When I was a student at UT I was sleep deprived from studying for finals- I had gotten back to my apartment from a many hour study session... I was exhausted, but I had to do laundry...
I was practically a zombie. I lived on the 3rd floor of the complex. I was carrying my laundry back up and got to the head of the stairs and opened my door... I was confused- apparently in the past 10 minutes someone had broken in and replaced all my furniture with very expensive oriental rugs and furniture, not only that - they had placed a very terrified and screaming elderly oriental woman in my living room....

I stood there dumbfounded and realized my mistake, I had opened the door to the 2nd floor apartment by mistake- I slammed the door shut and felt horrified...

I made it worse by then knocking on the door so I could explain the mistake to her... so I could make amends- she locked the door and stared, terrified at the unshaven wild eyed guy through the peephole... she never answered. I felt HORRIBLE.

I wrote a note explaining the mistake and slid it under the door... I felt sick for causing someone so much panic. The next day the tenant of the apartment stopped by, he found it amusing- he was a grad student, he explained that his mother was visiting and spoke no english, so my apologies I spoke through the door might as well have been threats to her... There were no hard feelings, and as he was going through finals himself he understood my state of mind.

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Another case, which illustrates the attitude in Hawaii wonderfully, was the first week after I first moved here- my employer put me up in a house that they keep for visiting scientists. I managed to get locked out... I had no way back in... I was truly screwed. Across the street there were some people still awake having a party- I went over to borrow their phone, I explained my problem- They welcomed me immediately and offered me food and drink- I was unable to contact the person that might be able to help me....

Several of them were unwilling to have me spend the night in my car, so they insisted that we find a way into the house- they left the party and dragged me back to the house, we cased the house and found a small window open in the kitchen, they carefully removed the screen and lifted the thinnest guy through the window. He opened the door from the inside.

It was a great fun for all involved, except I kept thinking that they had no way to know that I wasnt a criminal- they just trusted me and took me at my word that I had a right to be in that house...

Kinda a neat introduction to Hawaii.