Have you ever Picked a Lock in an Emergency?

[freakparade3]

I had a good one awhile back. I has an appt set up to rekey a womans house. She called to let me know she was home and I told her I'd be there in about an hour. About 10 minutes later I get another call from her and she said "I don't mean to be a pain but now I'm locked out of my house."

Her young son turned the button on the knob before she went out to the unload the car and her keys were inside. I went right over and let her in and did the rekey. I told her it was her lucky day, since I was coming over anyway I did not charge her for the lockout, i did get a big tip though. LOL

[dev070]

I used a public restroom once at a gaming convention in Indianapolis and the stall was out of toilet paper. Fortunately for me fresh rolls were stored in a locked metal box inside the stall and I happened to have my picks with me. Social catastrophe averted.

[Mutzy]

My workvan's the only one in the fleet that doesn't have an alarm and keyless entry. I've locked myself out a few times, but i always have my HPC wafer tension took and Locknewbie rake on me. People chuckle when they see it, but they almost choke when i pick it without paying someone. /owned

As for lockouts, i personally haven't had a dead body (lol, i've been watching CSI too much. I was about to say 'db' ), but colleagues of mine have. A few 'my medication is inside' jobs, but that's about it.

[ridinplugspinnaz]

I used a public restroom once at a gaming convention in Indianapolis and the stall was out of toilet paper. Fortunately for me fresh rolls were stored in a locked metal box inside the stall and I happened to have my picks with me. Social catastrophe averted.

lol, that's pretty much the funniest 'emergency' posted in here so far...

[keysman]

As for lockouts, i personally haven't had a dead body (lol, i've been watching CSI too much. I was about to say 'db' ), but colleagues of mine have. A few 'my medication is inside' jobs, but that's about it.

nothing quite as much fun as dead bodies... natural death the police are pretty understanding ... suicide.. well it is NEVER pretty and the police have lots of questions

[raimundo]

Heres an angle, you meet someone and talk, the subject of lockpicking comes up, they bring it. you talk a little bit, not trying to claim or to impress them as an expert, but they seem to have some preconcieved ideas about you, and within a day or two, if not sooner, this person has an 'emergency' in which you are invited, and expected to solve a problem, keys locked in car, or lost keys,....
How often do you just meet someone and get asked for a demonstration even an elaboratly staged situation? Just my advice, but you should play safe on these brandnew bestfriends, Draw them out, make them play the expert, show you that they really know something about it. If you just met them, Don't be trying to impress them, be reading the impression they present.

Some are actually paranoids, who have 'problems' with their locks, as soon as they have you for a framing context. Others can be clearly seen to have Ulterior Motives.

So watch out for 'emergencies' some are even staged.

[cheesehead]

A little off topic, but still in the ball park. I had a fun "fake emergency" the day before thanksgiving. I stopped by the grocery store on my way home from work to pick up a few last minute items. As i'm walking out to my truck, i hear somebody trying to get my attention. I guy walks up to me and introduces himself. He proceeds to tell me how he's not from around here, and has locked his keys in his car.... lo and behold, he is only 3 bucks short of the quoted price he just got from a locksmith, and if i could help him out with a few bucks, - well that would be just super! We seem to get alot of this pan handling tactic in my neighborhood. since this guy reeked of con artist, I thought I'd play along a little. I told him i never carry cash (which is the truth), but if he could provide me with proper identification, and proof vehicle ownership, I would happily open his car for free. That left him speechless. I pressed him further about where his car was, to which he had no answer. I told him, "good luck with all that!" and drove off.

[Puzzlerf]

I had a call at an old folks home to open their medicine cart. When I arrived there was a 20 person line of old grumps waiting for their meds. Some of the old folks seemed like they wanted to gum me to death to get their meds. About the most emergency like one I can recall right now.

[cheesehead]

When I arrived there was a 20 person line of old grumps waiting for their meds. Some of the old folks seemed like they wanted to gum me to death to get their meds.

[chev49]

Frequently have to open wife's car door when she has all 3 sets of keys inside... (Including the hide-a-key) Does that count? & I dont carry a key to her car so I use the lockout tools which take abt 2 min.

[hillbilly21]

haha ya but i used a brick and had to pay for a new window. Thats really i'm getting interested in lock picking.

[savs2k]

i had one of my buddies use a masterlock to chain his motorcycle to a pole. he lost the key and i ended up picking the lock with some bobby pins. it took me a bit but i got it done. And one more time when my friend lost his key to his gunlock.

[J-Hood]

If you sub-contract for AAA for car lockouts they call the police on any "person locked in car" that they get as a policy. So if you get the call you have to get to the car before the police. First sign of distress they break a window. I had a bunch of those in Florida but I always made it in time. I say "person" and not "child" because I had an old lady with dementia locked in a Toyota with the auto re-lock. She unlocked the door to get out after her kids (in their 50s themselves) emptied the groceries out. Well it had been long enough for the alarm to set and it went off, scared her, and the alarm re-locked the door. I get there and I have a cop with his arm raised to break the window, two 50 year old women crying, and one 70 year old woman scared to death. All in all, not really an emergency but it was a pretty stressful 30 seconds of car opening.

I also had a mother that locked herself out of her house with her baby in a high chair. It was 40 minutes before she called us and then another 45 to get to her. The poor kid had his feet going purple and the stress of the woman screwed me up and made picking a pain. Got it open and the kid was fine but that is about as close to emergency as I have had. Most calls, no matter what they tell you, are just not emergencies.

I have managed to steer clear of all dead body calls but on the flip side I have also never run a "handcuffed to the bed" call either. My boss turned one down last week because he thought it was a prank. I would have rather found out myself...

Jason

[zeke79]

Most emergencies for me are children locked in a car/truck in mid July or August with the car not running. Police here do not open cars or even attempt to but will break glass in an emergency.

Usually they are not too stressful as long as the child or baby is still crying. The stress usually kicks in pretty good when they say the child/baby was crying like crazy but now appears to be falling to sleep or appears to be asleep. These are really rough when it is a baby as their bodies are not developed enough to sweat. I get several of these in the summer. It never helps to have a sobbing mother hovering over you so close that you really cannot move but I do understand their anxiety.

One of the funnier emergencies I have had was a child "locked" in a car at the local ball park. The mother was frantic as I approached the passenger side front door. As part of my opening ritual I tried the handle on the passenger front and rear doors, and looked across the car to the driver side rear door which was also locked. I then looked across the car at the driver side front door.... It was unlocked. I walked around the car, liften the handle and pressed the unlock button.

I like doing this type of work as it really makes you feel as though you are making a difference. The down side is that I always do babies, children, and elderly lock ins/lock outs for free. Not really a down side I guess but it does hurt the pocket book, especially when gas was over $4 per gallon.

I have had some lockouts where no one was in the vehicle and I spotted the fact that one of the doors was unlocked. I walk around the car most of the time and lift the handle and write up the invoice. You'd be surprised how mad people can get at you for charging them for their stupidity. I simply ask them "what did you say when you called me"? I then say "you called me and said you had a car that needed opened up". I then say "I opened the car, it doesn't really matter how I done it now does it". I then nicely offer them the tip of next time they "think" they are locked out of their vehicle to always walk around it and attempt to open all of the doors. So far, other than bickering and muttering under their breath I have yet to have someone refuse to pay.

[butterboy]

A guy called my and aked how much to open his truck I told him $40 and then he was like i dont have any money on me, it was cold out so I was just like Ill be right there.
Showed up and told him to jump in and warm up , opened the truck and was like ok you got my # give me a call to catch up with me, he gave me his name and # ,I called and left a message with the guy but will probably never get paid.
I just felt for the guy , I guess its why I do this kind of work, I have 2 tow trucks also , I just like to help people.