Bathroom door lock

by Luc
(Ottawa, ON)

I recently moved into a new apartment, the place is great but the last tenants put a key lock on the bathroom door....idiots. My friend recently used the bathroom and locked the door. This is one of those doors that opens from the inside but doesn't unlock. Anyway long story short, I'm locked out, and with no key insight.

With my makeshift short hook (tiny allen key bent at the tip) and a screwdriver I can open most vertically set key locks relatively quick. The trick with this lock is that it's mounted sideways ie. the pins are on the right side facing in. Ive spent almost an hour cumulatively and can't even get one pin to set. Its driving me loony. This is a pretty cheap looking pin-tumbler lock and it feels pretty loose. My understanding leads me to think that the margins between the pins and plugs are too big, leaving to much open space, causing the pins to lock instead of set. It also occurred to me that the fact that it's mounted sideways could be making it difficult to pick because gravity isn't pulling the key pins out of the way.

This problem spawned another question as well. What if the locks were mounted upside down, ie. pins at the bottom. Would this not cause the pins to bind due to gravity? Or am i putting too much thought into the problem?

P.S. Since I had to shower the next day the door was kicked in and the frame became split. (sliding the lock didn't work and I didn't have a drill to drill the lock) I just didn't want to leave you with and unfinished story lol.