Have I been a complete dick?

[TynSoldier]

I feel like shit. I live alone in a block of 8 flats with a communal door then 8 individual doors to the flats. The communal door has a lock like the one in the photo. If you know how they work skip the rest of this paragraph. If not - The lever is meant to be up and the little round thing left down, so the door is locked and can only be opened by a key. If the lever is pulled down and the round thing up, it leaves it open, and if the lever is up and button is up then the door is deadlocked and the key will not override it.

A few months ago I got home & the door was deadlocked. Luckily the next door neighbour let me in. Last week I got home and again, the door was deadlocked. This time it was 1am, so when I knocked on the door no one heard. Luckily my parents live a mile away so I walked their and managed to wake them up and stay there. Two or three times since I've went to leave my flat and it's deadlocked.

Last night I got home at half ten (rather merry after a night out) and again, deadlocked. Someone came out for a cigarette so I got in, but in my pissed state I handwrote a note saying that someone kept deadlocking the door and would they pack it in, and then stuck another one underneath saying I had been locked out the house all night last week. I also stuck a little note on the round bit saying to leave it down.

I've woke up sober this morning and I feel like an arsehole. I want to go and get the note but I'm too scared to run into any neighbours. I'm frightened I'll have upset or offended them and went way overboard.

Have I been a dick? Should I brave going to get the note?

Is it possible that it's slipping down?

OP here under a name change.

No Say, it's meant to be down, it's being pushed up. I've convinced myself it's the smoker who keeps going in and out. I'm definitely ringing to try and get the lock changed.

I think someone doesn't know how to use the lock.

Probably they are going out to smoke, putting the lever and snib up, so they can get back in without the key, ad returning the snib to the wrong position

Yep Oldraver, I think this is exactly what's going on. You'd think a note sellotaped over the round thing saying 'LEAVE ME DOWN!!!' would solve the problem but apparently not.

Sometimes they do get loose and slip down, which could be deadlocking itself - I distinctly remember there being a wedge of blutac under the snib for a while when I was younger and living at home.

Have you tried taping it up to keep it there and seeing if it still happens?

It's not falling down LBOCS2, it's being pushed up. It's normal when it's down and deadlocked when it's up.

At least I've learnt the word snib.

So dangerous. Poor you. I’d knock on every door and explain the situation and that you are planning on getting the lock changed.

Deadlock the bastards out next time they go for a fag!

Deadlock the bastards out next time they go for a fag!

Yes, do this- and then let them in and strike up a conversation about how it keeps happening to you and isn’t it annoying and you wish whoever it was would learn to use the door. But you need to get the lock changed, it’s not ok for it to be beyond your control whether or not you can access your own home.