The UK Guild of Handymen

Here’s a funny story for you about something that happened to me recently:

I went to a job a couple of months ago to re-hinge a cupboard door that had been shut by one of the client’s children with a broom handle in the door jamb. This broke the top hinge and the door was stuck open and touching the floor. It was in a big old property and was a proper heavy old door. The client had supplied new 4 inch hinges and wanted the 3 inch hinges replaced and the door to be rehung so that it worked again. The job was very straightforward, so I took the door off, cut the hinges into the door and frame and rehung the door. I closed it to check it was working properly, but it was binding slightly on the door stop at the top somewhere. In order to find out where it was binding so I could move the stop to the right place, I went inside the cupboard so I could watch the door as I closed it. Now this was a very small broom cupboard with a washing machine in it with a tumble dryer above. I had just enough room to get in it with my feet facing apart sideways so I could close the door. As I shut the door I could see it was binding on the top 6 inches of the door stop so I now knew where to alter the stop….. However as I pulled the door shut the latch went “click” and the door was now shut. No problem, I turned the handle which I had used to shut the door in order to open it again, but NOOOO!! ….. There was no spindle in the latch…… the handle just spun round and the door remained firmly closed… OH B”£$%%£KS I thought, what do I do now?

Now this cupboard was pitch black inside and very small. Thank God I had my phone in my pocket (Not always the case as I sometimes leave it out somewhere to get better signal). So I took out my phone and turned on the flashlight. Then I thought “do I have the client’s number?” ….. No.

Ok, do I still have the original email? ….. Yes …… but did they leave a phone number on it? …… YES!!!! Phew! Not everyone leaves a number on their first email, but luckily these guys did! Thank God for that! Now; was anyone still in and would they hear the phone? I called the number and could hear the home phone ringing from inside the black cupboard I was stuck inside which was now getting pretty uncomfortable. Luckily the client answered the phone and after plenty of laughter came to my rescue! I was almost shaking with fear of being in there until the evening when someone came back to let me out!

The moral of the story is to always check there is a spindle in the latch of a cupboard door before you get in it and lock yourself in like I did! Ho hum! I hope you enjoyed reading my mishap!!

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