Ken the Bugman, Part three - Becoming the Bugman

Coming home from a thee week  vacation in Florida, I had to get a job fast!  I decided that I should try to get into pest control, as that was the best paying work that I had so far in SF.  I first called Rose, anther local company that I had heard was a union place.  Nope.  Then, I saw Crane Pest Control, and remembered that weirdo Todd said they were the best.  I called and I vividly recall the conversation.  I remember saying, "I wanted to know if you are looking for any help.  I have some experience."  The woman answered, "well, actually, we do need someone in the Mission District, we just released someone yesterday."

Okay, the stars were aligned, I guess.  I mean, I wouldn't have called this what I do if it didn't have a profound influence on my life.  I never knew, but, really, I am no different than most of us when we stumble into a career.  This just happened to be very cool, very interesting and so often very strange.  And so very funny.   And led directly to where I am and who I am today!

I was hired by Crane Pest Control in January, 1982.  I remember sitting in the President/Owner's office.   He asked me what I want to be doing in 5 years.  Me, being typical talky honest Ken, said that I wanted to be acting in LA.  Hey, I couldn't help it.  He said that if I give him 5 good years, he will give me a good job for 5 years.  It turned into 13........

The best thing about working for Crane, was taking the truck home at night and going to your first stop in the morning.  It meant that I could, since I didn't own a car yet, stop at the Safeway after work and get groceries.  That was nice.  The second best, though, maybe really what made Crane a great company, was that they only did commercial and industrial properties, not private homes.

The somewhat new philosophy was based on honesty:  Once you solved the problem in a home, there is not much to do, and to charge 50 - 100 bucks a month for basically a once over and, since the owner is paying for it, a little spray jock crap, just "because."  You can guess my thinking on companies who prey on the public and sell them a load of crap and spraying useless indoor/outdoor  pesticides that usually are only killing the beneficial insects more than anything like a "pest" on their property.

The owner of Crane saw that as a losing business deal in the long term.  I know that it was also because he felt that it was basically a rip-off.  He was right.  It was a great business move.  Me?  I was so happy to make $9.72 an hour, I was leaping for joy in the middle of Geary and Masonic like a friggin' happy fool.  I WAS a friggin' happy fool!  I took the bus home.  Wasn't gonna be taken the bus for too much longer...Yay!

Next, the fun begins!