Do you ever get to the end of your rope and just say out loud “enough is enough?” When you’ve been pushed on and tugged at and trodden over to the point that you just can’t stay silent anymore. I guess we as an industry haven’t reached that point because we’ve been blown about with every wind of doctrine and I fear a perfect storm is now brewing.
It’s one thing when you’ve had a bad day and the wrong word comes from a client who has no clue about our industry. Truly, this happens too often but our profession is not unique to it. The wolves are always at the door of any good endeavor. It is however entirely different when the purposeful tearing down of our noble profession comes from within-
The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie, deliberate, contrived and dishonest, but the myth, persistent, persuasive and unrealistic.
John F. Kennedy
History Unchanged
It’s said that the great advancements of mans health and prosperous well being is directly related to advancements in medicine, plumbing and pest control. Yes, pest control.
I won’t blow smoke up your stack by saying I’m as smart as a Doctor, shoot, we aren’t even as clever as the average plumber to charge a trip fee…. well, that may be true but you take any one of these professions out of our history and you’d have mass sickness, disease and rampant pestilence with very little hope for a comfortable existence. One needs only to look at our history to see when each of these occupations truly kicked in and the great strides forward that soon followed. For further confirmation simply gaze over to other areas of the world where these benefits have not been employed. There you will see our fellow mankind stricken with all kinds of illness, poverty and despair. It’s my guess, that they would only be to happy to see the bug man coming down the road to ‘spray’ their home.
I’m Not Sure We See It That Way
I’m not sure why, but it seems like an awful lot of very smart people in our industry seem to look down on the very profession they claim to love and promote. Just this year a prominent pest control newsletter (it’s a member only sign in site but the link will take you there) had as their cover story the 50th Anniversary of Silent Spring and why we as an industry need to embrace it. Do you know who Rachel Carson was? What she stood for and the pseudo science she used to successfully crank the wheel of this big ship? Granted, it didn’t happen over night but neither can you steer a battle cruiser on a dime. The turn has been slow and steady because no one from 1962 on cried foul loud enough and now we’re just about at our 180.
Another prominent example is, we here in Florida are fortunate enough to have DACS (Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services) inspectors sit in for many of our meetings and ceu’s. This is more than fine and I applaud them for their keen interest. However, when as a group we are told that “No one should be using a B&G for service in this day and age” and how unprofessional we are if we do– well, I got a problem with that. (this happens quite a bit and involves more than a hand sprayer)
And then there is the forums, the TV and radio ads, the Facebook postings and the non stop chatter of cyber space. Companies claiming that others in their own industry use dangerous, lethal, deadly poisons and that for the sake of you, your family, children and pets, don’t allow them to spew these noxious chemicals around your home.
Wow, I just want to say “Thanks a lot” when I see them at them at the next trade show. “You sure do know how to market, I can’t imagine the public not trusting us now. How bout about tech morale? We sure feel good about what we do after all this don’t we?
Hey, can a caulking gun evenly put out an IGR? What’s the residual of Borax on the floor as compared to some Suspend SC in a crack or crevice? Is your training so superior to mine that your techs can just do the outside and every problem indoors will magically go away? Must be, because the public is constantly told how irresponsible we are for interior service…where’s that on the label? The Mallis handbook? I realize you’re just attempting to get market share but PLEASEEEE! You’re doing some damage as well and it ain’t to just the single operator across town that you’d like to get rid of. It’s to all of us!
They say ‘think’ before you post or write anything so perhaps it’s best to stop right here. But I for the life of me can’t fathom how the pest control profession became it’s own worst enemy- that it’s eating itself. That somehow we think it best not tout our training and band together for the good of all. Not that I’m going to change what you do, not that I want you to change me. But if
anybody should be trusted to handle pest situations, pesticides and the potential risks involved…..shouldn’t it be those of us who have been trained for it? Whether green blue or red, big or small. We’re in a league of our own because of our knowledge and skill. It’s time to come to the table together and promote the good of our industry….not serve each other up for dinner.
