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It's CNY and a good friend of mine texted me last week about how she was helping to clean up her home when she had a horrific encounter with a cockroach. I personally thought it was pretty interesting so I thought I'd share it with you guys! Here's how it went:
With Chinese New Year just around the corner, it’s time for spring cleaning *groans*! My mum sent me off to clean these nice chinawares that she adores but only ever put to good use once a year. Typical mums.
As I was leaving the kitchen, I saw a cockroach crawling out from underneath the fridge and guess what… I froze!
I began to come up with several battle plans to deal with it.
The first thing that popped into my head was insect spray. The problem was we didn’t store it in the kitchen because you never know if the spray could contaminate the food that you’re about to eat. As I have to retrieve it from the storeroom, I was super worried that the cockroach would scurry away by the time I return with the spray.
I could wrap it up in lots of tissue before flinging it out the window. Then again, I might not even be able to catch it because it can run super fast so I have to kill it first before catching it. Even if I do manage to capture it alive, it means I will have to touch it. Or worse, it might break through the tissue before I could reach the window in time. Also, what if it falls on someone else's head when it drops down from the second floor? Next plan then!
Normal people would have used newspapers, brooms or slippers to smack it. But, the nearest thing to me that time was a spatula. Here’s the problem, what if I missed and the cockroach fly straight to my face instead? Not to mention my brother might kill me for dirtying his beloved spatula with the remains of the cockroach. Well, scratch that then.
I had the urge to set it on fire, leaving no trace. Lucky for me, the fire starter was just resting on the rack next to me. I could easily grab it and lit the cockroach with flames. I’m sure I’m not the only one that has thought of using fire to kill bugs as there are people that have tried killing termites with fire. But the floor’s at risk of being burnt to black, and I’d have to deal with cleaning the floor. That’s a no go.
Now I have to resort to the power of screaming at the top of my lungs! My mother raced into the kitchen and swiftly, she caught it with her hands as I withdrew to the living room. It remains a mystery on what she did with it as I did not find out how she got rid of the cockroach. She did mention once that it was a good source of protein, but let’s not go there?
Luckily for me this time, my mum was home because if she wasn’t, I would be stuck with the cockroach. Alone.
At the end of the day, she nagged me, “You ah, a little cockroach also scared. Luckily not CNY yet. You scream like that, my Cai Shen Ye (God of Fortune) will freak out and later run off. What if all your uncles and aunties were here? Sia sui only.”
A couple of days later, a Rentokil service technician came and did residual spraying around my house. Guess my mum’s not just a Super-mum but a smart woman too because I stopped seeing them for the entire week! Definitely much more effective, not to mention safer!
No one should ever go through this trauma, especially NOT during CNY. Good news is... Rentokil is offering Prosperity Rebates worth RM88 not just to deal with cockroaches but ants too! Let the experts handle your pest worries so you can enjoy your family reunion and feast away on all your favourite CNY cookies. Rentokil also has a rebate worth RM168 for Termites packages. Click on the image below to find out more: