Essentials Skills

Over the past month, I have spent a lot of time teasing my little sister about her tendency to lose things. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that I lost something...I lost my work keys. Overall this wouldn't have been too bad, except that I also lost the key to my desk drawers at work. This is a very big problem...I have a lot of responsibilities at work and that includes writing checks and handling the personal information for several of the people that I work with. I keep all the checks for the company in my desk drawer and I have...well had...the only key. Losing that key is a big deal.

I have some important checks that I need to write tomorrow and Friday and I had to get access to that drawer. I was talking to Dan and I told him that tomorrow morning, that drawer was going to be opened, key or no key. I had tested it out a little...pulling on it to see how strong it was....and I was fairly confident that I could break it open if I had to. (That doesn't say much for the security of that drawer.) Dan suggested that I learn how to pick a lock. I laughed because I was pretty sure I wouldn't be able to do that.

I went about the rest of my day at work, wondering where my keys could be. I didn't know what I was going to do about losing those keys. Then I saw this little paper clip on my desk. It wasn't a normal paper clip...it was one of the black ones that looks like a clamp type thing. I thought, "Hmmm....I wonder if I could pick that..." And so, I decided to give it a try. I took off one of the little ends of that paper clip and stuck it into the hole. Less than thirty seconds later, my drawer was open!

I was very excited and a little surprised at how easy that was. I became even less confident in the security of those drawers, but I was grateful that I was able to get the door open. I sent Dan a message and told him about my success. Later, when my sister got to work, I told her about how I had picked the lock. She told me that she had a drawer that she had lost her key to, so I thought, "Hey, I can pick that lock too." I tried...and tried...and tried some more. I failed. So I have come to the conclusion that I was very blessed to be able to get that drawer open, and that while lock picking could be an essential skill, it is not one of my skills. Next time, I'll call my Coca-Cola friend, he has a lock pick kit.