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I volunteer at a thrift store and we routinely get in locked file cabinets, desks, etc, and most of the staff know who to ask when one needs opened! I've also educated some of the people in the office on how "secure" most furniture/ file cabinet locks are, and advise them that anything valuable should be put in the store safe (A walk in), or a small lockbox of good quality. Most people are impressed I can open these locks in less than 10 seconds, and often ask how, but I usually just tell them I taught myself and the info's out there for those willing to learn.

I also got my elderly neighbors back in their house on a cold night after they accidentally locked the storm door which they didn't have a key to. They were very relieved and gave me a $25 gift card to Golden Corral for the efforts.

I'm careful who I share my skills with, and have only taught a few of my close trusted friends, and even then, I give them cheap padlocks a 3 year old could open.

A few weeks ago I was showing a local locksmith whom Ive occasionally talked to for decades, how a bogota pin and spring device works. then with the picks out and in my hand I just slipped the tensor ends under the band of a finger ring I had on my left hand,
that is a way of securely palming them. He noticed this right away and said how it would be very tricky if police were searching you and you had your hands on the car.
two weeks later, a guy I talk to in a cafe sometimes started asking a few pointed questions about exactly this, and I showed it to him.
I think that there is a back channel of rumor and bs that follows me around.

Always remember that the stranger of casual aquaintance my actually know a lot more about you that you are aware of, you don't know who he talks to or who he knows.
Complete unknowns will have a deep story about your without your even knowing it.
non of this can be checked for accuracy, you don't know whos holding the story or where or how they got it. its all subject to what someone in a post above called chinese rumor, meaning I take it that every telling of the story gets changed in small or large details, and the good parts are often left out.

Has anyone else here been wrongly accused of perpetrating a break-in?

As a professional locksmith, I have been accused of cutting myself a key to enter the premises and rob them later when they were not home. Of course, these people are normally the paranoid nut case types. Nothing ever happened out of it. I guess they take their pills and feel better the next day. I even had customers call me the next day to apologize for their "episode" and request yet another re-key. Talk to any locksmiths, we all have a few of those nut cases...

I agree that you have to be careful who you tell. I'll share a story that happen to me. It's a bit long...
Early in my career, I was a young locksmith then, 19 or 20 years old. I met up with some friends after work at a local tavern for a few brews. I was still wearing my uniform and it clearly displayed where I worked. A guy at the next table noticed and started a conversation with me. Of course it was the usual questions: "You're a locksmith?...COOL!...Can you open a car?...A house?...A safe?..." I was like: "yeah, sure! No problem, I can open anything." I was cocky, I had all this new knowledge and skills and I was boasting as if I was THE King of locksmiths... After a few beers, I went to the washrooms and as I zipped up, two guys spun me around and pushed me onto the urinals. One of them said: "So...you're a locksmith?...You can open houses?...You crack locks and safes?..." The other guy then said: "You're coming with us tonight boy...If you make a fuss leaving this place, we'll f*ch you up real bad." I almost s*it my pants. I my mind I thought I was going to get kidnapped, be forced to open a safe, then get ditch with the safe...Dead and no loot. I refused to comply and they started to to get violent. They weren't joking. I never thought my boasting was going to get me in trouble, I was not a crook and did all this legally. They had been listening in on my conversation with a stranger earlier...Luckily my friend walk in and disrupted the fight. The two guys left at once, the washrooms and the bar.

I have been in a few other scary situations since too.
I now have a clip-on ID that can easily and quickly be removed. The problem is that I NEED to be public, This is my living and people must know about it.
I'm older now and also smarter but I never forget that as my name, company, reputation and public esteem increase, so does the threat. It comes with the territory, just because of the nature of what I do. My van is also a big target. This is one part of the job that I did not foresee nor chose. I wouldn't change a thing though, I love what I do.

Maybe a word of caution, maybe to raise awareness, or only another aspect of lock picking not often considered; You possess a very fascinating and interesting talent. It can be used for good or bad, and it CAN get you in trouble.

M.

I completely agree. It's kind of scary, the stupidest people I run into at work are teachers and doctors.

altashot
I just read that post,
they were thinking you were a crime of opportunity to kidnap, thats so weird, crooks are idiots, they could have called you to the job and you would have showed up with a vanload of equipment, then they could have used lies or real threats, backed by guns.
Ive known locksmiths who keep a pistol in the toolbox just in case.

Rai, that's a scary thought! Never thought of locksmiths being targets like that, but it makes sense. Jeez!

Hell yeah! I did a whole thread on it viewtopic.php?f=9&t=5761.

I got charged with going equipped for carrying my picks but they tried to throw a whole series of burglaries at me while I was being questioned (after being locked up for 24 hours). They were all very easy to disprove because it wasn't me but they tried their hardest.

In the end the whole thing got dropped when I showed the prosecutor a newspaper article I did about the poor quality of the locks in the area. It finally dawned on them that maybe I was a locksmith and had been telling the truth all along, not a burglar!

It didn't stop the asshats from putting a marker on my vehicle though. I keep getting pulled over because their 'intel' says I have previous for going equipped and burglary. Complete nonsense, I have a clean criminal record.

So yeah, watch who you tell and never trust the rozzers.