As the new semester is off to a fantastic start, you might find yourself with a long list of things to remember. There are books to bring to class, assignments to complete, club meetings to go to and most importantly, keys to bring along. In the first two weeks of school, I locked myself out four times. Of course, I wasn’t always at fault. I came back from the bathroom to find my roommate had run out because she saw a dog outside, I stepped into the hall and the wind pushed my door closed, or I remembered placing them in my bag, but it turned out to be just an eerie sense of deja vu. I will admit, the last time, I really did forget my keys and take full responsibility. If you find yourself, as I have many times, locked out of your room, you might relate to some of these expressions.
“Really?! Not again!!!”When the desk assistants judge you so hard for taking the spare key out after only three days since the last time. Or, channeling your inner Dobby, you might feel the need to punish yourself.
Or maybe you’re the object of your friend’s mocking.
Laughs aside, you might be wondering, what you can do to deal with this?
- Get the spare key from your hall office, if you live on campus. Just make sure you return it on time, or you’ll be charged $50 for a lock change. But, when you return it, make sure the desk assistant checks off that it’s been returned- you don’t want to deal with a lock change you’re not responsible for.
- Call your roommate or wait for him/her to get out of class. Hopefully, he or she hasn’t gone home for the weekend, or locked themselves out, too.
- Probably my favorite idea- learn to pick a lock. This would mean carrying a bobby pin or credit card/ID around; but then again, if you’re already locked out, chances are your ID is on the other side of the door.
- Surgically attach the keys to your arm. The technology for this will probably be ready in another decade or so, so I wouldn’t hold my breath.
The important thing to remember is not to take it too hard when you lock yourself out. Most of us do it at some point, and if you do get locked out more often than the average person, just look at it as material for a great story. That’s what I did.