Things that are common in fiction but not in your real life

[Quoth]

Electric drill sorts filing cabinets quickly. ALL the keys got lost for all the cabinets for the department after a move within the building.

[fabricalado]

Originally Posted by theducks

While I have never done it with Door locks, I have opened 3 desk locks in under a minute using a similar key (one that only goes into the slot).
I did this to the security manager who wrote me up for leaving my desk unlocked. His desk, file and storage (all keyed alike) using MY desk key.
I said 'these locks are cr*p, why bother locking? '
I have done this to a number of other cheap locks over the years.
Those Round keys won't allow 'my trick'

You, like me, might find this YT channel oddly satisfying then!

[DNSB]

For picking locks, you can always try a lockpick gun if you can get your hands on one. If you know the type of the lock, an alternative which works quite well is a bump (999) key.

With a master/grand master/great grand master lock with it's collection of key pins, either of those make it rather trivial to pick a lock. Just make sure to smile for the camera while doing so.

[fabricalado]

Very interesting! I've always heard hanging out with well-read people could open doors for you, but never thought about it in such a literal sense

[theducks]

Originally Posted by fabricalado

You, like me, might find this YT channel oddly satisfying then!

Oh Yes. He is most interesting.

[mbovenka]

Originally Posted by Apache

Even trained people using lockpicks in real life can't do it as fast as they can on screen. They always have them put it in and click it is unlocked as fast as if they had used a key.

I've seen video's of trained lockpickers pretty much doing that on certain types of (admittedly bad) locks. Take a look at 'The Lockpicking Lawyer' on YouTube for instance to be amazed at how easy some locks are to pick if you know what you're doing.

But in general, yeah, it's not *that* easy. But in a movie they don't have the minute or two that it takes for most locks in real life (again, if you know what you're doing).

[Quoth]

Or if it's a PVC door, just use a blowtorch?
My friend that worked in Chubb pointed out that often when people upgrade door locks they don't upgrade the fixings of the frame to the wall, and the entire frame can come away from the wall.

[ZodWallop]

Something more common to series than individual stories is that everyone winds up being related.

Prime example: Star Wars
Vader is Luke's dad? That was a shock.
Leia and Luke are twins?

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Something more common to series than individual stories is that everyone winds up being related.

Or somehow everybody being weirdly connected. Not a book but in the Mass Effect games I always found it weird how you kept coincidentally bumping into the same people despite it taking place across an entire galaxy.

[GrannyGrump]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_De...of_Kevin_Bacon

[issybird]

Cabbies being told to follow another car and they do it.

Cars in pursuit or in a hurry being held up at a railroad crossing.

[Apache]

Originally Posted by issybird

Cabbies being told to follow another car and they do it.

Cars in pursuit or in a hurry being held up at a railroad crossing.

The trains around here are so long that the person could be in a different town or state by the time the tracks clear. Not to mention that sometimes they stop while blocking the crossings.
Apache

[4691mls]

More blondes in books set in the US than I ever see in real life, and I live in a majority Caucasian area.

At least in the Alpine series by Mary Daheim it is explained that the area where the book is set is populated largely by people of Scandinavian ancestry.

[Quoth]

Compare number of males vs female Blondes. They are mostly fake. The number of Blondes changes with fashion and culture.

Nor is about so called "Caucasian", IMO a ghastly USA term. Even in Western Europe the proportion of really Blonde and Red head varies dramatically with region among people there since before Europeans went to the Americas. Blue, Green and Grey eyes are very rare, but in some areas of Scotland and Ireland nearly 90% have them. Also red hair (literally red in Irish or Scottish Gaelic) is as common as Blonde, more so in some places. The modern and derogatory English, especially in England is Ginger. It's also a popular artificial colour here too.

Loads of French, Cornish, Welsh, Spanish, Belgians, Germans, Swiss and Italian are dark haired.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Or if it's a PVC door, just use a blowtorch?
My friend that worked in Chubb pointed out that often when people upgrade door locks they don't upgrade the fixings of the frame to the wall, and the entire frame can come away from the wall.

When one friend of mine and his wife purchased a ~25 year old condo, it came with a key in knob lock and two deadbolts. Sadly the locks ran into a piece of wood that was part of the door frame which had less than a centimetre of wood on the edge of the mortises. When their 17 year old daughter pointed out that they break boards thicker than that at her Tae Kwan Do dojo, she and her father got into an argument about the security of the door. While arguing with dad, she backkicked the door and it popped open. Ooopppsss... The door was replaced with one with a better frame that was securely mounted.