I'm a former OPC employee. OPC has a great reputation in Louisville and beyond because the founder and his sweet wife ran this co. along with the founder's late father when they opened back in 1972. But times have changed. The founder's daughter and son-in-law run the business now. The founder sold it to Rollins, which owns Orkin and many other pest control brands around the globe.
OPC operates with its own budget and own autonomy, perhaps to its peril. You see, the inept daughter is out of touch, pretentious, and entitled, though she means well. She avoids conflict and does not respect her employees enough to recognize that they are trying their best tfind work/life balance while earning below market pay at OPC. That's the reason turnover is so high. She'll tell you that it's because it's a demanding seasonal business. That's true. However, there is no accounting for the value the hard working employees bring to the table every day. She actually said in a manager's meeting that (and this is a paraphrase of what I recollect, so take it for what it's worth), 'Employees don't care that much about paychecks.' Again, I don't put this in full quotations because this is how I remember it. But the sentiment, nonetheless, is damning. Further, her self-admitted "work-a-holic" right-hand-man who runs operations likes to keep a "mistake tracker" which he requires his managers to use to track each mistake their direct reports make. This "constructive feedback" is ultimately used to degrade and shame the employee as there is very little encouragement given for positive behaviors. It is a toxic work environment run by toxic people. You'd think they would care more about their reputation and legacy than to operate a biz with such a disdain for their employees.
Despite all of this, I hung on as long as I could with OPC, but ultimately quit after I made one too many mistakes. I had resigned from my role managing the call center which stemmed from my fundamental disagreement over how that mistake tracker was used. I am ashamed to say that I did use it sparingly, but I did use it. I finally realized I couldn't anymore because caused me so much anxiety. I did go to my boss to talk to him about this anxiety and depression and while on one hand he was understanding, he ended up making my work life miserable since I wouldn't do things using his tactics of negative reinforcement. I quit. I was free.
I'm happy where I am now and enjoying working from home, making more money than I did at OPC. I miss so many of the kind people I worked with. So many of their technicians are great people and really work hard in their jobs, despite an almost complete lack of support from their employers, who will smile to their faces, but badmouth them behind their closed office doors.
I tried to get the keys to my exterior rodent stations I bought at $35/ea when their retail customers only pay $30/ea. Despite this, OPC continues to refuse access to stations I own on my property. I called and texted their customer service team, which I used to manage. I was initially told I had to come by the office to collect them. Since I work from home during normal hours, I contacted the CS team again was told by the new manager, Megan (and I wish her all the best in her new role--she's going to need it!) that keys will be mailed and received in 7-10 days. This was a month ago. I called yesterday to check status and told by the helpful rep that she would escalate the issue to her manager. No call returned. Not surprised as they are so focused on new sales than doing the right thing for their customer if there's no longer any $ in it for them.
Proceed with caution. Yes, this is sour grapes & you're free to support anyone you wish. But do you want to? If you do I've no time for you.
Update, 10:43 am EDT: I returned to the office to get the key as she couldn't be bothered to mail them. She demanded I remove this review. Shameful. I did return to say I'd reconsider on my terms, and she accused me of blackmailing. I won't stoop to that. I left and wished her a good day. read more
