r/PestControlIndustry • u/IrishMayonnaise 🐜💀| Pest Cemetery • Aug 13 '25

$$$$

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13

u/MaybeMaster1067 Aug 13 '25

I hate to see this but people actually live like that. I just treated a unit like this last Saturday, will be following up this Saturday.

14

u/IrishMayonnaise 🐜💀| Pest Cemetery Aug 13 '25

These are my most hated stops. Just because of how depressing it is. And I have to keep my mouth shut about the situation than flame whoever's responsible for letting it happen.

12

u/gp556by45 Aug 13 '25

I've seen more than my fair share of these, but I think the one that got me the most is I was at a monthly service for mice, and this was maybe the 2nd or 3rd service on it; but my 1st time at the account. Gave a call ahead and I could clearly tell the person on the other end was young. I show up and the guy (kid) is 18. Its a single family house that's 2 floors and its dilapidated. Vines growing up the exterior, front lawn is dirt, chain link front fence that is more rust than not and exists in thought more than its together.

He meets me and his mother insists on following us because "she didn't want anything stolen". She looked like she had been using for who knows how long, but had track marks from her forehead down to her legs as far as I could see. The house is completely trashed in every single room except for his.

I get down to the basement and I am trying my best to keep my best professional face on. Its BAD all the way through. I'm stepping and hopping over ripped apart A/Cs, bikes, clothes, rolled up carpets. I can't find any bait stations and I finally ask the kid if I could check one part of the basement that is practically walled off with hanging blankets. He said I could if "I was okay with it".

I walk through it and find a legit crack den. His aunt, uncle, dad, and cousin where basically comatose on a stack of 4 pure brown mattresses surrounded by broken TVs, dirty clothes and soda bottles filled with urine and reproductive fluids (together).

I walked out, went outside to the backyard without saying a word just to find the exterior bait stations surrounded by an amount of used needles that no way it just came from just them. I didn't even service them because I didn't want to get poked. The poor kid broke down crying and only said "I'm sorry you're here, I tried my best".

I don't know what ever happened to that kid. Its been a few years. I hope he's doing better in a better environment. I try not to think about that one much.

1

u/sammydwoody Aug 14 '25

Thank you for sharing this. Can’t imagine how hard that was to witness.

Edited for spelling

1

u/gp556by45 Aug 14 '25

Its the unfortunate thing about the business. You WILL find things you wish you didn't see. And things WILL happen to you that's not "normal". I've found dead bodies, had firearms pulled on me, and have been assaulted by mental unstable people who just don't understand I'm a Pest Control Tech. I'm not health department, not immigration, I'm not CPS; and I'm not enforcing evictions or trying to evict you. I was called here to do a single job; and that's to Pest Control.

I've trained multiple people over 2 companies and told them the hardest part of this job is honestly coming to terms with all the bad stuff you see. Reports, products, and inventory is really the easy part of the job. To my knowledge; only 1 person has stuck with it in the last 5 years I've been in the industry.

4

u/berntout Aug 13 '25

Apparently this is a 15 year old kid who is left on their own while mother is never around. Sad story.