When Penny Ivy Thompson dropped her truck off at a dealership in Flowood, Mississippi for routine service, she expected it to stay put. So, it was more than a little shocking when she spotted it cruising down the road—being tailgated, no less—by someone who definitely wasn’t her.
In a now-deleted Facebook post that quickly went viral, Penny detailed the moment she realized a dealership employee had taken her truck out for a personal errand run.
Not one to let something like that slide, she followed the vehicle to see what was going on.
Joy ridingSource: PARAMOUNT PICTURES
The truck eventually pulled into a Lowe’s parking lot. Penny parked nearby and waited for the driver to come back out and face the music. But after 20 minutes of sitting tight, with no sign of the joyrider returning from their home improvement adventure, she decided to take action.
"Well then what did I do? I found my spare key out of my purse and I steal MY OWN DODGE from Lowes parking lot cause ya see I’m a Home Depot kinda girl anyway."
Penny used her spare key, got into her truck, and drove away—leaving the dealership employee stranded in the Lowe’s lot.
"Here comes ol' dummy... swinging his shopping bag and I never checked up. He never looked up. He just stopped and stood in the parking lot. I left him in the parking lot stranded."
The post reportedly received over 10,000 shares before being taken down, according to Jalopnik. And the story didn’t end in the comments section. Local outlet The Clarion Ledger confirmed with Mac Haik Flowood dealership that yes, one of their employees had taken the vehicle without permission.
The sneaky driverReddit
General Manager Will LaGrange responded quickly, meeting with Penny and her husband to apologize. The employee was fired, and the dealership promised to retrain staff on how customer vehicles should be handled.
“They accept responsibility for what happened and are taking steps to make it right.”
Still, the audacity of the whole thing left people scratching their heads. A dealership employee deciding a customer’s vehicle is fair game for a quick store run? That’s not just unprofessional—it’s reckless.
Huh?Tenor
Thankfully, Penny’s got a sense of humor and a spare key. She also has thousands of supporters who agree that she did exactly what needed to be done. Sometimes, the only way to make sure your car stays where it belongs is to steal it back yourself.
This article originally appeared last year.
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