more key problems

yesterday, my husband got his key stuck in the mail box. our mail box is on the outside of the apartment complex's office building. i guess the lock has always given him trouble whether he uses his key or mine and yesterday he just couldn't get it out. the office people got the maintenance man over there and he just unhooked the rest of the keys from the mail key and told derek that he didn't have to stay there to hear him cuss at the lock, so derek left. he told me that the man said he would just take the whole door off and either "gently persuade" the key out and fix the lock, or just chuck the whole lock and get us a new one and new keys. derek thought it was funny that he would "gently persuade" the key. derek really gets along with the people in the office and they like us because we always give them our rent check early. it works out better for us to pay early, otherwise we'd be two days late with the way that his paydays fall.