Keep Searching, You'll Find It

Finding a nice entry point is always satisfying, especially one that was initially invisible to the naked eye, or the nude nose.

Here you can see that some foam work has been done in the corner of this floor, but there is just enough of a gap between products that invaders were able to, well, invade.

A sharp eye and a pointy piece of metal are the keys to success in this situation.

Looking once is not enough, and just looking without feeling around is only half an inspection.

You'll be glad you listened to me.

Ew York City will be back on Friday.

Summertime Fun

Even in the heart of NYC there is something that wants to eat your plants.

Code Red

Sometimes a restaurant that is normally clean will have a bad month, and certain areas will get neglected.  That's all it takes for the pests to go nuts.

Here's a perfect example.  This particular bistro is normally really clean, so when our senior service manager Nick, (who is a certified pesticide applicator with the state of New York and highly credentialed with expertise in the field of pest elimination) sent me this picture, I thought he must be joking.

Surely this couldn't be from the restaurant he said it was.

But sure enough, it was.  And just like clockwork they were starting to see pests.

Fortunately, by Nick crawling on his belly face down in the muck, he was able to save the day and keep this restaurant fully operational.

The lesson is: don't think because you have been excellent that you are still excellent today.

The only way you're still excellent today is if you're still excellent today.

So let's be excellent.

Ew York city will be back tomorrow.

It's Complicated

These drains in the summer are just going to be the stuff of nightmares for me all summer.

Did you catch the word "summer"?

But truthfully summer isn't the main issue.  It's sanitation.

With this many hoses crisscrossing under your appliances, you know gunk buildup is going to be a challenge.

Steam it out.  Tie up the hoses.  Get aggressive.  Inspect regularly.  Treat as needed.

I need you.  We can't do this without you.

Ew york city will be back soon. It's getting busy.

Bed bug bites

Nice straight line of bed bug bites.

Cornered

This is one of those little spots in your dining room that gets overlooked and then WABAAAMMM!!
The health inspector finds mouse droppings.

Bummer.

Gotta get your crew to know about these critical areas where your brooms and mops are not going to reach.

The metal clamp on the bottom of this pole was acting as a blocker to prevent cleaning.

You've got to say, "I will not be stopped.  My sanitation will not be stopped.  The only thing that will be stopped is the presence of rodent excreta in my life."

Look in the mirror every morning and say that: "the only thing that will be stopped today is the presence of rodent excreta in my life."

Then get some breakfast.

Have a nice weekend.  Ew York City will be back next week.

Live from the men's room

In the men's room, just as I was about to get some soap for my hands, there he was, standing right in front of me.

Do you see him?  Do you recognize him?  Have you seen him before?

Let's take a closer look:

There's our friend, the New York City Drain Fly.

These guys are everywhere.  They love moisture.  They love drains.  New York City is basically one giant drain system surrounded by water with water flowing all through it constantly, so there's no reason for drain flies to consider moving to Florida.

They're kinda cute too.

Ew York City will be back one more time this week.

You Mock Us

Fruit fly season 2015.

Bring it.

Here are a few fruit flies on a chef's shirt.

Fruit Flies: Bold as Love

Ew York City will be back tomorrow.

A Little Eater

Here's a little eater, just a baby bed bug, going to town on somebody's arm.

What's so cool is to watch them as they feed.  The blood literally flows through their head like a gusher or something.

This guy got nice and fat and then headed back to his little home for a nap.

It's almost impossible to feel the bed bugs as they feed on you.  It's usually not until a while later that your skin will start to react.  That's why some people say, "I felt like a keep getting bitten at my office," when in fact they got bitten in their bed and didn't start to feel it until they got to work.

Ew York City will be back tomorrow.  Stay dry.

Craving Crevices

Kind of a blah Monday, so here's a blah photo.

But what we can learn from this is: from our normal vantage point (standing erect on our two legs as we were made to do) we would never see this nice crevice under the baseboard.

Getting down on all fours, sliding my screw driver around, and getting to the crack was all an essential part of successfully discovering and eliminating avenues for occasional invaders to make life in this kitchen miserable.

I love it when that happens.

Ew york city will see ya tomorrow.

Spring Fling

Have a Great Weekend from your dead friends at

EW YORK City

It Lives

I love the Blob, great 1950s horror movie with a lot of symbolism and cheap thrills.

Here is the kitchen blob, in the form of missing / broken tiles near a drain with a lot of standing water and decaying organic matter gathering.

This is horrific.

I know everyone is on a budget, especially in this economy.  But if at all possible, these tiles need to be replaced as soon as possible.  Besides the fact that the DOH can site you for it, it will continue to attract and breed pests.

I kind of see a giraffe skull.

Ew York city will be back tomorrow.

Where You Been?

In a midtown Jewelry store, above all the shoppers heads, was a 24 karat rat colony.

The top 40 muzak was drowning out the sounds of the stampedes, but eventually someone heard something and called me up.

Again, rats tend to make fewer droppings than mice, so to see this level of activity is telling me all I need to know.

In the top picture you can see a rat snap trap upside down, so somebody tried to do something at some point in time.  I love the way it's upside down without a rat in it; makes me think one of the smarter rodents knocked it over so it wouldn't hurt anybody.

Ew York City will be back tomorrow.