One great thing about being in pest control is the amount of freedom you have. People just seem to automatically confer trust on you and literally give you the keys to the kingdom. In our little business we do so many key accounts that some days get a little boring because there is no one to talk to. You’re free to roam through the house, poke your head in a closet and search through the cabinets all in the name of providing good pest control but I ask you; “would you do pest control service any differently at a key account if you knew there was a hidden camera somewhere that captured your every move?”
Now I’m not talking about the creepy stuff that you hear about on the news every couple years but just your normal everyday maintenance visits that people come to expect from a professional. If it’s a flea job do you still treat under the throw rugs? If you see a grain beetle do you take the time to see if you can find the obvious box of food that they are coming from? Do you do all of the home or do you breeze through the kitchen and bathrooms and hit the door in 5 minutes flat? It can be tempting to fly through these accounts and I’ll admit key accounts can be done faster just because you have no one to talk with and that certainly will make up some time on a day you’re running behind. Still, if you knew you were being watched just how different would your service be?
For me this subject doesn’t come up much although I have addressed it at staff meetings and let my people know just how I see things. In 26 years I’ve only been filmed twice but it wasn’t key accounts, just crazy people that had old termite damage and thought I was responsible and that perhaps a video camera would somehow get me to pull out my wallet. Maybe I’ll write about that sometime. That aside I can tell you that it is any homeowners right to set up a camera to verify what anybody is doing in their home. My biggest concern is that I don’t care if the home is a bank repo that’s been vacant for years, you’re still there to do a job and that takes time to do it right. It’s to easy to get into a mind set that ‘no one will know’ if I just skip the garage or just not check the attic. Now I’m not 
sure how often a person takes the time to set up a system but I do know that if they are one of my customers all they’ll see is a guy and his flashlight checking the corners and under the fridge, poking up under the sink and doing a normal good once over. Knowing us we’ll put fresh water in the dog dish and take the time to pet the cat. Each of my tech’s ride with me for at least two months and we do a lot of empty homes so there is no excuse if a problem were to ever arise.
I’ve never really posed this question to anyone I’ve trained because it sounds like it’s on the verge of creepiness or at the least some conspiracy oriented plot. But maybe I should, after all it’ll be me on the nightly news looking into the not so hidden camera for all of my town to see and just how will I act then?
