Fighting a can of chili in a hotel bathroom in Reno at 1am, and the front desk clerk gave me the fix
So I was in Reno for a work thing and got back to my room starving around 1am with nothing open except a gas station. I grabbed a can of chili and a pack of those little saltine crackers, thinking I was set. Problem was, I forgot a can opener, and this was one of those cans with no pull tab. I spent like 15 minutes trying to stab it open with a room key, which obviously just bent the key and made a tiny dent. I called the front desk in full defeat, and the guy goes, no joke, "honey, flip it upside down on the counter and grind the rim in circles like you're mad at it." I did that for maybe 30 seconds on the bathroom counter and the whole top popped right off. I ate that chili cold out of the can at 2am feeling like a genius and an idiot at the same time. Now I keep a spoon and a can of something in my bag on every trip, and I want to know if anyone else has a no-opener trick that actually works.
That trick works but you got one part wrong, it's not the rim you grind, it's the SEAM on the side of the can. The rim is rolled and too thick to wear down fast. The side seam is where the metal is weakest, so you flip it upside down and scrub that seam back and forth on rough concrete or a counter edge until it splits. Takes a couple minutes and you might get a little metal dust in there, so wipe it good before you eat. Also the bathroom counter was probably the real hero there, hotel counters are usually that fake stone stuff with a rough edge that eats right through the tin.