Locked out in Erskine Park – Paperclips jamming locks

I love going to the movies… the escape from reality, the popcorn, the 3d glasses…. It’s sure stings to take the whole family but we try and get out to see a flick at least once every other month.  Usually I get to forget about work for a bit but it’s hard.  I find myself sometimes forgetting to let myself get lost in the movie, and I start critiquing the home security of the onscreen families.

1. Does that front door have a deadlock?
2. Where are the window bolts?
3. What’s with all the toys left sitting in the front yard yelling “steal me first then come and check out what’s inside!”

Normally I can still enjoy the movie, the little locksmith voice in my mind talks quietly and doesn’t disturb the movie for me too much.  But sometimes… he gets very loud.

1. No WAY! Picked a handcuff with a bobby pin whilst still handcuffed?  Pfft, yeah right.
2. Broke into a locked house using a piece of wire?  Ah… no.
3. Broke into a house using a credit card?  Well… actually… in some cases this works if there is no deadlock and the door lock is an old school, flush with the door model… If you can touch the inner mechanism of your door lock with your credit card?  You have a problem and it needs replacing…..

But the thing is, I know its just a movie, reality doesn’t need to play a huge part and that these things are fine.  The problem is, some people view movies as instructional videos on how to break into a home when locked out, and they get themselves into even more trouble.

I got a call out this week to Erskine Park to find a rather sheepish looking bloke waiting for me.  This is pretty common, most people look a bit sheepish after losing their keys… but he was practically ready to start saying “bahhhh” and get lost in a flock.  I soon realized why.

My new client had recently moved up from Melbourne, only had one set of keys to his new house and had locked himself out.  But… he remembered watching a movie where the hero had picked a lock with a bobby pin… so finding himself locked out, and with a couple of paper clips in his briefcase he thought he’d give it a crack.  Now I am not saying it’s impossible to pick certain locks with a paper clips… but gee…. It’s hard.  Real hard. In many cases… you’ve got no chance… unless you are in a movie. And the danger is the paper will get stuck in the lock, and make life even harder for the professional locksmith when you finally call them.

Not only had my new Erskine Park client broken a paper clip in the front door… this eternal optimist figured it was not yet time to cut his losses, it was time to have a crack at the back door.  So by the time we arrived?  Both the front and back door lock mechanisms were jammed with broken bits of paper clip.

Not to worry, I’ve seen this kind of thing before and have the tools to not only open a locked door, but to clear it of blockages so I was able to clear the barrels without having to replace them.  Mr Locked out in Erskine park was very grateful and advised me he wouldn’t be looking to movies for more advice on “how to do stuff”.

Kind of lucky he hadn’t gone to see mission impossible I guess or he’d have been trying out how to jump onto a train roof from an overpass!