Lost Customer’s Key

Had an absolute shocker. I’m a trainee/improver and was working alone today at a lovely customers house through a builder. There’s loads of trades going in and out so there’s a key safe on the door.

My boss set me up with what needed doing and left, at the end of the day there was one other guy still working so I left without thinking about the key, as I wasn’t the person locking up.

My boss called me at 8.30pm saying it’s bloody embarrassing and I need to head back there now. I agreed as it’s my mistake, but when checking my work shorts the key was gone. I spent all day up and down from the loft crawling about in the heat and it must’ve fallen out my pocket somewhere up there.

He’s now fuming and saying I need to head over there first thing tomorrow to search the loft, and if I don’t find it I need to pay to get the locks changed and get a new key done. This seems fair but at the same time I’ve never called in sick, never had a complaint about me or my work and am constantly told I’ve got the right outlook and am frequently going above and beyond.

Reckon this is fair? The company I work for is literally just my boss and me and I’ve been with him for 3 months. Really not looking forward to shelling out a couple hundred quid ffs