A day that was unusual, to say the least. The first couple of calls were simple. Car lockouts. Then it got interesting, some good, some not so much. It started with the not so much. Every so often we come up against a lock that they don't even make anymore. Usually because they were over-developed, which made them both too expensive and too hard to work on. And when your biggest unpaid salesman is the guy who has to work on them, you don't make his life harder. When his customer askes for a recommendation, you want him to sell yours. This lock was just over-developed and at the time of sale, over-priced. As happens from time to time, this lock kinda blew-up on me. Parts went everywhere. Now I can spend an hour or more on my knees finding everything, or just stick in a new lock. I chose option two. The customer didn't mind and admitted that this lock had been kind of difficult recently anyway. So, everything is fine. Humbling, but fine.
Next, I get a call. The boss's number one son was sent to do a job. It was a two-man job. Run over there and help him out. The guy has already been there three or four hours. I head that way when the next call comes in. Before you go there, go to this apartment complex and open an apartment. Ok, that's a simple job. Fifteen minutes max and I'm out of there. Wrong answer. When I arrive, I'm told,
"We had someone try to get in the other day and he couldn't. Now the keys won't work."
THIS is more than a lockout. Now we are talking rekey, at least. Add a half an hour, minimum. I tried everything I had, and nothing would pick that lock and I tried for about twenty minutes. The back door was a glass slider. I pulled my Buck knife, used it to jiggle the door and I was in, in no time. I take the lock off the door and take it apart to find out why the key won't even fit in it anymore. As I pull the plug out of the housing, I find out what's wrong. A broken piece of a cheaply made lock pick falls out in my hand. The guy they sent broke his pick off and then told them he couldn't do it. Once the piece was on the floor and the lock put back together, it worked fine. I left the customer with both pieces of the broken pick. The guy had just dropped the handle right in front of the door. The really nice thing about this job was the lady remembered me from my last trip. The guy who was sent, was there for a long time. They sent me, the door was quickly opened. She remembered that and was happy they sent me again.
So, now I'm back on the road to help out the son. it wasn't anything he couldn't handle, it's just there was so much of it. I dove in and we got the job finished up with no problem. It was afterward while we were chatting, he laid it on me. He gave his father his two week notice a week ago. NOW I know why the boss so suddenly wants me to pick up extra days. We still need to have a sit down talk about that, but right now just isn't the time. I did tell the head lady on the phone my thoughts when she asked if I was going to pick up Sundays. Basically, it's yeah but it's going to cost you more than you're offering. I also got conformation of something I've long believed. The manager who got fired a while back was indeed skimming off the top. THAT even after he was getting 45% of what he did, plus a % of what other people did since he was manager. And of course, he saved all of the most expensive jobs for himself. He was pulling down some serious cash, but still had to skim on the rest of us. Some folks just don't know when to say when.
