I need my keys!

December 27, 2006 8:26 PM

How do I get my keys back from someone staying in my apartment, not in person?

A friend of mine is staying in my place while I'm at home in Indiana for the week for christmas. I only have one set of keys unfortunately. When she leaves my place, I won't be back yet. I don't know my neighbors. And how I got the keys to her in the first place won't cut it. I left them with a friend who threw a tantrum at me yesterday because my visitor came into town earlier than expected. He wouldn't answer the phone for her and hung up on me when I finally reached him. It was weird, anyways, I need to find a way for her to get my keys back to me. Putting them under a doormat won't do. I'm in an apartment building in chicago. I can't get into the building without the keys, so in the mailbox doesn't work. I don't have any other friends in the city that my visitor could leave them with right now. Are there any places that I could trust to leave my keys for me to pick up? I live in Wicker Park and I'll be returning new year's eve, fwiw. Thanks.

posted by Sreiny to Human Relations (21 answers total)

Try the local police station.
posted by JujuB at 8:30 PM on December 27, 2006

When are you leaving, Friday? I would pay (or reimburse) your friend to Fedex overnight your keys to you if you'd get them before you have to leave.
posted by tastybrains at 8:33 PM on December 27, 2006

For $40 your guest can get a keysafe which they can lock to a known location.

Call some hardware stores and do the shopping for the guest so it's just a question of them picking it up.

Alternatively you can just have them make 5 copies of the keys and hide them in a bunch of 99% likely-to-work spots (eg, magnetted to the bottom of USPS dropboxes)
posted by aubilenon at 8:34 PM on December 27, 2006

I just went through this and I asked my corner coffeeshop if they would hold an envelope (with my keys in it) for the person who was house-sitting for me and it was no problem at all. Is there a cafe or store you frequent where you can direct your friend to leave the keys?
posted by rmless at 8:35 PM on December 27, 2006

I have used full service hotel front desks for stuff like that. You could be staying there, attending a conference, etc. They will hold any small package for most people.
posted by thilmony at 8:40 PM on December 27, 2006

Couldn't you take tastybrains' idea and combine it with aubilenon's and ask your visitor to take the keys to a hardware store and copy them, fed ex them to you and just leave the original keys inside the apartment?
posted by MeetMegan at 8:41 PM on December 27, 2006

Maybe the post office? I can't find anything about it on their site, but I think they'll hold stuff for the recipient to pick up there.
posted by sleeplessunderwater at 9:04 PM on December 27, 2006

She can drop them off with me, or even in my locked mailbox. I don't know where you live, so that should be safe. Jessamyn can vouch for me.

It requires no effort, and I require nothing in return.

john13(at)gmail(.)com
posted by thirteen at 9:05 PM on December 27, 2006 [1 favorite]

What rmless said. The video rental place next door held my keys for me from my landlord when I moved in, and have held packages from UPS.
posted by IshmaelGraves at 9:11 PM on December 27, 2006

I've been on the receiving end of keysafes before, going into people's vacation homes to do some renovation work, and they indeed seem to work well.
posted by BeerFilter at 9:25 PM on December 27, 2006

considering the weirdness of the tantrum-friend, maybe you should change the locks when you get back. not quite on topic, but your question reminded me of jane smiley's well-done character mystery "duplicate keys" which accentuates the hazards of this situation better than i could.
posted by bruce at 11:35 PM on December 27, 2006

I second the Hotel Front Desk idea. Any decent hotel desk will hold a small package for pickup for several days without question.
posted by BigLankyBastard at 6:48 AM on December 28, 2006

Post office. Have your friend put the keys in an envelope, buy appropriate postage, and take them to the post office, with "General Delivery, hold for Sreiny" written on the envelope. Then you can go to the post office and pick them up.
posted by croutonsupafreak at 7:11 AM on December 28, 2006

2nd the local cafe/coffee shop/whatever. (helps if you're a regular.)

or depending on where you work, when your guest is leaving, and what time you'll be returning, could they leave the keys at your place of work?
posted by sonofslim at 7:28 AM on December 28, 2006

Why not have her make a duplicate set and fedex them to you where ever you are. Then, in addition, have her leave them at the local store as above just in case the fedex package does not arrive.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 8:50 AM on December 28, 2006

One other option: do you have an American Express card? If you do, AmEx offices will hold mail (and if I'm not mistaken, other small parcels) for cardholders, a fact that comes in insanely handy in foreign cities.
posted by delfuego at 10:03 AM on December 28, 2006

Response by poster: Thanks everybody for the suggestions. Thanks thirteen for the offer, but it looks like I'm a few miles north of you, and we don't have cars, so I'm going to stay in the neighborhood for this one, but I do appreciate it.

I like the post office and Amex idea, as well as the coffee shop one. The only problem unfortunately is that I get back on a sunday which is also new years eve, so the post office is going to be closed. I think I'm going to try the coffee shop idea.

Getting the keys duplicated would have solved all these problems, but the key to get into the building cannot be duplicated short of taking it to a locksmith, I tried two places.

And my friend flipping out at me, that could be a post in itself, but I'll save you all from that. Somehow I think it has more to do than just keys, but I won't worry myself with that now.
posted by Sreiny at 10:40 AM on December 28, 2006

There are better ideas earlier in the thread, but I wanted to throw in my convoluted two cents just to show how smart I am:

Place an order at your local copy shop (i.e. Kinko's), "please make 5 black and white photocopies of this key. My friend Sreiny will pick up the order and the original."

I'd really want a locksmith copy of the key anyway, I'll trust an overworked seasonal retail worker with a lot of things, but not my keys.
posted by Skwirl at 11:20 AM on December 28, 2006 [1 favorite]

that kinko's idea is clever!
posted by twistofrhyme at 12:15 PM on December 28, 2006

My location is apparently not set correctly. I am 3800 N (near California Ave) if that is helpful. Good luck however you want to go. If my location is better, drop me a line.
posted by thirteen at 4:41 PM on December 28, 2006

Kudos on the Kinko's idea Skwirl. Sly.

Post office is the perfect answer to the problem for anything except Sunday/Holiday, which this is.

Does your building have a Super? Is there anyway you could arrange something with him?

On a related note I find it strange that you only know 1 person in Chicago. You need to get out more. Just sayin'.
posted by Ynoxas at 8:29 PM on December 28, 2006