Finally Got To Leave The Shop

[chieflittlehorse]

I finally got to leave the shop and do some work.

A truck driver came to the shop said he locked his keys inside the cab. So I called my boss and we quoted him a price and he agreed.

It was a block away so I walked there with him. I called my coworker and asked how he opened a truck before and he told me to pick it on the driver's side.

So I took with me two hook picks, a tension wrench, and the graphite gun.

While walking there I was thinking to myself, what have you gotten your self into? But was also thinking that if I had a family and kids to feed then I have to make the money. I sometimes have to use psychology on myself because I don't have a lot of field experience in locksmithing and worry that I can't do the job.

It took me about 20 minutes to pick it. I picked it once but the tension wrench slipped on me and it locked up. But now that I knew I could pick it my confidence built up and within a few minutes more I got the door open.

I picked the passenger side door clockwise as I wasn't having any luck with the drivers side. Plus I had more shade while picking the passenger side door.

I collected my money and head back to the shop.

I thought about it a little later... and it's that the truck driver isn't making any money unless he's moving so I had to get him going. I have a friend who's a truck driver and that's what he told me.

The boss even gave me a $20 bonus!

-CLH

[just1pick+open]

Congrats.....You can only go up from here...good confidence builder those type of small jobs can be...Keep positive and best of luck in the future...

[chieflittlehorse]

Congrats.....You can only go up from here...

Thanks....

...my coworker always tells me not to doubt myself.

-CLH

[jharveee]

I always want to take every tool I can get my hands on.
Whole way to the job my head is thinking "What if_________", Feel free to fill in the blank with any possibility.
Then most of the time I get there and the job tends to be "normal" almost Run of the mill.
Great Job on getting that driver back to work.

[mdc5150]

Congrats.....You can only go up from here...

Thanks....

...my coworker always tells me not to doubt myself.

-CLH

Your coworker is right. You shouldn't doubt yourself. You should never be thinking "will I be able to do this." instead think "How am I going to do this."

As with most things in life with locksmithing there are about 1000 different ways to skin a cat. The trick is finding which ways work best for you. I've only been at this for 4 years now but when I look back I have a surprising number of cat skins on the wall. Be open to learning new things all the time. Listen when someone wants to explain something you've done before because there might be one little morsel of information that you will carry with you for the rest of your life.

[Altashot]

Walk with confidence, head high, back strait and believe in yourself.
Sometimes, the suit makes the man.

In our shop, we always say that we are Smiths, Smiths with any prefix, we can do anything.
And remember, we locksmiths are of a different breed...

Congrats on your first job "on the road". I remember mine, I was so stoked. I've been on the road ever since.

M.

[Anarchy_won]

Congrats on a successful first "call out".

one thing I have been doing is keeping a little note book of all my openings just where, what, and how i did it with any "tricks" that might work next time but being a in house locksmith its almost all notes about file cabinet openings with the key code of the new lock so when that set of keys get lost I can just have one made by code.

[GWiens2001]

As with most things in life with locksmithing there are about 1000 different ways to skin a cat.

My favorite method is putting it's head in a boot jack and pulling hard on the tail.

... I've only been at this for 4 years now but when I look back I have a surprising number of cat skins on the wall.

That would be a lot of cat skins. Beware of Xeo's Banhammer!!!

Gordon

[Oldfast]

That's great! I too let my doubts creep in and get the better of me sometimes.
But I echo the thoughts of others... confidence very much effects performance.

Keep up the great work & thanks for sharing.
I can see it was exciting for you and also
helped to give you a confidence boost.