Name: Julius Zebrauskas, 39
Occupation: Locksmith
Background: Zebrauskas was born in Germany and brought to the United States as a baby. He has lived on the Southwest Side of Chicago for the last 34 years. Zebrauskas studied at the University of Illinois Circle Campus for a year and then spent two years in the Army. He joined the Chicago Police Department in 1971 and served for eight years. After leaving the police force, he worked for a locksmith for a year and then started his own business. Rita is wife`s name.
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Years in present position: 9
The nice thing about this business is that every day is different. It could run from total monotony to a lot of excitement. I open the store at 9, and if I don`t have any jobs lined up, I wait for the phone to ring. You never know what each phone call is going to bring. You might get a call from a frantic woman who`s just locked her dog in the car. Or the president of a company that just fired an important employee and wants me to rush over and change every lock in the building. Or some business has to open up, and all their money is in the safe and the safe won`t open. I might be asked to put a new ignition or trunk lock on a car.
People get locked out of their houses because they chase the dog out the back door and the wind slams the door behind them. Lots of people greet me outside in their bathrobes. Adults get locked out 20 to 1 over kids.
People definitely get locked out of their cars more often in winter. Probably just because it`s more inconvenient. There are two things that happen in the winter: First, people will have their cars running because it`s cold outside, and they`ll lock the door behind them; or they`ll be putting something in the trunk, and the keys go in, too.
The other thing that happens is that the first good freeze of the year, usually right after New Year`s Eve or New Year`s Day itself, everybody`s locks freeze. All winter they haven`t taken care of them and finally enough moisture builds up and the lock isn`t working. Any good spray lubricant will prevent this. Graphite is a no-no. With the climate we have in this city, all the moisture and salt we have on the streets, if people put graphite on their locks, the graphite can solidify and it`ll be hard as a rock and the lock will have to be replaced.
People call a locksmith for their car as a last resort. They`ll call all their friends, try every coat hanger, do everything short of throwing a brick through the window, before they`ll call me. The first question I`ll ask them on the phone is, ”Has anyone else tried to open this car up?” And they`ll swear up and down, ”No, no, nobody`s touched it.” Then I`ll pull up and see a coat hanger sticking out of one side of the car, the glass all scratched up on the other side. If you open a car up and then something inside doesn`t work, the last person to touch it gets the blame. So that`s why I always ask. A lot of people play ”beat the locksmith.” They`ll call, and I ask them if they understand the service charge. When I get there, three people are frantically working on that car because if they`re gone by the time I get there, they don`t have to pay. People don`t realize the time and expense involved. I`ve got to run the service vehicle and close up the store. At least with a house, if that happens, the house can`t move. If they don`t call back, I can still collect for the service call.
The only time people don`t squawk about the price is if their car is in some motel parking lot and they`re not with the person they`re supposed to be with. Then they say: ”Money is no object. Get over here. I have to be home-now!” And they never want a receipt, either.
Another big source of business for me are combinations that get locked inside of safes. It sounds like a joke, but it happens. In one case, a guy who owns a gas station frantically called me. The gas delivery truck was waiting to pump the gas in, all the cash was in the safe and he`d mixed up all the numbers of the combination in his mind. He couldn`t remember anything. He had one copy of the combination locked up in the safe and another copy in a safe deposit box 25 miles away. He was in such a hurry that I had to just drill the safe open.
I`m tired of hearing people say, ”If they`re gonna get in, they`re gonna get in. Why should I put good locks on the house?” Burglary is a crime of opportunity. If it takes someone five minutes to get into your house, they can be in and out before anybody knows it. But if you have good deadbolt locks on the house, it could take 20 minutes to get in. They don`t want to get caught. The longer it takes to gain entrance, the better the chance that the burglar will just leave.
A lot of locks get changed because of domestic problems, and you can always sense these when they call. Usually it`s the woman who calls and says something like: ”Could you change the locks between the hours of 4 and 5? My husband`s going to be gone at that time.” I always make sure they have the papers from the lawyers. It`s important to do everything legally correct in this profession, because if I open or change something that I`m not supposed to, I`m liable for it.
These domestic cases are the only ones where I ever sweat and get nervous because I`m always looking over my shoulder. One time I was changing the locks, and the woman never gave any clue that there was a problem. So I was taking my time, and all of a sudden I could feel someone standing behind me. I turned around and the guy standing there was a cross between Rambo and Godzilla. He asked me what I was doing, and I told him, and he said: ”I live here; you`re not changing those locks.” At that point, I wished I`d put my running shoes on.
Then the woman came out, and the two of them exchanged some words and the husband told me to put the locks back the way they were. The wife insisted that she didn`t want that done. I suggested that we let the police settle it. The police came and separated the two of them.
I`d like to take locksmiths out of the dark ages. A lot of people have this misconception that we`re tinkerers in the back room; that we just sit in some dark corner and tinker on locks or file a key by hand. Actually, we have to go to school to keep up with the modern technology in the lock industry. Locks are no longer just mechanical; they`re electronic, too. You almost have to be an electrician, a carpenter and everything else to install them, to troubleshoot them, to change them. We do giant master-key systems, where there`s one master key that will work 400 rooms and each room will have its own separate key that won`t work any other lock. It`s all mathematical progression. Most locksmiths are trying to keep up with all this.
Another misconception people have is that they think locksmiths possess magic master keys that will open up any lock in the world. It doesn`t work that way. I wish it did.
Some of the most difficult jobs in this business are trying to repair what the do-it-yourselfer did. Every day somebody walks in here carrying a brown paper bag. As soon as they walk in, I know what`s going to be inside the bag. It`s going to be a lock in about 15 different pieces that they tried to take apart and fix themselves. They dump it on my counter and say, ”Could you fix this?” Sometimes I can, and sometimes I just say it`s better to retire the lock and go on to a new one.
The most unusual request I ever got was every locksmith`s dream. It had to be a crank call. I could tell it was a teenager. He said: ”You`re the third locksmith I`m trying. I`m serious. You`ve got to believe me. My father had this chastity belt on the wall, and my girlfriend was over and I put it on her. My father`s going to be home soon, and I`ve got to get this thing off her.” Sure, buddy. I asked him to describe what the belt looked like, and his description was pretty convincing, but I knew it couldn`t be true. He kept begging me to come over, so finally I told him to put a coat on his girlfriend and bring her over here. Of course, they never showed up.
Yes, I`ve locked myself out. Every locksmith in the world does that. I had my car one day, and I was carrying two big bunches of keys in my hands. One was my set, and one, with about 40 keys that I cut, was for a job I was going on. I had some packages under my arm. I opened the trunk up, threw my packages in, threw my own keys in, slammed the trunk-and I was holding the keys that I was supposed to have thrown in. I felt like I should be wearing a dunce cap on my head. Fortunately, I also had a set of lock picks in my pocket.