The ad reads: "OLDS 1999 Intrigue. Totally uncool parents who obviously don't love teenage son, selling his car. Only driven for three weeks before snoopy mom who needs to get a life found booze under front seat. $3,700/offer. Call meanest mom on the planet."
Hambleton has heard from people besides interested buyers since recently placing the ad in The Des Moines Register.
The 48-year-old from Fort Dodge says she has fielded more than 70 telephone calls from emergency room technicians, nurses, school counselors and even a Georgia man who wanted to congratulate her.
"The ad cost a fortune, but you know what? I'm telling people what happened here," Hambleton says. "I'm not just gonna put the car for resale when there's nothing wrong with it, except the driver made a dumb decision.
"It's overwhelming the number of calls I've gotten from people saying 'Thank you, it's nice to see a responsible parent.' So far there are no calls from anyone saying, 'You're really strict. You're real overboard, lady."'
The only critic is her son, who Hambleton says is "very, very unhappy" with the ad and claims the alcohol was left by a passenger.
Hambleton believes her son but has decided mercy isn't the best policy in this case. She says she set two rules when she bought the car at Thanksgiving: No booze, and always keep it locked.
The car has been sold, but Hambleton says she will continue the ad for another week - just for the feedback.
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Hi Diane,
Thanks for visiting me. Good to find another Portlander. Loved reading this article. Makes me feel like I'm not such a meany after all.
Posted by: Puanani | Tuesday, January 15, 2008 at 08:57 PM
I got a good chuckle out of this story! Good for her!
Posted by: Stephanie | Monday, January 14, 2008 at 06:10 PM
I saw this article on cnn.com. I thought it was very entertaining. I'm most happy that she set a rule and stuck to it.
Posted by: sparkliesunshine | Friday, January 11, 2008 at 08:18 AM
That's an amazing story!!
Posted by: Margaret | Thursday, January 10, 2008 at 05:38 PM
I read this on MSNBC.com and I thought it was great that she's getting so much attention for this! (I'll just bet her son is feeling that he's living the worst days of his life!) Good for her. I get so tired of parents who think their kids do no wrong, and don't follow through with consequences for their actions. Kind of like the dad taking his family on a road trip to Disneyland and he'd warned the kids that if they didn't stop bickering, he'd "turn this car around." We've all heard that, right? Well, they were about an hour out of Disneyland and the fighting had continued, and guess what? He turned that car around and headed home! No Disneyland, kids!
Posted by: Tonya | Wednesday, January 09, 2008 at 10:14 PM
Good for her!
Hope everyone's recuperated from colds and teeth-pulling around there.
Happy New Year~
Posted by: tinker | Wednesday, January 09, 2008 at 08:21 PM