Anderson doesn’t look like a killer, but I promise if something is bugging you, he’ll take care of it and do it with a smile.

If you’re lucky, like I was on Tuesday, he might even be in the mood to chat while he does his work.

Anderson’s work, by the way, is killing bugs and other pests as part of his job with a local exterminating company he’s worked for the past 27 years.

Thought I would get that out of the way before you started thinking I had begun hanging around serial killers just to get a good column.

I didn’t expect to get a column from my visit with the local exterminator, but that’s one of the things I like about being a columnist in East Texas. Everyone has a story, and if you take the time to listen instead of talking, you just might learn something.

Anderson is 69, and if he’s not the most pleasant person I’ve ever met, the line in front of him isn’t a long one.

When he arrived at my house, the dual alarm system of our 16-pound Yorkie Poo, Sarge, and his 12-pound Yorkie sidekick, Bentley, greeted Anderson at the front gate. I’m sure Sarge and Bentley think they sound and look like terrifying creatures, but Anderson wasn’t afraid.

“Hey now,” he said in a soft voice as he reached down to pet them. “Y’all remember me.”

And, just like that, the barking stopped and the tail-wagging started.

Dogs know a good person when they encounter one. I’ve always believed that.

The last few times Anderson has dropped by for our monthly pest control visits, I’ve been at work, so we had some catching up to do. He knows I’m sports editor at the News-Journal, so we typically talk about sports.

I told him I had recently passed a milestone at my job. The school year that is about to end in a few months will be my 39th covering sports in East Texas, but this past Sunday I reached 35 years of employment with the same company. Sort of.

I was hired at the Lufkin Daily News on March 30, 1990. That newspaper was owned by Cox Enterprises, which sold to another company, which sold to M. Roberts Media, which sold to my current bosses at Carpenter Media Group.

Thankfully, all of those folks mentioned have allowed me to keep my years of service. Thus, the 35-year anniversary.

Anderson was impressed with the 35 years with one company and the 39 total years, especially when he found out I had just turned 59.

And, being one of those people who listens more than he talks, he has a firm grasp of how and why I have been able to do this profession for so long and still enjoy it.

“I bet it never gets boring watching kids do all of those amazing things, does it?”

Bingo.

I can list a lot of reasons I love my job, but at the top of the list is the kids.

Nothing beats meeting and writing about a young lady or young man when they are gangly freshmen who have difficulty walking and chewing gum at the same time and then going to their scholarship signing ceremony a few years later because they stuck to the grind, allowed themselves to be coached, took care of the academic side and turned into next-level athletes.

“I’m amazed at some of these kids,” Anderson said. “And, I’m proud of them.”

He’s proud of kids he doesn’t even know and will probably never meet, which means he “gets it.”

Over the years, I’ve had folks tell me they don’t read the newspaper because they don’t have kids or don’t know any of the kids I write about.

That’s a shame.

Only a few of the kids I write about will become professional athletes, but some will, and you’re missing a chance to brag that you knew them “back then,” if you don’t read the newspaper or visit our websites.

The ones that don’t become professional athletes?

I can say with the confidence of seeing it happen for almost 40 years that most of them will become the top coaches, teachers, lawyers, doctors, nurses and just all-around good people you’ll ever meet.

Sort of like my friend Anderson.