An Early Summer?

While we may have had one wild winter here in the Mid-Atlantic states, it certainly didn’t cause any delay in the spring. In fact, here in Virginia, where our office is based, it seems we may have skipped spring and went straight to summer. We’ve been seeing temperatures in the high 80s and 90s over the last few weeks. And, at least here on the I-95 Corridor, it’s already leading to some glass breakage.

My husband came home this past Monday frustrated to announce that his windshield apparently had been cracked on the very outer-edge, but he didn’t know it until the temperature started to warm up and it started to spread right across the middle of his windshield. Now, unfortunately, it’s beyond repair. I actually called at lunchtime today to make an appointment for him to get it fixed this weekend, so look for photos of that to appear next week.

Then, yesterday morning, a co-worker advised me she was driving on a side road this week and a rock seems to have come from nowhere and cracked her windshield as well. (Strangely, she reported that there were no vehicles around and it seemed to have fallen from the sky.) She was speedy and has already had it repaired.

As my publisher, Deb Levy, read this blog, she mentioned that her husband, too, experienced a cracked windshield this week.

But I’m wondering if this phenomenon is occurring elsewhere as well, and if business might just pick up for the summer season even earlier than usual. What do you think? Please e-mail pstacey@glass.com.

Sweet Revenge?

On a side note, last week I blogged about a study done in the United Kingdom on infidelity and car damage. (CLICK HERE if you missed it.) I also asked readers to write and advise if they’d ever had a customer admit to breaking a significant other’s windshield—or having their own windshield broken—because of a betrayal.

One Midwest reader was kind enough to share this story:

“We have had our fair share of fixing people’s emotional breakdowns. Just this week we had a Lincoln Navigator in which every piece of glass, except one, was broken out … windshield, four door glasses, one vent, two quarter glasses and a backglass! The car was totaled by the insurance company. We have had many others I am sad to say … a vehicle that a brick was taken to … not only the backglass (an unfortunately rare and expensive piece) but the body of the vehicle as well. Seems that it is a target that they can damage and take their frustration out on.”

Thanks for reading, and I look forward to hearing some of your stories as well.