Probably ruined the mood of the thread but he fit the definition of "if I knew ahead of time..."

Thanks for sharing, Mike, not an easy thing to go through. The viewpoint you have come to might help others on either side of the situation.

Now days I tell people you are never too old to shoot a gun. My dad hit bulls eyes up till the day he died. Sounds like a joke he would have told. LOL!

My daughter gets a call today. "Hey, you guys get raccoons out of fireplaces and under decks and stuff, don't you?"

My daughter: "Yes we do. How can we help you?"

Customer: "Well it's not a raccoon problem. Granny crawled in a hole in the porch and won't come out."

My daughter: "Pardon me. Who did what?"

Customer" My grandmother crawled into this opening in the porch and we can't get her out."

Granny, very faintly in the background: "I told you, I ain't comin out."

My daughter: "I'm sorry, we only do animals. You need to contact the proper authorities."

My daughter: "I think that was a prank."

Me: "I don't. I didn't hear anybody laughing."

I have an interview process which I use to weed out the weirdos. My series of questions are designed to draw out as much information as I can about the conflict between this person and the pest. Too many kooks out there to rush out, hoping to make money on every call.

Please share a couple of the most telling questions.

I always sound like I'm trying to get out of the job I think. I ask" What makes you think you have an animal problem?" Then somehow I get the answers I need instead of stories that go back 4-5 years.

What is a comfortable amount of jobs to have going per day I know there are some jobs that will require more time. But on average what is a good number to have active per day. ( new leads and trap checks). With the exception of time to set traps how long do you average talking to customers on first visit

Thx again guys SORRY WAS TRYING TO START NEW THEEAD

Its not the work or the amount of jobs, its the windshield time between jobs that makes for a long day.

What Mike said. M. Trappin, logistics prevent me from scheduling more than three starts in a day; "pickups" are done as possible. WC does not lend itself very much to scheduling. There are times I go for three weeks without a day off.

Had a Pakistani ask me to remove the squirrel and it's eggs from his attic.

Had a guy that insisted there was a HUGE snake in his attic. He was deathly afraid of snakes. It was a raccoon.

Had an old lady that had half a dozen bats flying around inside the living area, every day, every night, all year long. Had to leave the lights on and hadn't slept in years. Of course the house was as tight as could be, no evidence at all of a bat. As she was getting me cash, I noticed a list of meds she was on, on her fridge door. One of them was a hallucigenic (I wrote them down and looked them up later). I called a competitor when I left and told him about the situation. He said he had already been there and she was a looney tune. Just old and on meds that made her see things.

I got the crazy monitor app for my i phone,,,,,,work great unless I put it in my pocket..

I was thinking about getting that new "Identiodor" app for my IPhone. You just hit the button, and it tells you what lives in the attic from the smell of the urine or some particulate thingey or something like that.

I was looking at that "hasnodough" app that identifies people you're going to have trouble collecting the entire bill from. We

already have an app that won't let us start without the service call. That's the "nomoneynostarty" app. Made in China.

Every call is different due to all of the different pests.
What I need to know from them is whether the damage being caused exceeds the cost of the solution.
1) Describe the damage for me.
2) Have you seen what is causing it?
3) What have you tried to do yourself?
4) How long has it been a problem?
By the time they answer these questions, I will have an idea what the estimated cost will be, and I will share that with them.
You need to hit them with a price in order to weed out the folks who cannot believe that I "don't do it for free."

The feel of the initial conversation gives up allot. It's hard to tell an exact bid on some animals, (Bats, snakes, mice) So I can give an average.

If I get the feel that they are do it your selfers, and cheep, Ill offer a personal phone coaching session. E-mail me some pics from all four corners of the home, and then we can talk about where I need more pics. Once I'm ready, Ill tell them which paypal account to send money to, and get them scheduled.

Today one of our customers called and apologized for the fact that we haven't received her payment yet. She put the check in the

envelope and addressed it to herself and mailed it. And that's exactly who the mailman delivered it to.

In other news, a brand new, very large, home for alzheimer's patients is going up less than half a mile from our house. It certainly

brings me peace of mind not to have to worry about housing in my old age. ( Someone already put me on the waiting list )

Mike:
I have had the same thing in years past. My brother and next door neighbor did the same thing. I have always looked at it this way, they made the choice, they did what they wanted to do. At least it was not done by some gang banger on a street corner. It is tragic when people that do not want to die get shoot and die. I miss them both and think about the often. I just feel they took the trip they wanted to take.

?

He's talking about suicide, Big Bob.