The Raid Reaction

Occasionally I find a cockroach in my house. I went into my kitchen a few minutes ago and found a roach sitting atop my electric range like he owned the place. I grabbed a can of Raid and began spraying him generously. He didn’t like that. He began running and dodging and trying to hide, but I was onto him. I sprayed the Raid relentlessly, following him down to the kitchen floor, across the kitchen and onto the hardwood floor, where he continued fleeing in the direction of the living room sofa.

Now let me pause a moment and explain that Raid is a fine cockroach killer. I’ve seen it work in 30 seconds. But this was apparently a new, hardier version of cockroach. I call it cockroach version 2. On and on it ran, with me holding the can of Raid three inches above it and spraying continuously.

Now the roach was mere seconds from refuge beneath the sofa. I used my last resort maneuver. I hit the roach with the can of Raid. I slammed that Raid can right down on his ass. Human: 1, cockroach: 0.

The roach is now deceased and relocated to its new home: my kitchen garbage can. It’s nice to know that Raid is still an effective roach killer for this new cockroach version 2. Effectiveness is just a matter of how you use the can … how you use the tool you have available. I think there’s a life lesson in there somewhere, but I’ll leave that for the reader to ponder.