Dolly Parton is probably the only person who could get away with this.
She sat down on the Country Heat podcast last year where she told a pretty funny story about her early days in Nashville.
Some of her biggest hits in the beginning of her career were recorded at the historic RCA Studio B, where other icons like Elvis (among plenty of others), were recording their music around the same time.
And one of the first things Dolly did when she started making some real money of her own from her songs was buy herself a brand new car. Being from the mountains of East Tennessee and growing up poor, it was the first new car she’d ever owned in her life.
However, she also noted that she was a pretty bad driver, and one day when she was trying to make it to her studio session on time, she went flying into the parking lot and ultimately rammed straight into RCA’s brand new building because she didn’t put the brakes on fast enough:
“The first time I went there to record, I’d had my first new car. I was in such a hurry and I wasn’t that good of a driver.
And so on the day that we had my session, I just went plowing right into the side of the building.
And that building was actually new at the time, and I had bricks falling on my new car, new bricks on my new car.”
Of course, most people would be freaking out at that point, one, because you just ruined a brand new car, but also because you destroyed part of your employer’s building.
Not Dolly, though… she said she just went on in as if everything was normal because she didn’t want to be late for her session.
I don’t know if you call that professional or crazy, but it makes for a pretty damn good story now:
“And I didn’t want to stop, though, ‘cuz I didn’t want to be late for the session, so I just got out of my car and went on in and did the session.
And somebody came in at a break and said ‘Somebody has run into the damn building!’ I never said a word, and now even still, they have a plaque saying that Dolly ran into the building here.”
For as many trophies and awards as she’s gotten over the years, that has to be one of the most unique.
You never want to be known as the girl at work who drove her car into the building (and left it there), but I respect the commitment to be punctual… I’m a freak about being on time myself.
And I mean, being Dolly Parton also makes getting away with something like that slightly easier, right?
Check her out telling the story herself here:
