Monday, February 18, 2008

Who changed the locks?

Actually, our apartment locks got changed before Tovina and I left for Shanghai and I know full well who changed them. Apparently our apartment building decided that the old fashion metal keys were just not cool enough for their image so they switched the entire building over to key cards. You know, the kind that you get in hotels where you slide the card in and out of the slot on the door and the light turns green and you get to go inside. And as you might also know from your hotel experiences, these cards have a tendency to become demagnetized and stop working randomly. When they gave us the new keys, the manager warned us to not put them near our cell phones - which is easy considering all the room I have in my pocket or purse (this should be read with heavy sarcasm.)

Tonight we experienced our first lock out after just 1 month with these new keys. It is easy enough to fix by going back to the lobby and waiting for them to get a new key and load all the appropriate information. But now I am imaging coming home with a load of groceries and a cranky baby and finding that the key has stopped working. It is not a happy mental image.

On one hand, I suppose that 1 failure in about 30 days is not so terrible, but I can fondly recall the number of times that old metal key randomly and unexpectedly stopped working. Let me tell you, it was a lot less than 1 in 30.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

and you can't use key cards as personal safety devices either,,,

Anonymous said...

And where is the picture of Tovina eating the key??

Anonymous said...

Thus demonstrating one more time the myriad ways in which technology is constantly improving our lives. The technological solution to this problem is to coat the card in mild tranquilizers and cherry flavoring so it can be used to soothe the baby while providing you with a separate keycard for a small holding cupboard next to your apartment door in which you can stash your groceries while returning to the lobby with your now passive baby for a new card. See? So much better than that nasty old metal key.

Jason said...

Two things:

1) You have now cursed yourself to "coming home with a load of groceries and a cranky baby and finding that the key has stopped working." Just remember, you brought it all on yourself.

2) When the **** did you start carrying a "purse?"

J