Two locks, one bike?

Hi all,

I had the weirdest thing happen to me today, and I couldn't resist sharing it. If you're looking for security tips or tricks, move along. If you want a funny story (that sort of involves security), stick around!

So, I needed some odds and ends today. Since it's right down the street, I rode my bike down to Zellers (a Canadian chain owned by the Hudson Bay Company). I left my good bikelock at my dad's place, so I brought my crappy lock, and therefore my crappy bike (I left the good bike at home).

I do my shopping, leave the store, and go to unlock my bike. But wait, there's a problem. Can you see what's wrong here? Hint: my bike is the black one on the left.

Of course you can't, because I suck at photography (the little camera on my Android phone doesn't help, either). But I'll give you a hint: my U-lock was at my dad's place. "But there's a U-lock ON the bike!" you're thinking. There sure is! Apparently, somebody put their lock on my bike. Who? Didn't know. Why? I wished I knew.

My gut reaction, of course, was to take a picture. Document the evidence. This could, after all, make a good story! After that, I called my dad to see if he could bring down his Sawzall to cut the other lock off my bike, but he was busy. I toyed with the idea of either: a) picking the lock (my picks are always in my backpack); or b) filling the lock with Krazy glue (which I also had in my backpack)

Neither option seemed like it'd help much (I don't know how to pick that type of lock, and I didn't want to destroy somebody else's lock).

Anyways, I eventually went back into the store and got a security guard to come out with me. He was equally puzzled, until we noticed...

That's right! The bike next to mine was entirely unlocked! Not to mention it's a way nicer bike than mine. Clearly, somebody had accidentally locked my bike instead of theirs! Won't they find it funny when they come out and I tell them what happened. We'll share a good laugh together! Ha ha!

So, the security guard went inside and made an announcement. I patiently sat in the sun with my groceries, waiting for the owner to show up red faced to admid their mistake. No dice.

After about 20 minutes of sitting there, a lady finally walks out. She walks up to the unlocked bike, and I approach. Unfortunately, I didn't have the foresight to turn on my Android phone's voice recorder, but our conversation went something like this:


Me: Is this blue bike yours? Her: Yes. Me: Well, it looks like you locked the wrong bike. Ha ha? Her: No I didn't.

Hang on a sec. "No I didn't?" -- is she seriously going to deny this?


Me: Is that your lock? Her: [no answer] Me: It's on my bike. Her: I didn't lock THAT bike, it already HAS a lock! Me: I know. That's MY lock.

At this point, she's getting really irritable. At the very most, I thought she'd be embarrassed. Or even angry. But to completely deny it when the evidence is right in front of her face? Seriously?


Me: Can you just unlock my bike? Her: You're going to have to wait while I find the key. starts rummaging through her backpack Me: That's fine, I've already waited here long enough.

With that, she gets her key out, unlocks my bike, and takes off. While she's doing it, of course, I'm snapping pictures:

And without another word, she rides off into the sunset.....

The whole time we were talking, all I could think of was that I couldn't wait to tell everybody about this. :)

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