Years ago, a cow*rker went out to lunch on a Friday and didn't come back. He was at a local establishment, drinking a margarita, and thinking about going back to the office when he decided to take advantage of an early out offer that ended at COB that day.
OK, this is a riot!
Many years ago I had a friend/co-worker who used to look at the vacation balance on her weekly paystub. If she had accrued at least 4 hours, she marched into her boss' office and announced that she was taking the rest of the day off.
But your story sure beats mine!