The children are arguing. You spent the day putting out someone else's fires at work. The air conditioning went out on the hottest day of the year.

These are all scenarios that might push you to your breaking point, make you want to throw or break something. There is a new business in Daphne that can help you release the rage.

Shattered opened in April and is Baldwin County's only rage room, offering a safe place to destroy things.

According to various online sources, rage rooms got their start in Japan in the early 2000s and spread to larger cities. Guests pick a package, pay a fee and arm themselves in safety gear before picking a weapon of choice. In Daphne, guests can choose between small and large sledgehammers, golf clubs and baseball bats.

Once inside the rage room, guests will find a selection of items and appliances to smash and break in any manner of chosen destruction. A parents night out themed package offers kids toys to break. A workplace theme package lets you channel your inner Office Space fandom and smash a printer. Throw bottles at a windshield, or swing a sledgehammer into a TV.

Jennifer Bartnick and John Steingraber are the owners of Shattered LLC and new Baldwin County residents. When asked what brought them to the area, they both replied, "Google."

When they first met in Maryland, Bartnick said, they both talked about wanting to move south eventually. When Steingraber was ready to retire after 22 years in the Navy, he knew he could get a job on the base in Pensacola, so they focused their search in Florida. A summer visit to check out neighborhoods and different towns ended with the couple deciding Pensacola wasn't the place.

"I did a radius search on Google when we were here one summer and thought this looked like a cool place," Bartnick said. "Then I put in 'new beautiful neighborhoods' in Google, and Jubilee Farms popped up, and I saw the entrance. We drove through and had a contract on a house 24 hours later."

Bartnick had always wanted to open a business. She knew how popular rage rooms had become in Maryland, so they came to the idea when they found none close by.

The first-time business owners ran into a few obstacles with landlord worries of noise and building permits, but they overcame them and opened at the beginning of April.

The first month of business was slow, and Bartnick said they were getting discouraged, but the last three weeks have picked up.

Shattered has two rooms, and that calls for a lot of objects to break. They have made connections in the community with pickers and business owners who bring them items like broken windshields and empty wine and beer bottles. One delivery last week brought six windshields. They have no lack of dishware and glassware after buying a moving truck's worth from a closing business in Mobile. When their stock of soon-to-be-annihilated appliances and toys gets low, Bartnick hits weekend yard sales.

"We have had people who have lost spouses or parents who have come in," Bartnick said. "When they left, they said it was the best thing they could have done. It is kind of emotional. We had two people going through affairs and come in and rage out. We hear some pretty interesting stories from people."

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Guests can book a session by visiting www.shatteredal.com/rage-room. The website offers a range of packages.

The Basic package includes 20 items to break during a 25-minute session. Bring your friends and get five additional items per person. The Office package lets you break computers, phones, printers and office supplies. They even have a Gender Reveal package.

SAFETY FIRST

Guests must wear long pants, long shirts and closed-toed shoes. Shattered has a variety of safety gear guests must wear like safety glasses and helmets. Steingraber said he gives everyone a safety talk before he turns them loose.

Stop in and shatter something. It feels so wrong but so good.