Breaking cables, locks that refuse to close, stuck keys, a keyholder who is not available when he should be.. I'd love to read about funny stuff here, but my first story isn't.

So I'll start with the Australian girl who posted on our reddit forum, saying the key to her Fancy Steel belt padlock broke, both she and her girlfriend who put the belt on her could not open the lock, and she's stuck in a rural part of the country, with no money, the local firemen and policemen friends of the family and therefore not an option, and parents that would not be understanding of their situation.

So I congratulated her to her story and assured her (a little ironically) that the description of her predicament made many members in the forum happy, and some would even pay to be in her situation. I did not think for a moment the story could be true.

It was though, at least the subjective part. She sent photos by pm and gave some details about her relationship and the course of actions that made the whole thing more believable. So I went through the basics, is there a centimetre or two for hygiene, how's her skin and bones, is she panicking, where could the spare key be, what tools you can use to get the broken key piece out, cut the cables or pick the lock, could she get to the next city to get help from authorities there etc.

She was hesitant to damage the belt or take further action, and hoped for support from her gf (who was sleeping happily through our first two conversations).

The third day, she messaged me again, complaining that her gf found the whole event very funny and teased her about it instead of helping. So we discussed more possibilities of getting the belt off her. I asked her on what position exactly the key tip was broken, and she said she only saw the broken key shortly in the dark and needs to ask her (absent) gf where it is,. I got suspicious and asked her to pry the padlock's key opening with an unfolded paper clip, which seemed to confirm there was no broken key tip stuck in the padlock.

She then waited for her gf to come home again and, after more hesitation, finally confronted her about our suspicion. The gf became angry about her contact with me and the allegation, denied everything flat out and refused further communication. At this time I was really pushing for her to share the problem with the authorities.

UnfortunateIy I cannot say how or when this story ended - the victim broke contact with me (after asking if I knew ways to temporarily cheat the belt, a quest I usually love to help with, but not in the mess she was in at that time), and I think that unfortunately she was not yet ready to end the abusive relationship she was in. There was also some financial dependency because she lived in her gf's house and was not keen to go back to her parents.

How about your stories, happier ones?