My horror story began as a new hire in SLC, UT in 1990. I was hired as a technician, and I was left to supply my own MSDS and label book (required to have on vehicle at ALL times per state laws), and I was also expected to pay for phone calls to my customers at pay phones throughout the day at my expense. When I complained to the district manager, Doug Miller, of Denver, I was told that "I'm sorry that you HAVE to use YOUR lunch money to call our customers, but take it off your taxes... That was impossible for me to do, and he knew it! So, more often than not, I did not have money for lunch, as I used it on THEIR phone calls.
A few months later, I was given the use of a company credit card to fill up their company truck while out in the field one day, as I was working far away from the main office. When I went to pay for the fuel, the card was declined!!! Guess Terminix never paid their bills either. I was forced to beg the gas station attendant to let me leave and come back the next day and pay for the fuel. Of course when I tried to call my 2 supervisors, they were not available, and I was left on my own. One day, I was servicing accounts about 35 miles outside of Salt Lake City, and I accidentally got pesticide in my eye... I immediately went to an urgent care facility, and I then handed the nurse MY copy of the MSDS AND label book that I put together on my own time, and NOT paid for it... My eye was washed out, and 3 months later, I was sent a collection notice at my home, as it seemed that Terminix never bothered to pay that medical bill!
Several months later, I was on a job, and the week prior I kept asking my supervisor for a proper ladder, to allow me to access the ceiling panels at the job site. Well, I never was given the proper equipment, nor ladder, and I was forced to use a rickety wooden ladder at that job site that belonged to the property owner. The ladder collapsed while I was on it, and I am not a heavy person, but the ladder appeared to be quite old. I was flung onto a desk, and really messed up my leg, as it twisted upon my impact of hitting the desk. The company didn't even pay me comp time nor disability pay for that incident. Big surprise there! The company also told me to spray water if I ran out of chemicals, which I never did, as that was just too dishonest for me. I was also never supplied with a bee suit for my own personal safety while dealing with hornet and wasp nests. I was never supplied a first aid kit either, nor safety goggles. I don't recall ever being furnished with the regulatory black neoprene rubber gloves either.
About a year later, I had surgery on my abdomen, they only allowed me to be "absent" from work for 4 days, when I in fact was supposed to have a minimum recovery time per doctor of at least 3 weeks. My surgery was on a Thursday, and the management threatened to fire me if I did not return by Monday am. On that Monday, I returned to work in extreme pain, and I was only able to do one account. When I told my boss that I really needed to go home, all he said was "What about your route"? All they really seemed to care about was the almighty dollar. I also happened to stop into the office late one evening to turn in my invoices from that days work, and witnessed a salesman at the office managers computer "stealing" other salesmans commissions from that day. What he was doing was deleting other salesmens "sales", and submitting these legitimate contracts as his own! He never sold those accounts! He was also deleting active accounts, and then "reselling" them so he could get commission off of those as well. Did I mention that this guy was also an officer in the U.S. Navy??? Makes one wonder how we can sleep at night knowing that a dishonest person such as this is guarding and serving our country.
I eventually lost my job, as I was a whistleblower, and I sued them in court and won a "wrongful termination suit". Save your money and go with a more reputable company. There are honest companies and exterminators out there that really care about their work. Too bad that Terminix isn't one of them. Terminix and their parent company Servicemaster have a way of ruining good people.
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