First off, thanks for the post. I am safety director at large company and will share your experience as a learning tool. Struggle to get staff to utilize the provided eye protection. Safety glasses as a rule are fairly cheap items and nothing will be scratch “proof”. Even scratch resistant will fail. The biggest enemy is dust. Glasses sit on shelves when not used and most, myself included and being an eyeglass wearer for 40 years, I used to just wipe with cloth or t shirt when they are dirty/dusty. Bad move. Run water over them and wipe dry with eyeglass cleaning cloths. This is the only way to prevent buildup of thin scratches. Also, you get what you pay for, buy the more expensive ones you can find, make sure they are ansi z87+ (labeled on the inside of the bow) for added protection. Most manufacturers are going the z87 or z87+ way anyway.
On a side note, be sure to wear a face shield as well when using angle or bench grinders. Extremely dangerous operations and again, a struggle to get our staff to wear these as well. They have the mindset, “It will never happen to me”…….until it does. Then it’s too late and you can’t undo the permenent damage that you have done.
Thanks for sharing your story.