Before I became a termite inspector, I thought I was claustrophobic. If I let myself imagine being buried alive, I’d get the willies. But when I first learned about the job during an interview, it never crossed my mind that claustrophobia might be a problem.

I didn’t land that job, but I was hired by another company—and it wasn’t long before I had my baptism by fire. A customer had a rat issue in their crawl space. It was an older home in Oceanside, California. I don’t know if people were just smaller back then, but older homes always seem to have tighter crawl spaces.

As the new guy, my job was to crawl into that tight space and corner the rats so we could figure out exactly where they were exiting the home. Once we knew that, we could screen the openings.

I didn’t panic or wig out, and now this is my profession.

There are two things you can’t be if you want to be an effective termite professional: claustrophobic and afraid of heights.

I guess you could be afraid of heights if you only inspected and never performed treatments on second-story eaves—but that isn’t realistic. Whenever I put together a treatment plan, I always ask myself: Am I expecting a termite technician to do something I wouldn’t do myself?

Unless you’re uncaring, there’s a lot of guilt that comes with being a termite inspector. Termite treatments can be tough. Techs have to crawl into tight, filthy spaces and work high up while juggling a spray tank, a drill, caulk, and a towel. This Thanksgiving, if I’m thankful for anything, it’s the hard work my termite techs put in for me every day.

In the video below, you’ll get an idea of what it’s like to enter and inspect a crawl space. Are you claustrophobic?