Combination Padlocks (apropos of nothing, really)

This is an inconsequential matter in the general scheme of things -- and certainly a lot lighter than a lot of recent blogs -- but I have to confess a phobia about combination locks.


Maybe it was a forgotten childhood incident, but I’m always convinced I will either forget the combination or do something else wrong -- I’m always uneasy about how many times to go around after the first number, and tend to overthink it. Happened to me today at my YMCA locker. I entered what I thought was the right combination, but it didn’t work. I did it three or four more times, sure the number was right. I nearly panicked, it was like a nightmare come to life. Visions of walking home in my wet swim trunks in this April weather in May, since the car keys were in the locker. But it finally opened.


I thought I had found a solution a while back. I got a nice-looking brass lock that instead of a big dial, it had four small dials. And you set your own combination. So I entered four digits I have long burned into my longterm memory -- my childhood phone number from the days when operators made your connection (in my small town anyway).


Worked like a charm. Then one day something happened. I know now what it was, but I didn’t then. It wouldn’t open, no matter how many times I tried. Fortunately I was trying to remove it from my gym bag so I didn’t have the locker issue. I thought about taking it home and sawing through the lock, but had a better idea.Because I liked the lock, I decided to drive downtown to a trusted old-timey locksmith, hoping he could do some magic on it. He asked for my combination and tried it a couple times. “Looks like the combination somehow got reset. All I can do is cut this off for you” (it was still attached to my gym bag). I told him to go ahead and watched the shower of sparks as he used his power tool.


“Could I have done that with a hacksaw or file?”


“Saw, no. File if you worked hard all day. It’s hardened.”


So I asked him what I owed him and he just smiled. “Just remember me when you have some real business for me”


So I went home and rummaged up an old traditional combination lock. And except for today’s brief incident, it’s been tolerable.


BTW, the combination is 39-21-15. Remind me if I forget.