Sadly, I have a lifetime in the glass business.
My dad owned a commercial glazing company. I worked there on and off from ages 12-20.
After college, I worked for a company that was involved in automotive windshields, marine glazing and some residential.
I now work for a company as a product supplier for residential window installations. I was an instructor for a residential installation program.
When I was growing up, we had a saying in the family. “If you have to break something, make sure it’s a window.”
I only recall taking that advice a couple times. Once I was about 16. I accidentally broke the back door window. I removed the glass, drove to the shop, cut a piece of glass, polished the edges, drove home, installed the new window, installed glazing putty and was done before anyone even found out, not that they’d care.
Heh, my memorable “window breaking” occurred about 50 years ago when I was a young teenager.
I had developed a fierce interest in Football (American, not the other kind) so I spent a lot of time throwing a football through a tire hung from a tree like some pro athletes...and I was teaching myself how to punt a ball. I was practicing punting by kicking it over our three story house from the front yard to the back yard.
Well, one shanked off my foot, and went right through the living room window on the front of the house.
Heh, I watched the punt, in slow motion, go right to the window, and my father sitting in the chair right next to it was clearly visible, head bent, reading the daily paper as the football demolished the pane of glass.
My dad’s angry face appeared in the now open window and he yelled angrily “What the Hell are you doing?”
In retrospect, I have to laugh...all I could do was look at the ground and mumble the standard response “I don’t know...”
Anyway, I learned how to cut, install, and glaze a window that day under the smoking eyes of my dad...:)
I resolved if I ever broke another window, I was going to fix it myself before he ever found out about it. I expected if I did break another one, he would whack me in the occipital of my skull with that big class ring of his!