Mems' very bad day...
Today was Mems' NO GOOD VERY BAD DAY!
Otherwise know as 'ADVENTURES IN BEING LOCKED OUT OF YOUR OWN HOUSE!
It was a nightmare. When I left this morning, I locked the door as usual, then realized it might rain so went back to get my umbrella. Key wouldn't turn. I figured I would deal with it later (this was my first mistake). At work, I had a terrible morning. I left in a huff at noon because there was much yelling and blaming and I was secretly worried about the door. And I didn't sleep well last night so I was tired.
When I got home, once again the I tried to get in. My key would go into the lock, but not turn. I pulled on the door, pushed on the door, shook the door....I was already very upset and this wasn't helping!
For the record, it is a brand new door we had installed in November with a safety lock, the kind it is really hard to break in to. We also changed all the windows, so I was completely locked out.
I didn't really know what to do so I called a family friend. He said to come there for lunch and he would look up the number for the company that installed the door (because this is France, so obvioulsy they were closed between noon and 2 pm). I decided to go back to work and call them to come to my rescue. Nadine (the nice receptionist who remembered my mother) was a miracle worked and found that
2 of her guys were at the warehouse a few miles down the road and they could come quickly. I returned home to meet up with them. They pushed and prodded and hmmmed and growled. No good. Door stuck.
They called Nadine, who called me and told me to call a locksmith. I whined that I didn't have a phonebook as I was locked out and was no longer at work. She felt sorry for me and called a locksmith to do an emergency unlocking. I waited for an hour for him to come, and then it took him over half an hour to get the door open. He had to destroy the lock. There is now a new one, but it isn't a safety lock like the one before.
He reckons that what happened was that the key that we leave inside got jiggled in the wrong direction and blocked the whole system. The locksmith said we should never do that again!
Once he was gone, I called back Nadine and she asked me to fax her the invoice from the locksmith and she will try to get the company to reimburse the 200 euros (!) and see if they can't come back and put in a lock like the one we had before.
So, I am back in the house, but I lost the whole afternoon of work (not that I miss going to work, but because knowing my boss, they will dock me the 1/2 day as vacation time).
Now it is pouring down rain and I have to go pick up my brother at the train station in half an hour. Sigh. I sure hope the rest of the weekend is quieter...whimper....this sooooo calls for the sad pirate icon....
Otherwise know as 'ADVENTURES IN BEING LOCKED OUT OF YOUR OWN HOUSE!
It was a nightmare. When I left this morning, I locked the door as usual, then realized it might rain so went back to get my umbrella. Key wouldn't turn. I figured I would deal with it later (this was my first mistake). At work, I had a terrible morning. I left in a huff at noon because there was much yelling and blaming and I was secretly worried about the door. And I didn't sleep well last night so I was tired.
When I got home, once again the I tried to get in. My key would go into the lock, but not turn. I pulled on the door, pushed on the door, shook the door....I was already very upset and this wasn't helping!
For the record, it is a brand new door we had installed in November with a safety lock, the kind it is really hard to break in to. We also changed all the windows, so I was completely locked out.
I didn't really know what to do so I called a family friend. He said to come there for lunch and he would look up the number for the company that installed the door (because this is France, so obvioulsy they were closed between noon and 2 pm). I decided to go back to work and call them to come to my rescue. Nadine (the nice receptionist who remembered my mother) was a miracle worked and found that
2 of her guys were at the warehouse a few miles down the road and they could come quickly. I returned home to meet up with them. They pushed and prodded and hmmmed and growled. No good. Door stuck.
They called Nadine, who called me and told me to call a locksmith. I whined that I didn't have a phonebook as I was locked out and was no longer at work. She felt sorry for me and called a locksmith to do an emergency unlocking. I waited for an hour for him to come, and then it took him over half an hour to get the door open. He had to destroy the lock. There is now a new one, but it isn't a safety lock like the one before.
He reckons that what happened was that the key that we leave inside got jiggled in the wrong direction and blocked the whole system. The locksmith said we should never do that again!
Once he was gone, I called back Nadine and she asked me to fax her the invoice from the locksmith and she will try to get the company to reimburse the 200 euros (!) and see if they can't come back and put in a lock like the one we had before.
So, I am back in the house, but I lost the whole afternoon of work (not that I miss going to work, but because knowing my boss, they will dock me the 1/2 day as vacation time).
Now it is pouring down rain and I have to go pick up my brother at the train station in half an hour. Sigh. I sure hope the rest of the weekend is quieter...whimper....this sooooo calls for the sad pirate icon....