When thinking about locksmiths, most people automatically think about unpleasant lockouts from homes or cars, even though the trade is a much more versatile one that covers all residential, commercial and automotive security aspects related to keys and locks. While accidental lockouts happen to lots of people during their lifetime, could you ever imagine a locksmith actually locking himself out of his own car or store? The scenario is definitely funny or hard to imagine, but it actually happened to a few locksmiths who would prefer not to be mentioned by name, and we can understand why. Here are the stories of two unlucky locksmiths, one who accidentally locked himself out of his own shop in broad daylight, and one that at least thought he had locked himself out of his car.
The Most Unlucky Locksmiths In Edinburgh
The peculiar happening behind the story of “The Locksmiths need a Locksmith” took place in Edinburgh and a passer-by was quick to pull out his phone and photograph how the local Locksmith was trying to open the door to their shop. Needless to say, the amateur photographer quickly posted the photo on his social media accounts and people went mad in the comments section.
As hilarious and impossible the idea of a locksmith locking himself out of his own locksmiths’ shop would sound, the poor guy in Edinburgh isn’t really an isolated case. While locksmiths may have extra skills and knowledge on everything lock and key related compared to the average Joe, and they are the ones you would normally call when dealing with a lockout situation, they are still humans. They can still draw a blank and have their brain stop working for a while, so mistakes are unavoidable and bound to happen. Long days at work doing stressful and demanding jobs can take a toll on anyone, and lock technicians make no exception.
The Fake Car Lockout
This is also what happened to another locksmith who had just finished his third straight 16-hour shift when he realized that he was unable to get inside his car. All he wanted to do was home go and get some rest, but since he was unable to enter his car, he was stuck in the parking lot late at night. But it gets even more intriguing.
The unfortunate locksmith was open enough to share his story with the internet, in hopes that other fellow burned out locksmiths and future customers would avoid repeating his mistake. He started his tale by letting everyone know he is not usually a stupid guy – lockouts have nothing to do with one’s level of intelligence, but rather his awareness and focus. Going back to the story, the locksmith apparently did have his keys on him, so it wasn’t a key lockout emergency. He tried to use the remote key fob to unlock the doors as he has been doing for years. However, the doors wouldn’t unlock. He repeated the procedures over and over and still nothing. He immediately figured the battery on the remote was dead, but since he didn’t have his toolbox on him, he wasn’t able to personally handle the replacement. So he stood there for 15 more minutes, knowing that if he would keep mashing the unlock button, it might somehow pull out enough battery to unlock the car, but to no avail.
He finally did the dreaded thing that all locksmiths fear of doing: he called a 24/7 emergency locksmith. He informed them that he was locked out of his car, but failed to give too many details over the phone, out of embarrassment or maybe tiredness. The locksmith he called reached him in less than 20 minutes and immediately walked up to him and pulled out his lock picking tools. In a split second, he inserted an air wedge – something that looks like a blood pressure cuff – in the driver’s door jamb and started inflating. He told him that he will open his car straight away and reassured him that car key lockouts are no biggie to him. This is where the unlucky locksmith told his fellow locksmith that he didn’t in fact lock his keys in the car, but that the key fob was not working. Suddenly, the emergency locksmith stopped inflating the air wedge, took a dramatic pause, took a deep breath in, then took the keys out of his hands, inserted them in the lock, and slowly opened the door.
They both started laughing. Lots of people get so much into the habit of using the key fob to unlock their cars that they tend to completely forget that they can use the key to manually control the locks. This is exactly what happened to the “locked out” locksmith. He didn’t have to pay for the service, as his fellow locksmith told him the story he would have to tell was definitely worth the service fee.
