gfish | Why knowledge of locksmithing can be useful

As I was leaving my room this morning I grabbed the wrong set of keys, locking the correct ones inside. It was a crappy interior lock, so I was sure I could pick it -- except my lockpics were also in the room. This left me the choice between feeling like an idiot calling the landlady and buying another set of lockpicks on my strained student budget. But then I remembered that cheap interior locks tend to be manufactured with dismayingly few combinations of keys. So with nothing to lose, I tried the keys I had with me -- and one worked. Not very well, but it got the door open without damaging anything. So, woot. (Except for being reminded how useless the cheap locks are.)