Aibu - gross working conditions

[itsasecret1]

Hello all,

I am 31 weeks pregnant. I work in a small clinic (talking therapy) I'm the sole receptionist and secretary for 2 bosses.

We had rats outside the building and inside the walls/floor (its an old building) about a month ago and poison was put down for them. They all died and the smell was awful for weeks, enduring 8 hours a day in dead rat smell did not make me very happy.

Now the smell has faded thankfully but yesterday the whole of my reception room was filled with big gross flies, talking at least 20-30 of them throughout the day. I went out and bought fly spray because it was making me feel very uneasy and they kept landing near my water and on me while I was working.

Have since had to keep spraying fly spray every 1-2 hours to kill all the flies. Have no idea how they're getting in and I have blocked any holes around cables etc. Now I'm worried about the effects of the fly spray in an unventilated room (too cold to have the window open) I'm just fed up with this working environment.

V. tempted to go sick til my maternity leave starts in 3 weeks time. I'm exhausted and stressed and now this. AIBU?

If all else has failed, I'd open the windows, and wear a thick fleece, gloves and a balaclava for the next 3 weeks. And drinking water from a bottle (reuse one). I'd also be looking for another job.

Are you in the UK? Can you call your local council and report the problem? Won't go down well with your bosses, but they should be dealing with this properly.

I'd report them to Environmental Health, OP, as a "concerned client". "I noticed rather a lot of dead rats and flies when I came for my appointment..."

Also with some insecticide spray, you have to leave the room for 2 hours. Always read the label and warnings.

What Jaxhog said ^.

Why not hang up fly strips? At least customers would see you're doing something about it.

They need to actually deal with the entry points or the rats are going to keep returning, surely? Botched plumbing in the kitchen or even the toilet is likely if there are no visible entry points. Dead rats will erupt into a sea of maggots and then attract/generate fat flies for a few days each. You can get packs which deal with the disgusting smell (which your clients will definitely have noticed...)

"why on earth are posters encouraging you to deal with this fairly normal situation like that?!"

Normal? Are you in a third world country? It's certainly not normal in the uk. Pest control would be called and deal with it immediately anywhere where I have worked.

@Briette Thank you. They do know all this, I've told them but they refuse to sort it out. I'm leaving for mat leave in 3 weeks and don't intend on returning so I'm just trying to figure out the best way to get though it to be honest.

We have those smelly sachets from pest control which have helped with odour (except my boss keeps putting it in a drawer because she doesn't like the smell! )

How is a load of dead rats rotting outside plus a room full of buzzy flies normal working conditions? Are you employed at a medieval plague pit? Stalingrad during the battle?

Get yourself one of these

Or if yo don’t fancy fly tennis one of these

If you don't intend to return OP then stop going in now. Personally I'd go for early ML start simply because I think that can actually be better for you mentally than going on the sick. Gives finality, and you don't have to worry about the place. Also means they shouldn't ring and pester you about anything, and if they do you'll feel more justified in fucking them off. I was ill during one of my pregnancies and tried carrying on past 29 weeks, but I'd just end up being too ill to go into work in bits and bobs and in the end it was the best thing all round for me to go early.

Are you absolutely sure the smell was the rats? I just ask because I was under the impression that the way poison normally works nowadays is by dehydrating the rat's bodies so that they don't smell, for precisely this reason.

Oh and I'd 100% go off sick, especially as I now read you're not planning on going back. Seriously, what are you sticking around for. You could even just start your maternity leave early. Makes no odds if you're not going back.

"...fairly normal situation like that

Seriously ,do some of you work in the 14th century?

Report them anonymously to Environmental Health. They sound like shysters.

I'm leaving for mat leave in 3 weeks and don't intend on returning so I'm just trying to figure out the best way to get though it to be honest.

Then I'd go on ML now.

I also don't think it's a normal situation and I've work in many workplaces.

Your working conditions are not that terrible. I work in a large Victorian building that often has rats, cockroaches etc inside the building, I have no heating in my office and I have to inhale the fumes from illicit drugs all day every day. If flies are the least of your problems indoors I would say you are doing rather well. I honestly don’t think breathing in the fly spray will be harmful to your baby, but maybe sit in a different room until you go on maternity leave?

This sounds horrific. I can't believe people are calling you precious.

Decomposing bodies are a known environmental health hazard.

I second calling the council anonymously.

Yanbu
They can't be bothered to sort it, they deserve to pay someone going on sick leave
I can't believe how many people won't stand up against this. I understand if you're worried you'll lose your job but sometimes I think people actually want the bosses to crap on them.

It's rank and not normal. I worked on a farm and didn't have to deal with dead rats and masses of flies from decomposing bodies so I don't see why you should have to in an office.

Report them on they way out of the door and don't give them a second thought.

Why do you think your working conditions being worse mean OPs aren't awful fruitcider?

I had this same issue where I worked. They were literally swarming, the air was thick with them I emptied half a can of fly spray in there, shut the door and fucked off for breakfast. Came back in half hour and used the rest of the can on the survivors. Then hoovered. A lot. Left the door open for an hour afterwards and it aired out.

Onion I would think the working conditions were terrible if her employer wasn’t trying to do anything about it. I empathise as the stench when pest control put down an additional 80 rat poison boxes in the summer was vile. It literally started within a day of the boxes going down and continued until the bodies had decayed/boxes were collected (not sure which one). Anyway my point was we are bloody lucky in this country if this is the worst we have to worry about, having seen the conditions of workers in other countries where H+S isn’t so stringent.

I think you've probably been desensitised if your threshold for terrible is that low. Incidentally, we in the UK aren't lucky. Rather, people elsewhere in much worse conditions are unlucky.

You are probably right. Spent years working in hostels and I often fantasise about cleaning vomit off the stairwell instead of the nonsense I work in these days! I guess it isn’t a race to the bottom

You should not have to put up with this.ask your employers to deal with the problem.