Security and keys

The Lithuanians are quite security conscious. My apartment is no exception. Three of the keys on the ring open locks of various doors. The outside green door is locked with the triangular silver key with the funny little semicircular shaft. My apartment door has two locks. A standard dead bolt is opened with the blue key. Notice the elaborate shaft. The door also has an extra secure dead bolt that shoots five bolts into the doorjamb and one each in to the top and bottom of the frame. This key, which I do not use becauseI would feel too claustrophobic locked in so well, is also very fancy with a three dimensional shaft.

In addition the hinge side of the door has spikes that engagewhenever the door is closed, so even if the hinges are removed, it would not be easy to remove the door. All of this in a country where I walk down the street in the dark of the morning with no fear of being accosted. I wonder if the legacy of socialism is at play here. No that the people have personal property, they want to protect it.

The other key on the chain, with the green tag, is my office key. We were told to lock our office even if we just go down the hall to the kitchen because of the possibility of theft. I did not do that when I arrived though, because my key did not work well. I would spent 20-30 seconds and more jiggling the key to get it to work each time I wanted to open my door. I mentioned this to the Dean one day, I thought I was just letting off steam and I would have to live with the jiggling key for the time I was here. But the next day my key would not work at all. This was the last straw. Then the janitor came by and told me that he had changed the lock and he gave me a new key. It would have taken much longer than that to get a key changed in any other school I have been at. I was impressed and am very happy that the new lock works well.