I love my apartment. I do. It's REALLY cute. If you unfocus your eyes and make your vision all fuzzy it looks kind of like this:
And you have to admit, that multicolored bubbles are really cute! So what's not to love? Well from the picture of Gregor over there, I'm sure you can guess.I found a cockroach in my closet this morning. Which means he was crawling around on my clothes! My clothes! Ew! Vile little roach feet on my clothes! Or worse, roach poop! Or worse yet--EGGS! EWWWW! I am a girly, entomophobic wimp. Especially with roaches. How I survived Louisiana in the spring, I will never fully know.
When I saw it on my closet door, it crawled about an inch and stopped, like it was just as surprised to see me as I was to see it. I just stood there for a minute, my entire body shaking. Then some images flashed through my mind: the roach crawling around in my underwear; the legs, the EGGS! I had to take action--but how!? I couldn't touch it, not even through a paper towel! How to squish this disgusting creature out of my life?? I quickly scanned my eyes around the room and spotted the tool I needed. Praise Jesus, I have a hammer! In a flash, I grabbed a wad of paper towels and wrapped it around the hammer's head. Then I-- couldn't move. I stood there, shaking for a minute.
The roach, which I have since classified as a young German Cockroach (thanks, wikipedia), waggled his feelers at me. It was taunting me.
I took a deep breath, then smacked the hammer against the closet door. I didn't kill it! Oh no! Oh wait, there it is on its back, wriggling its legs helplessly! YES! WHACK! Oh no! Where did it go!? Oh no, oh no, OH NO! Oh wait.... there it is... squished on the bottom of the paper towel... Ahhh... Thank God I had this hammer.
I was still shaking as I gingerly picked up the paper towel and stuck it in the trash can. Then I stood there for a moment, scanning the closet floor, the walls, the area around the closet. I delicately pulled my shirt off the hanger and shook it out as hard as I could, inspected it for legs or eggs, then put it on. Then I started sobbing. I had to go to work, but I wanted to stay and find its point of entry! I wanted to plug the hell out of that crevice, wherever it was! Then I started swearing at everyone; at my broker, at my landlord, at my lazy-as-hell super, at whoever-it-is that keeps cooking whatever-it-is that stinks up the hallway. And then I thought about how it was my own fault. I wanted to move in quickly, I signed the lease before making 100% sure everything was caulked and sealed, I let the Chinese lady do my laundry and didn't check it before I brought it in, I left clutter in my doorway!
So I did what I always do when I feel overwhelmed and like everything is my fault; I called my sister. She calmed me down and told me that it would be okay and that I need to breathe and relax and everything. I felt better. Then I came to work and read this online brochure about How to Control Pests Safely. I felt empowered. I can breathe. I'm not shaking anymore. No legs, no eggs.
But you'd better believe that I'm not going home tonight without boric acid and a tube of caulk!
------------------------
UPDATE: I later learned that these guys came from the laundromat on Lincoln Road! Ewwwww! Legs and eggs in the laundromat! I have since switched to the Super Laundry on Beekman.
1 comment:
I'm glad I could help! I felt bad I couldn't talk longer. Yes. Be empowered. You are bigger than them and no matter how disgusting they are they are just bugs. A few will not hurt you. And unfortunately they are common in NYC.
On the other hand, call your super and the mgmt company EVERY single time you see one until they're gone. In the meantime, understand it takes a few weeks for all of them to eat the poison and croke and some could have been hiding out and avoided it all together. So also, be patient and don't pack up just yet, but don't be complacent and keep on those scumbags!
And maybe accept the situation a little bit so that you don't freak out so much. Tell yourself, "I will see more roaches before they are all dead and that's ok. I will not sit quietly about it. I will kill them and I will call my landlord and I will take every step I can take to get rid of them, but it won't hurt me." The freak out icky feeling stem from feeling insecure about your choices: to move, to move in there, etc. So, also think about that and deal with those feelings and the roach issue will improve!
And if it makes you feel better, I lived in a basement apartment in Queens. It was my first place all by myself. It was a free standing home so there weren't roaches, but one day there was the BIGGEST centipede on the wall. I mean GIANT! It was horrendous! I was so scared and like you I couldn't even imagine touching it. I grabbed a t-shirt or something like that and flung it at it like a frat boy snaps a towel and then I was afraid to clean up the legs smashed on the wall so I left it there for the rest of the time I lived there! And I was then petrified of seeing another one and seemed to see bugs every where I looked. So, it's normal!
Post a Comment