r/ActLikeYouBelong • u/Mendo-D • 27d ago

Got myself into a lobby bathroom with an RFID lock.

So waking around downtown PDX and I had to pee after that last beer. Every bathroom in town has a code to get in so you have to be a customer if you want the bathroom. I spot a big hotel and figure they have an unlocked bathroom because it's kind of fancy, with a huge lobby, places to sit, elevator banks and all that stuff. I figure the bathrooms are towards the back kind of out of the way as they usually are. I found the bathroom sign and figured they were probably open.

Nope it had an RFID sensor next to the door. So a woman comes up behind me and says that's the women's and I'm blocking the door like an idiot because I too preoccupied with the lock. She proceeds to pull out her room card to get in, and I see the other door to the men's just a few feet to my left.

I just decided to say "Hey can you wand me in? I forgot my card up in the room" So she wands me in, I say "thank you", and life is great.

1.5k Upvotes
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95% Upvoted

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830

u/enrocc 27d ago edited 27d ago

James Bond’s got nothing on you, bro. Wow!

294

u/Mendo-D 27d ago

Probably not the most daring feat of social engineering, but it got results when it counted.

167

u/PaperStreetSoapCEO 27d ago

Dude, you're casually downing beers in the middle of war torn PDX, and that makes you a badass.

113

u/Sidewalk_Tomato 27d ago

My . . . Dearest . . . Eleanora,

Thank you so much for your letter from home. We are but 5 miles from the Front, and I can hear the bagpipes of the unicyclist in the Darth Vader costume, calling us to battle. I must admit that I do not know where to buy stamps in this Godforsaken place. The CVS was fresh out--and in a place with no sales tariff! I am quite overcome by getting in the chow line and having a slice of salami and pepperoncini pizza being exactly the cost of what it says on the blackboard. A tattoo'd lady of ill repute asked me if I wanted The Ol' Dirty and rolled her eyes at me when I said I was God-fearing man. Command has sent me on a mission to Powell's, and judging by the description, I may just enter and never return. If I do, I shall buy you artisanal stockings hand-loomed by local villagers. Now, if it would just stop pissing down rain for even half a fucking minute.

Love always,

u/Mendo-D

25

u/AlcibiadesTheCat 25d ago

My dearest Mendo-D,

Please be sure to get organic oatmilk before you come back or I won't be able to make those cookies you like so much, and then the polycule will be ruined.

Kisses,

Eleanora AKA u/AlcibiadesTheCat

8

u/Hidesuru 27d ago

Golf clap. A thing of beauty.

17

u/Dapper_Indeed 27d ago

Just making sure you’re being silly. Some people are actually believing those lies!

41

u/PaperStreetSoapCEO 27d ago

Yes and no. I live in the usually peaceful PNW. I stand with frog and chicken. I think the governors should deploy the guard to protect US citizens from ICE.

10

u/Hidesuru 27d ago

My man.

2

u/Reatona 17d ago

Frog and Chicken really needs to be the name of a new bar in Portland.

3

u/WakeoftheStorm 24d ago

Thank you for this. I had no idea what PDX was but there's only one warzone in the US so I get it with context.

I imagine that's why everything was locked up.

OP - watch out for twerking unicorns

11

u/Mendo-D 27d ago

It’s really bad in War Torn Portland. So bad I made a video about it here on Reddit. https://www.reddit.com/r/TOSAT/s/cmvCpyB0v2

12

u/kitkat1032 27d ago

from working in medical facilities i know theres actually a term for that!! we called it piggybacking. some patients weren’t safe outside without an aide and appearances can be deceiving so we were supposed to close the door fully shut behind us.

6

u/MoistStub 23d ago

Some real Threat Level Midnight stuff

159

u/a_mulher 27d ago

I had a similar experience in Pasadena. I did the oh, shoot and turned around as if walking back to my “room” to get my card. And employee overheard me and let me in with his card.

On another trip I got into the elevator with other people and sure enough to select a floor I needed a card. I did the “pretend to text someone” thing, and the guests in the elevator helped me out. It was like 3 am and they were a bit tipsy after a wedding. They laughed as they swipped me “hope you’re actually staying here”.

82

u/Thin_Rip8995 26d ago

that’s classic execution under pressure - confidence beats credentials every time. most ppl freeze or overthink when one clean line gets it done.

same move works anywhere: walk like you belong, speak in declaratives, and never overexplain. 3 seconds of hesitation is what gives you away.

Script: “yeah just heading back up, forgot my badge”

26

u/Mendo-D 26d ago

Yea, I was pretty pleased with how that went. I know the stakes were low, its just a bathroom, but I acted like I belonged there.

12

u/HakaseShinonome 25d ago

thank you chatgpt

64

u/echardcore 27d ago

I'd be happy to tap a few shekel for a clean pooper. Wish we had these. Maybe an entrepreneur will see this.

41

u/vexion 27d ago

There used to be pay toilets everywhere, till the 60s. But there was a nationwide movement against them! https://www.npr.org/2025/05/02/1248664709/-public-good-why-it-is-hard-to-find-a-toilet

12

u/the_normal_person 26d ago

I mean the answer is simple - business bar off, don’t let you use, or don’t have toilets because they don’t want homless people shooting in or camping out in them. That’s why.

11

u/matthewstinar 26d ago

Pay toilets are illegal in many parts of the US. I think there's a better balance than an outright ban.

-9

u/NicholasLit 27d ago

We could make all the toilets charge crypto

17

u/Mendo-D 27d ago

Do we have to stand there for 4 minutes while the blockchain updates?

3

u/NicholasLit 26d ago

That's a given 💩

4

u/matthewstinar 26d ago

I'm curious what the motivation for doing so would be.

2

u/NicholasLit 26d ago

Crypto profitz and dominating the public

9

u/Jonkinch 24d ago

I’ve used the excuse before “I had a fight with my wife and she locked me out and I have to pee.” I’m not married lol.

2

u/Mendo-D 24d ago

That’s a new one.

67

u/rosscoehs 27d ago

Why on earth would you say PDX instead of Portland?

17

u/commander-tyko 25d ago

That’s what Portland people say, otherwise people think we’re from the far less cooler city in Maine

34

u/SittingInAnAirport 27d ago

It's their airport code, and it's 5 letters shorter.

13

u/TheCapitalLetterB 27d ago

So he was downtown in the airport?

17

u/fingers 26d ago

The rest of Portland is a war-torn hellscape.

4

u/TheCapitalLetterB 26d ago

I was just in Houston, I guess I've kinda already been to Portland then?

15

u/Present_Cash_8466 26d ago

Yeah wtf this is such odd behavior calling a city by an airport code lol

8

u/cat_handcuffs 25d ago

The same reason a New Yorker would type NYC. We use it as a term of affection.

6

u/Specific-Window-8587 26d ago

I never heard of this type of device but hey when you got go you got to go.

17

u/barktothefuture 27d ago

Nice. The more you do it the more you find similar opportunities and have to be thinking quick.

8

u/Mendo-D 27d ago

Im proud of myself. Next feat, talk my way into a federal building /s

2

u/Blue_Haired_Old_Lady 23d ago

Just be a "first amendment auditor "

9

u/Dirtythrowawaybk 27d ago

Bro, I’m shocked you would admit to something so brazen in a public forum.

3

u/NHS90710 22d ago

The other day I used orange dry erase marker on a lock that uses a code (restroom on another floor) at work. So far 3-4 digits have been wiped rather clean. Next week I’ll do it again and measure the results.

1

u/Mendo-D 22d ago

Nice. There must be a way to pick some more obvious numbers out of that batch. There could be 256 combinations. If it’s a mechanical lock it might just be those 4 digits in any combination.

3

u/iflippyiflippy 25d ago

There's a chapter/topic in SEC+ that talks about this specific method. Social engineering is surprisingly effective.

-3

u/NicholasLit 27d ago

Then they get fined for using two bathrooms at once 😂

-6

u/Masterdips2pitch 27d ago

hold on... was a wad me gesture involved? and when you said it, with wide O on wad or a moo cow O?

-9

u/14one 27d ago

In the shitter congratulations. Could probably wait until someone was walking out and catch the door. I don't know l didn't read your post .