The Slip-Up

Saturday slip-up. (Click picture for larger view)

"I thought how unpleasant it is to be locked out; and I thought how it is worse, perhaps, to be locked in." ~ Virginia Woolf (1882-1941)

Setting: Off campus dorm - William & Mary.
Time: Fall 2005, Saturday morning, approximately 11:00 AM
Situation: Mom has just brought sweaters, guitar, basketball and cookies from home. Nyssa, not wanting Mom to see her messy room has just made a tactical error, a slip-up. Her dorm has a slide card entry lock. Unfortunately, she left her slide card on the desk in her room during her first trip upstairs. Now she is locked out.
Nyssa's Solution: "It won't take long, someone is always going in and out so we will wait."
Outcome: Twenty minutes later we are still standing there. Nyssa has tried the front door, tried shouting up to her roommate, pounding on the back door, and still nothing. I remind her that it is not a weekday, students are not in class or having to catch the bus to campus every half hour. The students are asleep or out. We could stand here for another hour.
Nyssa's response: Pounding, yelling "hello", more desperate this time, more insistent.
Final outcome: FINALLY! A lone scraggly boy in shorts with his hair all mussed up wanders by on the first floor, hears the pounding and opens the door. Ahhh! This would be the sleeping student option.
Moral: NEVER let the door shut behind you if you are out and your card is in.

Submission for Photo Tuesday topic "slip". (end of post)