A McDonald's employee in Washington state got the surprise of a lifetime when her stolen SUV rolled up to her drive-thru window and the alleged car thief placed an order.

Virginia Maiden awoke Tuesday morning to start her typical weekday. As she left her apartment, however, Maiden noticed that her SUV that had been parked outside her window was gone and nowhere in sight.

"She was so confused, didn't know what was going on, it was just gone," an assistant manager at the McDonald's in Kennewick, Wash., told ABC News.

Maiden continued her day and hitched a ride to work, where she later noticed a familiar car coming through the drive-thru and then spotted her McDonald's visor in the dashboard, confirming that it was her vehicle.

"You would think whoever stole the car would say, 'I'm not going to go to McDonald's because the owner works there,'" the manager said, asking not to be identified.

The suspect attempted to order ice cream, among other items, but the quick-thinking Maiden came up with a plan. She told the woman that the ice cream machine was broken and to pull up to the next window and wait.

"Obviously, the machine wasn't broken. It was a decoy to stall them till the cops came," the manager said.

As Maiden had hoped, the decoy worked. She immediately called 9-1-1 and officers made it in time to arrest the suspect. Among the items in the car were clothes allegedly stolen from JC Penney and Sears, according to the Kennewick Police Department. The woman has yet to be charged, officials said.

"What if she [Maiden] was off? What if she was on a break and not at the window? What if she looked away … It was meant to be," the manager said. "It was at the right time and the right moment."