Just when I thought I'd seen it all.... (locked door to storage room in LAX lounge)

[JayPea]

Today, my uncle and I are in the Metropolitan Lounge in Los Angeles, waiting to board the SWC. About an hour and a half ago, a young man was leaving on a commuter train. He went to get his bag, but there was a minor problem: the door to the storage room was locked and the attendant had no key, because the previous attendant had left for the day. Accidentally taking the only key to the door with her. No master key and no one else had a key either. The attendant did return with the key, giving those with bags in the room a sigh of relief. We didn't put our bags in the room, thank goodness. The young man on the commuter train and another on a Pacific Surfliner train had to leave without their bags. Amtrak is going to ship them, at their expense, to the passengers who were affected.

Now, I know some on here think I'm too apologetic toward Amtrak. And in this case, taking the only key was an accident on the attendant's part. But there is no excuse for not having more than one key to the room. Or even locking it in the first place. I bet they have a spare key in the future.

 

[bratkinson]

17+ years ago, I was the night auditor (11PM-7AM) at a Radisson hotel. I was the only employee on the premises (plus a rent a cop) and had a small key ring with the key to the cash drawer on it as well as a couple other keys and one 'master' plastic card key that could open all guest room doors. One of the metal keys on the ring was the key to the 'key box' in the side room that held all the keys for maintenance, housekeeping (plastic ones), kitchen, bar, banquet and office staff. They had to come in, ask me or my relief to unlock the box, take their key and leave their drivers license (or $20) and sign out for each numbered key. So it was a very important key ring. Only the hotel manager, who lived about 15 miles away, had a set to match what was on the hotel key ring.

Each night, after counting the 'turnover' cash in the presence of the departing clerk, I'd immediately put the hotel keys in my pocket. As I rarely left the front desk, I never locked the cash drawer unless I did leave the desk. Once or twice, when I got to my car in the morning, I discovered the hotel keys in my pocket and took them back. One time, though, I got home to a ringing telephone. I still had those keys! From that day on, I learned to put MY keys in the cash drawer when I put the hotel keys in my pocket. Problem solved! I only had to walk back to the desk a couple of times when I couldn't put a hotel key in my car door.

 

[TinCan782]

I'm surprised there isn't a set of keys just for the Metropolitan Lounge (in addition to what individual employees might have).
LA Metropolitan Lounge is my "home" station.

 

[PVD]

It's one of the reasons many businesses now have some form of lock control attached to or integrated with id cards. I am an occasional instructor at the training center for NYC electricians, the doors have regular locks with keys as a backup, but my id card lets me into my room, and the instructors lounge, and since I did night classes, the admin office so I could drop attendance sheets on the sec'y desk. Even without access to keys, folks at least have access to any area relevant to their reason for being there.