You Know it’s Going to be a Special Kind of Day When…

You wouldn’t think, being in the pest control business, that life would be that interesting. Quite the contrary!

I tend to see people at their most fearful and vulnerable. Women up on chairs and men trying in vain to be the brave one (while clearly rattled, nonetheless). Not too terribly long ago, we got a call from one such terrified individual. A woman selling houses in the area had discovered ‘an infestation’ of ‘huge rats’. At that precise moment one was in fact stalking her. The theme from “Ben” drifted quietly through my head.

Here I Come To Save The Day!

Yes, thank you, I did catch the irony there… Mighty Mouse’s Theme Song, I get it. Upon arrival at the scene of the rat attack, I discovered only a sprinkling of the tiniest of mouse droppings. After clean up and disinfection, it was determined that a puppy door may have been the means of enemy infiltration. From experience, I also determined that this was no rat pack but more likely a lone mouse that had lost its way in search of a new home that he’d heard was on the market. The realtor did not share my humor. I dutifully set a trap for the demon vermin and placed it behind the fridge—where most of the droppings had appeared.

Is That Billy Joel?

What I didn’t realize at the time was that, while muscling the fridge back into place, my cell phone had slipped out of my belt holster and silently found its way under the fridge. The rest of the day was relatively uneventful and I didn’t even miss my phone until much later. It’s insured so I thought little of it and made a mental note to stop and replace it the next day (or as soon as I could).

But the next day we received a call from the realtor saying that we’d succeeded in trapping her ‘rat’ and could we please come over and dispose of it ASAP? When I walked it the woman was shaking her head seemingly in disbelief. I looked questioningly at her and she asked me with all due sincerity, “are the 80’s particularly effective with rodents?” I had no idea to what it possibly was that she was referring.

Turns out my cell phone had been ‘ringing’ over and over again and was driving her bonkers (hey, I like the 80’s so they’re my ring tones and alerts). She assumed it was utilized in our method to first attract, and then trap our deadly prey. Let’s hear the guys at other pest control companies top that pest tale!