The Cold Really Slows Down The Old Brain Cells

This happened in the late 1980s. A heavy blizzard was on its way, and management announced that the office would be closing early so that we could get home before the roads became hazardous.

[Coworker] went out to the parking lot and started his car to give the engine time to warm up. When he came back into the office, he realized he had locked his keys inside the running car.

His wife had a spare key, but she was forty miles away. He called the Automobile Club, but they were overflowing with calls and wouldn’t be able to get there for at least a few hours.

Someone got a wire hanger from the coat room and bent it into a hook. Those of us who hadn’t left for home yet took turns going outside in pairs, one person prying the top of the driver’s door just enough so that the other could slip the hook through and try to pull up the lock button. But the button was tapered, and there was no place for the hook to grab it.

Still, we persevered for over an hour. But the snowfall was getting heavier, and [Coworker] resigned himself to waiting in the office until the car ran out of gas and/or help arrived.

Just as we were about to give up, I noticed something.

Me: “Did anybody try the back door?”

[Coworker] looked in the window and then looked at me.

Coworker: “It can’t be that easy.”

Not only was the lock button on the back door NOT tapered, but it also had a hole in it. The hook slipped through the hole, and the back door opened right up.

I haven’t seen [Coworker] in years, but I hope he’s invested in a remote starter since then.