Thinking of an idea, going ahead with it then discovering that it was a bad idea after you do it and see the miserable result is one thing. But, thinking of a REALLY bad idea, knowing that it WAS a bad idea AND knowing the expected miserable results and you still go ahead and do it is a totally different thing. I actually did that many years ago.

I was going home after a long day of work. The traffic was terrible and it was mid August and very hot. My sons were 2 and 5 years old and my wife was home with them and she was not feeling well. I was midway, about 15 miles, to home when i discovered that i needed gas. I pulled into a gas station, stopped the car ..... then with an open mouth i found myself looking at half of the ignition key in my hand. I looked for the other half on the floor to no avail .... i looked again to the half-key in my hand and realised that it had a good part of the Chrome-plating of the other half. I then looked in the ignition key-hole and saw that the other half was stuck inside the cylinder.

While the station attendant was filling the tank my brain was racing about what to do. I thought of calling my wife and ask her to get into her car and bring her copy of my car keys with her. But it was hot, terrible traffic, and she was not in a condition to go through all that with two small boys on her hands.

I thought of calling a key-smith to get the stuck half out and make a new key .... but that meant that i had to push the car away from the pump and park it on the side then wait for the key-smith to arrive and God knows how long that will be in addition to the question of whether he will be able to make a key using the broken key.

Looking back at the half-key in my hand a BRILLIANT idea came to my mind. I said to myself: "may be if i stick this half back in the key-hole and push hard ... may be ... just may be the other half inside will get caught in its Chrome-plating that was still attached to the half in my hand. Then when I pull the key back the half that was stuck inside will come along with the one in my hand." .... I also said that i really had nothing to lose, if it didn't come out then no more harm was done.

I did it. I carefully stuck the half that was in my hand back into the ignitiion key-hole pushed a little on it and pulled it back slooooooly. BINGO .... the stuck half was back clinging to its other half with the help of its Chrome-plating. I was sooooo glad that it worked. Now at least the ignition cylinder was clear. All i needed now was an unbroken key.

Ideas came racing again ... I can take a cab home and bring the other key ... but that would cost a lot of money ... no mass-transit in our great State of NJ, you know!. Also I can still call a key-smith ... but i was not sure that he can make a key using the broken key and it would cost a lot of money too in addition to the waiitng time in that hot miserable weather.

Then, then ... the GREAT REALLY BAD IDEA came to my GREAT mind. I KNEW it was a bad idea .... I knew it would make matters worse if it did not work .... But the GREAT idea went into development .... I convinced some one, NOT ME FOR SURE, that since the Chrome-plating was strong-enough to pull the stuck half before ... why wouldn't it work again? Meaning? ... if i stick the two-haves, held together with the chrome-plating, back into the cylinder may be i can restart the car and get home AND, do you see the magnitude of wishful-thinking here?, then i can pull the two-halves back out as i did the first time. ....

Again ... I was 99.9999999999% sure that:

First, the car would not start since turning the key is not the same as pulling it back and the outer half would just slide over the inside half and actually break that flimsy plating that is holding the two halves together.

Second, even if the car started.... the turning of the two halves would certainly ruin that flimsy plating and it would not be there to pull the inside half when i get home.

It was very clear that this was really really a bad idea since if the inside half did not come out when i got home it meant that it was now really really stuck after turning inside the cylinder to start the car.

Despite all that ... i went ahead with it ...... I stuck the two halves back into the ignition cylinder, turned it and ..... BINGO ... the car actually started ... i was soooo happy and started moving along on my way back home.

I pulled into the drive way ... looked at the key and said here we go .... i was not even sure that it would turn back to stop the car .... but again it did ..... then i stopped and held my breath and started pulling the key-handle out .....

Of COURSE, the outer half came alone ... no more plating .... very hot ....

I got inside, told my wife about my adventure .... She was stunned ... and started lecturing me about the foolishness of wishful-thinking and I totally agreed with her. We decided to wait till the morning to call the key-smith since it was now almost sunset and i was very tired and had a headache as big as a mountain.

When the key-smith came he tried for an hour to get the inside half out to no avail... it was now stuck inside the cylinder real good as i expected ... he had to drill the WHOLE cylinder out and replace it with a new one FROM THE DEALER ...it cost me a lot more money than any of the other options that i rejected for this brilliant REALLY BAD IDEA.

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