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Thursday, November 30, 2006

I have been living a lie for the past 3 years.

I always thought it was impossible to get locked out of my car. I drive a 2004 Civic, the kind that locks with a button you keep on your key ring.



You have to press the large gray button once to lock the doors (twice to hear it beep. i love the beep! my neighbors? not so much), and the small gray button twice to unlock it. I have definitiely left my keys in the car while I pump gas, threw them in there and shut the door while I rummaged in the trunk..all the while lingering under the misaprehension that it is physically impossible to lock the keys in the car because I would have to have the keys in my hand, pressing the button, to lock the door.

This is part of the reason the Civic was so attractive to me, because I was NOTORIOUS for locking my keys in my car back when I drove my Dodge Spirit (RIP!). I must have done it at least once a month. Once I did it in a Dunkin Donuts parking lot and tried to call my parents but they weren't home so I did the logical thing and called the fire department who showed up in the big red truck, sirens blasting, blocking off the whole parking lot to let me, a wretched asshole, into my car. Another time, I was at the Walmart in Quincy and called a friend to ask her dad who was chief of police in BRAINTREE to send someone over to help me. That officer was none to pleased, believe me. In fact his first question to me when he pulled up was "WHO DO YOU KNOW?".

Really I was a helpless fool who should not be trusted with keys.

Hence, being psyched that you can't be locked out of a Honda Civic.

There is a loophole, however. And today I fell right through it.

When I left the house this morning, I was laden down with a few things: a bag of groceries I was bringing to work, a shawl I was lending a coworker, my lunch and my Nalgene bottle not to mention my handbag. So I unlocked and opened the passenger side door, put all my crap on the seat, hit the "lock button" (why, I don't know), threw the keys on the seat and shut the door. Then when I went around to the drivers side, I was surprised to see it was locked. Back at the passender side: also locked!

Sacre Bleu!!!

Luckily, I have a spare key in case I am not home and for some reason Adam has to move my car. So after waking Adam up by ringing the doorbell repeatedly to let me in (he was psyched) I grabbed my other set of keys and was on my way.

I am a little shaken though. All those times I thought I was a-ok throwing my keys in the car and shutting the door, I was really a ticking time bomb waiting to be locked out and then call every person in my cell phone to come get me.

So all youe Civics drivers, be ye forewarned. You CAN be locked out of your car.

(Of course everyone probably already knows this. Meanwhile I didnt even know there was a way to make the overhead light come on when you open the door until last week)

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh honey, never underestimate your own powers to screw yourself over! I locked myself out of my Honda Civic on multiple occasions. One time, I had to crawl up the side of my apartment building so that I could at least sit on my balcony while I waited in the freezing cold for PJ to come home and save the day.
In spite of this, I stil miss that car.
RIP, Honda.

Anonymous said...

I am notorious for locking my keys in the car as well. My car does not have power locks, so flipping the little lock thingy as I get out is second nature. I've locked myself out so many times that if I close the door of my car before I've checked TWICE that I have my keys I usually panic. I've locked myself out of my car so much that I made FIVE copies of the key and gave them to people in each of the areas where I hang out (I'm all over the place in this state, I tell ya). Now I live alone and I'm paranoid I will lock myself out of my apartment.

Sarah said...

thats my biggest fear: locking myself out of my apartment w/o my phone! i don't even know what i would do. probably just become a vagrant.

Sarah said...

ha i remember that story! at least your siblings are useful. if i called my brother and told him i was locked out he would bring me a beer. although i suppose that is useful in its own way :-)

Lys said...

Oh boy... never underestimate the power of the key.... just when you least expect it *lock* ...

Now where are my keys...

Anonymous said...

I, too, love the beep. Your neighbors and my neighbors should meet for drinks. I haven't locked myself out of the car yet, but usually as soon as I am warned about something, it happens.

Glad to see you fixed that overhead light situation!

Sarah said...

thanks to civic owners like you, i am no longer in the dark..

LITERALLY


haha. i rule.

East Coast Teacher said...

LOL.

I locked my keys in my car while covering an event for the newspaper I was working for in the Midwest.

The event involved the local police station. Yes, I locked my keys in the car in the presence of nearly 20 police officers - and do you think any of them had the tools to get my car open?

Of course not.

Anonymous said...

Get AAA. Its $48/year. They have other usefull features as well but 'some guy who shows up fairly quickly and is not pissed when you lock your keys in your car' is one of the best.

also they are helpful when 3 of 4 tires go flat, the battery dies and the starter breaks all at the same time. 1990 Honda Accord. Its no longer with us.

Sarah said...

i have AAA. I always call them first and then when they are like "it will be about 2 hours" i am like "screw if, being on the fire department!"