Unwitting car thief

“Recently, I attended a conference for work and picked up a rental car from the airport. That day, they were shorthanded, so after filling out the paperwork, the agent told me to go to the garage and pick any car in row 10 since the keys were in the vehicles. I was in such a hurry that I just jumped into the first car in the row—a fancy sports car that someone had even started for me!

“As I was exiting the parking lot, I noticed a water bottle in the cup holder and a bag of chips in the passenger seat. I figured, being so shorthanded, they hadn’t had a chance to clean up the car up after the last renter.

“Two days later, I headed back to the airport. When I pulled up to return the car, the agent looked flustered as he glanced at me nervously. Then he leaned in close and whispered, ‘This is my boss’s car—he’d left it running to grab something from the office and when he came out, it was gone. He reported it stolen a few days ago…’ I began to stutter an explanation, but the agent waved me off, ‘Just go! Hurry! I’ll take care of it.’ I took off but kept checking over my shoulder for the police until my plane took flight. Thus was my short-lived and utterly unwitting career as a car thief.”