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Rat Catcher Renaissance.


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True,..although with the continual changes occurring in the pest control industry,..seemingly every few months,..there will be more and more lads walking down the traditional,.'whippet and flat cap' r

Why would they? To join all the main stream fora and join in the paper waving?   " I was a plasterer for ten years. Then my elbow packed up. So, I bought myself a weeks course. Took an exam in a com

Job satisfaction comes from enjoying what you do. For me it was solving problems, on a continual basis, as opposed to turning up with a bottle and a manual. Solving problems that a lot of so called te

:icon_eek:Madras,.a feckin Madras,..!

 

C'mon now,.man up Stephen,...,.we give wee children a Madras,.just to start them off on the right track...

 

A proper hunting man's meal,... is a Jalfrezi,...Phal hot,.. :laugh::laugh:

 

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Edited by Phil Lloyd
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Actually Phil I have to disagree with you there. It's Madras or nothing I am afraid.

 

Madras,,,, serously,,,are you a female?,,,,, I bet you don't eat pork pie and brown sauce either,,,,mind looking at your southern location explains everything ...lol

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:hmm:Well,..a wee bit of money does come in handy for us old timers,.. :yes:

Me and Outlaw Pete need certain necessities,..or we simply fade away...

 

Life is nothing without a Jalfrezi.... :laugh:

 

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Phil that is a fantastic photo but don't take my question as an insult.

But is that lurcher after busting through that net ?

If it did, fair play, LOL.

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Good post Chris jones. People on the forum get upset about newbies coming into pest control, but if they was really in it for the money, would they honestly spend their spare time on a forum about it? Think about it.

 

People in the industry do to! When I went to work for the LA I joined an office in northern England, to replace a guy that was coming up for retirement. Six men worked at the office and the senior most men had around 100 years experience between the three of them. The junior three had around a decade. I, personally, around 5-6 years in the private sector.

 

I came in with an awe for these old timers. I genuinely believed I was going to learn a lot from all of this collected wisdom. I mean these guys had been doing the job longer than I'd been alive! Old school rat catchers! They even defined themselves as such!

 

Six months down the line I realised I'd been conned. These blokes didn't know shit about anything other than spinning Plummer-esque tales about the magical wizardry of rat catching. It was all smoke and mirrors. They were able to spin any failed treatment into a tale about how some of these rats were smarter than Stephen Hawkings. They were f*****g appalling.

 

As the junior man, on the bottom rung of the ladder, I had to clear up after these legends. When they had to do more than 3 revisits they suddenly became so busy the job had to be passed down to the junior men. The worst rolled all the way down the hill. As a result I'd spend 10+ hours a day going around to people's houses walking into a shit storm at every single one. All the aggression of the customer waiting for me on the doorstep.

 

Before I go all woe is me, and shit, this is where I found my niche. I became very good at clearing these jobs up. The problem solving aspect became the job satisfaction. It allowed me to bring in these new fangled techniques and clear up problems that these old timers were saying couldn't be done. Not just rodents but every aspect of pest control.

 

The sad thing about our industry is that people look at this mythology and believe it. They believe that just because a guy is older, that he's experienced, or that he knows better. I trained a guy 30 years my senior. A guy that gave up truck driving, for pest control, because he thought it was an easy screw. Every job we went on the customers refered to me as his apprentice. I used to make him sit in the back of my van because my Russell bitch got to ride up front. She, at least, had a decent days work in her!

 

If you get paid to do this job, you're in it for the money. Period. That's how commerce works. You tolerate the low pay, and the long hours, because you love what you do and you want to be here. You don't get into this job thinking you're going to be rich. If it costs you money, it's sport. If it makes you money, it's pest control.

 

I have nothing but respect for the specialists in our field. If you can specialise and make money then you, sir, have truly mastered the craft. But the market is a niche one so guard it! I chose to diversify. Adapt. This skill has allowed me to play our game on two continents. Once again the phone starts to ring as people choose my fangled lance and bottle over the exclusively traditional skills. I sit up at night learning about things I've never seen in the UK. The adrenaline flows when you get that 'Eureka' moment and when thinking outside the box gets you results. Just like the old times, these guys pushed the envelope and were able to get results. They adapted. They overcame. Just like we're doing now.

 

The traditional skills are proven to work. The traditional skills are hard to master. But there was a time when these traditional skills were brand new and the old timers, then, looked at them and said 'That'll never work. There's no school like the old school.'

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The traditional skills are proven to work. The traditional skills are hard to master. But there was a time when these traditional skills were brand new and the old timers, then, looked at them and said 'That'll never work. There's no school like the old school.'

:yes:

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Phil that is a fantastic photo but don't take my question as an insult.

But is that lurcher after busting through that net ?

If it did, fair play, LOL.

 

 

Hi Neil,...no probs with your question....and in answer to it,..no,.that particular lurcher has not run through the meshes,...in fact, she was well broken to the nets,..and did not touch rabbits once tangled,..no point is there.. :yes:

The rabbit she has intercepted, has bounced,.. back off the net ( rabbits sometimes do this if they are givent too long to think about the job, see the trap and regard the long net as a barrier)....or, more likely,..it has simply struck the net all wrong.

Whatever,...it did not get away...

 

To Stephen Walsh,..what a nice, errudite addition to this thread,...and so very true...

"Great age does not always bring, great wisdom"..it fecking should do,.but sadly, it does not :laugh:

 

All the best, Phil... :thumbs:

 

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Edited by Phil Lloyd
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Mr Lloyd, they are truely superb photos you have there, some of the best ive seen.

Take the very best care of them :laugh:

 

Hi,.yeah I have been fortunate in going out hunting, with a few guys, that have a knack of being in the right place, at the right time.. I don't have much luck with my own efforts at photography :doh: ,....so, I rely on the generosity of others.

Truth is, I have thousands of images on file,...hopefully I can use these interesting pictures,. in a future project :thumbs:

 

All the best, Phil.

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