key problems

Yeah.  So tonight, I get in the elevator after parking my bike, and drop my keys.  And there is a hole about half an inch wide and three inches long where there's nothing covering up the gap between the elevator and the floor.  And of course they slide right in.

I went to my Taiwanese-speaking guard (actually the same one who has helped me with 2 other key problems- more on that later) and was actually able to communicate, in Chinese, what happened.  I thought he'd be able to get them but he said he'd call someone in Taichung to come get them. 

The guy showed up in about 20 minutes.  Actually I didn't know it was him until he came out of the building holding my keys.  Sweet!  The guard was like, "We have special elevator service."  You sure do.

And before you say "didn't you give someone a copy of your keys?" yes I did.  But this was all my keys (of course I only give people house keys, although I have scooter keys inside, and the chain had bike keys with no copy and the thing to buzz me into the building, which I'd have to replace).  And I thought the guard could just get them.

Although this is the 3rd key issue I've had in this apartment, I never lose or forget my keys!  Once it was because there are 2 doors to my apartment, and the key to one is really cumbersome so I took it off and just left that door unlocked, but one day it was locked.  And once was because I'd taken the main key off the ring to bring it with me when I went running and I forgot to put it back on before I left the house again.  But in all cases it was really convenient to get a locksmith to come- fast and less than $10 US. 

Tonight was definitely one of those happy endings- I was like, "Oh, no!" with that sinking feeling but all is OK, and pretty quickly!