Locked myself out

Here goes what I would describe as a freak incident. I locked myself out of my office this afternoon.

The worst thing was that I was the only person in the office and no one else was inside the office to help me open the door. I have no mobile phone with me, and my memory did not contain any trace of any of my colleague's phone number. None.

You bet I was at a lost of what to do. I could only remind myself to stay calm to find a way out.

I had thought of finding a locksmith to help. But I don't even have a wallet or any cash to pay him. My belongings have been locked up inside the office. I don't even have a single cent on me then. Anyway, I figured that I could pay later if I had managed to get the locksmith to open the door.

Then again, my office's main-door operates based on the use of access card. Unless one has the proper access card, forget about entering. Well, unless someone inside the office is nice enough to open the door for one by using the access button found inside the office. The best part was that I did not have my access card with me when the door unintentionally closed and locked itself. I had wanted to pull the door-shuttle down but I did not realise that the main-door had closed and locked me out. I had left the card on my table.

Surely there must have been a way out. I went to the neighbouring shops to ask for a locksmith. I was pointed to a hardware shop but it had no locksmith. So I came out of it. Yet, two men sitting nearby the shop pointed me to the same hardware shop, so I decided to go in and ask again. Again? And get the same answer? Anyway, I tried.

The shop did not have a locksmith, but when I told them my plightful encounter, the female boss allowed me to use the shop's phone to call for help. I saw that the male boss had been to my office on a few occassions to help us service some of the appliances in the office. I suppose he could recognise me and believe in my story?

Think of it again, even if I did find a locksmith, it may not be of much use, because the main-door operates with the use of the access card. So I figured that I must somehow find a way to get hold of one of the access cards held by any of the staff in the organisation.

The trick is, I don't remember any of my colleague's phone number. I had never commit phone numbers to my memory ever since I started using the mobile phone. The only number I could possibly remember at the tip of my fingertips are my home's number, my office's number and my grandmother's number. Maybe a few emergency number like SOS hotline, police hotline, ambulance hotline. Look at how technology has made me complacent in not remembering phone numbers. Then again, look at how technology has saved my memory from too much work.

So I took the chance to call home. I was lucky, I think. One of my brother was at home, and he picked up the phone. I have a feeling that if I had called him a little later, he might have left home. Anyway, I asked my brother to search a few places where I think may contain the contact numbers of my colleagues. His first few attempts were in vain, and he could not find the contact numbers in those places. I really had to keep my cool to try to remember the possible places that I could have left the contact numbers at home. Actually, I had kept the most updated contact list in my bag, and it was locked up in the office. If I could find any contact numbers, those would be from an old contact list.

I felt a little embarrassed that I had to bother the shop and its owners to allow me to use the phone. At the same time, I don't know what else to feel except a tinge of embarrassment and lots of gratitude.

Finally, after some search, my brother found the contact list. It was an old one. Some of the colleagues on that contact list have already left the organisation. Anyway, I asked him to list down the contact numbers of those who are still in the organisation and are in Singapore today (Two of my colleagues are now overseas for vacation). The shop owners were kind enough to lend me use its pen and paper.

After writing down the contact numbers of my colleagues, I started calling. First call was to someone who lives near the office. She does not have a handphone so I called her on her residential phone number. No response. I supposed she was not at home.

Next call was to a colleague who lives in the estate, but much further. I cannot believe that I had actually volunteered to walk to where he stays to get the access card. I had no cash on me, and if I were to walk there, I think it might take about 30 minutes just to get there and I have no idea how to get there. Anyway, he shared that he was on his way to a relative's place. The good news is that the relative's place was still within reasonable walking distance from my office. So we agreed to meet him there. By the time I reached the meeting point, he had just reached there (I suppose?). Thank goodness I could get his help to get a access card.

With the access card, I travelled back to office. Imagine, it was past office hours this afternoon and I had stayed back in office to clear my piles of work. Unexpected to me, I locked myself out of my office. At the back of my mind, I wonder if I had been torturing myself by staying back in the office. What a way to repay someone who decides to work hard by clearing work on a Saturday afternoon which was outside the official office hours. Anyway, the access card works wonders. It opened the door!

So I could finally get into the office (without breaking the glass door), gain access to my belongings, and continue to do my work.

I am thankful to these people for helping me out of this situation of being locked out of my office. They are: the shop owners mentioned earlier, my dear brother, and my colleague who lent me his access card. Thank you very much.

What a fright I had when I found myself locked out of the office. Anyway, I guess the moral of the story is that stay calm and keep one's cool, the solution is likely come, somehow.