Key to the Universe In the Engine of an old Parked Car

While I was in Denver, my son was having adventures of his own. It seems that he broke the Hyundai key in the ignition while he was parked at our local grocery store. He called the locksmith around 10:30 Sunday night. The locksmith arrived and pulled the key out in about five minutes.

HOWEVER, it appears that payment terms weren't discussed before the work was done and Trevor thought he would just get a bill that I could pay later. My son had no cash on him and the locksmith would only accept cash or credit card. Trevor called home and I guess no one heard the phone ring. I was still driving home or had just gotten home. Anyway, Barry, the locksmith, got angry and stuck the key back into the ignition because he wasn't going to do the work for free. So stupid! Why couldn't he have just followed ny son home where my mother, my older son, or I could have paid him?

The next day, we looked up locksmiths and the only other one we could find in the area had a death in the family and was out indefinitely. Both my son and I called Barry and he said that now for him to do the key it would cost $140 ($80 from the other night AND $60 for the regular rate). No way was I going to pay him double for sticking the key back in!

Well, fortunately, the car was parked in the grocery store parking lot. My son informed three different managers about our situation so that the car wouldn't get towed away. He worked on it several times himself and even managed to hot wire the engine but when he turned the steering wheel it locked into place. It was obvious that the key was in deeper than the first time.

We waited out Memorial Day weekend and called a locksmith in from ABQ town on Tuesday afternoon to where the car was at, about 30 miles away. A young guy came out and worked on the ignition for about two hours. Trevor had already removed a lot of the parts around the ignition so it was easier to work on but the little 3/4 inch key wouldn't come out. When we were actually discussing drilling out the ignition, the locksmith finally pulled the ignition off and got the little piece of key out.

YEAH! The Hyundai is driveable again!!

 It cost us $130 for this second locksmith to do the work. If only the first one hadn't been such an a-hole about the whole thing he would have been paid to begin with. And if he hadn't have been such an a-hole, it wouldn't have cost us so much time and money either.

Please check your keys for wear and tear and, if at all possible, do not make a copy from a copy!


Key to the Universe In the Engine of an old Parked Car - song: Growin Up, artist: David Bowie covering Bruce Springsteen