Drinking is a major part of modern culture, and light to moderate drinking can even have some health benefits. Still, it is all too easy to go overboard, losing track of exactly how much you have had to drink until you suddenly walk out of the club into the night and realize you don’t quite know where the past few hours went.
Heavy drinking raises all sorts of risks, but there is one you may not have ever thought about: the risk of being locked out. Here’s are 3 reasons you’re more likely to need a locksmith after drinking a bit too much.
1. Key Confiscation
This is actually the best possible reason to need a locksmith after a night out. Friends tend to take care of each other, and if one of yours notices that you’ve had a few too many, he or she may confiscate your keys to prevent you from driving. Yet when you’re drunk, your brain’s capacity for retaining and utilizing information is diminished. At the end of the night, you might stumble out of the bar, pull it together enough to call an Uber, and drag yourself from the car to the door only to wonder where in the heck your keys went.
If you ever end up in this situation, hopefully the friend who took your keys is sober enough to get hold of you, find out you went home, and stop by to unlock your door. If not, though, you will definitely need a locksmith on speed dial, since researching and calling a new one will likely be beyond your capability.
2. Broken Key or Forgotten Combination
When you drink heavily, hand-eye coordination is one of the first things to go. This makes it extremely tough to get past a locked door, whether you need to enter a combination or insert and turn a physical key. It’s best to call your locksmith as soon as you realize you’re having trouble, but the drunk brain tends to fixate on things. If you don’t get in on the first try, it’s extremely likely that you will keep trying until you break the key. At this point, you will have no choice but to dial your locksmith.
3. Lock Damage
People who have been drinking heavily tend to think of themselves as having superhuman powers. If you don’t have your keys, or can’t get the lock to open normally, you might decide to gain entry in an unconventional way, such as picking the lock or even kicking down the door. Of course, if you don’t have the mental acuity to turn the key, you probably don’t have the ability to pick the lock either, and breaking down a door is much more difficult than it looks. At some point, you’re likely to damage the lock or even the entire door. Having a locksmith on speed dial would be extremely helpful.
Reducing the Risk of Needing a Locksmith
An emergency call to a locksmith is never fun, and when you’re drunk and just want to go to bed, it can be downright miserable. Here are a few tips for avoiding the situation:
Use the buddy system: If you’re going out with a group, try meeting up at someone’s house before heading out as a group rather than meeting at the bar. Not only can this be more fun, but you can all keep an eye on each other. Going back to the same house together after the bar can help everyone get each other sorted out, minimizing the risk of forgotten confiscated keys and possibly preventing someone from heading home who is clearly too drunk to operate a lock.
Eat and hydrate: If you know you’re going to drink a lot, eat a good meal and drink plenty of water first. Pace yourself throughout the evening by drinking a full glass of water after every alcoholic drink. You might still get drunk, but some of the worst effects will be blunted, reducing your risk of locking yourself out.
Make a safety plan: When you’re drunk, your thinking and planning abilities go out the window. If you have a definite plan, though, your brain is likely to execute it. Whether you have a trusted friend to call, a hidden key, or a safe place to go for the night, practice your plan until it is second nature.
Make the designated driver the designated keyholder: If your group has a designated driver, put that person in charge of gathering everyone’s keys at the beginning of the night. Like a safety plan, drilling it into your head that a specific person has your keys can make it easier to remember through an alcoholic fog.
Texas Premier Locksmith is known as one of the premier locksmith companies across the state of Texas. If you are ready to form a relationship with a reliable, trustworthy locksmith, please give us a call today at (866) 948-8188.