The Department of Health has a policy against journalist ride alongs, so we may never see exactly how they work, but the Observer today accompanies exterminator Stephen Ceol, self-proclaimed “king of the Irish bars,” and the Tubbs to his Crockett, Scott Bregman. Apparently, business is still good for them eighteen months after the Taco Bell scandal put the heat on city restaurants: In fact, Chuck Hunt, of the New York State Restaurant Association, says the DOH’s heavy hand is only getting heavier. Bregman recounts a client who killed no fewer than 32 rats in the kitchen and praises the usefulness of a mechanical rattrap. “It spins them around, and they can’t get out,” he says. “You catch so many of them. I’ve had five live ones in there at one time.” So what does he do with them? “I boil ’em and throw ’em out,” he says. “That’s what I have to do.” Which is exactly why your next toast should be to the Orkin man.

Bugs Money [NYO]