WT actual F???

THIS IS PERSONAL!

if you don’t know how an outlet works, maybe don’t put pesticide in it

There are days when the pest control industry makes us proud.

And then there are days when we hear a story so spectacularly stupid that we wonder whether the licensing exam now comes free with a box of cereal.

Here’s the situation.

A customer purchased a pest control service that specifically included removing electrical outlet and switch covers and applying pesticide dust into wall voids.

Whether you personally think that treatment was necessary isn’t even the point.

It was sold. It was paid for. So do the fucking work.

Except they didn’t.

The technician performed the initial service without doing the wall-void treatment that had been promised. The customer noticed. The company was contacted. They were asked to return and complete the service properly.

Fair enough. Mistakes happen.

Except they came back…

and still didn’t do it.

At this point, management became involved.

And this is where our little story leaves the highway of ordinary incompetence, crashes through the guardrail, rolls down an embankment, and bursts into flames.

According to the customer, a service manager explained over the phone that the technician could insert the tip of a pesticide dust bulb into the negative terminal of the electrical receptacle and puff dust through the outlet that way.

Apparently, electricity now doubles as a convenient wall-void access port.

Who knew?

There is one tiny problem with this brilliant plan:

THAT IS NOT HOW AN ELECTRICAL RECEPTACLE FUCKING WORKS.

A receptacle is not a magical tunnel leading into the wall cavity. Shoving the tip of a dust applicator into one of its slots does not somehow teleport pesticide behind the electrical box.

What it can do is put a technician unnecessarily close to energized electrical components while holding equipment containing pesticide dust.

And we feel like this shouldn’t need to be said, but apparently it does:

Don’t stick shit into energized electrical outlets.

Especially when the “shit” in question is attached to a pesticide application device.

The proper procedure isn’t exactly advanced aerospace engineering. If the label permits the application and wall-void treatment is appropriate, de-energize the circuit as necessary, remove the cover plate, access an appropriate opening around or behind the electrical box, and make the treatment according to the product label and applicable safety requirements.

You know.

Pest control.

What makes this story especially infuriating isn’t simply that a technician failed to perform part of a service.

Technicians screw up. We all have.

It’s that after the mistake was brought to the company’s attention, someone in a position of authority reportedly offered an explanation that was not only ridiculous but potentially dangerous.

That’s where this stops being funny.

Managers have a responsibility to the people working underneath them.

When you’re a service manager, technicians assume you know what the hell you’re talking about. Your instructions carry weight. A younger or inexperienced technician may follow them without questioning them because you’re the manager.

That’s why competence matters.

If you don’t know something, say you don’t know.

Ask somebody.

Look it up.

Read the label.

Call technical support.

Call your trainer.

Hell, call an electrician and ask them whether sticking things into energized receptacles is generally considered a solid career move.

But don’t manufacture bullshit on the spot and hand it down to a technician as procedure.

Because eventually somebody gets hurt.

And there’s another lesson here for everyone in pest control:

Do the job you sold.

If your salesperson promises a service your technicians don’t perform, fix your sales process.

If your technician misses part of the treatment, send them back and fix it.

If the treatment shouldn’t have been sold in the first place, admit it and make things right with the customer.

What you absolutely should not do is invent some half-assed shortcut and pretend it accomplishes the same thing.

Customers aren’t stupid.

Technicians aren’t disposable.

And pesticide labels and electrical safety aren’t suggestions.

This industry already fights an uphill battle against hacks, fly-by-night operators, misinformation, and customers who think everything we do should cost $49.95.

We don’t need legitimate companies making us look worse by defending bad work with even worse explanations.

So here’s today’s professional development lesson from Tales from the Crawlspace:

If completing a pest control treatment requires you to stick your applicator into an electrical outlet, there’s a pretty good chance you’ve fucked up several steps earlier.

Please govern yourselves accordingly.

And PLEASE show me where the magic happens on this outlet! 

idiots