I was pulling into a parking lot when the man in the car beside me rolled down his window and shouted, “Leave your windshield wipers up!”
I laughed because I assumed he was joking.
But after he parked, I noticed he had lifted both of his wipers away from the windshield.
Then I looked around.
Two other cars nearby had done exactly the same thing.
Now I was curious.
At first, I wondered if it was some strange local signal or maybe a warning about theft.
A few minutes later, I asked a man standing near the entrance if he knew what was going on.
He smiled and pointed toward the sky.
Freezing rain was expected overnight.
People were lifting their wipers so the rubber blades wouldn’t freeze directly to the windshield. That way, they wouldn’t have to struggle to pull them loose in the morning or risk damaging the blades.
Suddenly, the stranger’s advice made sense.
I went back to my car and raised mine too.
The next morning, the parking lot was covered in ice.
Most windshields needed scraping, but my wipers were still free and easy to use.
I never saw the man again.
But every winter since then, whenever freezing weather is coming, I remember the random stranger who saved me one annoying morning.
