A Pain in the Rear

The following is one, in a series, of funny/unique events in my day as a pest control technician for LIND PEST CONTROL

A Pain in the Rear

This one is not so funny to me, but y’all will probably get a kick out of it.  I was called out to extinguish a possible yellow jacket nest.  When I arrived at the property, the homeowner informed me that their dog was stung while playing in an outer area of the back yard.  They had taken the dog to the vet and had verified that it was indeed a bee sting.  Right away I was sure we were either dealing with bald-faced hornets or yellow jackets.  I went to the area that the homeowner pointed out, advising the homeowners to have their kids, and the dog, stay a safe distance away (preferably inside the house).  I carefully approached the area to locate any nesting sites.  I was looking, simultaneously, at (and in) the bushes for signs of a bald-faced hornet nest and in the ground for yellow jacket activity with my head on a swivel.  The ground was covered with ivy, so it was difficult to see anything in the ground.  After a few minutes, and further investigation, I caught sight of a yellow jacket “making a bee line”.  I stood and watched as another-after-another-after-another followed.  They were flying in a descending pattern which informed me that I was dealing with a yellow jacket nest in the ground.

As I studied the situation, and crept closer, I could see a small clearing in the ivy.  A slight, slight, mound of dirt, surrounding a small hole in the ground, caught my eye. This is where I saw yellow jackets flying in and out of the ground like crazy!!!  It was the middle of a summer day and it was hot (about 82 degrees).  I went back and put on all my gear which consisted of a respirator, coveralls, bee veil, extra coat, and heavy duty neoprene gloves.  I fired up the pump motor and drug my hose out to the hole in the back yard.  As soon as I placed the rod down into the hole, yellow jackets came swarming out!!!  I squeezed the trigger and locked the lever down allowing the pesticide to run through the hose and rod and into the subterranean yellow jacket nest below.  I was used to this activity so I was not thinking anything of the dozens of extremely agitated yellow jackets around, and on, me.  As I was almost finished, and ready to cut off the flow, I felt 2 sharp pains in my rear end!!  They STUNG and were hurting like you know what.  I held on for a few more seconds and disengaged the lever to the rod and made my escape.  The nest, along with the queen had been extinguished.  The agitated workers, which were away from the nest at the time of treatment, were all coming back and swarming around the hole.  As they try to rescue the queen, and larvae, they will come in contact with the residuals and succumb.

Meanwhile, I’m sweating to death, trying to get all my equipment off, while my butt’s on fire!!  Apparently a couple of the yellow jackets made their way underneath my coveralls.  Luckily, this was my last job of the day.   I took a Benadryl, which helped a little, but there wasn’t a whole lot I could do but wait out the pain.

Needless to say I had a pain in the rear for a couple days!!!