The Definition of Insanity
By Abby Bowman
About five years ago, I woke up and walked outside to find a tree limb had fallen on my windshield overnight, smashing it completely.
The windshield had to be replaced. That’s not a remarkable story, as anyone reading this knows. Windshields break and need to be replaced all the time.
What is unusual is that when I drove my vehicle home, I continued to park it in the same spot under the same tree. Clearly, I wasn’t thinking of the anonymous quote often misattributed to Albert Einstein: “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
A nighttime storm passed through a week or two later. It was the kind of storm that sends wind howling around the corners of the building and makes rain sound like thousands of tiny hammers on the roof…the kind of storm that pulls all the loose limbs off trees. Sure enough, when I left the house the following day, I found my windshield again shattered by a tree branch.
I had my windshield replaced for the second time in under a month. Knowing nothing about auto glass at the time, the whole ordeal confused me. Why did my car have to go to a particular shop just for auto glass? Why couldn’t my regular mechanic replace the windshield? It’s just glass; how hard could it be? Boy, was I wrong.
In the time I’ve been an associate editor for AGRR magazine, I’ve learned two significant things. First, windshields are a critical and highly technical part of an automobile. Second, repairing and replacing auto glass requires a specialized skillset and meticulous labor.
I’ve learned this by talking to people throughout the auto glass industry and hearing the stories of how they first got into the business, what they love most about auto glass work and what they think is most important about what they do.
Many of the people I’ve talked to are technicians, managers or shop owners featured in this edition’s Top Automotive Glass Retailers list on page 22. As I reviewed the data the research department of Key Media & Research collected for the list, it sparked a little joy every time I saw a name or shop I recognized, and it fueled my eagerness to learn more every time I saw a name I don’t yet know.
So, let me take the opportunity to introduce myself. Hi, my name is Abby Bowman. I’m new here, but I’m having a fantastic time. And I still park under trees.
Abby Bowman is the associate editor of AGRR™ magazine/glassBYTES.com.
abowman@glass.com
To view the laid‑in version of this issue in our digital edition, CLICK HERE.
