It was an ordinary Tuesday morning for Linda, a busy professional who prided herself on her punctuality. With a steaming cup of coffee in one hand and her bag in the other, she dashed out the door, ready to tackle her hectic day. But as she reached for her keys, fate had a different plan.

With a quick twist, the key snapped in the lock, leaving half of it stubbornly lodged inside. “No, no, no!” Linda exclaimed, her heart racing. The door was locked, and she was officially locked out.

After a moment of sheer panic, she took a deep breath. “Okay, Linda. You can handle this. Just Google it,” she told herself, feeling a bit silly. She pulled out her phone and typed: “What to do if I break my key in the lock.”

The search results flooded in, and she felt a glimmer of hope.

“Step 1: Stay Calm.” Easy for them to say! She paced back and forth, trying to channel her inner zen while her mind raced.

“Step 2: Gather Your Tools.” She glanced around her apartment, realizing she was ill-prepared for a locksmithing adventure. She rummaged through her drawers and came up with a hodgepodge of items: a pair of needle-nose pliers, tweezers, and a bottle of cooking oil. “Not exactly a locksmith kit, but it’ll have to do!”

Following the next instruction, she poured a little cooking oil into the lock. “This is probably not what they meant by lubricant,” she chuckled nervously.

“Step 4: Use Pliers or Tweezers.” With her heart pounding, she carefully gripped the exposed piece of the key with the pliers. She pulled gently, but the key didn’t budge. “Okay, no sudden moves,” she muttered, trying to stay calm. After a few more attempts, she yanked harder, and, SNAP! The other half of the key broke off inside the lock. “Great! Just great!” she groaned.

Next up was the super glue method. “This can’t be that hard,” she said, clutching a toothpick and a bottle of super glue like a warrior preparing for battle. She dabbed glue on the toothpick and tried to get it to stick to the broken key. It was a messy endeavor, and just when she thought she was making progress, the toothpick slipped, and she nearly glued her fingers together instead.

Frustrated but not ready to give up, she remembered the mention of a key extractor. “I’ll just use this butter knife,” she thought, laughing at her own absurdity. She carefully inserted the knife into the lock, but it only made things worse. Instead of freeing the key, she felt like she was auditioning for a slapstick comedy.

After a solid hour of battling the lock, Linda finally admitted defeat. “Okay, this is ridiculous. Time to call in the professionals,” she sighed, dialing Keymasters with a sense of relief.

When the locksmith arrived, Linda was still standing by her door, surrounded by her makeshift tools LOL “I think I might have overdone it,” she said sheepishly.

The locksmith chuckled as he surveyed the scene. “Looks like you gave it your best shot!” Within minutes, he expertly removed the broken key and assessed the lock. All fixed!

As she opened her door and stepped inside, Linda couldn’t help but laugh at the day’s chaos. “Thanks for saving the day! Next time, I’ll know to call you first instead of turning my apartment into a DIY disaster zone she said.”

With a newfound appreciation for professional help, and a great story to tell—Linda settled down with her coffee, grateful that sometimes it’s okay to ask for help, especially when it comes to keys and locks!