BED BUGS

Before I get into the story, I just want to apologize for not making a Spin Cycle post yesterday. I was busy during the day and at night, I had to do with some real life issues and people. Guess you can say "shit happens". Don't worry though, this coming Sunday you will have a super duper Spin Cycle post.

Now, onto today. New York has a big issue with bed bugs. Luckily, it has been a long time since a customer came to our laundromat with bed bugs. Until today, today a stupid customer decided to come  to our laundromat to get rid of the little suckers.

First off, she didn't wash her clothes. She just tossed them in the dryer. BIG MISTAKE. I can't stress this enough. If you have bed bugs you MUST WASH ALL OF YOUR BELONGINGS! When you do wash them, you have to wash them on hot. I am contemplating on putting a couple of fliers up in the laundromat with instructions on how to wash clothes if someone is infested with bed bugs. Anyways, I told my co-worker that I am going to approach her and ask her to wash her clothes. My co-worker told me not to so she wouldn't get offended. Fuck if I care if she gets offended. She is doing it wrong and she will get infested again. I approached the female patron and told her the following "Hey! I know you have -that- problem and I recommend you wash them because by just drying them, you aren't doing much." She snapped at me and said "Who is going to pay for it? You? No you aren't. So mind your own business." That's when my logic kicked in. I told her "The amount that you are paying for the exterminator, wouldn't it be worth it to just do the job right instead of bringing an exterminator again?" She thought about it and she took her clothes out and put them in a washer. I was shocked. Really shocked... customers normally don't listen to me. When she removed her clothes from the dryer, I put a plastic bag over my body and hiked up my pants so I can clean the dryer and make sure there isn't anything left behind. I put the dyer on hot for 60 minutes to make sure stuff is dead in there. I even cleaned the area after she left too. Mopped with heavy bleach and I worked the washers she used too so the inside can rinse out.

When she was leaving, she thanked me for giving her the advice with bed bugs. For once I can say my logic worked.

People, when you have bed bugs ALWAYS remove EVERYTHING from the infected area and wash the items or dry clean them. Do NOT clean the infested area. First you must let the exterminator do his chemical business thingy and THEN clean the area. Then you can put everything back in it's place. Having bed bugs now is pretty acceptable and one should not be ashamed of them. It's more of a pain in the ass than anything. Ask a laundry employee for help or do research on the internet to figure out what you need to do. You are doing more harm by not telling a laundry employee that you have a bed bug problem.

If you need more tips on bed bugs, feel free to email me at Lillaundrygirl@gmail.com

BED BUGS

I get asked many questions about bed bugs since I work at a laundromat. So I figured I would share my knowledge with you guys.

- Bed bugs are quite hard to kill without professional help.
- They can live up to a year without drawing any blood.
- They do NOT only live in beds. They can be found in bed posts, curtains, shelves, bed wheels, drawers, and closests.
- They can easily be attracted in places where USED clothing is being transported. Rarely in big department stores.

- During the summer time, it is hard to distinguish a bed bug from a mosquito. Best way to identify a bed bug bite is by "breakfast, lunch, and dinner"... A bed bug normally bites in three different spots near eachother and the bites are not as round as a mosquito bite.
- "Baby" bed bugs tend to itch more than adult bed bugs because of the bed bug saliva.

- When hiring a professional, remove everything material wise from your room and wash it on hot as well as drying it on hot for an hour. Of course this might cause shrinkage of clothing but... do you really want to live with bed bugs? I think not...
- Once the professional finsihed spraying the room, do not enter it for 24 hours and when you do, clean the room. DO NOT USE BLEACH. IT WILL DEACTIVATE THE CHEMICAL.

- Make sure you have your mattress bed in a ZIPPERED MATTRESS COVER and the same for your pillow. This will eliminate future problems.

There is a posibility where you can attract bed bugs again after this but if you are careful, you should not have a problem. Ask your laundromat what their protocol is when they THINK they are infested with bed bugs. They will most likely lie to you because half of them can not be bothered. At our laundromat, we spray every 3 months and when we suspect a customer brought in bed bugs, everything gets cleaned and washed extremely well. Normally I can spot a customer that is infested with bed bugs for obvious reasons. One give away is the big black plastic bags mounted in a cart. That is a dead giveaway. PLEASE DO NOT JUST PUT YOUR CLOTHING IN THE DRYER ON HOT. YOU NEED TO WASH YOUR CLOTHES ON HOT TOO! I have seen many customers do this and the week after, they come up to me and ask me how to get rid of them. My first question to them always is "did you wash your clothing first?" and they say "no". Well, there goes your problem. Bed bugs are attracted to heat but they can not handle heat after a certain degrees and time. Hence why the hour on the dryer is a necessesity, especially on hot.

Do not be shy to ask questions about bed bugs. Its very common now and when I had spoken to an exterminator, in his words he said "blame the yuppies with their backpacking and wearing used clothing."... He mostly named Beacons Closet and Buffalo Exchange. Mostly Beacons Closet though. I find that quite funny.