> Plus if he picks the lock in 30 seconds you may not pay such a high fee.

A story I was told once by an electrician who worked at a steel works for years.

The story goes something like this:

One day he was called out to a big engineering workshop, all their fancy new equipment is on the blink.

He walks up to one of the machines, has a look, then without saying anything promptly turns around and walks outside, followed by the curious manager.

The electrician circles the building and turns on the first tap he sees, and lets the water flow for a few minutes spilling on the ground. After leaving that go for a while, he turns the tap off again, and walks back in and tells the machine operators to try again. Magically, they all start working again.

The electrician has been there for barely a few minutes and hasn't even touched the machine or anything else electrical.

The manager asks for an explanation, since the electrician didn't even touch anything electrical. By way of response, the electrician says "You had someone fix that tap outside that was leaking, didn't you?" the manager replies in the affirmative. The electrician then explains that the leaking tap was keeping the building grounded - the slow leak was just enough to keep the sandy soils moist enough for a proper earth connection.

The electrician hands over the bill, with the emergency callout fee and minimum hours, etc. The manager protests that surely just turning on a tap didn't warrant a fee that large.

The electrician replies that turning the tap on was free, knowing to turn the tap on was what they were paying for.

Whether that story is true or not, there's plenty of similar ones.

The point is that while you might get annoyed that an expert came in and solved the problem quickly, without that expert you were going to wait a lot longer or spend a lot more trying to fix it some other way.

Personally, I'd rather deal with a locksmith that gave me the option: We can drill the lock, you can pay (say) $300 for new locks and keys and it'll take 30 minutes. Or, you can pay $300, we'll pick it in a minute, you keep your existing keys.

The locksmith I called a few years ago used a long piece of wire with a string attached, slid it under the door to pull down the door handle from the inside.

This seems like a variation on the old story about Steinmetz, the Wizard of Schenectady, making a chalk mark on a generator at a Ford plant. Which seems to be a true story, although often not attributed. The punchline to this one has always been Steinmetz's itemized bill, of $1 to make the chalk mark and $9,999 to know where to make it.

Another version of the old "hit with a hammer" parable, albeit one where the incompetence of the elecrtician is rewarded.

Electrician in that story should have billed for and installed a better grounding, because grounding is safety.

I locked myself out one night and called a service. The guy showed up and asked if I wanted a show, or the door open. I said open the door please. He did in about ten seconds and I gladly paid full fare for the work.

Spoiler: he leaned on the door to hold the latch in place, then used a plastic shim to trip it open.

I would probably (mentally) look down on the locksmith if he/she just going to drill it out without trying anything else first. I own a power drill too and I know how to use it to break a lock myself with zero knowledge on how lock works (for some weak locks, even a flat head screwdriver is enough to get it done).

On the other hand, if the locksmith clicked my lock out in just 30 seconds, I would probably ask him/her to sell me a better (and sometimes more expensive) lock based on his/her professional opinion.

But how are you going to get your power drill if you’re locked outside? :)

Garage door opener glued to the outside that uses a PIN?

You assume a garage exists or that said person keeps tools there and not in the basement.

If we're really going for the detail.... well, my neighbor is a contractor, he owns multiple almost-dead power drills with unlimited supply of dull bits (enough to get the door open). If that's not an option, there are few hardware shops within my walking distance where I can by a new cheap power drill as well as a cheap lock. And if I really messed it up, there is a market for home renovation supplies not really far, they sell doors with comes with lock.

Now that I thought about it this deep, I think I can be a locksmith too with all the nature advantages that I clearly have here. I don't even need a power drill, a battering ram is well enough for my job. And if somebody call me to open their door, I'll just ask which color they would like for the new door that whey about to own.

The hardware store?

If he picked it as fast as LPL does some locks I may be inclined to buy a new lock from them

The one who I call is more than happy to drive by, smack a bump key with a hammer and charge me $125 for the pleasure.

Don't you need a new lock anyway? After all, you no longer have the keys.

A locksmith (or interested individual) can rekey a lock. The pins and keys are the cheapest part of the lock too, which is a contributing factor towards why locksmiths lean towards destructive entry. They get to be lazy, the method can't fail and make them look stupid in front of a customer and they get to offer you a sales pitch on buying a new lock right then and there.