Obligatory this happened many years ago.

So I had just moved into my first ever apartment up on the 8th floor. I was feeling amazing about being on my own, so I went out to the balcony to take in the view and just enjoy the moment. Out of habit from living with my parents, as soon as I stepped outside I closed the sliding door behind me to keep cooler air inside and any bugs outside.

After a mini celebration on my balcony I went to go back inside... The door wouldn't slide. I tried again and again, refusing to believe I'd just locked myself out of my apartment because of a self-locking patio door that's on the 8th floor (because obviously all the thieving happens up there /sarcasm).

I panic when I realize I'm trapped, that there's no way for me to open the door. The windows are also shut and locked.I can't climb down the balconies to the ground floor, and ofc my phone is inside my apt.

The sun suddenly felt very hot and burny. I start to sweat from stress and heat. I'm hyper aware that too much of my pasty white skin is showing thanks to my choice of house clothes. I try to think cool thoughts as I use the few slivers of shade to my advantage, and my mind wanders to the story of an older woman who'd died earlier that same year because she locked herself out during the winter and froze to death.

I start panicking again while desperately scanning the area in the hopes I see someone, anyone who'll come to my rescue.

After what felt like years (about an hour) I spot someone heading toward the building entrance. I shout and wave my bright red arms, but they don't notice me and keep walking. I became more and more shrill until eventually my shrieks of desperation caught their attention. It's the superintendent! I shout that I'm trapped and need help getting in, he can't hear anything and shrugs. I mime that I'm locked out and need him to come to my apt on the 8th floor. No go. After several attempts to communicate my situation he gives me a thumbs up and goes in. I have zero idea if he understood me, and I pray that I didn't deadbolt the door.

Eventually the patio door opens to glorious freedom, and I melt onto the cold shaded floor in fiery relief. The super came through! I tell him what happened, and I learn I'm not the first person that this happened to, that I was lucky since I was "only" stuck outside for an hour during a hot and sunny day. I tell him it makes zero sense to have self-locking patio doors in apartments, especially if people often lock themselves out, and he looks shook.

The next day, all residents were notified we'd be getting new sliding doors installed over the next week. They opted for a model without an auto locking mechanism. Unsurprisingly, no one else ever got trapped in their balcony again.

TL;DR: went to balcony in my new 8th floor apt and the sliding door locked behind me. Burnt in sun for an hour before waving down the superintendent for help. He got me out, and soon after all sliding doors were replaced in all apts, without auto lock.