Pest Control and Bug Exterminator Blog

I was an Initial Service Technician, meaning I only was only servicing new customers and providing the Full House Clean Out, for one of the best salesman in the history of Bulwark.  I had a full day of services in one of the cities more influential neighborhoods.  As normal I begin to scan the customer’s property as soon as I exit the work vehicle.  I noticed that there was a paper on the driveway so I picked it up and carried the paper with me to the door.  This is one of the advance tactics that you learn as a seasoned technician.

I rang the door and after a few minutes a kind women who spoke broken English opened the door and greeted me.  I introduced myself and with a smile tried to hand her the paper I had kindly retrieved from the driveway.  She looked at me skeptically and opened the door widely allowing me to see that there was another woman in the home, possibly the homeowner.  After a short conversation (in a language I dare not guess at) the kind women told me in broken English no, they “don’t want.”  I again tried to hand her the paper so that she could see the signed service agreement in my hand.  Again the homeowner kindly refused.  I sat the paper down on the front porch and then presented the contract to the women in the doorway.  At this time she had given all the time she was willing to and slowly closed the door on me.  I was a little surprised but it wasn’t the first time a customer has refused service.  I then called the next customer of the day and told them I had an opening in my schedule and would they allow me to service their home.  The customer allowed me to and I was about an hour ahead in what I thought would be a demanding day.  Late that afternoon I received a phone call from the office asking my why I never showed the earlier stop of my day.  I explained to them that I did, and that the customer refused my service.  The person I was speaking with sounded confused and asked if I went to the correct address, I told him yes that I even recalled verifying the address on the corner of the home after the customer refused service.  The person then stated they would call the customer and speak with them again.  A short time later I received a second phone call from the office; the customer thought I was a newspaper salesman.

Wayne Bryant

Las Vegas, NV

Pest-Control-Stories Story 3, C, Las Vegas NV, las vegas pest control, Misunderstanding

A Friendly Visit

By: Oliver Gomez

It’s a beautiful day and the doorbell is ringing. The man at the door says its Bulwark calling.

He’s clean-cut, polite and I feel at rest, I know he is knowledgeable and will take care of the pests.

He says with all confidence there’s no bug he can’t treat. He’s well recommended by neighbors on our street.

He took off his shoes as he came inside, and sprayed in the corners where all the bugs hide.

He dusted under cabinets, then under the sink. He moved away the food and the water we drink.

He took off the panels where the wall sockets go, and dusted the voids where the larva all grow.

He went up the attic and all through the house, until in the basement he found a trapped mouse.

He moved all the mats and the slippers away, and treated the doors and the windows with spray.

His truck had a hose that went all the way around, and outside he treated the walls and the ground.

He put out some granules for the drips on the plants. He says it’ll fix those pesky roaches and ants.

Then it’s all over, he knocks when he’s done. If you give a few days, the bugs will be gone.

Pest-Control-Stories Story Las Vegas NV, Poem

It was my second year as a pest control technician and was beginning to realize how much I enjoyed my job.  As a pest control technicians we are trusted to serve our customers to the best of our ability, in a kind, courteous way and we have a lot of freedom in how we accomplish this.  We have all day to complete our services and are often given opportunity throughout the day to earn more money.  I enjoyed all of this, but one day I realized that killing bugs was easy, I was enjoying the time I had to interact with our customer.  I would find myself almost daily impressed with the unique and amazing people we serve.  I have met NFL quarterbacks, World War 2 Heros, City Mayor’s, and even an Aid to the President of the United States.  All this was great but one day I met a little boy that couldn’t have been more than 9 years old.  He was in his pajamas and I was working late and tired.  This boy asked me “Do you like your job?”  I thought for a moment as I screwed an outlet cover plate to the wall I had just treated.  Then I responded that “I do like my job.  I get to meet nice people, see beautiful homes and landscaping, and most of all I get to make your home a safer, better place to live.”  This little boy looked at me with a look that expressed to me he really only wanted a yes or no answer and walked away.  I was left with a new goal at every customers home.

Wayne Bryant

Las Vegas, NV

Pest-Control-Stories Story 5, C, customer service, Las Vegas NV, pest control story

One time I went to do a service for interior earwigs.  As I was on my way, I called the customer (wife) to let them know I was on my way.  She said, “Yes, please come over we need a spray badly!” So, when I got there, the husband came to the door and said, “What are you doing here, I already canceled the account!”  So I said “I just spoke to your wife and she said to come over and do the service.”  So he said, with a grumpy old face, “Come on in then!”  So as I went in, and the wife began showing me where the earwigs were, and the husband kept running around following us and saying, “You know, I can take care of this myself!”,…. “And I can do a better job!” So as he kept complaining, the wife said, “Honey, What did I tell you!!” as she grabbed him by the ear and dragged him to his room.

What I heard from the other room was, “I will pay for the service.” She came out and apologized and thanked us for the service.  I thought to myself, HMMM, She just put her husband in time out for trying to refuse Bulwark’s services!

Tevita Fine
Las Vegas, NV

Pest-Control-Stories Story 4, D, earwigs, exterminator story, funny, internal, Las Vegas NV, pest control stories

I got a call from the office one late afternoon to go to this customer’s house where there was a spider on her ceiling.  She said she couldn’t leave the house until we got rid of the spider.  So I hurried up and got over there to take care of it for her. Well when I got there the door was open, so I announced myself and I heard her say “come in quick he’s getting away!” I entered quickly and she was pointing at the ceiling showing me where it was. She looked to be very frightened and upset about this spider. I looked at where she was pointing and saw what appeared to be a female wolf spider with about 200 babies on her back! She had every right to be scared.  If those babies were to leave their mom while they were in the house, the whole house would become infested. So I quickly ran out to my truck and grabbed a can of d foam and ran back inside. The spider had stopped moving and the babies were still intact. So I crept up on it until I was about three feet away ready my can, took close aim and sprayed. My plan had worked. They were covered in foam and unable to flee. So I quickly gathered them up with a paper towel that was in my other hand. Needless to say her problem was solved.

She said I was her Hero! …I was her hero! Feels good to be considered a hero.

Adam MacFarlane
Las Vegas

Pest-Control-Stories Story 5, C, Las Vegas NV, Spider, spiders

I was lucky enough one day to receive this phone call from a customer complaining about rats and mice.  She wasn’t sure if they were rats or mice, but nevertheless, it was quite comical. She wanted to know all about our service and how we treated for them. I told her the technician would put out glueboards and mouse/rat traps. She seemed very upset, I asked her what was wrong, she said she didn’t want to kill the rats or mice, she just wanted us to move them to a different location. I couldn’t help but laugh, however, I laughed to myself.  I spoke briefly with a manager to see if there was anyway to catch them without hurting them, but the answer was no, which I already knew, but it doesn’t hurt to ask, I got back on the phone with her and told her we don’t offer that kind of service.

I told her not to look at the glueboards or look in the traps, but to call us and we would send a technician out there to check them for her. She seemed okay with that and we sent a technician out to check out her rat/mouse problem, which she definitely had. She has not called to complain since that phone call… I was glad to help in anyway I could.  Hopefully her problem is that of the past.

Jill Booker

Las Vegas

Pest-Control-Stories Story 4, C, customer service, exterminator story, Las Vegas NV, mice, mouse, pest control stories, rat

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

It was a typical hot, humid Texas Summer day.  I had completed most of my schedule and I was getting into the stretch where every customer is home and needs just a little special attention to feel comfortable that their bugs will be gone.  I pulled up to the next house on my schedule at the end of a cul-de-sac.  I rang the doorbell.  No answer.  I knocked.  No answer.  I then went to the gate on the side of the home; I knocked loudly on the gate and began whistling hoping to attract the attention of any dog that may be in the back yard.  I have not proven this, but I theorize that a dogs lack of colored sight cause them to view Pest Control Technicians as chew toys that must be gnawed on.  No dogs came barking at the fence, or wagging a tale.  I now felt safe to service the home.

I power sprayed the front exterior of the home and entered the back yard.  As I came near the rear corner of the home I heard music from a radio.  I came around the corner and found our customers kneeling on their back deck.  I quickly put on a huge smile, raised my arm and announced myself to my customers, saying “Hi I’m the Bugguy”.  In the next moment I understood why the customers where kneeling down.  I was confronted with one of the most terrifying situations I have ever been in.  No less than 6 small black puppies sprinted off the deck of the home and charged in my direction at what seemed to be 200miles per hour.  I HAD LEFT THE GATE OPEN and the puppies where headed for it and me.  I dropped my equipment and ran towards the gate hoping to close it before the puppies could escape.  I was successful and hours of dog catching had been prevented.

As I came back around the corner of the home with the puppies nipping at every inch of me from the knees down, the customer’s were doubled over in laughter at the sight of a grown man fleeing for his life from a group of puppies with the largest weighing at about 6lbs.  I didn’t try to explain.  I only joined in the laughter and completed the service.

Wayne Bryant

Las Vegas

Pest-Control-Stories Story 2, D, Dogs, exterminator story, funny, Las Vegas NV, pest control stories, San Antonion TX, Texas

One day I was servicing a home while training a guy that had been sitting in the truck while I did all the spraying and all the services. He always was having an excuse to be on the phone. I was really getting frustrated cause I believe that he was just being lazy. I knocked on the customer’s door and there wasn’t an answer. I checked the gate, it wasn’t locked, so I went back to the truck and asked if the trainee wanted to spray the house. He was still on the phone so I just started to spray the house. When I got to the backyard I made it to the far side when this big dog came from under the dog house, filthy dirty, and growling viciously. The dog came towards me, and I felt like I had to run. I jumped the neighbor’s wall and came to the front yard. I saw that my trainee was off the phone and I just quickly asked him to finish up the back while I made a phone call to the office. He went towards the back yard where I was sure that he was going to have to jump the wall like myself. To my surprise he finished the service and rolled up the hose while I faked being on the phone with the office. I guess if I would have not run the dog would not have chased me. But at the least it got this tech to start to spray houses and learned the lesson that not all dogs of this sort are really vicious.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Richard Wickoff

Mgr. Las Vegas

Pest-Control-Stories Story 4, Dog, E, exterminator story, funny, internal, Las Vegas NV, pest control stories

Pest-Control-Stories Story B, customer service, exterminator story, internal, Las Vegas NV, pest control stories, Springtails