NASTY! Don't Read If Squeemish! Long

[NightAngel]

I've been working in ye old video store for around 5-6 years now. I have emptied the drop box many, many times and encountered all kinds of disgusting things from squished moldy food to urine soaked cover art.

Today's drop box ordeal took the cake for me though...

So, there I am- in a great mood- having a lovely day when I decide to check in some movies. Yea me. I grab a movie- from the opening that we slide the lock into the case comes ROACHES! GAH!

I promptly drop the case (still in drop box) and MORE ROACHES come running out!

Now, you may be wondering just how many roaches fit inside a DVD case?
The answer is HUNDREDS!

They scatter everywhere! My CSR hands me a bag and runs away. I use the bag and grab the DVD case and take it outside where I drop it with a resounding THUD on the sidewalk- MORE ROACHES!

They swarm everywhere and I'm doing the Bug Stomping Dance while earnestly proclaiming, "EW! EW! EEEEWWWW! YUCK! EW!..." you get the idea.

I kick the DVD case away from me and it skids off the curb into the parking lot- roaches trailing behind.

I finally manage to get the DVD out of the case (discovering even MORE live roaches), squished roaches all over it, and the barcode I need to check it in.
I left the case lying in the parking lot.

I discover that there were three more movies checked out on the account... I look with despair at the drop box (and the roaches visibly running around in it) knowing I HAVE to check the other three movies to see if they are as infested.

The answer is YES!!!! They were also infested! YUCK!

I had to go next door to the grocery store and buy Raid and Combats, soak the drop box and it's entire contents with bug spray and use security tape to close off the box both inside and out. The exterminators don't make emergency calls! I tried! They will be out today (Monday).

My store reeked of insecticide, everyone had to come inside to drop off their movies plus I wasted about 2 hours of work time battling roaches. My CSR nearly vomited because the roaches freaked her out. THEN we were 2 hours behind on all our other work and it was BUSY today.

Personally, my belief is that the customer should have to pay for:

1. All the movies that were infested.
2. All the insect battling equipment the store had to purchase.
3. The exterminator visit tomorrow.
4. Reimburse the store for my time dealing with their mess.
5. Bonus to me personally for dealing with it.
6. Bonus to my CSR for her near vomit episode.

I called my SM at home and told her that my CSR and I would like to see this account permanently BANNED! There is NO WAY they didn't know those roaches were in there- NO FREAKING WAY! I told her that if they said they didn't know they are LYING!!!

When I got home my hubby gave me a very long back rub and listened to me bitch ever so patiently.

Thank-you for letting me rant on friends. Kudos if you made it through.

[ladyklack]

ok, I'm officially terrifed of ever empting out the drop box ever again.
ewwwwwwwwwwww

I wouldn't even think twice about closing out this persons account. If management gives you any trouble just tell them that working in such unsanitary conditions is worthy of a pay raise. I bet that will make them think!

[AFpheonix]

Wow...do these people have no shame?

....Or are you just dealing with wierd aliens trying to get a universe strapped around some kitty's neck?

[ThePhoneGoddess]

BAN THEM.

Totally ban them!

Put big notes on their account stating exactly WHY they are banned---that was done on purpose. Yes, it was. That was deliberate sabotage, and next time they come in, let them have it! Tell them in front of all the customers in line why you banned them. Embarrass them!

Finding one or even two or three roaches inside some DVD cases means somebody is a nasty slob. But finding hundreds? That was done on purpose.

I hope you never have to deal with that again.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Personally, my belief is that the customer should have to pay for:

1. All the movies that were infested.
2. All the insect battling equipment the store had to purchase.
3. The exterminator visit tomorrow.
4. Reimburse the store for my time dealing with their mess.
5. Bonus to me personally for dealing with it.
6. Bonus to my CSR for her near vomit episode.

I concur 110%. That customer must be a world-class disgusting pig for that many roaches to get into those DVD cases. I can't even begin to imagine what their house looks like.

Either that, or it was sabotage as Phone Goddess suggested, in which case the customer is a majorly sick
f

[MadMike]

So how many people tried to remove the tape from the drop box and/or left their movies on top of the box?

I'm a guy, but I'm a big wuss when it comes to bugs. I concur with the others who said to ban the jackasses who did that.

[Cedophile]

Dude, "hundreds" is a real effort! I just wiki'd roaches, and seems that they'll lay a couple hundred in a year. Where anyone collects that many roaches is beyond me!

Hope there are no kids within a 5 mile radius of wherever those dvds went.

[luminen]

Umm.. EW! But I can't help wondering, if the roaches were actually put there on purpose.. How? That must've taken long. Which leads to - why? Guess we'll never know.. Maybe better that way, though,

[CaroPhoenix]

EWWWWWWW!!!! I feel your pain. I HATE roaches (and crickets, but that's another story - actually, let's just say I'm really talented at spraying raid, screaming and hopping backwards all at the same time).

Now I'm worried about returning my movies this week because I now have visions of roaches coming out of the drop box as I'm opening it to return my movies. ACK!!!

[ThePhoneGoddess]

I once worked for a local cable company, and I was told this story by the manager who had been there a long time.

They re-use cable boxes---if you shut your cable off, they take the box back and it's given to another person who has signed up for cable. Now they do check the boxes before they give them back out, but one time apparently somebody was living in a nasty situation and a roach had crawled inside the box and laid eggs and then crawled back out. The eggs were not noticed and the box was given to a new customer, who promptly plugged the box in and started using it, and the heat generated by the box apparently caused the eggs to hatch a few days later and start running amock in this person's house.

the cable company had to pay to fumigate their house and put them up in a hotel while it was being done.

[Becks]

That person deserves to be banned and forced to reimbuse the store for money spent to get rid of the roaches. I hope they are. I am never going near a drop box again.

And, like MadMike, I am curious as to whether or not customers tried using the dropbox that day.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Had that been me, I would have simply clocked out, got in my car, and drove home. I would have phoned in my resignation and apology to the boss, and requested he mail my last check to me, cuz there would be no way in heaven, hell, or limbo that I would ever be setting foot on that property, or 50 feet adjacent, ever, ever again.

[chainedbarista]

i think, either way, they should be responsible for damages/fumigation; whether it was on purpose or due to living condition, i doubt they'd be embarrassed. some people have absolutely NO shame.

i remember an episode of 'dirty jobs' that showed a home getting fumigated; the whole place was crawling with roaches, various kinds of garbage and other filth. were the occupants embarrassed to be shown on national tv like this? not on your life; they chatted with the host and the exterminator as if having a roach den in their 'pit' of a home is a normal occurrence.

[Gravekeeper]

Jeebus! I think I would have just clocked out and left too. Then I'd only return long enough to pick up my last cheque and slap the customer responsible when they returned.

I concur though, they should be 100% responsible and should also have a sttrip torn off them publically the next time they walk in. Not that I think they'd have any shame about it.

A couple of cochroaches is a prank, a hundred is effort.

[NightAngel]

Actually, no one did rip off the tape to try and use the drop box. Some people would get right up to it with their hand out before they noticed all the bright red and white tape and the note asking them to bring their items inside. Everyone asked why it was taped off and we told them the truth. Many grossed out people resulted.

One guy was even like, "Geez, now I'm never going to be able to open a DVD again without worrying that'll happen." Yeah, me too pal. *twitch*

I work tonight and I'm hoping the SM will have been able to get ahold of the roach people by then because I REALLY want to know what they have to say for themselves.