Monday, January 11, 2010

I Want To Be The Termite Guy

My apartment has termites. I know this because I saw them crawling on the carpet, and one hit me in the back of the neck when it was flying around. I thought they were ants until I took a closer look at the one that hit me in the neck. So I called the manager and told her about it, and she called in the termite guy.
   Man, what a gig. I have no doubt he knows his stuff, but it just seems so easy...
   He carried his stuff in a plastic bucket, and in the other hand he carried a step ladder. He looked around for a few minutes, and I showed him the termites I put in a sandwich bag in the freezer (yes, I really did that, they were evidence). He identified them right away, and we had termite conversation for a few minutes. Then he looked up into a light fixture and saw that was where they were coming from. Kind of like a termite Sherlock Holmes, because I had certainly never thought to look up for bugs that crawled on the carpet.
   Here's what he did. Got on the step ladder, drilled three holes around the light fixture, injected some termiticide into the holes he drilled and then filled the holes with spackle.
   Bada-bing, bada-boom. Done. In and out in fifteen minutes, tops, including the search.
   I don't know what he billed - I don't own the building - but whatever it was he's making a killing. Especially since he mentioned that what he'd just done was kind of hit-or-miss since there was no crawlspace he could get into. In other words, what he'd just done might not have killed termites, and the only way I could tell it didn't work was when I saw more termites. And if I did see more termites then the manager could just call him back out.
   Don't get me wrong, he was a nice guy and extremely professional, but I want a job where I can do something that may or may not work, and if it doesn't work I get to bill for another service call.
   Any ideas?

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