Goodbye Scab Rat, Hello Scab Bedbug

For many years, a familiar sight for Manhattanites has been the giant inflatable rat stationed outside of businesses and construction sites using non-union labor. But in order to capitalize on the city's eternal bedbug terror, the rat has been retired. Gothamist reports:

Asylum spotted this giant inflatable bedbug outside the Affinia Hotel in Midtown Manhattan. Let us hasten to report that Affinia is one hotel in NYC that does NOT have bedbugs. But a "group of pissed-off painters deployed the inflatable insect to tsk-tsk Affinia and Capital Builders for not paying them union wages." They're currently handing out flyers titled: "Notice to the Public: Affinia Hotel -- Infested with Bed Bugs." But the hotel doesn't literally have bedbugs, just owners who are "sucking the financial blood from" the workers. With bedbug panic at its peak, you've got to wonder if guests on their way to check in will grasp that little nuance.

The rat was actually kind of cute.