Thinking about things, much of this is really nothing new. The globebox is just like a kitchen drawer, there are obviously gaps around the edges etc and it's unsealed, that's what gives it the ability to open and close etc. The issue in a car, is that bumps can make things bounce, and not necessarily come down in the same place they were put, and hence get outside the 'tray' of the globebox. I remember this happening to my dad when I was a kid.

I guess the surprise to me about this, is that the pen was then able to end up in the aircon system.