People get mad at each other. It’s one of the seemingly unstoppable, irrefutable realities of upright apes in a societal contract. However, settling a spat with someone should never take the place of better judgment. Unfortunately, one woman at a North Carolina Chick-fil-A traded a heated argument for her Hyundai after she forgot to put it in park.  

A North Carolina woman with a fast food hankering hopped out of her car to argue with Chick-fil-A workers, just to have it roll away

It’s a golden age of vehicle safety. Thanks to features like blind spot monitoring, automatic emergency braking, and forward collision warning, modern cars are orders of magnitude safer than they once were. Unfortunately, technology can only go so far. At the end of the day, putting your car in park is, well, important.

If you need an example of just how important, you need only watch this woman at a Chick-fil-A drive-thru in Wilmington, North Carolina. A video captured her attempt to pull up alongside the fast food joint and get out to argue with the establishment’s employees. The woman exits the car, already in a heated debate with the Chick-fil-A workers. Unfortunately, she had neglected one of the quintessential must-dos of driving a car with an automatic transmission.

That’s right; she forgot to put her Hyundai Sonata in park. It takes a moment (maybe less) for the woman to recognize her mistake. The 3,500-lb sedan rolls away while she tries desperately to stop its momentum. As you might imagine, she couldn’t stop the Sonata from rolling away. The employees watched in disbelief as the Hyundai went over a curb and disappeared down a hill on the other side.

“This is why we’re concerned!” a woman who appeared to be the store manager shouted as the Sonata’s driver chased her runaway car. “Ma’am?” the manager asked before changing her focus. “Okay, call the police,” she said to one of the red-clad Chick-fil-A employees. After the car went over the barrier, concerns shifted. “Tell her to get away from the car!” one of the employees shouted before giving chase.

A social media post reported that the driver had a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.00%. Still, her judgment was questionable at best. No argument is worth hurting yourself, someone else, or damaging your car. If you feel yourself losing it, check out these tips for keeping cool behind the wheel. Of course, you have to stay behind the wheel.