I did, just then. Had to call my landlord who lives 45 minutes away to come down and let me. I've never been so embarrassed in my entire life. Still it's taught me to be extra vigilant with my locks.

So have you ever had an experience of being locked out of your house, car or other secure location?

I vaguely remember locking myself out of our house when I still lived with my parents, but there was a hidden key available specifically for such occasions.

I did once or twice lock myself out of my apartment when I went showering (we have a shared shower for all apartments on the same floor). This could probably have been a bit embarassing since I was practically naked, but (a) for some reason I'm not embarrassed by being forgetful (or naked), and (b) The Woman Of my Dreams (tm) was still inside the apartment and could let me back in, which was probably the reason why I didn't thoroughly check for having the key with me in the first place. So far, i never locked myself outside my rooms (or cars) when no one else was inside.

My Mom locked herself out of her house once. She climbed the balcony and broke a window to get inside. That is one of my earliest memories.

On another occasion, my brother borrowed my car and put "the lock" on the steering wheel, not realizing he didn't take that key with him. Somehow it became my responsibility to bring the key to him (a few cities over.) I did want my car back, after all.

I don't think I have done anything of the sort (yet) although because I fear I may be so absent minded, I installed keypad locks on my house.

twice when my parents were on vacation. was lucky though that one time i didnt had the shutters down so i could crawl through a window , second time i had left the balcony door still open.

I did once, in Philly. Landlord and girlfriend both couldn't be reached so I literally kicked the door in, SWAT style... lol.

Was pretty stupid in retrospect.

Twice. Same place (rented). Locked everything behind me when went to work. Came home late. Both times forgot to take keys with me. Both times had to wait til late and managed to jimmy open a window (hehee sorta bent it so it wouldn't close properly after that)

Quite normal here apparently, as there's an official note with a phone number downstairs so that if you lock yourself out, someone (the "landlord", or the company taking care of the house/apartments) will come to open the door for you. They charge you something like 30€ or more I think, depending what time of the day it is. I guess many drunkards lose their keys every now and then, or are too intoxicated to open it by themselves.

The only case I remember locking myself out was as a kid. I came home from school and no one was home, I had forgotten keys home in the morning. Good thing it was warm spring already so I could wait outside. The problem was that I had a big number two coming, so I couldn't wait for my parents or siblings to come, but I had to go to the woods to take a dump. It's not as easy as you might think, trying not to soil your pants or shoes in the process.

As an adult, I've once locked myself out of my car though. Just as I was slamming the car door shut with the same hand where I held the keys, the keys dropped from my hand and slipped inside the car just before the door closed. It was the old kind of locking system, nowadays I wouldn't have that problem thanks to central locking.

Fortunately I had extra keys somewhere, I don't remember if I went to get them or called someone to bring them to me.

But the only really embarrasing case was years ago when my car got stuck in snow, blocking a walkway from pedestrians. I feverishly looked for a spade in the trunk to get my car out of it, and in the process I accidentally threw my car keys in a long arch to a big snowdrift.

I never saw those keys anymore no matter how hard I tried to look, so all I could do was to call my brother to go get the spare keys and bring them to me. I waited inside the car for an hour or two, many pedestrians were cursing to me while they had to pass my car in knee deep snow "Great work a-hole! You didn't find a better place to park your car, did you?" etc. I didn't feel like explaining everyone that I had lost my keys, in fact I didn't want anyone to know, in case someone not-so-nice person would find them later.

Locked myself out once, borrowed a ladder from the neighbours and climbed onto the balcony and managed to get in that way.

This didn't happen to me, but to a (single) lady I used to know, she sometime told about this incident.

She had a habit of sleepwalking, and sleeping nude. You figure out the rest.


Well ok, she woke up in the middle of the night in the stairway, completely naked, door shut behind her. Obviously all she could do was to wake up the neighbours so that they could call the landlord to come open the door. The man next door was grinning widely, I don't know what he thought, hopefully nothing sexual. (The lady is quite good-looking IMHO, or was at least when I last saw her).

I don't know what is the proper remedy for that, probably keeping keys always on a string around her neck, or making the locks so foolproof that you can't open them while sleepwalking. Albeit I don't know if the latter is possible, ie. if people are just as capable of opening locks etc. in sleep, as they are when they are fully awake.

That reminds me, my gf has a habit of sleepwalking as well, albeit I have caught her doing that only once. I woke her up already before she had left the bed.

The last time I locked myself out was when I first got my dog. Standing around on a rainy day waiting to get into your house is bad, but doing it with a 3 month old puppy looking at you like you've totally let him down is much, much worse. He clearly thought we were going to die, and that it was all my fault.

Yep, forgot my keys when I was in a hurry. So far it's happened one time in my life only though and the effort it cost the locksmith to get my unlocked but closed door open again somewhat reassured me that it's not that easy to break into my appartment. ;)

Last time I locked myself out it cost me 30RMB to get back in and about 3 minutes waiting while he did it. Needless to say I was sure to deadbolt the door and hope nobody had one of those paperish slim jims available.

Don't be silly I always leave my spare key behind the bin for this very reason.

I have, though I still lived with my mother then so she could get home and let me in. While living on my own, both apartments have had locks that need the key to lock them so it's quite impossible to lock oneself out (unless the key is forgotten elsewhere when coming home).

I haven't locked myself out of the house, but have locked myself out of my car.
I did manage to get locked into a house once by my cousin. Was a bit high up, so couldn't climb out of the window to go down. Had to take a day off work because of it :P.

gotta love days like that :P