The Locked Door

Dear Diary and Friends,

I recently was hired to do a big painting and cleaning job. It is offices built inside of 2 large warehouses. Today was my first day and I was excited to get started.

I spent the morning and afternoon getting supplies and starting the prep work. The a/c was out and by 3 o’clock pm it was hot in there. I have a high heat tolerance and so does Angel. She was spending her time riding her tricycle and watching “Clfford The Big Red Dog” in Spanish. I heard a vehicle pull up outside and I went to see who had arrived. It was the a/c repair guys. I told them they were just in time. They starting working on the a/c system and 15 minutes later it was working, at least in the area I was in. Perfect timing, I was almost finished with prepping an office so I could start painting.

I stepped out of the room I was working in to drink some fresh squeezed grape juice, when I turned around to go back in, the door was shut and locked with Angel inside. I remained calm and decided this was NOT going to be a problem. It would get figured out. The door knob could only be opened with a key. If it had been a doorknob without needing a key I could have easily opened it with a paper clip. I tried opening it and tried explaining to Angel how to unlock it from her side. Angel being 3 wasn’t quite getting it and kept asking to be let out. I told her I was going to get help and I would be right back. I found the a/c guys and told them what had happened. They came and checked out the situation. They couldn’t figure out how to get the door open either.

My next move was to call the owner, the man who had hired me to see if he had a key. I didn’t want to make this call because I didn’t want to cause him any trouble and I didn’t want to seem incompetent of doing my job with a 3 year old in tow. Then I remembered that I didn’t live by fear of what others think of me anymore. I was very capable and very competent, I didn’t need others approval or disapproval to sway me one way or the other. I know what I am regardless of anyone else’s opinions or judgements.

So I called the owner. He didn’t have a key. I asked him if he could text me the number of a very talented locksmith that lives nearby in our little town. He said he would call him. As we were hanging up I heard him say to someone he was with, “can you believe this?”, right before the phone hung up. I started to get doubts about myself again, thinking the owner was regretting hiring me for the job. Then I shrugged it off. Oh well! I do amazing work and he was lucky to have me, in the meantime I needed to focus on rescuing Angel.

The owner called me back after a couple of minutes and said the locksmith just happened to be driving by there but he didn’t have his tools. He would need to go home and get them. That would mean another 15 or 20 minutes. I was fine with that, it wasn’t that long really. I was very very thankful the a/c was now working and Angel wouldn’t get too hot in the closed in room. She was doing fine but kept asking to be let out.

I started looking up YouTube videos on how to open locks that needed a key when the locksmith came in. He just wanted to assess the situation before going home to get his tools. I told him I was looking up videos on how to open the lock and was thinking of trying the one using a paper clip. He looked at the lock and said a paper clip wouldn’t work on that kind. He left to go get his tools.

I started trying again to get Angel to understand how to unlock the door from her side. She just kept jiggling the knob saying it wouldn’t work. Then I had a bright idea. I got on YouTube again and found a video that showed how to turn the tab at the end of the knob to unlock the door. I slid it under the door with the cord attached so I could slide it back. I told Angel to watch it and it would show her how to unlock the door. I could see her little feet in front of the phone as she watched the video. Then…she did it! She unlocked the door!! Yay!!!

I quickly called the owner and the locksmith and told them the problem was solved. Woohoo! Now…back to work. 😃