentences and hand signals, I gather that they were just in the middle of moving in when they noticed that all is not well.  The husband who had been quiet all this time suddenly burst out and said, “The roaches built that!” pointing to the house.  So I proceeded to do the service and was just sort of shocked when I had done the first socket.  There were hundreds of little hair-like feelers waving back at me.  Not even wall plates to cover the plugs.  I was thinking this would be an easy job.  Gross as it was; I kept on going and dusted every outlet.  After I was done inside, I proceeded to spray the exterior of the house. As I rounded the bend that leads to the back, I noticed a shoe sized hole near the foundation.  I immediately sprayed it thinking this would be a good hiding spot.  I started hearing screaming coming from the people inside and turned my head to see what all the commotion was.  However, I wasn’t able to find that out because of the sudden rush of cockroaches that came pouring out of the hole.  I’m not kidding when I say the roaches came out like a wave of Black Death and covered the entire patio and back wall.  These things were even crawling over the doors and patio furniture.  The more I sprayed, the more the roaches came, and for each that was dying, there were twenty more flushing out of the hole.  I soon found out the interior was no better.  By the time I finished the service, the tenants had left, but the office had called me with a message from the landlord. He lost the renters but will keep our service.  Seems like the last tenants were complaining about roaches too!

By: Oliver Gomez

Las Vegas, NV

Pest-Control-Stories Story 1, B, Cockroaches, exterminator story, infestation, Las Vegas NV, pest control stories, roaches, Scary

My name is Luke and this story is about my first day on the job 2 years ago. I was an eager young lad ready for some hard work and had just been hired by the Atlanta Branch as a field technician. Like most employees on their first day out in the field, I was both nervous and excited. One of my advisors, Ben Montez, had just taught me how to drive a stick shift and I was ready to conquer the world. Picking up my paper work, I read through for the challenges of the next day so I could make sure I had everything I needed. A couple exterior sprays, a couple of ant mounds, and a German Cockroach account in Cumming. Sounds easy.

The next day went pretty smoothly – I was a new face for the company so there plenty of people to meet. The day went by very fast – it was relatively hot outside and was around 4 p.m. before I arrived at my last home, just on time. I walked up to the door and knocked when a young woman and her husband answered the door. “Hi! I’m here to help with the cockroach problem!” They smiled politely and welcomed me into their home. I took off my shoes and they proceeded to take me into the kitchen. A warm and curious smell entered my nostrils.  Mmm, I thought to myself…chicken.

They offered me a glass of juice and began to tell me a little bit about their problem. “I see a lot of roaches around the sink area, and if I wake up in the middle of the night to grab something, they are like everywhere, you know?” I nodded to myself. That would make sense, the kitchen is an area with heavy moisture and most roaches are nocturnal. According to my manual, roaches need moisture to survive and it’s likely they have infiltrated the cabinets. I pulled up my sleeves and prepared for an inspection. Armed with a flashlight and special bait formula, I decided to check under the sink first. Between the brillo pads and Windex bottle, I saw the yellow orange glow of what appeared to be some sort of shell. Being new to the job, this was a discovery the likes of which only Sherlock could have appreciated … my first egg capsule! I was getting closer to the source …

After I was done reviewing the immediate area around the sink, I had to stand up and stretch. I reached for my glass of juice and took a sip. What is that wonderful smell? As I set my glass down I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. Standing between the sugar and some coffee filters was a tiny little cockroach staring back at me – I felt my heart skip a beat. If I can follow this thing, I’ll know exactly where they are coming from. As I moved in closer, the little guy scuttled behind a blender at the edge of the counter top. Happy to follow, I slowly picked up the blender and was surprised to find five more underneath. I was about to explode with excitement when all of them took off the counter and onto the wall behind the fridge. “Aha!” I thought to myself. I recruited the woman’s husband to help me pull out the fridge and grabbed my flashlight. What I was about to see has haunted me in my dreams ever since.

I couldn’t understand what was happening at first, but I’ll try my best to explain it. I poked my head behind the fridge and pointed the flashlight down. A large black vibrating mass began to scatter as about a hundred or so cockroches looked back up at me. In absolute shock and horror, I took a step back to catch up with my mind. That was when the walls started to move. I thought I was hallucinating at first and wondered if the family had put something in my juice. The lights began to flicker and to make matters worse, the woman began shouting nervously in her native language which really freaked me out. I took a couple steps back and heard a thick series of ‘crunches’ beneath the weight of my foot. I looked down to find previous white socks now covered with roaches. The woman continued to yell and started scooping up her crying children from the kitchen table as I looked around nervously for something to grab. I found a broom and began sweeping furiously against the flow of roaches as they made their way across the kitchen floor. Eventually the strength and size of the mass dwindled, as they began to scuttle back to various hiding places throughout the kitchen and cabinetry. The family had began to calm down and the blood was slowly returning to my face when I decided to step out and call some of the other technicians for advice.

Long story short, I scheduled a free follow-up visit after treating the residence and the family’s problem was solved. I however, have a harder time sleeping at night and can no longer stomach the smell of the chicken.

Pest-Control-Stories Story 1, A, Atlanta, Cockroach, exterminator story, funny, pest control stories, pest control story, roach

One day, I went and serviced this home and when I got to the back yard, I was all into spraying the house and making sure I hit every spot.  I thought to myself as I was admiring my work, “This customer’s going to love me!”  Since I was facing the house and walking backwards while still spraying, I didn’t realize that they had a pool and then CRASH!! The lights were out and before I knew it I woke up at the bottom of an empty pool.  And as I woke up I saw a “BIG CHIHUAHUA” licking my face as to say “What the heck are you doing in MY POOL!!!”   I quickly jumped up in total embarrassment and looked around as I slowly climbed out of the pool, hoping the customer didn’t see me.  Boy, I felt like an idiot.  Luckily the customer didn’t see me and I escaped with just a couple bruises on both my elbows and a sore back.  When I got back to my truck I realized that I had been there for 40 minutes, I must have had a nice long nap!!! That’s what I call a knock-out service!!

Tevita Fine

Las Vegas, NV

Pest-Control-Stories Story 1, D, Dog, funny, Las Vegas NV, Pool

My name is Jay Tankersley and I am a Service Manager for Bulwark Exterminating located in the Raleigh, N.C. branch. I was filling in for one of our field technicians when the following incident took place.

I greeted Mr. Smith at his front door, a Bulwark customer for a little less than a year. As I started to do his treatment he began to follow me around in silence as I sprayed his home with our standard pressure spraying procedure. I assumed he was checking to make sure I did a thorough service. I completed the entryway treatment and de-webbing without a word from the customer. Upon completion of the service I filled out the customer service invoice and asked if there was anything else I could do for him today? He said “yes” and asked me to follow him back around the perimeter I had just sprayed. He said, “Every time your company comes to do my service, after words, I walk around my house and there is this very distinct visible line in the grass completely around my house where you have just treated”.”  He then asked me what was in our product to cause such an effect on his grass. Sure enough there was a straight line indented about 1/2 inch to 1 inch wide and running the length of the home, around the backside and down the other side. As we were walking along the far side I stopped about half way and looked up at the roof line. I then smiled at the customer and said once you install some rain gutters the indented grass line should disappear.

Pest-Control-Stories Story 1, B, funny, pest control Raleigh, Raleigh NC

I was in San Antonio Texas to do my Thursday termite route. I went to a customer’s house at 10 am to do his free termite inspection. I rang his doorbell and proceeded to ID myself as Randy with Bulwark Exterminating and that I was there to do his free termite inspection. He asked me where I was going to start and I told him I would do the outside then come back and do the Interior.  He asked me if I brought a ladder because the home didn’t have a pulldown and that’s where he was hearing a chewing sound coming from. I told him I did indeed have a ladder and I would bring it when I was coming inside. The home was a two year old two story, xx home. I drew a diagram of the outside as I inspected it. After I finished I knocked and then went inside. I inspected the inside and then went into the attic to see I what he was hearing.

I climbed into the attic with my flashlight and could see a lot of mouse droppings but no termites. I climbed down and went to find the customer. He asked me if I found anything and I told him I had good and bad news.  What’s the good news he asked. I told him, you have mice in your attic not termites. He said that’s great, what’s the bad news. I told him” You don’t have any Insulation in your attic.”

He said “You have to be kidding me.”

“I’m being 100 % honest,” was my reply.

He climbed up the ladder and looked around with my Flashlight.  “Someone stole my insulation out of my attic!” he exclaimed very loudly as he came dome. “How am I supposed to pay to fix this?”, he said to himself.

I informed him that since there wasn’t a trace of insulation in the attic that it most likely was never done. He said “But they have inspectors to check that.”

I agreed with him and told him “Sadly, it must have been missed.” I suggested that he call the xx office in the subdivision (they were still building in the neighborhood) and tell them about it. He called and they told him all homes were insulated when they were built and that if his was missed then they would insulate it and set up a time for their inspector to come look at it. The customer told me that his electric bill was always really high and he couldn’t understand why but now he knows why,… thanks to some mice.

He was a happy man when I Left.

Randy Schulle

San Antonio, TX

Pest-Control-Stories Story 1, A, funny, mice, pest control, San Antonio TX, Termites

Pest-Control-Stories Story 1, A, customer service, funny, Misunderstanding, San Antonio TX