Friday Night Adventures: Locked Out!

So...I came home on Friday night to see Ingrid, Jahni, and Ethan sitting in the hallway. At first, I thought that Ingrid had left her keys at home, but then I saw them in the door. She told us that she was locked out and it appeared that the inside lock was bolted. We thought Michael might have come home early and fell asleep, but as we banged on the door, we didn't hear anyone inside. Michael came home moments later and we realized that somehow the inner lock had bolted itself.

I decided to call 911 to see if they could come and bring a ladder so that someone could crawl onto the balcony and get inside. I'm not quite sure what I was thinking--perhaps that since there was a baby involved that they would come quickly. When I called 911 and let her know that the baby was also in fact OUTSIDE the apartment and that no one was inside, the woman said to me, "This is not an emergency." Ingrid and Michael laughed at me and decided that we would try calling 311 to speak with the local fire department. I spoke to the gentleman on the phone and he reiterated exactly what the 911 operator stated--this is not an emergency.

Despite it not being an actual emergency, it felt like an emergency--Ethan was cranky, we were all in the hallway, and it didn't seem like we would ever be able to get inside. Our doorman came upstairs to try and help, but to no avail. He brought up a screwdriver and Michael continued trying to pry the inside latch off. I could see the desperation in Michael and the desire to be the man to save the day. :) Ultimately, Jahni and I took a trip next door to the mechanic to see if anyone there could be of help and John saved the day! He came over to survey the situation and realized that he could use a sledgehammer of sorts to knock off the inside latch. He came back five minutes later and it was a success! Drama nearly averted, everyone happy, and only about 50 minutes of our Friday was spent in the hallway.