Story Archive

Dodging Responsibility

Penney Thompson dropped off her truck, which she calls “Big Bertha”, at her Flowood, Miss., dealership for service. She was later on the highway in a different vehicle and saw her truck — its driver was tailgating another car, so she followed it. When the driver stopped at a home improvement store for an errand, she waited for 20 minutes to chew him out. During the wait she called the dealership to ask if they knew where her truck was, and apparently wasn’t satisfied with the answer. “Ya know.... every now and then I get crazy. I will own that,” Thompson said. “I found my spare key out of my purse and I steal MY OWN DODGE from Lowe’s parking lot cause ya see I’m a Home Depot kinda girl anyway,” she posted online. Thompson says she drove the truck back to the dealership and told them what happened. Dealership owner Robert Watson took responsibility, firing the employee who took the truck and suspending the service manager. “We’re not running from it,” Watson said. “We should treat customer vehicles better than we treat our own vehicles.” (MS/Jackson Clarion Ledger) ...The technician was at least efficient: while stuck at Lowe’s, he applied for a new job.