Thursday, February 7, 2008

Blood on my hands

I am responsible for the death of a mouse. I didn't actually kill it myself, but I might as well have.

Last week, I walked out of my cubicle (which is next to a small kitchen) and was startled by a sense of speedy movement near my feet. I glanced down just in time to see a small, brown mouse disappear into the kitchen. It looked like it had crawled underneath the cabinet, though when I looked I could not see any hole at all that it might have fit into. To be fair, I didn't want to get too close in case the mouse was still there.

Anyway, I was totally stuck about what to do--pretend I hadn't seen it and go on my way? Jump up and down and shriek? Try to catch it? I wound up sending an email to Facilities, telling them that I had seen a mouse and could they please do something about it.

And with that one simple email, I killed a mouse. I could have not said anything, and the mouse would still be alive today. But I did say something, and someone came over and set a trap. There was, apparently, nowhere in the kitchen to set it, so they set it in my cubicle, behind my desk. That was on Friday. They said they'd be back on Monday to check it, but they weren't, so after a couple days, I finally mustered up the courage to check the damn trap myself.

And of course, there it was, with a little mouse corpse on top of it. I think it was on top of it, anyway. I almost broke my neck with the speed that I snapped my head away from the sight, so I can't be totally sure. So, naturally, I sent another email to Facilities. And someone came by a few hours later with a trash bag and gloves, and carted the mouse and trap away.

And even though I was totally icked out by the mouse? And even though I am really not happy that I sat at my desk for several days, just feet away from its dead body? And even though I was convinced that I could smell it, even though I only started noticing the smell once I'd seen that the body was there, which means that I totally psyched myself into smelling an odor that most likely wasn't actually there? I still feel massively, horribly guilty for having caused it to die. I mean, it was just a little mouse. And it was kind of cute.

In other rodent-related news, today is the first day of the Chinese New Year, which means that it is now officially the Year of the Rat, which is my Zodiac sign. I suppose I should have realized that earlier, since I'll be 24 this year and there are 12 different Zodiac signs, but I didn't. Not until Google informed me via the very cute graphic in their header today.

And by the way, I blame images like that, which make rodents look cute, for making me feel guilty about the death of that mouse.

51 comments:

  1. Knowing that the mouse was killed? Fine. But SEEING the dead mouse in your cubicle? SO NOT FINE.

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  2. Great post! Here's my thing with the whole feeling guilty about a dead mouse. Had the mouse minded it's own business, stayed under cabinets, inside walls and waited until after hours to roam the floor, then everyone would've been happy. The fact that mouse intruded on your day, well, it's your due right to do something about it. Who wants to sit with their panties in a bunch wondering if a mouse is going to scamper over your feet?!

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  3. I cannot believe that you did not do the shrieking, jumping thing when you saw the mouse ALIVE, but especially when you found it's corpse! Bless your heart, I think that deserves a full day off for the mental anguish it has caused you!

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  4. I hate to see animals caught in traps. I always try to find a humane way to take care of problems like that.

    And I'm so sad that my year of the pig is over. But I am eating an orange for good luck! :)

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  5. Didn't you LOVE that Google graphic? Not the best image for you today though. I'll give you that.

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  6. I would have been shrieking. There's really no way around it. And seeing the corpse? Would have pushed me over the edge. BUT, I would have felt bad too.

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  7. I had pet mice as a kid. Yes, they are cute. BUT THAT DOESNT MEAN I WANT TO LIVE OR WORK WITH THEM. I live in an old Brownstone and we have very smart mice, but mice nonetheless. We have only managed to catch one so far...And I did a happy dance. ;)

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  8. I can't believe they put the trap in your cubicle. Ick.

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  9. At least be glad they used a snap-trap. I used a glue trap once--ONCE--in my life and I *still* feel guilty about it. Those things are evil.

    Now I just let my cat do the dirty work. I can't feel guilty about the food chain... right?

    But you know what? I'll take mice over roaches any day!

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  10. Aw mouse. I'm sorry you had to see him in the trap :(

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  11. when i was about 12, my class went to some camp in vermont where we stayed in cabins. we found a mouse in the girl's cabin almost immediately. but because we went to that wacky farm school place? we caught him, WITH OUR HANDS, i believe, and brought him outside.

    ah, farm school.

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  12. Apparently, mice only need a space that's 1/4" big to squeeze through, which makes me think their bones must be made of mush! Mice, in cages, could potentially be cute. Potentially.
    We got Ratatouille for Christmas. Such a cute movie, but I'd still want to kill a rat if I saw one. Ugh!
    Happy New Year, Rat Lady! <-Please don't take that the wrong way! :)

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  13. That'd make me all sortsa sad too.

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  15. Um, I am proud to say that to this day I have never actually seen a mouse (not a pet mouse, but the dirty kind running through buildings). It's actually something I freak out just thinking about so go you for being able to hold it all together!!

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  16. Rats, mice, rodents = NOT CUTE! *Shivers*

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  17. It's ok that the mouse is no longer. They are yucky. But I totally would have screamed!

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  18. vermin have no point, other than to be creepy.
    don't feel guilty.

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  19. This was a perfect diversion for my morning. thanks. sorry about the mouse though.

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  20. I'm a rat too. Yay for fellow rats.

    I really hate mice though. I see them at the pet store and barf, barf, barf. I'm so sorry :(

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  21. Sorry, I don't feel bad for the rodent. They make me squirm. I totally would have been up on a chair shrieking.

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  22. Sorry you had to have it behind your desk - ew!

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  23. We had a little family of mice move in to our house a couple of years ago. We set traps all over the place, and I kept scrubbing every surface and all surfaces of all things touching surfaces (OCD, here I come!)with soapy, bleachy water...I was terrified.

    And yet. I cried every time we caught one of the little (possible disease-ridden, nasty as all hell) critters.

    What a bummer of a day, Jess.

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  24. I would have guilty too. I once ran over a mouse in my car and screamed and almost cried.

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  25. i would have totally done the jump up and down shrieking thing. i can't help it.

    even though they're cute, they frighten me.

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  26. Not that I advocate murder, but sometimes... a rodent has to die.

    Happy Year of the Rat!

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  27. I liked the Google graphic, they come up with some good ones. That it happened to coincide with your mouse finding today, bad timing.

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  28. What? A mouse? Movies like Ratatouille and Stuart Little have a big hand in making you feel the guilt. I'd have shrieked and thrown a tantrum, and a dead mouse, eek! Don't beat yourself up about it, the rat had to go.

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  29. If you hadn't seen it, someone else would have. Doomed mouse.

    When I was a child, I yelled out to my grandparents that there was a BUNNY!!! in their back yard!!! My grandpa went out and got his shotgun. (They had a garden. The bunny was not welcome to dine there, since it had not done its share of the weeding.)

    I was really glad he missed it.

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  30. I love mice! I know that wild ones are dirty and what-not, but having had a whole stack of them as pets, I could never bring myself to kill them.

    Mice? Fine. Love. Cute. Rats? Gross!

    (I'm weird, though.)

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  31. Eh, it's a mouse. They freak me out. I wouldn't feel bad.

    But the Google thing is totally adorable.

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  32. I used to feel that way about mice... until they started pooping in my cupboards. I no longer think they are cute. They are rodents. Yucky, yucky rodents.

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  33. I hate seeing mice. I don't mind them being around if they never catch cross my path. Sucks that you had to see the dead mouse.

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  34. Ewwww! You did the right thing. Sorry you had to have it hanging around your desk, though. That is really unpleasant.

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  35. That's the worst. I had a mouse in my apartment once, and the super set one of those sticky traps for it. In the middle of the night, I could HEAR it adhere to the trap. I called him and he took it away. I can still hear that noise sometimes. ICK.

    Still though, if we give rodents the run of sewers, ditches, and back allies, I think it's only fair that they stay out of our cubes and apartments.

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  36. Oh, shudder... We had tiny mice droppings start appearing myseriously in our house about two months before Addy was born and I FLIPPED. We called an exterminator, because traps were not good enough. I wanted those suckers GONE. Cruel, probably. We killed them with poison. But you know, a baby and rodent droppings just don't mix.

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  37. Last week I moved into a new house, with a small swan plant full of Monarch Butterfly caterpillars. The plant was too small for the sheer amount of caterpillars on it that it had run out of leaves. I felt so guilty for the impending death of all those caterpillars I went and brought another Swan plant.

    They've all abandoned ship onto the new tiny plant, and now that's almost leafless too.

    This weekend I'm going to the garden store for another one! They're just caterpillars!

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  38. Ew ew EW! I have had mice in my house and they make me want to barf.

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  39. I'm just enjoying that you called it a "little mouse corpse." So much more descriptive than "dead mouse." It's those little things (like mouse corpses) that make your writing so interesting. :)

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  40. ugh... mice. yuck. i had encounters with 4 of them in my house at college last year. and one was HUGE and nasty.

    and yay for the year of the rat! i'll be 24 this year too!

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  41. Ugh, you're lucky you found it before it really started to smell. An old office I worked in had a mouse die in the walls...the odor was oh so overwhelming awful.

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  42. I'm not creeped out by mice, but neither do I think they're especially cute. (Well, maybe a little). Recently I had to kill one at work because my boss is TERRIFIED and I'm just handy like that. So I scooped it into a box and then carried it outside to the dump, where presumably it died trapped. Like a...rat.

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  43. i feel your pain. i've been responsible for the death(s) of rodents before and while i just wanted them to shoo, sadly they were killed. i won't go into the time with the vacuum and the mouse. it's too traumatic. suffice it to say, they are cute and it is sad when they die. i just wish they'd steer clear of our offices.

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  44. Shame poor mouse. Oh it has been reported that thanks to the huge amounts of garbage that one of my coworkers has in his office, rats have appeared.

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  45. Hmm. I have desensitised myself to mouse murder. The lady across the street has a giant aviary which is not very well maintained. That attracts mice. The mice are often running actoss my yard, and on the odd occasion into the house. We have 2 cats so they don't last too long. However I knew I'd overcome my fear when I had friends over for a party in the yard, and without pausing in my story, grabbed a shovel and chopped an errant mouse in half. I suddenly realised that the 25 people in my yard had gone absolutely silent and were all staring at me with open mouths. Should I feel bad about this, also being a rat, even if I am a rat from the cycle before you (ie turning 36 this year)?

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  46. Poor little mousey. Somewhere there's a mouse nest missing a rodent tonight!

    Although, I think you could use this to your advantage at work. I think you should propose a company cat or weenie dog to help with the mouse population, because that surely isn't the first--nor will it be the last--mouse that's been in your office building.

    Who wouldn't love having an office animal? Just think of how much more enjoyable work would be with a dog around....

    I'm just sayin'...

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  47. Dude, in my day I killed 66 mice. I kid you not. Ask me about it sometime, and I shall divulge.

    They are cute, yes. Way cuter than chipmunks, which crawl up your arm to escape. I don't like the 'munks.

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  48. I am so glad I haven't seen a mouse in my house, I would FREAK! I think it is worse that it was at work, you just don't expect those things there.

    I feel bad for the mouse, let's just hope they gave him a proper burial! :-)

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  49. Awww... I understand how you feel. I HATE spiders, but I still feel bad when I kill them.

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  50. Awww... I would feel the same way.
    But he may have had twenty million mice babies if you hadn't sent that email!

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