Can't access recovery mode by holding shift

I have Xubuntu 14.04 and I cannot access recovery mode via holding down the SHIFT key. I read almost everywhere that this is how you do it.

Does that work for Xubuntu as well or just Ubuntu?

The reason this is needed is because I somehow lost sudo on my user account and cant access any root commands.

I was able to access the recovery mode menu ONLY and finally after trying ESC. At no time and in no way did the SHIFT key work for me.