Picking a Lock and Installing a Mortise
At exactly 7 am, I received a call from a lady in Merrick who had been locked inside her
apartment. She was excited when I arrived and requested me to open the door for her because she
needed to rush to her place of work. Inside the apartment, there were people who needed to go to
work immediately. Her elder son had gotten out of the house through a window and had already
left for school however, her younger son and her mother were trapped inside and were getting late
for school.
I realized how urgent the case was. For this reason, I got to work immediately. I studied the lock
and realized that it was a mortise lock.
A mortise lock comes in different shapes and sizes, it has a lock body and a bolt that is
normally mounted on the inside of the door. I decided to use the keys I was carrying to try
and open the door. I inserted one of the matching keys inside its keyhole. I turned the key in
a counterclockwise direction several times so as to try and force the bolt to slide and have the
door opened. I jiggled the key in the keyhole using different approaches but the results were
not pleasing. I decided to use a slim Jim to pick the lock. It took me less than two minutes to
open the door. The lady was happy and rushed out because she was already late. She however
instructed me to replace the mortise lock with another one. I went to the store-bought another
mortise and returned to the apartment. After a few minutes, I had finished the job. I tested the
lock to ensure that it was working. I called the lady and informed her I had finished the task.
She instructed the house help to pay me and I left.