I've lost the only key...

[Inrealtroublenow]

To the laptop cabinet in the office. All our laptops are stored in there. Feel sick at having to admit that to boss tomorrow. Looked everywhere in office/ home/ coat/ bag. I was the only one in yesterday and today so it's definitely me and not anyone else. Was told when I started (relatively recently) to protect key with my life because it's the only copy.

You're not going to lose your job for misplacing a key.
They are to blame for having such a stupid system in the first place.
My office we all keep our laptops on us, there is a spare key for the office cabinets. Worst case of there wasn't they would get someone to cut a new one.

Were you wearing jeans? Is it in a back pocket?

Not very secure system having the key for the cabinet hanging on a hook

Many filing cabinets can be opened with a paper clip or a screwdriver.

Just tell your boss the key isn’t there. You’ve looked for it and can’t find it, and perhaps next time it would be wise to have several keys…

You need that poster who can locate missing objects

@Inrealtroublenow

I locked laptop away last night. This morning I got laptop out but then school called about DS so I was rushing around like a crazy person. I can't remember but must have locked my laptop away again before I went to the school because the cabinet is now locked. The key is missing though. I rushed straight from office to school and then to my mums house and back to office. I had client meetings then all morning until after 1pm. When I went to get laptop to do my write ups I realised key was nowhere to be seen. To be honest it could be anywhere. It's nowhere sensible though! I have checked car, bag, coat, pockets, seat in work, meeting room, all floor and surfaces in work, my mum has checked driveway/ hallway at her house. I've checked at home even though I didn't come back here. It's honestly vanished

@Inrealtroublenow have you checked the bins? I threw my car key in the bin once🙈

Also the fridge.

Also for anyone who is thinking “this could be me” I got a tile key ring and it changed my life:

ie.tile.com/

My phone can ring my keys and my keys can find my phone. I normally manage to have one of them!

@Inrealtroublenow

I locked laptop away last night. This morning I got laptop out but then school called about DS so I was rushing around like a crazy person. I can't remember but must have locked my laptop away again before I went to the school because the cabinet is now locked. The key is missing though. I rushed straight from office to school and then to my mums house and back to office. I had client meetings then all morning until after 1pm. When I went to get laptop to do my write ups I realised key was nowhere to be seen. To be honest it could be anywhere. It's nowhere sensible though! I have checked car, bag, coat, pockets, seat in work, meeting room, all floor and surfaces in work, my mum has checked driveway/ hallway at her house. I've checked at home even though I didn't come back here. It's honestly vanished

Did you put the laptop back? If so, did you need to unlock the cabinet to put it back? Or is it one of those cabinets that you unlock when opening but you don’t have to lock it when closing? In which case, is there a small chance that you dropped the key inside the cabinet?

How long were you gone from the office?

Is it possible that someone else went in?

I think you hung them back up and someone else has them.

It might not even be you who has lost it.
Anyway, it's a bloody stupid system. They should have had copies of the key made, especially as the other key had gone missing.

It’s a fixable mistake. There will be relatively minor inconvenience and cost to fix it but nothing much in the grand scheme of things. Nobody died. There will be no long lasting consequences. The company is stupid for only having one key (and a system of locking valuables away then hanging the key up nearby is pointless anyway! At least have a key safe or something to keep the key in!).

What happened to us when that happened was we looked closely at the lock, and there were (I think) 3 numbers engraved on it. We used those numbers to order a new key.
It's worth trying.

OP if it’s a normal filing cabinet they are surprisingly easy to pick after watching a YouTube video- could be worth a shot

This isn't very honest and I will probably get flamed HOWEVER. could you not just tell your boss you went to find the key and it wasn't on the hook. I would totally do this (sorry colleagues if I'm ever outed)

Hope you find it Op. That is such a pain.

The security at your office seems a bit bonkers . The filing cabinet was totally compromised when the first key disappeared.
The fact that you all put the lap tops in the cabinet, lock it up and then hang the key on a hook in the same office is hilarious. Anyone who broke in would either see it on its tidy little hook or jemmy the cabinet with a crow bar in 2 seconds.

Where did you have your client meetings, have you checked the toilets?

Is it shared building?

Can you order a lock pick set off of amazon and have a go at getting into it?

@Ivchangedmynameforthis

This isn't very honest and I will probably get flamed HOWEVER. could you not just tell your boss you went to find the key and it wasn't on the hook. I would totally do this (sorry colleagues if I'm ever outed)

That thought had crossed my mind also.

Isn't it possible you went off in such a rush to get your DS that you didn't lock your laptop away, and someone else has come along and done that and taken the key with them?
Also "I've lost the key", no... the key is lost.

Check the bins. Kitchen too or has it dropped in your mug or pen holder.

Absolutely no one else has been in the office?

@Ivchangedmynameforthis

This isn't very honest and I will probably get flamed HOWEVER. could you not just tell your boss you went to find the key and it wasn't on the hook. I would totally do this (sorry colleagues if I'm ever outed)

I hope you don’t ever apply for a job at my company. I’ll support and reassure anyone on my team who makes an honest mistake like the OP. People who are too cowardly to own up and who lie about it, however…well, I’d take them as far down the disciplinary process as I could. Not for the mistake, but for being a liar and placing their colleagues under suspicion of wrongdoing.

Any joy op?

I thought most kicks came with two keys?

Therefore if the first key has already gone missing it was pretty stupid not to get a copy done with only one in circulation for something important.

I would be very firm and say you put the key on the hook and now it’s not there.

Let them deal with it.

@Ivchangedmynameforthis

This isn't very honest and I will probably get flamed HOWEVER. could you not just tell your boss you went to find the key and it wasn't on the hook. I would totally do this (sorry colleagues if I'm ever outed)

But that’s exactly what happened - the key wasn’t there when the op went to get it! 👍