# You don't carry a house key? Yeah, you're an idiot. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 15, 2011, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-dont-carry-a-house-key-yeah-youre-an-idiot/603030 "2011-11-15T18:09:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-dont-carry-a-house-key-yeah-youre-an-idiot/603030/41 "2011-11-15T21:01:27Z")
> [@Sarahfeena](#): > > She probably thought that if you left the house and the door was unlocked, you would realize that she left it open on purpose. A rash assumption, perhaps, but not really worth being called a fucking idiot and a cunt. Didn’t you mention once that you don’t have IRL friends? Gee I wonder why. I’m not the person at whom the above is directed, but if I’m sharing living space with someone who finds it acceptable to leave the door unlocked when she leaves, I will absolutely reserve the right to call her a fucking idiot and a cunt. I doubt the burglars are going to steal just her stuff and not mine. I was once in a similar situation: Came home late one night to find roommate and boyfriend asleep on her bed in our dorm room, with the door not only unlocked, but ajar. I quietly closed and locked the door and went to a friend’s to spend the night, not wishing to share a room with Romeo and Juliet. Next time I see the roommate, she says she’s moving out because I’m so unreasonable. 😕 And I have plenty of friends, thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-dont-carry-a-house-key-yeah-youre-an-idiot/603030/42 "2011-11-15T21:02:13Z")
I wouldn’t have cared at all about this until she made it my problem. Accusing me of locking her out because I locked a door that has always been locked (and should always be locked) is fucking bitchy, lame, and a misdirection of rage. That complaint is generalizable to other idiots who don’t carry a housekey; hence the thread. If you non-key-carriers didn’t make it someone else’s problem, we wouldn’t give two shits! ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-dont-carry-a-house-key-yeah-youre-an-idiot/603030/43 "2011-11-15T21:06:13Z")
> [@elninost0rm](#): > > Okay, that’s fine then. > > You just started saying how “calling the electric company/your spouse/etc.” was a practical solution. I was more or less calling you out on how stupid that was. Its not stupid that other people have priorities that differ from yours. We spent extra money on our lock, because we didn’t want to carry around key chains. Some people would gladly take the chance that they get locked out of their house once in a blue moon in exchange for carrying around extra keys. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-dont-carry-a-house-key-yeah-youre-an-idiot/603030/44 "2011-11-15T21:07:21Z")
> [@rachelellogram](#): > > I wouldn’t have cared at all about this until she made it my problem. Accusing me of locking her out because I locked a door that has always been locked (and should always be locked) is fucking bitchy, lame, and a misdirection of rage. That complaint is generalizable to other idiots who don’t carry a housekey; hence the thread. > > If you non-key-carriers didn’t make it someone else’s problem, we wouldn’t give two shits! Maybe you should have included that in your OP then, dumbass. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-dont-carry-a-house-key-yeah-youre-an-idiot/603030/45 "2011-11-15T21:15:02Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > It doesn’t have to be full of keys, you carry 1 key for your car, you can successfully carry 2 keys on that ring. I speak from experience with my ex-BIL, who had terrible key habits and got himself locked out of places on a fairly regular basis. My car does not need a key at all, just the fob. My car does not HAVE a key (sorta - the key to lock the glove box, situated within the fob, can open the door in an emergency). I hate things in my pants pockets to begin with, but at least the fob is not stabby like keys. That said, I don’t have a garage. And because I use public transportation (walking to the subway or bus, depending on which part of Manhattan I’m going to), I keep my house key separate from my car fob. This way, I only carry the minimal amount of junk. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-dont-carry-a-house-key-yeah-youre-an-idiot/603030/46 "2011-11-15T21:21:05Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#): > > Maybe you should have included that in your OP then, dumbass. The thread topic is generalizable. I’ve yet to hear a convincing argument for not carrying a housekey that isn’t insecure or stupid as fuck. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-dont-carry-a-house-key-yeah-youre-an-idiot/603030/47 "2011-11-15T21:26:14Z")
> [@rachelellogram](#): > > The thread topic is generalizable. I’ve yet to hear a convincing argument for not carrying a housekey that isn’t insecure or stupid as fuck. Then you are fucking dumber than I even thought, or you’ve skipped half the thread. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-dont-carry-a-house-key-yeah-youre-an-idiot/603030/48 "2011-11-15T21:29:40Z")
> [@rachelellogram](#): > > The thread topic is generalizable. I’ve yet to hear a convincing argument for not carrying a housekey that isn’t insecure or stupid as fuck. That’s because you made up your mind before you posted and you won’t listen to what anyone else is saying. Key fob with no key needed for car. Garage door opener built into car (mine has that feature if I had a garage door). Battery backup on the garage door in case of power outage (my father has that, which is good as he could not lift the garage door otherwise). Secure garage door (at least as secure as the entry door). Why would that person need a pointy, stabby key in their pocket? ETA: Or what **Labrador Deceiver** said. Take your pick. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-dont-carry-a-house-key-yeah-youre-an-idiot/603030/49 "2011-11-15T21:31:48Z")
> [@D\_Odds](#): > > That’s because you made up your mind before you posted and you won’t listen to what anyone else is saying. > > Key fob with no key needed for car. Garage door opener built into car (mine has that feature if I had a garage door). Battery backup on the garage door in case of power outage (my father has that, which is good as he could not lift the garage door otherwise). Secure garage door (at least as secure as the entry door). > > Why would that person need a pointy, stabby key in their pocket? > > ETA: Or what **Labrador Deceiver** said. Take your pick. That is exactly my next door neighbor’s situation, with the added bonus of multiple garage bays. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-dont-carry-a-house-key-yeah-youre-an-idiot/603030/50 "2011-11-15T22:00:08Z")
> [@D\_Odds](#): > > That’s because you made up your mind before you posted and you won’t listen to what anyone else is saying. > > Key fob with no key needed for car. Garage door opener built into car (mine has that feature if I had a garage door). Battery backup on the garage door in case of power outage (my father has that, which is good as he could not lift the garage door otherwise). Secure garage door (at least as secure as the entry door). > > Why would that person need a pointy, stabby key in their pocket? > > ETA: Or what **Labrador Deceiver** said. Take your pick. > [@rachelellogram](#): > > What if an assembly spring breaks? What if your car breaks down, you get it towed, and forget to grab the opener while dropping it off? What if you lose the opener? What if someone accidentally locks the door going to the garage? What if a tree falls on your garage, and you can’t get in that way? What if someone _steals your car_? Hurp. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-dont-carry-a-house-key-yeah-youre-an-idiot/603030/51 "2011-11-15T22:05:28Z")
> [@rachelellogram](#): > > Hurp. What if a fucking meteor wipes out civilization? What’s your contingency plan for that? Hurp. But even better, as it happened to me in my apartment years ago… What if the deadbolt key assembly breaks while in the closed position. Key is pretty useless then. I guess I should have planned for that and left rappelling gear on the roof of the apartment building. **Labrador Deceiver** was right. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-dont-carry-a-house-key-yeah-youre-an-idiot/603030/52 "2011-11-15T22:07:49Z")
> [@rachelellogram](#): > > Hurp. All of that can be solved with a lock box on your property. Or, a garage door like ours, which has an entry code. On top of that, it’s easier to lose a key than it is to lose a garage door opener. You have to be kidding with that idiotic tree scenario. One broken window. Done. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-dont-carry-a-house-key-yeah-youre-an-idiot/603030/53 "2011-11-15T22:10:08Z")
> [@D\_Odds](#): > > **Labrador Deceiver** was right. I think I was wrong. I think it was “both”. ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-dont-carry-a-house-key-yeah-youre-an-idiot/603030/54 "2011-11-15T22:12:45Z")
> [@Scarlett67](#): > > I’m not the person at whom the above is directed, but if I’m sharing living space with someone who finds it acceptable to leave the door unlocked when she leaves, I will absolutely reserve the right to call her a fucking idiot and a cunt. I doubt the burglars are going to steal just her stuff and not mine. > > I was once in a similar situation: Came home late one night to find roommate and boyfriend asleep on her bed in our dorm room, with the door not only unlocked, but ajar. I quietly closed and locked the door and went to a friend’s to spend the night, not wishing to share a room with Romeo and Juliet. Next time I see the roommate, she says she’s moving out because I’m so unreasonable. 😕 > > And I have plenty of friends, thanks. She’s not mad because the house is going to be broken into, she’s mad because of the email, which I’m guessing expressed mild annoyance towards her at most. THAT’S why I related it to her not having friends. ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-dont-carry-a-house-key-yeah-youre-an-idiot/603030/55 "2011-11-15T22:18:15Z")
I never locked any of my doors (home, apartment, or car) until I got married and my wife made me. Just figured that if they wanted to rob me, why had fixing a window to the hassle. And yet I still carried keys with me. And never got robbed. So I’m not calling anybody a fucking idiot. Requiring that an interior garage door be locked seems to me not much different that requiring that other interior doors be closed and locked when nobody is home. But apparently my “it must be hermetically sealed” instinct is lacking. ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-dont-carry-a-house-key-yeah-youre-an-idiot/603030/56 "2011-11-15T22:35:27Z")
> [@rachelellogram](#): > > The thread topic is generalizable. I’ve yet to hear a convincing argument for not carrying a housekey that isn’t insecure or stupid as fuck. It sure sounds like your landlord has a hide-a-key somewhere around the outside of her house. After all, you didn’t get an angry phone call demanding you open the door for her. . . you got an email the next day (presumably she wasn’t writing this from the backseat of her car outside her home). I feel like this is what many people say in your long list of threads about problems being a room renter, but: it’s her house. Clearly, she has a key hidden somewhere so she can lock up as she sees fit, but if she doesn’t want to lock her house, she doesn’t want to lock her house. \*Move. \* In fact, I would suggest, given your long history of landlord problems, that you rent your own place. Not a room, not part of someone else’s house, but a whole apartment or a house that you have to yourself. She’s not a cunt for asking you to leave her house as she likes it— _it’s her house._ I rent rooms in my house and there have been times I have asked my roommates to do something or to stop doing something purely because that is my preferred way of maintaining my home. I’m sure to them, there’s little to no logic to my request, but _it’s my house._ (And before you make some snide comment that I must be a pleasure to live with, all of my roommates have been professionals who have stayed a year plus, so they don’t seem to mind my requests for my house to be left as I like it). This is like the time you lost your shit that your landlord requested that you not put personal photos on her refridgerator while you were renting a room from her. In fact, you went to far as to accuse her of being a homophobe, along with being a cunt (if I remember correctly). Your landlords aren’t all cunts for asking you to leave their homes as they like them. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-dont-carry-a-house-key-yeah-youre-an-idiot/603030/57 "2011-11-15T23:47:32Z")
> [@DiosaBellissima](#): > > It sure sounds like your landlord has a hide-a-key somewhere around the outside of her house. No, she has a father who lives in town with a set of keys to her house. And maybe her sister, too. > [@DiosaBellissima](#): > > After all, you didn’t get an angry phone call demanding you open the door for her. . . you got an email the next day She knows I put my phone on silent when I go to bed, although I suppose she could have pounded on my window (it’s a ranch). I got an email this morning which was sent at 330am. > [@DiosaBellissima](#): > > it’s her house. Clearly, she has a key hidden somewhere so she can lock up as she sees fit, but if she doesn’t want to lock her house, she doesn’t want to lock her house. \*Move. \* I’m really not bothered that she wants the interior garage door left unlocked (but it is still insecure, by definition). I’m bothered because she just started leaving it unlocked and stopped carrying a house key and _didn’t tell me about it_. Her getting pissed at me when I locked it, the same as I’ve always locked it, is fucking unreasonable. > [@DiosaBellissima](#): > > In fact, I would suggest, given your long history of landlord problems, that you rent your own place. My “long history of landlord problems” was happening to rent from \*the \*most extraordinarily passive-aggressive bitch I’ve ever had the misfortune to meet, who I lived with for less than 6 months (who, by the way, **lied** in an attempt to keep my deposit, which I ended up getting back in full thankyouverymuch). One landlord problem, out of three+ years of living with multiple people. My current landlord and I have actually gotten on very well since I moved in April, until this issue cropped up. I’m calling her a cunt because it’s fun, because she’ll never read this, and because I’ve made efforts to not view cunt as a very serious cuss-word. > [@DiosaBellissima](#): > > She’s not a cunt for asking you to leave her house as she likes it— _it’s her house._ I rent rooms in my house and there have been times I have asked my roommates to do something or to stop doing something purely because that is my preferred way of maintaining my home. I’m sure to them, there’s little to no logic to my request, but _it’s my house._ (And before you make some snide comment that I must be a pleasure to live with, all of my roommates have been professionals who have stayed a year plus, so they don’t seem to mind my requests for my house to be left as I like it). Did you even read my posts in the thread? You’re making an awfully big leap, here. **She never asked me to leave the door unlocked** –I wouldn’t mind if she had. If I had been requested not to lock it, but forgotten and locked it by mistake, I would accept the blame for that. **That’s not what happened here.** She sent me a pissy email demanding to know why I locked her out, when she _never asked me not to lock that door since installing the opener_. But you’ll interpret this event however you want and add it to your mental abacus of black marks against Rachel, like you’ve done already. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Woo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7c8e57/32.png) [@Dr.Woo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Woo)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2011, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-dont-carry-a-house-key-yeah-youre-an-idiot/603030/58 "2011-11-16T00:34:56Z")
So what does she do when she leaves the house on foot? Does she carry the garage door opener? Does she take it when she travels by taxi/airplane? ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2011, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-dont-carry-a-house-key-yeah-youre-an-idiot/603030/59 "2011-11-16T01:36:36Z")
> [@Dr.Woo](#): > > So what does she do when she leaves the house on foot? Does she carry the garage door opener? Does she take it when she travels by taxi/airplane? If leaving on foot, I would suspect one would use the front door and not the garage, and know to take one’s house keys. When leaving by car, one might have a reasonable expectation of entering through the connecting garage door and figure that the keys are not needed. That said, and in **rachelellogram** ’s defense, changing the way things are done and assuming people are to divine via telepathy that there is a new way is wrong. But that does not absolve the stubborn, bone-headed bullshit about no one ever having a reason to leave the house without a key. ---
**Author:** ![flatlined](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb9ed0/32.png) [@flatlined](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flatlined)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2011, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-dont-carry-a-house-key-yeah-youre-an-idiot/603030/60 "2011-11-16T02:14:56Z")
I’m having problems getting into this rant, mostly because I have such a different mindset. Keys mean security to me. They mean I can open doors that others can’t. My keys are on my hip from the minute I get dressed until I go to bed. Keys are like glasses for me. I can see, and now I can open magical doors. (well, maybe not that magical because they open work doors…but you get the drift.) I haven’t left my house since Friday…and my keys are hooked to my beltloop. I feel naked without them. This is just me, I certainly don’t judge people about where they carry their keys…but every time my minion leaves his keys on his desk because he doesn’t want to put them in his pockets I cringe. I never gloat when I have to go open doors for him. I don’t drop everything to rescue him, I get to him when I can. He got much better about keeping his keys handy when he spent almost an hour standing in the snow. Now…SG used to “forget” his key, call me and then expect to be paid for the time that he sat in the parking lot. I adjusted his time card a few times, then called him on it. No more 2 hour lunches because you can’t call me, SG. Deal with it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-dont-carry-a-house-key-yeah-youre-an-idiot/603030.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-dont-carry-a-house-key-yeah-youre-an-idiot/603030.md?page=4)