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  • Ugh. Just ... ugh

    So I am scrambling to clear out my apartment as well as possible because the pest control people are coming tomorrow ... and I don't know what time. The letter said anywhere from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m .

    Problem? Bedbugs.

    In all the years I've lived in apartments I've never had them before. (I have had cockroaches and that was a GET OUT NOW alert for me.)

    The worst part of this is that I had no idea just how much shit I had in this place. And it's ONLY the bedroom (including closet) and living room (including closet) that are being treated (likely the entranceway too) so those are the only places that need to be accessible.

    It doesn't seem to be a heavy infestation, but still ... what a nightmare. I've already asked for one extension and it's too late now to ask for another, even if they were willing to grant me one. I'm doing the best I can and I can only hope it's good enough.

    One of the few bright spots is that a lot of the stuff that has gone out won't be coming back. When I moved in here, I planned to go through my stuff and sell or donate a lot of it. Well, then along came COVID ... and everything shut down ... and I stopped noticing the clutter.

    In future, stuff will come back in small increments and be dealt with that way. I do not ever want to have to go through this again.

    Wish me luck.
    Customer service: More efficient than a Dementor's kiss
    ~ Mr Hero

  • #2
    Ugh, bed bugs. Did you actually have them in your stuff? You need to treat all the bedding and everything. I would give up the damage deposit, set the place on fire and move.

    But that's just me. >.>

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    • #3

      I hadn't thought of that!

      I don't think I brought them when I moved in because I've been here nearly 2 years and they've just now shown up. It's by no mean a massive infestation, thank the gods, but it does have to be dealt with.

      A lot of my stuff has been pitched out onto the balcony in garbage bags. They'll be brought in one bag at a time, and the stuff laundered and put into the dryer before going back into my dressers (they told me I didn't have to empty out my closets).

      I did have one person tell me not to take books out of the "library" (the bookroom on the ground floor) because "they have bugs in them" so perhaps that's where they came from ...

      I know the unit next door is being treated as well (I saw the same notification tucked into his door as mine ... no, I didn't read it but it was recognizable partly because it was stapled shut. Regular notices ... people moving in and out and such ... aren't stapled shut.) I don't know about the unit below me or the one below my neighbour. There are no apartments above us; that's the party room which has been sitting idle since COVID showed up.

      Do you know if they spray the furniture too? Or just the baseboards?

      Bloody hell, I've got SIX SUITCASES ...
      Last edited by EricKei; 02-24-2021, 10:32 AM. Reason: merged consecutive posts
      Customer service: More efficient than a Dementor's kiss
      ~ Mr Hero

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      • #4
        Might wanna suggest to the landlord that they have every unit (including unused ones and especially that "library") checked out AND notify all tenants. If one or two units have them, they could be in any or all of them. Good luck with all of that! O_O
        "For a musician, the SNES sound engine is like using Crayola Crayons. Nobuo Uematsu used Crayola Crayons to paint the Sistine Chapel." - Jeremy Jahns (re: "Dancing Mad")
        "The difference between an amateur and a master is that the master has failed way more times." - JoCat
        "Thinking is difficult, therefore let the herd pronounce judgment!" ~ Carl Jung
        "There's burning bridges, and then there's the lake just to fill it with gasoline." - Wiccy, reddit
        "Retail is a cruel master, and could very well be the most educational time of many people's lives, in its own twisted way." - me
        "Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down...tell you she's hurtin' 'fore she keens...makes her a home." - Capt. Malcolm Reynolds, "Serenity" (2005)
        Acts of Gord – Read it, Learn it, Love it!
        "Our psychic powers only work if the customer has a mind to read." - me

        Comment


        • #5
          Quoth EricKei View Post
          Might wanna suggest to the landlord that they have every unit (including unused ones and especially that "library") checked out AND notify all tenants. If one or two units have them, they could be in any or all of them. Good luck with all of that! O_O
          I did mention the library to management; whether they will do anything is anybody's guess ... although I don't know what they can do other than throw out all the books and shut down the library permanently ... and I think somebody would have to prove conclusively there are bugs in the books there before they did that.

          They've already inspected surrounding units. That is standard procedure here for something like that.

          Of course, if there are bugs in the books, that means it's possible that they are in some other units as well, and may or may not have been identified as infected by management ... but that again is not my problem. All I know is I won't be bringing any more "donated" books into my unit (even though the 'library' is closed due to COVID, people still leave books in the laundry room, or in a bag hanging off the library door).
          Customer service: More efficient than a Dementor's kiss
          ~ Mr Hero

          Comment


          • #6
            I'm getting mixed messages from management. In one email she tells me they will not reschedule until it has been confirmed that the unit is properly prepped and I am to inform her when this is the case and she will conduct an inspection and only then will reschedule the next treatment.

            In a later email, she tells me the next treatment is scheduled for March 10.

            Customer service: More efficient than a Dementor's kiss
            ~ Mr Hero

            Comment


            • #7
              Never mind the bedbugs (which appear to already have been annihilated, even before the second treatment) ... do you think management would get upset if I set fire to my balcony to get rid of the PIGEONS??
              Customer service: More efficient than a Dementor's kiss
              ~ Mr Hero

              Comment


              • #8
                Bed bugs, yay. I've had to deal with them before. Twice. In the same apartment. Cuz the other residents were filthy .

                As for pigeons, I took care of my flying rat problem with a pellet gun and good aim. The neighborhood cats ate well for a couple weeks.
                Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, you speak with the Fraud department. -- CrazedClerkthe2nd
                OW! Rolled my eyes too hard, saw my brain. -- Seanette
                she seems to top me in crazy, and I'm enough crazy for my family. -- Cooper
                Yes, I am evil. What's your point? -- Jester

                Comment


                • #9
                  Ugh, yeah if there's in any one room they're probably in more. Every unit needs to be checked. There should be little bedbug disk things you put under the legs of your bed/furniture that catches the little buggers so you can see if they're around. Although you can spot them if you know where to look.

                  Had a coworker bring a few into work <shudder>

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Quoth Deserted View Post
                    Bed bugs, yay. I've had to deal with them before. Twice. In the same apartment. Cuz the other residents were filthy .

                    As for pigeons, I took care of my flying rat problem with a pellet gun and good aim. The neighborhood cats ate well for a couple weeks.
                    Methinks my neighbours would have ... "issues" ... if I suddenly started firing away with a pellet gun. Once the bedbug situation has been dealt with, I plan to clear the balcony, scrub it down, and then buy a truckload of those "bird spikes" and cover the entire balcony with 'em. Let the little sky rats empty their poop chutes somewhere else.

                    Quoth Gravekeeper View Post
                    Ugh, yeah if there's in any one room they're probably in more. Every unit needs to be checked. There should be little bedbug disk things you put under the legs of your bed/furniture that catches the little buggers so you can see if they're around. Although you can spot them if you know where to look.

                    Had a coworker bring a few into work <shudder>
                    Adjoining units have been checked and pronounced bug-free. Management told me I had a "severe infestation" ... but the guys who actually came into my unit to treat it said no, it wasn't. They found bugs on my desk chair and the underside of my mattress and that was all. Nothing on my sofa, nor my sewing chair (probably because I hadn't sat on either one in ... well, let's just say a LONG time; I spend most of my time at my computer).

                    I know about those disk things and have a package of 'em. Once the second treatment is over, I will put them under the bed legs and keep an eye on them, just to make sure there's no recurrence.

                    The second treatment is dependent on whether I have the place properly prepped; apparently I didn't do so for the first treatment so it wasn't a full treatment. Still, since then, I've seen three bugs: two I killed as soon as I saw them and the third ... drowned in the cats' water dish.

                    I've checked the underside of the mattress a couple of times since then ... nothing. So I think the second treatment will ensure that they are gone for good.

                    And then I can get moving on the damned pigeons.
                    Customer service: More efficient than a Dementor's kiss
                    ~ Mr Hero

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      A fellow tenant (not knowing about my buggy problems) warned me against taking books out of the "library" -- a common room (now locked thanks to COVID) where tenants can take or leave books -- because "they have bugs in them". I had taken many books out of there with no problems but ... there's always a first time. I wonder if that's where these came from.

                      In any case, I will pick up no more free books here. It's not like I don't have a truckload to read already.

                      (Not too many other options for the source; I don't visit other tenants, so that's out. Unless, like Gravekeeper's coworker, somebody brought them to my workplace ... a local restaurant? A possibility but the way they wipe everything down these days, I think it's unlikely.)
                      Customer service: More efficient than a Dementor's kiss
                      ~ Mr Hero

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Quoth Gravekeeper View Post
                        Had a coworker bring a few into work <shudder>
                        On a kinda-related note:

                        Back at GameStore, our location had been (internally) destroyed thanks to rainwater from Katrina coming in from the building's ceiling because the landlord had neglected the roof A/C units for oh, a decade or two. Long story short, a HAZMART crew had to come in to tear out the fixtures and walls; I'll spare you the details.

                        This was a fairly old store, so we were happy, once it was all re-done, to have a remarkably bug-free store. That lasted about a week, until some braintrust brought in an XBOX (classic) console to trade in. Naturally, he insisted it worked great (it looked dirty and neglected), and we were required to hook them up to a test TV to make sure they worked before processing the transaction. He stood there and watched us do so without comment as the system warmed up and a SWARM of teeny little roaches made an exodus from the unit. We refused the buy and made him take it back with him, but the damage had been done.
                        "For a musician, the SNES sound engine is like using Crayola Crayons. Nobuo Uematsu used Crayola Crayons to paint the Sistine Chapel." - Jeremy Jahns (re: "Dancing Mad")
                        "The difference between an amateur and a master is that the master has failed way more times." - JoCat
                        "Thinking is difficult, therefore let the herd pronounce judgment!" ~ Carl Jung
                        "There's burning bridges, and then there's the lake just to fill it with gasoline." - Wiccy, reddit
                        "Retail is a cruel master, and could very well be the most educational time of many people's lives, in its own twisted way." - me
                        "Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down...tell you she's hurtin' 'fore she keens...makes her a home." - Capt. Malcolm Reynolds, "Serenity" (2005)
                        Acts of Gord – Read it, Learn it, Love it!
                        "Our psychic powers only work if the customer has a mind to read." - me

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          I've heard similar stories on other sites. Ugh. It's almost at the point where you would want a separate building to open the device up just to make sure it's not inhabited.
                          Customer service: More efficient than a Dementor's kiss
                          ~ Mr Hero

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Quoth Pixelated View Post
                            I've heard similar stories on other sites. Ugh. It's almost at the point where you would want a separate building to open the device up just to make sure it's not inhabited.
                            I stand by my suggestion of simply dousing the unit in kerosene and giving it a good burn out.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Quoth Pixelated View Post
                              I've heard similar stories on other sites. Ugh. It's almost at the point where you would want a separate building to open the device up just to make sure it's not inhabited.
                              Take a large plastic container. Give it a good shot of Raid. Place the controller inside and power it up. Keep the lid handy,
                              Life is too short to not eat popcorn.
                              Save the Ales!
                              Toys for Tots at Rooster's Cafe

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