Unlucky in Bugs

We were down by four in the sixth, a rally in the seventh tied it, and a solo homer in the bottom of the eighth grabbed us the lead. Now it’s time for our closer, also known as my PCO, Danny. He claims to have a 98% success rate, and I’m inclined to believe him.

PCO Danny geeked out with me before kicking me out for an hour. He explained in detail that the first treatment was essentially a three-prong attack at the bed bugs: (1) Cy-Kick applied generously on the perimeters of the floors of all rooms; (2) Tri-Die applied in the cracks in the bedroom; and (3) ULD100 in the fogger. I have no pets or kids (my one plant, as I pointed out to PCO Danny, has been potpourri for three years now), so he was able to apply a lot more poison than otherwise would not be healthy for non-bug inhabitants.

Fast ball and change-up:

PCO Danny used Cy-kick in this:

Wish my job used a fog machine:

PCO Danny’s no TV Verminator, he wears a Tyrex suit:

A final note: in New York City, landlords are legally obligated to provide pest control services to their tenants. However, I think there is something to be said for just plunking down the money and hiring your own. There are several pluses to it:

1) You are the primary point of contact – you schedule the treatments, the company will call you, not your landlord, if they are going to be late, etc.

2) You get to choose a pest control company that you are completely comfortable with – quality can vary widely and just sucking it up and paying for it on your own gives you complete control over who is spraying toxic chemicals all over your apartment.

It’s a lot of money, and it can be scary to think that you can spend it only to get reinfested by a neighbor, but I got the sense from the phone calls I made and my own first treatment experience that there are a lot of good technicians out there. The good ones will tell you that you will have to do a lot on your end (laundry, encasements, etc.) and not just expect them to come in and spray and have the problem go away.