Keys

Photo by Julia Kuzenkov on Pexels

Today's story takes us to Miami, Florida. in the late 1990s. This is important information. 

We were just about to return our rental car at the airport.

My travel companion had to catch a flight and therefore didn't have much time to spare because we experienced much more traffic getting to the airport than we had anticipated. 

I was going to pick up a new, smaller, rental car, to continue my adventure.

Growing up, my father drilled the following into us forever: Upon getting out of the car, every family member was responsible for locking their door by pushing down the knob that sticks up out of the top of the door.

That's what I did on that particular morning at Miami International Airport: 

Push down and slam the door shut.

Unlike my Dad's car that required every door to get locked individually, this particular rental car had central locking. Not only did I lock the passenger and the driver door, but also the trunk containing our bags.

This wouldn't have been particularly bad if the driver had taken the car keys out.

However, this being a rental car drop, my friend left them in. After all that's where it belonged, as per car rental companies' drop off instructions: refill fuel, leave keys in the car,...

Sh**

I had locked in the keys and our bags.

Photo by Ivan Shemereko on Unsplash

Everybody became agitated and nervous.

"I have to catch my flight, I have an appointment in the afternoon."

"No sweat. This is the rental car place. Surely they have spare keys."

The agent nodded and said this would usually be the case. This car, however, did not belong to this location. It had originally been rented in New York, and that's where any spare keys were going to be stored. 

The manager was called. He scratched his head and mumbled something about protocol and calling a professional locksmith.

Sh**

This sounded time consuming and expensive.

"Still, they are a car rental car place for Christ's sake. They know their way around cars. How hard could it be to open a locked car? Thieves do it within a few seconds?"

Nobody wanted to admit they were familiar with such techniques.

"Come on guys, I saw this on TV, you may use a coat hanger or a ruler,..."

I wished I had paid more attention when this was on TV. Now that I was in the situation myself, I did not feel comfortable doing the procedure myself.

This has been a long time ago. I don't remember the specifics. A crowd was gathering. More agents and a few fellow tourists were standing around the car, and somebody somehow managed to get it open. 

My friend grabbed the bags and ran to catch the airport shuttle that was just about to leave. I was in no hurry. I thanked everybody who helped, gave the agent a tip and waited for the next shuttle.

To this day I would always, always check that the car keys were outside the car when locking the door, and I can confidently say that I have never had a a similar situation.

Of course following me throughout this month's episodes you know that a lot of other sh** happened. Not a locked in key, though.

How about you? Lost a key? Locked in a key? Ate a key? Just kidding.