Walmart workers deal with a lot on a daily basis but now, one worker has gone viral on Reddit after claiming that the store break room got infested with bed bugs—and management simply blocked off the area with yellow caution tape.
The worker, who posts under the handle u/febrezey2011 on Reddit, shared a picture and wrote about the infestation on the site’s r/walmart subreddit.
“Our break room has bed bugs and this is all that has been done about,” the Walmart worker wrote. The picture showed the infested break room cordoned off with five plastic chairs and yellow caution tape.
According to Pest World, bed bugs are hardy insects that can live for months without feeding. The insects can also survive extreme temperature variations from near freezing to 122 degrees Fahrenheit. Once they’ve infested a building they can be very difficult to remove, which makes this Walmart’s solution of using chairs and caution tape to block off the area appear even more futile and impractical.
Many users shared facts about bed bugs, while others were horrified that they ended up in a Walmart break room.
“How the f*ck did they manage to get bed bugs in the break room?” one user asked.
“Unfortunately bed bugs aren’t legally required to stay in only bedrooms,” another wrote in response.
Contrary to popular belief, these pests don’t limit themselves to seedy hotels or residences in big cities. They can be found anywhere humans live.
A third user explained how bed bugs spread: “They travel into places on people, clothing, shoes, purses, lunchbags. They can live without feeding for up to a year, and don’t much care how soft it is there. They are resilient in a remarkably wide range of temperatures. Truly Satan’s spawn.”
“They are so small they can crawl into the space between a light switch and the receptacle. They can hide anywhere, it’s why getting rid of them is so hard,” another added.
Finally, some wondered if the workers would ever feel safe in that Walmart location after the bed bug infestation. Multiple people claimed they would leave the job.
“Bro I’d quit,” one wrote.
“Same here. Not worth it,” a second agreed.
The Daily Dot reached out to u/febrezey2011 via Reddit direct message and Walmart via email for further comment.
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Source: https://www.dailydot.com/news/walmart-break-room-bed-bugs-blocked-with-caution-tape/