I hear you knockin' but you can't come in

[Dr. Medulla]

We haven't done a stupid habits-oriented poll for a while, so here's one. When you're at home during the day, do you lock your doors or not?

(To those who vote no, please provide your address, normal daytime schedule, and, if applicable, security system code. )

[Low Down Low]

It's been a while since I've felt the need to mention how there was always a key in the door of our street level house during the day in which i grew up. Whatever that says about things. Our front door stays locked but back door would invariably be open weather permitting. In and out so regularly just be a chore to keep opening and closing it.

[Dr. Medulla]

Growing up, my parents never locked the door during the day and inconsistently at night. The latter changed when a drunk guy, confused about where he was, walked in at 2 in the morning. We do keep our doors locked, but our neighbourhood is pretty safe. We've had late deliveries that we were unaware of sitting on our porch when we get up in the morning. Hell, the only reason we got a security system was that its monthly cost is less than the discount we get for our home insurance.

[tepista]

But seriously, if you leave it unlocked in the day, easy to forget to lock it at night. Flipping the lock is a no-think habit, that why I always accidentally lock my wife outside when she's gardening. Yeah, accidentally

[Mimi]

yes. always.

[Sparky]

We generally go in and out through the garage, rarely through the front t door, so it's always locked. Same with the door to the backyard, and like Tep said, it's just too easy to forget to lock it when you leave, more peace of mind just to get in the habit of locking it.

[revbob]

The doors are locked when I stay out too late.

My wife is the big door locker. But like Sparky I mainly go out via the garage if Im leaving.

We never looked our doors growing up but it was a less populated area. My parents never locked their cars either and I think my dad left his keys in the ignition and was very annoyed if you drove his car and brought the keys inside. Again we lived off the beaten path and it was never an issue.

I always lock my car though and am still dumbfounded by the people who post in the neighborhood forum thst their car was "broken in to". After a few questions it was more like someone opened their unlocked car. And now with key fobs your car can be stolen if the keys are close enough to the car. That's getting to be a bit more common.

[Dr. Medulla]

We never looked our doors growing up but it was a less populated area. My parents never locked their cars either and I think my dad left his keys in the ignition and was very annoyed if you drove his car and brought the keys inside. Again we lived off the beaten path and it was never an issue.

My farming relatives always left their keys in their vehicles. I doubt that's the case still.

I always lock my car though and am still dumbfounded by the people who post in the neighborhood forum thst their car was "broken in to". After a few questions it was more like someone opened their unlocked car. And now with key fobs your car can be stolen if the keys are close enough to the car. That's getting to be a bit more common.

Moreover, I've read about cars being stolen where the key fob is near the front door and could be read somehow to their own fake fob. So we keep our fob in an rfid blocking pouch. Mind you, our car is a standard, which is the best protection against car theft there is nowadays.

[matedog]

Usually yes. I mentioned the home invasion across the street the other month. We aren't in a rough part of Oakland, but we are in a transitional neighborhood - one way gets nice, the other way gets not nice. There have been gunshots outside our house (both times were at parties), my license plate got stolen/swapped once, a saw a neighbor get mugged a few weeks ago. So yeah, we typically keep it locked during the day, but always at night. Though home invasions through the front door when people are home is pretty rare.

[Flex]

We keep it locked because otherwise our little guy would just walk off and head to the playground. It's completely changed my door locking behavior. So I'm a "yes" but not really for crime worries.

I grew up with the door never locked during the day or often at night. On the other end, my father in law is incredibly paranoid about security and my wife grew up where the door would be locked behind her even if she was just heading out to the driveway for a minute or to take the dog on a walk or whatever. I find that pretty over the top.

I dunno. I'm not really too concerned about home invasion. It's pretty rare. I'll lock the doors at night so I'm not the idiot who had it coming, but it's not a monomaniacal focus.

We'll go on trips and our there'll be some random package we weren't anticipating that gets delivered to put front door and we've left them there for days at a time without a problem. The people on our neighborhood Facebook page who claim we live in a high crime area are lunatics.

[Dr. Medulla]

I'm not really too concerned about home invasion. It's pretty rare. I'll lock the doors at night so I'm not the idiot who had it coming, but it's not a monomaniacal focus.

That's my perspective, I think. I don't actually worry about anything—and I appreciate very much that our neighbourhood doesn't make me worry about that—but if something actually did happen, I don't want to kick myself for not doing the obvious thing like locking the door. If the Boss is out late and coming home after I go to bed, I'll leave the door unlocked for her. She always tells me to lock it, that she'll have keys, but I figure big deal, it makes it easier for her to get in.

[Mimi]

Nevermind

[tepista]

We keep it locked

Lock, lock, lockin' up Kevin's door.

[revbob]

Nevermind

Heavy Metal

[Dr. Medulla]

Nevermind

Heavy Metal

Down goes Heston! Down goes Heston! Even in this thread, down goes Heston!