or somebody currently working on the lock? I remember the days when I did auto lockouts and the client would call a bunch of locksmiths. We would all arrive at the same time, and the first one there got the job… not a very cool thing to do! So, was this the case now? The situation did not sit too well with me. Did I just set myself up by not following my own protocols and getting a credit card before rolling out to do the job? I have systems in place just for occasions like this so I would not get burned. Oops. I may have just goofed up! I immediately felt a bit deceived as if he purposely did not give me the entire story over the phone. On the other hand, I did not ask all the questions that I usually do to acquire all the pertinent informa- tion for a job. So, honestly, I can’t really blame him entirely because it was just as much on me; I didn’t ask questions and get all the proper information about the job before arriving on site. The Entire Story Now that I was at his office, he told me the whole story. He was locked out of his office in the morning and called an- other locksmith company. The locksmith told him that the only way to open the lock and get him into his office was to drill out the cylinder. Once the lock was drilled out and the door open, the cli- ent was told that the replacement of the lock was his only option and that the lock could not be repaired. He was given a verbal quote to replace the lock. He told me that the price was too high and declined to have that locksmith replace the lock because he felt like he was be- ing ripped off. He told me that he was not happy with the work or the invoice from the other company. He was grilling me with questions about the pricing from the other com- pany. I told him that I could not speak WWW.ALOA.ORG for the other company, and that was be- tween him and that company. It was re- ally none of my business. Trying to put all the pieces together, I had a few questions: Why did he not call me in the morning if he had my card? He told me that my card was in his desk drawer in his office, and he could not remember my company’s name, so he found a locksmith on the internet. He told me that he chose the company because its prices seemed low, and it did not charge a trip charge. I let him know that had he called me first, I could have opened his door us- ing nondestructive entry techniques and could have made keys to his lock with- out having to drill it. Of course, I did not tell him the techniques because I did not want to get involved with him complaining to the other company about what I had said. You know, “he said, she said” kind of stuff. However, it certainly would not have been much of a challenge to open his office door. If the lock was not pickable, two quick options that come to my mind would have been to use my under-the-door lever opening tool or my Lever Handle Removal Tool to remove the lever handle, open the lock and then make a key. Pile of Shavings So, there I was standing in a pile of shav- ings from a lock cylinder that has been drilled out, and I had finally just pro- cessed what was going on. I had two choices: My first and easier choice was to pick up my tool bag and leave, telling him to call the company back to take care of it (but, of course, that would never cross my mind to actually do). My second and proper choice was to use my head to try to help this guy out. Because I was already there and in the middle of his problem, I decided on the second choice; I would help this guy out. Put simply, the choice was to either leave without pay or figure Figure 1. The lock cylinder had been drilled. something out and get paid for my time. It certainly was a no-brainer to me. Time to Make a Plan The cylinder was still in the lever, and it was getting later than I’d like on a Friday aſternoon. I remember thinking about rush-hour traffic around the Washington, D.C., metro area — especially the fact that the Beltway starts to get congested aſter 4 p.m., and I pretty much do any- thing to avoid it. I got past thinking about that and decided to march on. As I walked through the building, I noticed an eclectic array of locks and key- ways throughout. However, it appeared that his office suite consisted of about four or five doors using the same style of lock. To me, it looked to be a Sargent 10 line cylindrical lever lock with a J-style lever (Figure 2). The doors were all next to each other, and installing a different brand or style of lock would have looked a bit off. MARCH 2022 KEYNOTES 37
