I'm calling OSHA

The anti-christ has arrived at Alcatel! It all started a few weeks ago...when there was an awful smell outside my manager's office. It started out smelling like sewage and after 2 days I don't even know how to describe how it smelled it was so awful. By Friday we knew what was behind the smell that was coming from the filing cabinet...DEAD RAT! Yes, apparently rats can get to the 2nd floor, die, and nobody knows it until it reeks so bad you want to vacate the premises. Of course, I could never just accept the fact that there were rats in a building where I spend most of my life so I started asking around.

According to my admin...the 'rat situation' is a known issue and doesn't just affect our building but the other building that is also in close proximity to the creek. The facilities people apparently set a trap behind the filing cabinet and forgot to check it hence why there was a dead rat in the first place and why it stunk so bad.

According to the guys that work in the 'bat cave' (aside- the bat cave is an area of our building that has no windows, low ceilings, and kind of dim lighting and thus was named the 'bat cave'). These guys said the 'bat cave' has been renamed the 'rat cave' because THEIR area is where the rats are coming from. They are above the loading dock where all trash dumpsters are stored. There theory is the rats are coming into the building via the loading dock and get to the second floor through the pipes, air ducts, etc. They have had DOZENS of rats in their area to the point that all the females have left the 'bat/rat cave' and found new offices. The guys plugged all known access points to their area and they speculate that is why they are now in our area. As if that wasn't bad enough they found a 5ft snake intertwined in the window blinds in the lab downstairs...apparently he is here for the rats....are you kidding me? So at this point, I'm hysterical and pretty much told my manager the day I see a rat - dead or alive - will be the day I begin permanently working from home or the day I hand in my resignation with no notice.

So last week I was walking in the hallway downstairs and notice a trail of dead roaches. Not little ones, but the kind you hit with your shoe and it walks off with the shoe...THOSE KIND. Even though they were dead they still freaked me out. So again, I start asking around...and whatever they sprayed to try to kill rats is killing everything else. Some environmental, animal loving, person complained and no more rat poison was to be put out. As a replacement we got good ol' fashioned rat traps with peanut butter on them. They are everywhere. In the corners, in the break room, under the vending machines, under the mailboxes...pretty much everywhere you look. An exterminator comes by at 1:00 each day (yea! rat check at lunch time) to check the traps for victims. He has on blue rubber gloves up to his elbows and carries a bucket for the traps and a CLEAR plastic bag of dead rats. I saw this dude last Friday on my way to a meeting and literally almost lost my Chick-fila when I saw the dead rats in the bag.

I thought surely this week would be better...boy was I wrong! Yesterday, the 'rat cave' guys were in the break room saying they all were moving out because the rats are now coming out during the day and they eat anything that is left on their desk even if they step away for a few minutes...so gross!

How could things get worse? This morning, there it was the ANTI-CHRIST staring me in the face as I rounded the corner. The BIG BLUE PEPSI machine. Seriously? Rats, roaches, snakes, and Pepsi? I can't take it...I seriously MUST get a new job. How can I work in such an establishment? A girl from Atlanta, that drank Coca-Cola Classic out of her bottle, could NOT possibly work for a company that supports such inhumane activities. That's it, the line has been crossed...as soon as I'm done with this posting I'm calling OSHA and going to RaceTrac to get a Coke!!!