That time a stranger in a hardware store taught me how to pick a lock

I was stuck outside my own shed last summer in Portland with a broken padlock. A older guy walked over from the plumbing aisle and asked if I needed help. He pulled a small rake pick from his pocket and popped it open in under 10 seconds, no damage at all. He told me he used to be a locksmith and that most cheap locks can be bypassed with a simple tension wrench. Has anyone else run into random experts like that who just solve your problem out of nowhere?

3 comments

3 Comments

victorhill19d ago

Hold up wait a second. Did that older guy actually hand you the rake pick to try yourself or did he just do it for you and walk away? I'm real curious because I've heard tons of stories like this but nobody ever says whether the stranger offered to teach them on the spot or if they just got the quick demo and that was it. Your mileage may vary but I feel like half the skill in lockpicking is just getting the right feel for the tension, not something you can really learn from a 10 second show.

jake63819d ago

Thats actually pretty cool man. @oscar743 I was the same way until I saw a video of a locksmith popping a lock with a paperclip and I was like wait thats it? totally changed how I look at those cheap padlocks now. Now I keep a little lockpick set in my glovebox just in case, though Ive never had to use it yet lol. Makes you realize how much of "security" is just an illusion with basic hardware store locks.

oscar74319d ago

Oh man, that's wild! I used to think lockpicking was this crazy secret skill only criminals knew, but hearing stories like this totally shifted my view. Now I kinda want to learn it myself, just for emergencies like that.