A few weeks ago, Jill and I finished teaching and exited the school to get on our scooter and go home. I removed the lock from the back wheel with one key, unlocked and opened the seat compartment with the ignition key, and put the lock inside. Then I closed the seat. Just as it slammed–and locked–shut, I realized that’d I’d accidentally thrown the scooter’s ignition key inside the seat compartment. We were locked out of the scooter.
I removed my trusty Gerber Multi-Tool from my backpack and attempted, over the course of the next 10 minutes, to jimmy the lock. No dice. It wouldn’t budge. I was convinced that the only solution was to break the seat latch in order to retrieve the keys. I swore a lot. Sweat began to cascade off of my forehead.
Just then, our director walked outside the school and asked us what was wrong. We explained.
“No problem,” she said. “The father of one of our students is a locksmith. He lives nearby. I’ll call him.”
The man, a slight fellow in 40’s, arrived in about 5 minutes. He had his small toolcase stashed in a basket on the front of his scooter. It took him approximately 15 seconds to unlock the seat. We thanked him and paid him 100 NT (about 3 US dollars), and he left. We got on our scooter and headed home.