BuzzFeed’s Manhattan office won’t be sleeping tight tonight as it recovers from a bed bug infestation. According to BuzzFeed news reporter, David Mack, employees were warned about the insect menace via an email sent out Wednesday night at 11:41 p.m. local time.
The email reads, “We are acting out of an abundance of caution and asking you to work from home tomorrow to give facilities the chance to deal with this in the fastest and environmentally safest manner. Fumigation will take place as soon as possible tomorrow.”
Also, “The office will be open until 11AM/ET to give you the opportunity to grab a laptop and anything else you need from your desk. To be safe, please don’t bring home items that are currently on the floor in the office.”
The email then strongly encourages staff members to stay home unless absolutely necessary, so as not to track any bed bugs into their homes. Mack himself, who broke the story to BuzzFeed, said he wrote the post from his apartment.
Several BuzzFeed employees took to Twitter to go public about the situation and to encourage their colleagues who did venture in to grab belongings to exit the building ASAP. Here are some of their reactions:
https://twitter.com/letidmiranda/status/877896343511068672
LETICIA GET OUT OF THERE https://t.co/6wJYXd3b4y
— Tom Gara (@tomgara) June 22, 2017
First the bees came for Vox, and I said nothing. https://t.co/vLwxnM9ojM
— julia reinstein 🚡 (@juliareinstein) June 22, 2017
https://twitter.com/henrygoldman/status/877897127623393281
https://twitter.com/mshaferschweig/status/877900870251196418
And this sympathetic tweet from a BuzzFeed employee in Toronto:
https://twitter.com/katangus/status/877902329357508608