Today I arrived at work to find rat shit on my office chair. This was not a surprise to me, as this was unfortunately a repeat experience from Friday. On Friday, I had to ask three times before my desk and chair were adequately cleaned. I suggested that the whole room (a space accommodating around 30 teachers) should be vacuumed and disinfected, but of course that didn't happen.
In the middle of the night on Friday, I found myself in the Emergency Room, vomiting uncontrollably for no obvious reason. Coincidence? Probably, but that doesn't help me not to be paranoid about all the invisible germs around me.
This is how my first Monday morning conversation went, after asking for the cleaner to get rid off the rat shit...
My boss: Is it ok now?
Me: No...
My boss: but I saw the cleaner, he was already there.
Me: Yes, but all he did was wipe the rat pooh from my chair on to the floor under my desk.
My boss: So? What should he do?
Me: Uh, get rid of the pooh rather than putting it on the floor? Clean the whole area with bleach?
My boss: Maybe...why don't you....I think we should ask him to come here again and you can tell him what to do.
Me: No, I'm sorry if the cleaner doesn't know how to get rid of rat pooh, but it is not my job to tell him how.
My boss: How about I ask Mr. A (the owner) if you can move to the other room, to Mr S's (the Headmaster's) second desk, because he doesn't use it.
Me: I don't want a different desk, and that will not solve the rat problem. It's not just my desk (I point out the other desks with droppings on them), the whole room is filthy....
There was no real conclusion to the conversation, just a feeling that I came across as impolite - because I was direct and annoyed, and that my boss still has no intention of doing anything about the problem.
I did not use my desk today.
Yuck.
Update
Turns out the rodent was actually living in my desk, which I discovered with a squeal when I opened my bottom drawer to retrieve some printing paper. The mouse jumped out and scurried across the room, easily lost amongst the chaos that is our staff room. I immediately fetched some gloves and bleach and thoroughly cleaned everything around me. I was naively hopeful that the mouse (yes, btw it was a mouse, not a rat, but quite frankly I'm in Indonesia so I'm not distinguishing between the two) would not return, although I did at least have the sense not to put my belongings back into the drawers. This morning I was greeted by mouse droppings (has a nicer ring to it than 'rat shit') in every drawer.
My boss keeps asking me what I think he should do to solve the problem. I just keep repeating myself: traps/poison and lots of disinfectant....how should I know any better than anyone else here how to get rid of mice in a filthy school?
In the middle of the night on Friday, I found myself in the Emergency Room, vomiting uncontrollably for no obvious reason. Coincidence? Probably, but that doesn't help me not to be paranoid about all the invisible germs around me.
This is how my first Monday morning conversation went, after asking for the cleaner to get rid off the rat shit...
My boss: Is it ok now?
Me: No...
My boss: but I saw the cleaner, he was already there.
Me: Yes, but all he did was wipe the rat pooh from my chair on to the floor under my desk.
My boss: So? What should he do?
Me: Uh, get rid of the pooh rather than putting it on the floor? Clean the whole area with bleach?
My boss: Maybe...why don't you....I think we should ask him to come here again and you can tell him what to do.
Me: No, I'm sorry if the cleaner doesn't know how to get rid of rat pooh, but it is not my job to tell him how.
My boss: How about I ask Mr. A (the owner) if you can move to the other room, to Mr S's (the Headmaster's) second desk, because he doesn't use it.
Me: I don't want a different desk, and that will not solve the rat problem. It's not just my desk (I point out the other desks with droppings on them), the whole room is filthy....
There was no real conclusion to the conversation, just a feeling that I came across as impolite - because I was direct and annoyed, and that my boss still has no intention of doing anything about the problem.
I did not use my desk today.
Yuck.
Update
Turns out the rodent was actually living in my desk, which I discovered with a squeal when I opened my bottom drawer to retrieve some printing paper. The mouse jumped out and scurried across the room, easily lost amongst the chaos that is our staff room. I immediately fetched some gloves and bleach and thoroughly cleaned everything around me. I was naively hopeful that the mouse (yes, btw it was a mouse, not a rat, but quite frankly I'm in Indonesia so I'm not distinguishing between the two) would not return, although I did at least have the sense not to put my belongings back into the drawers. This morning I was greeted by mouse droppings (has a nicer ring to it than 'rat shit') in every drawer.
My boss keeps asking me what I think he should do to solve the problem. I just keep repeating myself: traps/poison and lots of disinfectant....how should I know any better than anyone else here how to get rid of mice in a filthy school?
that sounds grim and frankly appalling. But if you`ve suggested to the boss directly what to do and it still isn`t done, then what else can you really do?
ReplyDeleteSorry you had to frequent the emergency room. That must have been awful.
Much long-distance love, love. x
I'm guessing it will take around two weeks of nagging before something is done about it. The current solution is for me not to use my drawers, and have them cleaned of undesirable deposits on a daily basis. :(
DeleteCompared to my food poisoning experience, this trip to the ER wasn't half as bad. An anti-vomiting injection did the trick. Getting there was a bit stressful however, as the first hospital we went to couldn't let us in due to a power cut. But I think the guy with the huge gash in his side had it worse than me...
Much love to you too, from a sweaty rainy Batam xx