Worst-case scenario
Whenever I am in some kind of trouble and trying to recover from that, the first thing that goes in my mind is how bad it can get. I mean, what would be the worst case scenario. This usually helped me because, if something less bad than what I thought happened, that would at least console me!!!! Now think of a case, when all the troubles that were to follow were indeed the worst case scenarios…… :)
This was something that happened to me on a good bright Sunday morning. I was alone in my apartment. My apartment is on the first floor.( Indian usage). My roommate went over to his uncle's place and so I was alone at home. He would not be back till Monday. I had some work to finish and last night, I had gone to bed thinking of that. I woke up pretty early (around 9) so that I could complete my work in the morning and enjoy the Sunday afternoon. I powered up my laptop and opened the excel sheet with the list of issues for which I had to give an update. Seeing the huge list of Issues again, I was disappointed. I thought I would have a coffee and then start my work. I took out my low fat milk J from the fridge. We had bought it quite a while ago. So I checked the expiry date. It was bound to expire the next day. Lucky Me, I thought. So I made my coffee and went to the balcony. I closed the slide door behind me and there I was in the balcony enjoying the bright day with my coffee I finished my coffee and decided to get back to work.
GOSH…………….
The Door got locked from inside. It took me a while to realize that I was actually locked out in the balcony of my house. I was wearing a dirty white T-shirt and a Lungi (Dhoti). There was no one in the house. I did not have a cell phone to call someone for help. I was totally lost for some time. Finally after some time, I collected myself together and started thinking of ways to get out, or rather get in!!!
There was a window to the right of the balcony door. If I could slide it open somehow, I could actually get in. There was a wire net covering the window. After an effort of around 5 minutes, I was able to tear out that maze and was able to reach for the window. Only to find out that it was locked from inside!!!! So this idea was not going to work. Now I had to pay the apartment guys, the price for the maze also. I had to think of something better infallible method. The next idea was to somehow remove the rubber seals from the glass door and then take out the glass, so that I could easily walk through. That seemed pretty good idea. But I needed the equipments to remove the glass. On further "investigation", I understood that there were rubber seals on either sides of the glass. So even if I was successful in removing the seal on one side, it was not going to help. Again, this idea was also a flop. California is not so known for its chilly winds, but that day, it was not so. It was getting damn cold outside. I was almost starting to shiver and getting desperate. The mere thought that no one would be home for the next 24 hours made me sick. I would have to stand outside for that long. No, I was no going to do that, I decided. I had to do something. I made up my mind to break the glass door and get inside .I started searching the store room for some heavy metal piece. And there it was, an old dumbbell shaped metal rod. I picked it up, looked around to make sure that there was no one around, closed my eyes and gave a heavy blow on the door.<<<<>>>>… I expected to hear the sound of glass shattering. No sound at all. I waited for some time and opened my eyes. The glass was perfectly there without even a scratch. How can it be???? Did I bang it too lightly? I tried again, this time with a bit more force. <<<<>>>>>>….. This time the noise was enormous. But again, the glass was there itself, perfectly at the same position. I was totally disappointed. There was no chance of this glass breaking. I cursed those glass manufacturers..
Now what?? I pulled out a spare chair from the store room and relaxed for some time, trying to calm myself and think of new J ideas. Nothing was in my mind. After sitting for around half an hour, I was getting cold. I decided to jump down from the first floor to the ground. It was around 15 feet from the balcony to the ground. If I got down, then I could walk across to the lease office and get a spare key to get into the house, I thought. But the fact that, I was wearing a Lungi, made me rethink of this strategy. It would be a pain to jump down with my lungi and walking in that dress to the lease office.. Oh NO.. That would be embarrassing. But there was no choice. It was better than "Spending" the whole day in the balcony. I made up my mind to jump.
I had to get over the railing, put my feet on the other side and then jump. The first time, I put my leg on the other side; my Lungi gave up on me. It remained on the other side. I went back and collected it again. Now, I tied it in the North Indian style so that it wouldn't cheat me this time. I was a bit scared, but finally jumped down and landed on the ground safely. Man, I was good. I made it finally. Now I could walk across to the lease office and then ask them for a spare key and get in. I walked across to the office. Everyone moving around in the car was looking at me in a weird manner. I did not care. L ; Rather, I tried to believe so!!! I reached the lease office and only then I remembered that the office was closed on a Sunday. This time, I lost all my patience. I sat there on a fountain base near the office thinking what a wonderful day I was having. Now the option that I could think of was to go to one of my friend's house. I had to walk in my Lungi and bathroom slippers for around 1 hr to reach the nearest house. I did not want to do that. I sat there for another half an hour. I started walking around hoping to find someone. When I reached near my apartment, the person living in the apartment below mine came out and started questioning me. He had seen me jumping out of the balcony. He thought I was a thief or something. I told the whole story to him. He was sympathizing with me for some time after that. I could not stand that much longer. I said goodbye to him and continued roaming around. Then I saw another guy with the apartment name written on his shirt. He seemed like a maintenance guy. I went up to him, told my story and asked him whether he could help me. He was a nice guy. He said he would try to help me. He told me about a 24hrs security number. Since I did not have my cell phone with me, he gave me his cell. I was happy thinking that there was a ray of hope. I called them up. No one was picking the phone. After couple of attempts, a lady picked up the phone. She wanted to validate whether I was actually a resident or not. She was asking my SSN number and other details. I told her just to let me in and I would show her whatever she needs. She finally gave up on her demands and told me that security personnel would contact me in 10 minutes. I was finally happy that some one is coming for help. While I was waiting for the security guy to come, I was chatting with the maintenance guy. His name was aria. He was from Iran and is an electronics engineer. He works in this apartment and also studies Math in a college here in CA. He is also a movie buff. We were talking about Indian and Iranian culture and the movies and lifestyle and stuff. We waited for more than half hour before the security guy, Mr. Richard came in. He came in and apologized for being late. He said he would open the lease office, verify my identity, get the spare key and let me in. Now everything was coming to an end. I would finally be able to get in. I thanked my Iranian friend and said bye to him. Richard verified my identity and found the spare key for my apartment. We walked towards the office. All through the way he was consoling me; I don't know why!!!!!! We reached the apartment. As we reached the bottom of the stair, he jumped up and went in to open the door. I was too tired to keep up with him. When I reached near door, I found that he was not able to open the door with that key!!!! Now ,how better this day can be??
He apologized again, went back to office and came back with a bunch of around 10 keys. He tried all of them one by one, but none worked. He was also getting desperate. He told me that there was a master key which could be used to open any apartment. He said he would go and find it. I went with him to the office. His wife and two kids had also come along with him. They were also searching for the master key. He called up couple of people to find the key. But it was no where. He said he would call up the supervisor and ask where the key is. I said OK and went back to my apartment. I was waiting for half an hour. Soon, Mr Richard came out of the office. He had a drill and a box of spare lock with him. He was going to break open the lock, put the new one and let me in. I agreed. He did all those and finally I was in the house.
The whole thing took 3 damn hours. I got into the house and dumped myself onto the sofa. I thought about the whole incident. The only thing that could have been worse was someone calling 911 on seeing me jumping out of the balcony and me spending the whole day in jail. Rest all were absolutely perfect worst case scenarios!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Have a good Day :)
This was something that happened to me on a good bright Sunday morning. I was alone in my apartment. My apartment is on the first floor.( Indian usage). My roommate went over to his uncle's place and so I was alone at home. He would not be back till Monday. I had some work to finish and last night, I had gone to bed thinking of that. I woke up pretty early (around 9) so that I could complete my work in the morning and enjoy the Sunday afternoon. I powered up my laptop and opened the excel sheet with the list of issues for which I had to give an update. Seeing the huge list of Issues again, I was disappointed. I thought I would have a coffee and then start my work. I took out my low fat milk J from the fridge. We had bought it quite a while ago. So I checked the expiry date. It was bound to expire the next day. Lucky Me, I thought. So I made my coffee and went to the balcony. I closed the slide door behind me and there I was in the balcony enjoying the bright day with my coffee I finished my coffee and decided to get back to work.
GOSH…………….
The Door got locked from inside. It took me a while to realize that I was actually locked out in the balcony of my house. I was wearing a dirty white T-shirt and a Lungi (Dhoti). There was no one in the house. I did not have a cell phone to call someone for help. I was totally lost for some time. Finally after some time, I collected myself together and started thinking of ways to get out, or rather get in!!!
There was a window to the right of the balcony door. If I could slide it open somehow, I could actually get in. There was a wire net covering the window. After an effort of around 5 minutes, I was able to tear out that maze and was able to reach for the window. Only to find out that it was locked from inside!!!! So this idea was not going to work. Now I had to pay the apartment guys, the price for the maze also. I had to think of something better infallible method. The next idea was to somehow remove the rubber seals from the glass door and then take out the glass, so that I could easily walk through. That seemed pretty good idea. But I needed the equipments to remove the glass. On further "investigation", I understood that there were rubber seals on either sides of the glass. So even if I was successful in removing the seal on one side, it was not going to help. Again, this idea was also a flop. California is not so known for its chilly winds, but that day, it was not so. It was getting damn cold outside. I was almost starting to shiver and getting desperate. The mere thought that no one would be home for the next 24 hours made me sick. I would have to stand outside for that long. No, I was no going to do that, I decided. I had to do something. I made up my mind to break the glass door and get inside .I started searching the store room for some heavy metal piece. And there it was, an old dumbbell shaped metal rod. I picked it up, looked around to make sure that there was no one around, closed my eyes and gave a heavy blow on the door.<<<<
Now what?? I pulled out a spare chair from the store room and relaxed for some time, trying to calm myself and think of new J ideas. Nothing was in my mind. After sitting for around half an hour, I was getting cold. I decided to jump down from the first floor to the ground. It was around 15 feet from the balcony to the ground. If I got down, then I could walk across to the lease office and get a spare key to get into the house, I thought. But the fact that, I was wearing a Lungi, made me rethink of this strategy. It would be a pain to jump down with my lungi and walking in that dress to the lease office.. Oh NO.. That would be embarrassing. But there was no choice. It was better than "Spending" the whole day in the balcony. I made up my mind to jump.
I had to get over the railing, put my feet on the other side and then jump. The first time, I put my leg on the other side; my Lungi gave up on me. It remained on the other side. I went back and collected it again. Now, I tied it in the North Indian style so that it wouldn't cheat me this time. I was a bit scared, but finally jumped down and landed on the ground safely. Man, I was good. I made it finally. Now I could walk across to the lease office and then ask them for a spare key and get in. I walked across to the office. Everyone moving around in the car was looking at me in a weird manner. I did not care. L ; Rather, I tried to believe so!!! I reached the lease office and only then I remembered that the office was closed on a Sunday. This time, I lost all my patience. I sat there on a fountain base near the office thinking what a wonderful day I was having. Now the option that I could think of was to go to one of my friend's house. I had to walk in my Lungi and bathroom slippers for around 1 hr to reach the nearest house. I did not want to do that. I sat there for another half an hour. I started walking around hoping to find someone. When I reached near my apartment, the person living in the apartment below mine came out and started questioning me. He had seen me jumping out of the balcony. He thought I was a thief or something. I told the whole story to him. He was sympathizing with me for some time after that. I could not stand that much longer. I said goodbye to him and continued roaming around. Then I saw another guy with the apartment name written on his shirt. He seemed like a maintenance guy. I went up to him, told my story and asked him whether he could help me. He was a nice guy. He said he would try to help me. He told me about a 24hrs security number. Since I did not have my cell phone with me, he gave me his cell. I was happy thinking that there was a ray of hope. I called them up. No one was picking the phone. After couple of attempts, a lady picked up the phone. She wanted to validate whether I was actually a resident or not. She was asking my SSN number and other details. I told her just to let me in and I would show her whatever she needs. She finally gave up on her demands and told me that security personnel would contact me in 10 minutes. I was finally happy that some one is coming for help. While I was waiting for the security guy to come, I was chatting with the maintenance guy. His name was aria. He was from Iran and is an electronics engineer. He works in this apartment and also studies Math in a college here in CA. He is also a movie buff. We were talking about Indian and Iranian culture and the movies and lifestyle and stuff. We waited for more than half hour before the security guy, Mr. Richard came in. He came in and apologized for being late. He said he would open the lease office, verify my identity, get the spare key and let me in. Now everything was coming to an end. I would finally be able to get in. I thanked my Iranian friend and said bye to him. Richard verified my identity and found the spare key for my apartment. We walked towards the office. All through the way he was consoling me; I don't know why!!!!!! We reached the apartment. As we reached the bottom of the stair, he jumped up and went in to open the door. I was too tired to keep up with him. When I reached near door, I found that he was not able to open the door with that key!!!! Now ,how better this day can be??
He apologized again, went back to office and came back with a bunch of around 10 keys. He tried all of them one by one, but none worked. He was also getting desperate. He told me that there was a master key which could be used to open any apartment. He said he would go and find it. I went with him to the office. His wife and two kids had also come along with him. They were also searching for the master key. He called up couple of people to find the key. But it was no where. He said he would call up the supervisor and ask where the key is. I said OK and went back to my apartment. I was waiting for half an hour. Soon, Mr Richard came out of the office. He had a drill and a box of spare lock with him. He was going to break open the lock, put the new one and let me in. I agreed. He did all those and finally I was in the house.
The whole thing took 3 damn hours. I got into the house and dumped myself onto the sofa. I thought about the whole incident. The only thing that could have been worse was someone calling 911 on seeing me jumping out of the balcony and me spending the whole day in jail. Rest all were absolutely perfect worst case scenarios!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Have a good Day :)
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