Security

Only in America...

I had bought a black "attache" briefcase from Graham Bennett at APPH a week before arriving in California, it was fifteen pounds and he showed me how to change the combination.

In the morning, at the McDonnell Douglas security desk in the lobby of building one, I had to dial my combination in and demonstrate to the security guard that there was nothing dangerous or illegal in the bag. This was no big deal, but you could tell that to the man behind the badge, with the sidearm, it was.

I was unaware that Ray Norton had changed my combination one day and when I tried to leave the building, the usual security check resulted in my inability to open the bag and the guard stated that I could not take it out of the building. I surrendered the bag and it was placed in a secure zone.

The following morning I arrived and explained this to the on duty guard, who retrieved my bag and handed it to me. I turned to walk into the building and he said...

"Could you open the bag please sir?"

It was a catch 22 situation, my bag was trapped in a security nexus, so, I sat in the lobby, grabbed a coffee and indexed through about 600 combinations to finally open my bag an hour later.