Spending 9-5 On The Road
When working on a route in a pest control business you’ll spend much of your time in your vehicle driving. All service technicians from every trade know how tough it is spending most of your day in your iron lung. No matter what state the business is located in there are perils of driving. Here in New York City you’ll spend plenty of time behind the wheel, which can be tough on the body. Sometimes you’ll spend more time getting to a stop then you would spend treating the customers home. Today we have added some tips that help us stay healthy and sane while out on the route!
- Breakfast, lunch and sometimes dinner. When you spend 8 plus hours on the road you need fuel to keep you going. Snacks, sandwiches, nuts,water and coffee are every road warriors top diet. Packing snacks and healthy options are great for those last minute belly fillers to prevent you from stopping at the fattening drive through. Fast food can weigh you down and your potential customers don’t want to smell what you’ve been eating for lunch. Having 2-3 meals a day at the dash board diner can be a little depressing so if you have time FaceTime a family member while you eat!
- Hygiene must be your top priority if you want to impress your customers. No one wants a smells sweaty guy/gal in their home treating for pests or selling a job. Ever talk to someone with bad breath? When living in your car and eating you could develop pickle breath. If its a hot day you could smell like a bag of onions. On our trucks we will always carry the following items – Mouthwash, Colgate wisps (Mini one use tooth brushes), deodorant, breath mints and baby wipes. Sometimes in-between stops its always a good idea to freshen up, especially during a hot summer day or after you just ate a garlic sandwich.
- Always, Always carry a full change of clothes. Trust us, we learned the hard way multiple times.
- Be prepared to take cat naps. Sometimes you get to a stop early or the customer is running late. Use this time to catch up on your sleep from the night before. First remember to set your phone alarm! Sit back relax and take that power nap. It will freshen you up for your next job and have you feeling nice and refreshed. Make sure its okay with the boss first, don’t want to get caught sleeping on the job but naps are a life saver. Its better to sleep while parked if your tired!
- If you like to work out you’ll need your gym time! Sometimes when you have no time to go to the gym you need to improvise. Instead of taking a nap in-between jobs, if you arrive early you can do some push ups! It sounds ridiculous but as any health nut knows you always want to get your gym time in. Keep a jump rope in your center console, nothing like a PCO who has good endurance when its time to chase around those pests!
- Its always a good time to catch up with a great podcast! If you’re a PCO and need a little entertainment during a treatment you can listen to many of the pest control podcasts to keep you from dozing off and day dreaming. Our favorite to listen to is Arthropodcoast.com!
Pest Control Techs in New York City can start as early as 5am and end pretty late so taking all this advice will help keep a technician balanced. If there is anything you do on the road to keep you sane and you would like to add it, please comment below!
