Are You Safe?

When traveling I always prefer coming home at night, but recently on a trip to northern Michigan I was forced to spend the night because I was not able to schedule all of my appointments in one day.

I checked into my hotel, unloaded my car and decided to look for that unique place to eat. Before I left my hotel room, my eye caught sight of the safe in my room.  I have never really felt the need to lock up anything when I left my room, so never have used the hotel safe.  Actually, the truth is other than my camera,  I did not have anything of value with me.

But, I decided I would play it safe and I would lock up my camera when I left the room. So, I read the directions on how to use the safe, I tested it a few times to make sure that it worked and more importantly that I knew how to use it and would be able to open it once I got back in the room. After a few successful attempts at opening the safe, I put the camera into the unit, choose a security code and locked it up. Off to dinner I went, confident that my camera was safe and secure.

The next day, I was off to my appointments, again secure in the knowledge my camera was safe. Upon returning to my room, I punched in the secret code. The secret code that only I knew. A number I would never forget and no one else would be able to figure out. You guessed it.  The safe did not want to open and release my camera. I tried and tried.  The more I tried the more frustrated I got.

So, after deciding it was a lost cause, I humbled myself and went to the hotel desk. The staffer said “No problem, we will send the maid to your room and open it for you.” I asked if they had the code. The response was,  “Oh yes, this happens all the time”

I thought I was putting my camera into the unit to reduce the chances of a staff person seeing my valuables and taking something of mine. If I had known they were able to open the safe I would have saved myself the frustration and inconvenience and just left my camera in plain view.