[tincan1966]

I see a couple concerns here- mostly from the shop owners' side:
being a shop owner here's my take The shop owner has a responsibility to the customer, to recognize a "unique" or uncommon vehicle and ask the customer about any special operating conditions ie shiftes, clutch, no power steering etc. second, rather than just throw the keys to anyone, the shop owner needs to make sure the tech can actually drive the vehicle. Third, the shop owner should have stepped in when seeing the situation and stopped the person attempting to drive the truck.
I also feel it's the custoemr's responsibility to ask the shop owner if they have any questions or if they'd prefer you drove it in- which also presents issues with insurance, etc.

Either way- I am glad you have no permanent damage.
The shop owner got off lucky- the "free balance" you got probably cost him about $10-15(labor, wheel weights, etc) which is a helluva lot less than a clutch replacment.