Yesterday I got a call from a woman who’d found me on Angie’s List because her neighbor was locked out of the house. I was in Seattle and the caller was in the easternmost part of Woodinville. The time and gas I’d have to expend on the job would just about cancel out my fee, but I agreed to come out anyway. I have a hard time saying “no”.

What I found when I arrived was that the customer had gotten a new doorknob for her garage that would open from the inside even when it was locked. So she walked out and closed the door behind her, not realizing she was locking herself out. She felt really dumb. I assured her that everything was fine, that she was a great person and that she wasn’t dumb at all. Then I picked the lock and settled up with her. Imagining that this wouldn’t be the last time that new doorknob would get the better of her, I offered to cut her a free key that she could tuck away in her garage somewhere. She gave me a copy of her house key and I went to the van and made the duplicate. When I came back to the garage to test it — I always test the key — it wouldn’t turn the knob. I scratched my head. Then I went around to the front door and tested it there, and it worked perfectly. I shrugged and handed the key over to the customer and we said our farewells.

Twenty minutes later I got a call from the same neighbor, who handed the phone over to the customer I’d just helped. She’d locked herself out again.

–But I gave you a key. You didn’t leave it inside, did you?

–No, no. I have the key. It doesn’t work.

–You know it goes to the front door, right?

–Yes, yes. Front door. Doesn’t work. Please come.

In fifteen minutes I was back at her house. Now she was feeling really dumb, and almost embarrassed beyond words. The front door was slightly ajar. Inside there was a security chain keeping it from opening. I hadn’t thought about that. I went back around to the garage and picked the cylinder on the new doorknob again, settled up with the customer, and cut her another key, this time for her garage door. That must have been really frustrating for her.

I deal with people nearly every day who have locked themselves out. Almost invariably they’re feeling foolish. Having encountered a sizable sample of such people, I think I can fairly say that people who are locked out of their homes and cars are not any less intelligent than the average person. And I’ve locked myself out before. Once I locked myself out of my car while it was running. Another time I locked myself out of my own apartment twice in a single day. Once I dropped my keys in a snow bank and I couldn’t find them. And almost once a day I lock the door of my van, close it, and am then momentarily stricken with panic as I check my pocket for my keys and find that I haven’t locked them in the van. (That’s one of my biggest fears — locking my keys and phone in the van while on a job, and then having to use the customer’s phone to call a locksmith.) I keep telling myself that I need to cut a few extra copies of my own keys in case I ever get locked out. I’d bet that all of my clients have had that thought from time to time as well.