Capital New York

Wall Street Journal employees began their day this morning with a bit of a headscratcher. (More of a head-to-toe scratcher, really.)

"I wanted to let you know that on Friday the facilities department received a report of a bedbug sighting in the video area of the 6th floor," wrote deputy managing editor Deborah Brewster in a note to employees that was passed along to Capital.

The Journal brought in a sniffer dog to detect the presence of the incredibly resilient and psychologically horrifying but otherwise harmless vermin, according to the memo, which indicated that the dog did indeed find evidence of a potential bed bug infestation "in part of the video area and in part of the main 6th floor conference room." Both areas were treated by an exterminator accordingly and will continue to be monitored in the coming weeks.

A spokesperson for the paper did not immediately have a comment on the situation.

UPDATE: "In a large building with hundreds of staff and visitors, a random incident like this is unfortunately unavoidable," the spokesperson said. "Our facilities department has proactively dealt with it, and in the interest of transparency, we communicated the incident to our New York-based newsroom staff."

This is not the first time that bed bugs are believed to have taken up residence in the cracks and crevices of The Journal's offices inside the News Corp. building in Midtown.

In October of 2010, an unlucky employee of sister publication Barron's informed his bosses of an infestation in his apartment, prompting the company to take similar precautions after a bed bug dog "did signal concerns," a spokesperson said at the time.

But The Journal is in good company. Over the past few years, other venerable New York institutions including Time Warner,  Penguin, Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center have also been infested.

Here's the full Journal memo:

Hello all,

I wanted to let you know that on Friday the facilities department received a report of a bedbug sighting in the video area of the 6th floor. Over the weekend, that and the surrounding areas were checked for bedbugs by our extermination company. The check, which included a sniffer dog, indicated the presence of bedbugs, or their possible presence, in part of the video area and in part of the main 6thfloor conference room. The areas affected have been steam cleaned (this kills bedbugs) and chemically treated (this kills bedbug eggs).

The extermination company will undertake a follow-up check of the affected areas in coming weeks and will also conduct further spot checks and monitoring of our office.

Regards
Deborah Brewster

Joe Pompeo

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