A reader writes: <\/p>\n
I am up late because I cant stop scratching. It might be a psychological itch, but it might not be! <\/p>\n
So today I went to work at my dreadful job at a call center where about 200 people work. Now, I had heard other people speculate that they had throw out our breakroom sofas (very suddenly) last month because they had found bedbugs in them, but I had just put that down to idle gossip. Then, one girl mentioned that she had actually seen a bedbug at her work station, but I just assumed she was a drama queen. <\/p>\n
However, when I sat down at my desk this morning, I noticed this tiny, teensy, little bug walking over my workstation. I think it was just the contrast between the color of the bug and the color of my desk that made me notice it. Agog, I managed to catch the little bugger in a kleenex, and to my absolute HORROR, confirmed it was in fact, a bedbug. <\/p>\n
I sort of shrieked and yelled in an alarmed voice that I had found a bedbug. This is when my supervisor came over and examined it, still alive in its kleenex prison, and whisked it off to management. <\/p>\n
The guy who sits beside me then told me he had seen two of the little darlings crawling across his desk yesterday! <\/p>\n
So my supervisor came back from her meeting with management and said it had been confirmed, I had indeed entrapped a bedbug. She then advised me to not tell anyone because they did not want a mass panic. Later I found out that at least three other employees had found these bugs walking around on their workstations. <\/p>\n
Later, I went to the manager and asked what they planned to do about our apparent bed bug problem. I was advised that they were looking into it, and would possibly spray on the weekend. <\/p>\n
ON THE WEEKEND!!!!! It is only WEDNESDAY!!! <\/p>\n
Am I unreasonable to be horrified to be expected to sit and work in a bedbug infested environment for several more days, possibly dragging the little critters home with me and infesting my entire apartment building, not to mention the 200 other apartment buildings our employees live in? <\/p>\n
This has grossed me out so badly that I feel like getting a doctors note or some damn thing to keep me out of that place until it is uninfested.Any advice would be hugely appreciated. <\/p>\n
Agggghhhhh! <\/p>\n
Im posting this within minutes of receiving it, because agggghhhhh! <\/p>\n
Bedbugs are Not To Be Messed With. I know someone who had to move out of her apartment for weeks when she got an infestation. And then they still werent gone and she had to move out again. Bedbugs will take over your life. <\/p>\n
Your manager sucks for telling you not to tell anyone. Because they dont want a mass panic? Theres a reason it would cause a mass panic, lady.You might show her thisarticleand thisreport, which talk about the increase in lawsuits from workers whose offices were infested with bedbugs, but their employers deliberately sat on the information. <\/p>\n
And they will possibly spray on the weekend? Possibly? <\/p>\n
Honestly, Id refuse to come back in until the problem is dealt with. I realize you may not have that option, but Im really, really hoping you do. And this would be a really good time for you and your coworkers to band together as a group and speak in one voice on this. <\/p>\n
What do other people think? <\/p>\n
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