No sooner had I pressed the Save button on that last post when I got a call from the dispatcher that the guy was in the parking deck waiting on me! That's rather on the fast side, I'd say.
Ran over and paid him, and he said he'd call me when he got through. Well, it's been rather cloudish around here, and it takes about 7.9 minutes to get from my desk to the uppermost level of the deck, in which time a sudden cloudburst could completely fill a windshieldless Volvo, so I told him I'd just hang around a while.
Turned out to be a good long while--one hour, and he's only HALF DONE! Seems when the good wizards of Gothenburg decide on the way to put a windshield in a car, they figure it would never ever have to be removed again for the life of the car. The young fellow averred that Volvos are the absolute worst when it comes time to replace the front window.
Anyway, first he gingerly popped off the molding around the window, and then set about to break loose the fifty eleven dozen plastic clips holding it in. He tried mightily to keep the clips intact, but after struggling for many minutes, he just started breaking them off.
We shot the breeze for a while, told him where I work, talked about the weather, then he started the actual removal process. It's definitely the job for young strong wiry men. He pushed and shoved a variety of edged implements under and around the windshield, grimacing and tugging and shattering the edge of the glass trying to free it from the mastic bed. He stopped briefly and removed his glove, bit at the knuckle of his finger, then spit in the garbage can he'd brought with him.
"You didn't by chance just get some glass in you, did you?"
"Aw, yeah. Don't matter. I got plenty of Super Glue."
I laughed and he said he told the same thing to the doctor when he got the tip of his middle finger lopped off. Only went to the hospital at the end of the day, even though he couldn't get the bleeding to stop, and only because he felt kinda dizzy. Managed to finish eight windshields before going, though. No biggie.
He continued to grunt and pull, he asked how long I'd had the car, told him the story of the previous owner, he told the story of the car he'd just bought. We agreed that it's nice to have one you can actually work on with a screwdriver and a wrench.
FINALLY got the glass out. It looked like it had been out in a hail storm.
By this time, a giant dark cloud was moving in just over Southside, and I told him I hated to do it, but I thought I might better go ahead and pull it in under some cover before the deluge hit. He'd said before he was glad I had it out in the open, and I really hated to pull it in, but he said it was okay.
I left him up there putting the new clips on the new glass, and I came back here to check my messages and get some work done. I had just gotten in the building when the rain started in earnest, so I timed it pretty well. He should be through in another half-hour or so, and I have to tell you, that tough young man earned his keep today wrestling with the Volvo.
Posted by Terry Oglesby at June 10, 2005 01:27 PM