Got Bed Bugs? Bedbugger Forums » Tales of Bed Bug Woe
Fired because they're afraid!
(9 posts)-
cjjeans
newbite
Joined: Nov '09
Posts: 3
Posted 2 weeks ago
Sun Nov 1 2009 15:23:48
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We just moved into our new spacious and affordable apartment. It was perfect!
The previous tenants left a couple of things behind. A poster, vacuum, air conditioner, and a bottle of bed bug spray. One week went by and we started waking up with large red bites. Spider bites? Dust mites? Anything but bed bugs! We searched all the symptoms and avoided anything that said bed bugs in the search results. We prayed it wasn't true. We prayed it was anything else.I was going to work and scratching and slapping the bites at my desk. I finally came clean with my boss... The first word out of his mouth was "bed bugs". So we started reading those search results about bed bugs. We accepted that we had bed bugs now.
We called the landlord and asked if there were any previous complaints or reports of bed bugs at this residence. She denied any such knowledge. She did however send the exterminator out immediately.
We still got bitten in the middle of the night. The exterminator has been out every week for the last five weeks.Because my boss is deathly afraid of bed bugs - I was requested to not come in until the situation was handled. After the exterminator came - we would go a day or two without any bites - so I figured it was safe to return to work. I mean - hell we even bought a mattress cover... how could we still have bed bugs? 3 weeks of this on and off of work has forced my employer to let me go.
As if the bites on my eyelids weren't Hell enough...
What do I do? Can they fire me because they're afraid i'll bring bed bugs to work?
I want my normal life back. -
WOW!! some people can be Really Mean....
Did you take precautions when you went to work...
Do you think that you could be infesting your home from another place you may go.....
Do you think you could be getting re infested from a adjoining apt... that is not being treated...
Have you contacted a lawyer one of them is willing to give you better legal advice that any of us some may even be able to do it for free...
Can you talk to your land lord and let them know what happened cause of the treatments aren't working...
Can you get PCO in there your self.....
I just had a first treatment the other day... NO bites yet.. But when I am in the clear I will be deathly afraid of getting re-infested....
So sorry to hear about you situation.... -
cjjeans
newbite
Joined: Nov '09
Posts: 3
Posted 2 weeks ago
Sun Nov 1 2009 18:03:33
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The landlord just confessed that she was aware of bed bugs from the previous tenants. She claimed that it should have been taken care of when the exterminator came before we moved in. If she withheld that information from us - than we are entitled to something in return. We don't want to move - only for the fact that we don't want to bring the bed bugs with us.
We live in a 2 apartment building. The other tenant has no complaints as of yet. Said she found a dead bed bug in her bathtub - but no bites.
I feel she just may not have a reaction to them like I have read on the internet.
I worked for a law firm that would be able to help me in this situation. I will be contacting them for legal advice - I have known the partner for a long time.
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That is really good to hear that you may have the legal resource to fight something like this...
There are ways to getting rid of the bugs before you move in to a new place like thermo heat treatment...in an moving truck and Vadikin( I forgot how to spell that word) but there are ways you can do it safely.... Please keep us posted I really would like to know what the courts are willing to do about situations like this... -
Vell23
newbite
Joined: Oct '09
Posts: 30
Posted 2 weeks ago
Sun Nov 1 2009 20:47:02
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Well if anything u can file for unemployment
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cilecto
senior member
Joined: Aug '08
Posts: 514
Posted 2 weeks ago
Sun Nov 1 2009 21:20:11
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CJ. This sucks. Sorry.
I expected that this is how many employers will treat their "people with BBs", just as they did with people facing other challenges - See here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philadelphia_(film) This could easily be me and many others here. So yes, dealing with BBs means not just having to clean, wash, toss, pray and repeat, but to be very "tactical" about what we discuss at work, with whom and when.
You've been dealt a double (triple) whammy. Your landlord lied to you and your boss fired you. I hope that out in the world, someone will back you up and help you make things right. Meanwhile, you have us.
Welcome, CJ.
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cjjeans
newbite
Joined: Nov '09
Posts: 3
Posted 2 weeks ago
Sun Nov 1 2009 23:39:56
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Yes. I received much sympathy from some of my closest friends and family.
I am going into my brokers office in the morning and asking for a refund of the fee - because they didn't hold up their end of the bargain by putting us in a clean, safe and comfortable environment. (as their website promised)I am going to pick up my last pay checks from work tomorrow and showing them the bed bug bites on my face. That should lay to rest any suspicions that I'm making any of this up. Not sure what to accomplish here really by going into work but at least it will make me feel better.
Thank you. Sorry it couldn't be under different/better circumstances.
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cjjeans, Sorry to hear about this.
Good luck with the lawyer!
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parakeets
oldtimer
Joined: Mar '07
Posts: 866
Posted 2 weeks ago
Mon Nov 2 2009 16:28:48
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I wish you could tell this story to tv--Oprah, Dr. Phil, Tyra Banks...someplace! It is just heartbreaking that you lost your job because you have bedbugs. I have been denied medical treatment because I mistakenly told the doctors I have bedbugs (my advice--don't!) but I haven't told my employers. Now I won't. It is more shameful that a sexually-transmitted disease. You would be treated better if you had a contagious disease, I'm afraid.
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