When it comes to vacation homes, sometimes the smallest details can lead to the biggest headaches.

What would you do if you were tasked with securing a vacation property, but didn’t know how to operate the high-end locks and the homeowner was unwilling to help?

These two maintenance workers find themselves in this exact predicament, and the outcome is nothing short of a disaster.

Let’s take a look.

Lock up the vacation homes? You never said what lock!

A while back, my friend and I had a brief job working at a managed vacation home place.

Basically, they rented really nice houses to people over the summer (think a thousand dollars per day, and you have the basic units).

At the end of the fall, the place hires a ton of people (students) to go around and winterize all the summer homes and prepare the year-round cabins for winter.

The tasks included hauling wood, replacing storm windows, checking insulation, adding blankets, and stuff like that.

So, my friend and I sign up. Pay is per day, and it’s pretty good for just a week of house maintenance.

I don’t know if it was technically legal since we never signed a contract, but I knew the people who ran the property, and they were down-to-earth, honest people I could yell at if I didn’t get paid.

Apparently, not all properties were treated the same.

Now, on this property are also ‘personal’ units. Basically, someone ‘bought’ or leased the building (not really sure which), but the maintenance is still taken care of as if they were a rental.

These units have ‘special needs’ as it was put to us. Stuff like alarm systems, sheds, garages, registered gun and liquor cabinets, cameras, and, most importantly, door locks.

So, towards the last day, my friend and I are tasked with ‘opening’ one of these personal units. Basically just making sure it can be moved into.

We check the water is on and running, that the pipes on the outside are off, and that everything is juuust right for the people who ‘live’ there.

We finish and prepare to lock up the building. There’s the deadbolt (keyed by the property) and a padlock on each door (front/back/basement) and the shed/garage, if there is one.

When the family isn’t there, a ‘property’ padlock is put on, basically bought off the shelf, and cataloged in the most beautiful and easy-to-use key cabinet I have ever seen (I was later told that this prevented master key theft, despite the hassle).

One homeowner decided to invest in fancy locks.

When the family is arriving, they put on padlocks if they supply them or leave them off if they don’t.

Once the personal unit is occupied, all padlocks are removed for fire safety purposes unless put on by the homeowner.

None of the other units we did had supplied their own padlocks.

As far as I know, the service was only offered because someone had accidentally broken a deadbolt in the middle of winter and wanted a second way to lock the door.

They offered this as a solution, and everyone else was upset that someone else got this solution and they didn’t, accidentally setting a precedent.

Usually, they only accept combo locks and keyed locks, so the combos and keys can be filed away for their use if necessary.

But not this time. No, this time, it was smart padlocks.

These locks were biometric, and they had been sent with incredibly specific instructions.

Incredibly specific instructions that were illegible since the ink had been ruined by the protective oils on the metal.

This call didn’t go so well.

So we called the family. A man answers.

“It’s a padlock! How ******* stupid do you have to be to not know how to use a padlock!”

Okay then. Bad time to call, or just a ****? You decide.

The Park manager says that once these locks are on, the staff can’t take them off since they’re not keyed for our fingerprints.

“Well, I’d expect everything to be done by the time I arrive! Isn’t that what I pay you for?”

Well then. Definitely a ****.

Just because they’re fancy doesn’t mean they’re without downsides.

Now, one of the things about these locks was that they were fail-secure (if they lose battery, they are locked until they are powered).

The batteries on these things hadn’t been charged in a while.

These locks were also not rated for outdoor use.

We were expecting thunderstorms that week.

So, we didn’t charge the locks. There’s no cover over the front door, basement door, garage, or shed, so that’s where we put the ones that had the best battery life left (the rain would fix that).

The others were pretty much about to die.

The next day, it rained super hard.

Here’s where the family learned a lesson.

From the park manager, I learned that the family had to wait an hour in their car before the manager arrived with bolt cutters.

They were fuming at the amount of money they had just thrown out (each lock was like $50).

The park manager cited his call in the damage, and insurance refused to cover it, stating the locks had never been intended to be used outside.

After this, electronic locks of any kind were banned, and it gave the park manager a reason to remove the rule allowing tenants to request or put on padlocks.

Bet they won’t ever buy those locks again!

Let’s see how Reddit readers responded to this situation.

Not sure exactly what this means or how it ties into the story, but okay.

It’s safe to say this guy probably learned his lesson.

He’ll likely be happy to assist the next time someone calls to ask for help at his vacation rental.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this guy’s helpful tip to get free tools at Home Depot without buying anything.