As I've said, every day is an adventure. Yesterday was my day off. I was sitting at the table playing on the computer near the front door. I noticed a black and white cat sitting on the front step. Then I remembered seeing signs posted around the neighborhood for a missing cat and the picture looked like the cat I was looking at. Not wanting to scare him away I waited until he moved off a bit and jumped in the car and went to the nearest sign. I wrote down the number and called a lady asking if I had just seen her cat. She thought so, so she left work and came to my place. After a short time of calling it this lady informed me that there actually two black and white cats missing. She promised to call the other lady and noticed the sign on my car saying 'locksmith'. She tells me she has an old lock on her front door that has malfunctioned and asks if I can come by and look at it. She's a neighbor and it's my day off, so why not? I get there later that day and she tells me,
"I took the lock off the door so I could paint it and after I put it back on, it doesn't work."
OKAY. Paint and locks don't usually go together very well. But she had actually done a good job. There was no paint in the lock, however this is what is known as a Mortise lock. Those kind have threads on the body of the lock and screw into the door. Then a set screw on the edge of the door is tightened to keep the lock from moving. The trick is that you don't screw the lock in all the way. You only do it far enough for the lock to work. Then you tighten the set screw. She had screwed it in all the way and then when she tightened the set screw, she went too far and snapped the set screw off. The lock was also positioned upside down. So I had to destroy the lock to get it out, then use the can opener blade of a pocket knife to get the remains of the set screw out. After that I put in a new lock and re-keyed it to match the deadbolt she had in the door. All of this took over an hour and since you have to look out for your neighbors she was only charged for the lock. My time and labor were free. But she was happy and the boss was happy since he made a little and we have another happy customer to recommend us to others.
Then we have today. I just got home after being sent on two different jobs. I didn't get paid for either of them. The first was a house lock out and I was working on that one and almost had the customer in when I got the second call. The second call was a case of the two year old locking herself and the infant inside the house while Mom, Dad and the girl who turns five tomorrow were outside getting things ready for the party. Children ALWAYS have priority. I explained the emergency to the first customer and he was understanding about it. He just looked at me and said,
"GO!"
So I get to the second job and reunite parents and children, for which they were grateful. Then they were stunned and Mom moved to tears when they found out there was no bill. As I've mentioned before, when a child is locked inside of something, home or vehicle, there is no bill. They are more important than ANY amount of profit. I did call the first guy back to see if he still needed me to come back and finish the job, but he said that someone else was already on the way. He apologized for that but I told him I understand and there is no problem.
Still, the mothers tears and reunion of both parents with their children is the kind of payment you can't get anywhere else. It is enough.