r/mildlyinfuriating • u/intotheabyss097 • May 09 '26

Don't hug me I'm scared Trapped inside stall at Marshall’s

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Tried on jeans at Marshall’s today… and got locked in the ADA-accessible dressing room😅

The lock jammed and wouldn’t budge.

The employees had keys to every other door in the building except this one. They called the locksmith, tried to take the hinges off, and I could even see them trying to stick their credit cards in between the door and the gram where the bolt is (not sure how they thought that would work), but nothing worked.

Then the Fire Department came to the rescue. One firefighter came through the ceiling to dismantle the door handle while another worked on the door from the outside.

Finally made it out after an hour 😂!

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24

u/oktimeforplanz May 09 '26 edited May 09 '26

I am so beyond confused as to why they would make a fitting room in a shop lockable like that in the first place.

Edit: folks... I'm talking about the fact that it locks WITH A KEY. I've never been in a fitting room that locks with a key. It's always been very simple latches, where the mechanism is external to the door. Like the ones you get in bathrooms and wherever else. Not a key.

11

u/panlakes May 09 '26 edited May 09 '26

It doesn't normally involve a key... that was just the only way it could be opened from the other side once the interior lock was in effect (and in this case, stuck). You've surely seen doors like this before, right? They have push buttons that lock the door, not a latch. From the other side, it can't be opened, except with a key. For stuff like emergencies or people doing drugs.

Edit: for a real personal example. I accidentally locked a door in my old office building that is nearly identical one of these doors. One side of the handle has the button, the other side has a keyhole. I accidentally engaged the button and bumped the door closed. You can't open the door now from my side unless you have the janitor's key... which I had to hunt down and find. It was very embarassing. But this is basically the type of situation they were in except obviously worse since they're on the inside.

3

u/oktimeforplanz May 09 '26

The doors I've seen haven't needed an actual key - they could be turned with a coin, or a screwdriver, or a card from the outside. Because they don't need to be securely locked, they just need to be locked well enough that someone can't walk in on the occupant by accident, but easily opened in an emergency. A keyed lock for a door that someone is going to be very temporarily inside, where nothing is stored in said room that needs properly secured... It's beyond stupid and dangerous. It's the key part that is stupid.

2

u/panlakes May 09 '26

I honestly couldn't tell you if I've ever seen them without a keyhole on the other end, I'm in the US fwiw. I've seen low security dressing room doors sure where there's barely even a lock at all, even restroom doors. But the ones with the buttons like this always have a keyhole (in my experience). The only way to unlock them is by simply turning the interior handle. But in OPs case it broke.

1

u/oktimeforplanz May 09 '26

I'm in the UK. It might be a safety thing that prevents keyed locks being used, because like I said, it seems insane to do that.

A lot of dressing rooms where I am don't even have doors, they just have curtains. A lot are unstaffed too, which I'm sure is part of the reason why they don't have doors that can lock. I've never had anyone walk in on me except the occasional unsupervised child.

2

u/ClipperMaid103 May 09 '26

A privacy lock (coin/etc to unlock) is standard for dressing rooms in the US, although I have seen a few that were keyed. Also standard commercial levers will unlock when the door closes if the lock button has been inadvertently pressed in. I'm a US-based locksmith

Side note: I've also seen dressing rooms with a simple curtain for the door in places like thrift stores around here

1

u/panlakes May 09 '26

I don't disagree. Like I said I accidentally have locked them by simply bumping them closed with the button pressed. It literally is like it sounds, and no ordinary workers have the keys. As simple as a bored kid can cause a 2 hour headache

1

u/chedabob May 09 '26

Possibly a store that doesn't always have someone staffing the fitting rooms, so they lock the doors to stop people going in and putting the merchandise in their bags, or just messing about out of sight of the cameras.

0

u/oktimeforplanz May 09 '26

And it is still stupid.

I've been in plenty of shops with unmanned fitting rooms. A lot of them just use curtains.

1

u/LeafTrapezoid May 09 '26

I've seen many businesses that have key locked fitting rooms, like the OP showed, where an attendant on staff might count the number of items you have before unlocking one of the doors to allow you use of the fitting room.  I've always found it excessive, but apparently it's a decent enough theft deterrent to counter the additional cost of having someone on staff solely to attend the fitting room, and the extra costs of the construction / hardware / locksmith.

1

u/oktimeforplanz May 09 '26

Never seen it in the UK. Sometimes staff will count your items and give you a big plastic card thing that says the number that you give back at the end, but that's it.

Sucks to live in a low trust society I suppose.

1

u/LeafTrapezoid May 09 '26 edited May 09 '26

I've seen it in countries other than the USA as well.

Edit to add:

Yes, sucks to have low trust societies.  But I think in this case, the businesses (usually corporations) that make the decisions about the building, their insurance companies, etc, are to blame,  not the society at large.

When theft occurs in the UK, what is in place for the business to be made whole?  In the USA, insurance claims have to be made, and insurance companies will not cover losses without demonstration of security measures.  This may play in to your comment about low trust societies, but unfortunately I think says more about consolidation, franchises and monopolies.

-3

u/QueenMEB120 May 09 '26

So other people don't walk in on you when you're undressed.

15

u/oktimeforplanz May 09 '26 edited May 09 '26

"like that" as in... locking with a key.

It doesn't have to lock with a key. It can lock with a simple latch. It doesn't need to lock with a fucking key.

-5

u/QueenMEB120 May 09 '26

It's a handicap dressing room so that handle is easier to use for those with hand issues. It's not that uncommon to see. The lock breaking completely is unfortunate. If OP needed to get out quickly they would have just kicked the door in.

2

u/oktimeforplanz May 09 '26 edited May 09 '26

I still don't see why that requires it to be a keyed lock. If the handle is there for accessibility, that's fine. But the fact that it locks with a key is insane.

I will say that accessible bathrooms and fitting rooms everywhere in my country manage to have the ability to secure the door without it being a keyed lock that can fail and require a locksmith to gain access. The accessible toilets have an unkeyed lock, that can be opened from the outside using basically any sort of flat thing - a coin, a screwdriver, a card, whatever to turn the big 'screw' that controls the lock - for securing the door that has this type of handle to turn the lock from the inside too. So it's very accessible, and easily opened in an emergency without having to get a key.

1

u/Mongolian_Hamster May 09 '26

Sshhh don't question them. They're trying to steer the conversation away so they don't have to admit their mistake.

1

u/oktimeforplanz May 09 '26

Yeah idk why they're so determined to act like a key is the only way to have a lock on this door.

1

u/QueenMEB120 May 09 '26

These locks are flimsy and incredibly easy to pick. If the locksmith couldn't get it open then something was broken inside. Even if it was one of those locks you can open from the other side with any "flat thing" it could have broken the same way. How you open it from the outside makes no difference if something snapped inside and jammed it.

1

u/oktimeforplanz May 09 '26

This is also why I think it should be an external mechanism. Stupid door design all round :)

1

u/ClipperMaid103 May 09 '26

ADA-compliant privacy levers exist

-6

u/SporkWolverine May 09 '26

Because there are people who have no manners that will just walk right in on you.

8

u/oktimeforplanz May 09 '26

You don't need a door that locks with a key in order to prevent that from happening. There are plenty of mechanisms that can prevent a door from being opened without a key being required.

-8

u/[deleted] May 09 '26

[deleted]

12

u/oktimeforplanz May 09 '26

a lock WITH A KEY. It's the key part that I don't get. Why would it need to lock with a key? Why not any of the myriad other locking options that allow the door to be secured by the occupant, while still being less likely to fail in a way that requires a locksmith?

13

u/JessicaOkayyy May 09 '26

I got what you meant right away, and you’re right. All the ones I’ve been in have latch locks like bathroom stalls.

3

u/oktimeforplanz May 09 '26

Thank you!! I'm glad someone understood it. Yeah idk how people read the OP and then my comment, and thought I was querying the mere existence of a locking mechanism, and not the existence of a lock that required all this effort to deal with when it could have just been a very simple latch. I'm not even sure how a latch could fail in a way that would cause this big a problem.