Most Embarrassing Locksmith moments

[d_Random]

My most Embarrassing Locksmith moments happened today, two in fact.

First off I was called to unlock a house door.
The door knob was locked, should be no problem I thought. 30 minutes later after trying unsuccessfully to open the door the woman that was locked out perfectly summarized my ineptitude stating, "You'll never be on one of those espionage programs on TV."

Not to be outdone by that embarrassment, later I was called to a car lockout. This time I thankfully opened the car door. I was slowly starting to regain my shattered confidence. Too early. As I was about to leave I thanked the guy for calling me, while I was talking a small but unmistakable foamy glob of spit ejected from my mouth, arching skyward and landed perfectly on his left cheek. Before I knew what I was doing my body lurched forward and I was poked my finger in his face in an incredibility ill-advised attempt to dab the offending glob from his cheek. Mortified he stood motionless, eyes glazed over, locked in thousand yard stare. As quickly as possible I gathered up my tools, uttered some unintelligible apology and scurried away to my vehicle to spare us both the shared acknowledgement of the humiliating situation.

Care you share your Most Embarrassing Locksmith moments?

[Squelchtone]

[EDIT: Moved from General Chatter where not everyone is a locksmith, to Locksmith Lounge where most people are locksmiths]

[2octops]

We all have out moments and after almost 2 decades they stack up quickly.

Most of my favorites revolve around me locking myself out of my service van while out on calls.

Due to poor directions and a lack of house numbers or street name signs, I have went to the wrong property more than once for banks to rekey after the bank took possession of the property. Usually once you open the door you can tell if it was abandoned or not but some are questionable. Twice I had the home owner arrive while I was rekeying their(the wrong) house. They were confused, but understood the mistake. No, I did not charge them for the rekey but did charge the bank each time for it since they gave me incorrect directions. Once I opened the front door on what appeared to be an abandoned property for a bank and the first thing I was was a guy sleeping on the sofa so I just eased the door back and left quietly.

The most embarrassing that was MY fault was managing to lock myself INSIDE the back of my service van in a parking lot and having to beat on the windows to draw attention from people walking by to come open the door for me and let me out. It was an Astro van with a full cage behind the seats and I accidentally flipped the child safety lock switch on the back doors when I got in, so the inside handles would not work. My phone was charging in the front console so all I would do was beat on the windows and yell.

[Tyler J. Thomas]

I couldn't pick a lock one time. The GC asked if he could use my picks. He picked it open. This was last year.

Early in my career, I also got locked inside of a condo unit with the customer on the outside. The condo/hotel used Sargent 8200's (which I now know like the back of my hand) with a custom trim package. The part that the mortise cylinder cam interacted with was notorious for bending. I believe either they got a bad batch or something but it always resulted in a lockout with a key stuck in a rotated position. Anyways I repaired the piece and asked the customer to try her key on the outside. I stayed on the inside in case something were to go wrong. Well something went wrong and I was stuck inside for a good 5-10 minutes until I eventually got it open. Turns out she had tried to force her way in and bent the part that slides in and out of the hub to lock the outside trim. This piece could no longer move within the casing. Two lessons learned that day.

And yeah, I've locked myself out of my work van.

[Big Jesse]

When I was an apprentice, I finally got to go out on a call as a ride-along, after 2 months in the shop. First stop was some Fish Taco place to eat and bullsh*t around till the calls came in. 2nd stop was a call in a residential neighborhood. As soon as we pulled up, i had to take a major crap. I told the guy training me but he didnt care. I asked if I could use the resident's toilet, but they were old and he didnt want me to blow up their toilet. I said "look man, those fish tacos are fuc*ing me up! If i dont go somewhere soon, I'm going to crap in your van!" He said, "remember the church about a mile up the road that we drove by?" So I hauled ass, 1 mile up the road on foot, couldnt take the van, he had to use it for the rekey, went to the church, they had a daycare going on, asked if i could use their toilets, the only section of the church that wasnt lock up was the day care, with child size toilets. lol. so i went in there, I'm 6'2 tall, almost 300lbs, and took the biggest dump of my life on the smallest toilet in the world. had to flush about 5 times.
I had to run back the mile to the van where the guy was waiting for me. needless to say I did get the job after my 3 month apprenticeship was over.

FTW!

[mhole]

Only locked out of the van once in 9 years, and fortunately close to the shop so I could pickup the spare key.

Worst would be locking myself in a 3rd floor flat with my tools outside, and me and the customer both inside . The mortice lock (which I hadn't worked on at all!) had a crappy key which only unlocked it from outside, but would quite happily lock it from inside. I had to wait for the postman/mailman to let me out! Lesson learned, every lock since has been tested first with the door open...

I've also locked myself out with the customer inside more times than I can count. Thank God for mica card and pics in my pocket!

[Sinifar]

There is no excuse for locking yourself out of your own work truck. Carry a spare key in your wallet.

Okay, you will say I have one of those newer fob/key units which is huge. Okay, find a work key blank, one which will go into the locks and work the locks. Duplicate - Originate the key on that blank. It won't start the truck, but it will get you back in.

I have a 2014 Transit Connect with the fob/key in one unit. Worse it is a sidewinder key. No problem. Got a replacement blade for the unit, and made up that part. Now I have a key as it was to get back in, but it won't start the truck. So if somebody finds or steals my wallet, they still don't have a working key - the mechanical part they do - the electronic part they do not.

I have done this forever with all our trucks - always carry a "door" key back in the day when they were separate - and today a non electronic key to get in.

IF you insist on having a working key to start your truck, bury a key someplace in your unit. then with the entry key you can get in, and then retrieve your spare fully operable key.

I have had that problem when busy - you get into the job, set the work key ring down and grab stuff, and forget the keys on the bench - floor - or on the seat and then close the door. Realize what you have done. No biggie, get your wallet out, take your door key out, and Viola! you are back in.

Of course this is another story - once I had another Ford, with an 8 cut key and I did not have a door key, but I did have my work vehicle key - which was also an 8 cut key. Stuffed it into the lock, and worked it like a lock pick and got the door open. You can do it if you have been in this trade long enough.

AS far as having the child proof lockout - this is a work truck - 1st job - disable that thing. You don't need the problems and frustration of working around that - 2 - as a smith you should know by now how to work the actual lock from the inside in case the rod fell off / lock died and you have to get the door open to service it.

Just saying...

Sinifar

[Tyler J. Thomas]

Just saying...

Sinifar

And I'm just saying that sometimes things get hectic and your mind slips. If that's not you, congratulations, but I had just re-shimmed about 6 frames to install 6 StrikeMaster II's (gap between the door and rabbet was too small - had to practically reset the entire frame into the rough opening). I was mentally and physically drained.

I still had my tools on the outside along with my Shuv-It and since it was an E-Series Ford the tool worked just fine on the vertical linkage rod.

But, like I said, if that's never happened to you then good job. I've never spilled a pin kit so I guess I'm lucky in that sense too.

[Sinifar]

Which was my point, we all have been there - just take the precaution I suggested and this minor problem goes away fast.

AS far as working your into a door jamb - i have been there way too many a time when some goof knocks the rod off the inside release and now you have to get into the door to get the stupid thing off. One can always tell when Mr. Slimjim has been working the door hard --

AS far as dropping a pin case, we have dumped just everyone around here from time to time, last time it was the A2 IC kit. It just slipped off the bench on it's own due to all the junk it was sitting on - I thought it would hold, but nope -- Technically you are not a locksmith until you dump a large pin kit like that ... We all have been there trust me on that one. No biggie, just take your time and about a week later you should have it finished.

[mhole]

I've only spilled a pinning kit once, and it was on a shared toilet floor. Ugh. I washed all the jumbled pins in a bowl of soapy water, and then spent 3 or 4 evenings sorting them in front of the TV. Never again.

[shutterstuff]

I have yet to lock myself out of the van, but I have a spare key just in case.

I knocked a master/American pin kit of my workbench. It was locked, but it landed on the corner and the plastic did not hold. I just ordered the refills and called it good...

[billdeserthills]

I've only spilled a pinning kit once, and it was on a shared toilet floor. Ugh. I washed all the jumbled pins in a bowl of soapy water, and then spent 3 or 4 evenings sorting them in front of the TV. Never again.

I smacked my pin kit today, now I'm torn between dumping the whole thing in the trash for spite
and simply tossing it under the counter and grabbing another pin kit. Thing is now I'm irritated and I really
want to smash something

[shutterstuff]

On the other side of the coin, I wonder what customers would think if they knew how often we answer the phone at home sitting on the toilet...

[GWiens2001]

On the other side of the coin, I wonder what customers would think if they knew how often we answer the phone at home sitting on the toilet...

Just don't flush until the call is ended.

Gordon

[shutterstuff]

Just don't flush until the call is ended.

Gordon

I almost did once...