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He's a Pest to the City's Pests
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Head of 72-year-old Astoria company teaches
future competitors
By Kytja Weir
Kytja Weir is a freelance writer.
April 22, 2002
Bloom, vice president of Standard Exterminating
Co., the city's oldest family-owned pest control company, has
spent nearly 30 years battling the city's creepy crawlies despite
the criticism that comes with the job.
In another era, kings lauded the men who rid their cities of rats, saving the populace from pest-driven diseases such as the bubonic plague. Today, many people regard pest control as just a nasty necessity of urban life. Exterminators aren't considered urban heroes.
Bloom, however, wants to change that image and
convince people like his pen pal that exterminators aren't just
killers or purveyors of harmful chemicals. In the tradition
of his father and grandfather before him, the Queens native,
47, tries to keep New York's inhabitants safe from the pests
that plague the city - rats, mice, bed bugs, silverfish and
wood beetles that lurk in dark corners. He also trains hundreds
of his future competitors in classes at Queensborough Community
College, in an effort to professionalize the trade.
"I control pests," Bloom said. "I
fully appreciate insects, and they certainly have their space.
I only get involved with them when they become a pest of people
or property. When they are interfering with the health or the
safety of people, that's when we pick up on them."
Standard Exterminating sits on Astoria's Steinway
Street, just as it has for the past 72 years. Bloom started
working there at about age 11, filling insecticide cans to earn
money to see movies. In high school, he spent summers working
in the shop.
But he didn't originally consider exterminating
as a potential career. As new laws required pest control certification,
however, he began to respect his family's business as a profession
involving hard science. He also found that he enjoyed solving
pest problems. Now, Bloom and his team of 12 technicians rid
the pests from the city's five boroughs, Westchester County
and the eastern side of Nassau County.
Bloom occasionally uses pests to his advantage.
In one case, he released flies in an apartment to find what
was feeding a beetle infestation. The flies flew to one spot
on the wall. After further investigation, Bloom discovered that
a bulimic two flights above the apartment had been dropping
bags of vomit down a gap in the wall. Two floors below, the
rotting material spawned a beetle colony.
"How insects find food is one of those
wonderful mysteries of the world, because if there is garbage,
an insect will find it," he said. "How does the beetle
find the dead body? It finds it."
"The insects are the easy and fun part
of the job," Bloom added. "If it wouldn't be for the
insects, I'd be out of this."
Increasingly, however, Bloom must deal with
the most bothersome aspect of pest control: people. His father,
now in his 70s, remains president of the company, but Bloom
controls most managerial duties. This means dealing with the
turf battles among the state's pest control groups; helping
his staff adjust to a new health insurance plan; and figuring
ways to help his technicians avoid Manhattan traffic. Bloom
often remains at one of his two desks all week.
He also runs the state's pest control association.
He trained the city officials who responded to the West Nile
virus and has taught the transit authority how to bait subway
tracks for roaches.
After explaining the managerial duties, Bloom
brightens as he discusses silverfish, the odd pantry pest that
can live up to three years. He loves the bug world despite his
job spent killing them. He even reviews books on bugs - peppering
them with references to Kafka - and decorates his office with
pest collectibles.
"You have to realize that about 98 percent
of the insects in the world are beneficial and don't interact
at all with man," Bloom said. "There are only about
1 to 2 percent that are pests and we get so preoccupied with
them."
Copyright (c) 2002, Newsday, Inc.
