the door...semi broken.
Jamie trying to jimmy our way out with a credit card.
we were ready to try anything.
on the phone with the locksmith.
our doorknob when all was said and done.
FREEDOM!!! THE STORY:
Last night Mark and I invited our friends Jamie and Cassy over for dinner and a relaxed night of hanging out. It ended up being a really fun time and connection – we ate together, watched a Warren Miller movie, talked a little rock climbing and snowboarding…we covered it all. Somewhere in the midst of our movie watching, I noticed that our door wasn’t closed, so I went over to close it, and as I did so, it stuck a little. At the time it didn’t mean much to me…I just turned the handle, gave it a little shove, and went back and finished watching the movie. At about 11:30pm, Jamie and Cassy got up to leave, and as Jamie turned the knob to the door….nothing happened. The door stayed just as closed as it had been when no one was touching it. The handle was twisting fine, but nothing was happening on the inside and it was then that we realized that, yes, it was completely broken. We had managed to lock ourselves INSIDE our apartment. Most people, at this point, would simply open a window and climb out; however, our apartment is a downtown apartment: on the second floor with nothing but concrete below our windows and nothing to soften our landing if we jumped. There is a tree about 6 feet from our window, but the odds of missing it and breaking a leg…or your face…were too great, so we sat. Our minds wandered back to our recent conversations on rock climbing, and it was then that we began wishing that we had a harness and some rope to repel out the window.
I need to point out here, that simply taking the door off it’s hinges wasn’t an option. We live in an apartment that was renovated and is owned by the Dinner Theater Playhouse next door, and so everything that was done to our apartment was done commercially. Our door is made of steel and probably wouldn’t have come off unless we a] had the right tools, or b] demolished it. We tried several things such as pounding on the door in hopes that our neighbors would hear and come see what all the ruckus was about. I laid on the floor and called out the crack by the floor “Maaaatt?” “Jooooooooooe?” [our neighbors who live across the hall], but again with no reply. At one point, Matt did run up the stairs, and in response to our pounding on the door, came over, tried the knob from the outside, only to dash our hopes of freedom when it didn’t work. He didn’t stick around long, and after a hard kick on the door, ran off again with a quick, “sorry!”; and we were left to fend for ourselves.
We called our landlord, who ended up driving half an hour from his home [at midnight nonetheless], where he spent 20 minutes calling so called 24-hour Locksmiths [which we found out, really aren’t 24 hours locksmiths], and as we came close to giving up and pulling out the futon for our guests, he called back with a locksmith on the line. She managed to talk Mark and Jamie through the process of taking apart the commercial doorknob, and after 5 minutes of unscrewing, we were free! At 1:40am, our captives were liberated, and our crazy night came to a close.
I guess I always thought that if I ever locked myself anywhere, it would be OUT of my apartment. It just goes to show that anything truly is possible!
I need to point out here, that simply taking the door off it’s hinges wasn’t an option. We live in an apartment that was renovated and is owned by the Dinner Theater Playhouse next door, and so everything that was done to our apartment was done commercially. Our door is made of steel and probably wouldn’t have come off unless we a] had the right tools, or b] demolished it. We tried several things such as pounding on the door in hopes that our neighbors would hear and come see what all the ruckus was about. I laid on the floor and called out the crack by the floor “Maaaatt?” “Jooooooooooe?” [our neighbors who live across the hall], but again with no reply. At one point, Matt did run up the stairs, and in response to our pounding on the door, came over, tried the knob from the outside, only to dash our hopes of freedom when it didn’t work. He didn’t stick around long, and after a hard kick on the door, ran off again with a quick, “sorry!”; and we were left to fend for ourselves.
We called our landlord, who ended up driving half an hour from his home [at midnight nonetheless], where he spent 20 minutes calling so called 24-hour Locksmiths [which we found out, really aren’t 24 hours locksmiths], and as we came close to giving up and pulling out the futon for our guests, he called back with a locksmith on the line. She managed to talk Mark and Jamie through the process of taking apart the commercial doorknob, and after 5 minutes of unscrewing, we were free! At 1:40am, our captives were liberated, and our crazy night came to a close.
I guess I always thought that if I ever locked myself anywhere, it would be OUT of my apartment. It just goes to show that anything truly is possible!
4 comments:
What a story! That is craziness. I'm not surprised to hear that you guys had a fun time with it, though.
great story :)
miss you guys; tell mark hey!
Reminded me of another story!! 1 am... downtown Denver... one of many starbucks dates... getting busted for loitering... the mystery crying girl we chatted with.... the chivalrous rescue!! :) Great new story Jess! I hope you got the door fixed soon though - it would be kinda hard to sleep with a knob-less front door!
I really enjoyed reading your interesting story. Few days ago I had almost the same situation. And I called to locksmith and they came in 25-30 minutes. I was surprised, because I expected that they will come in 1 or 2 hours. Hiring a good locksmith is never cheap. But hiring a dishonest or incompetent one is always expensive. After 15 minutes I was at home.
Post a Comment