The "Other" Customers!

**obxeyeguy** · 10-22-2009, 12:20 PM

We all know about the bad, cranky, never make them happy, demanding etc... customers, but what about the ones that keep us coming back everyday? The good ones!!

I just had a nice young lady, long time customer, pick up her new glasses, and she brought me a box of homemade chocolate. It got me thinking about all the nice things people have brought me over the years. It ranges from candy, gift certificate's, cakes, hockey tics, beer, wine, liquer, to the use of a condo in Vegas, or use of a house on Tortola, gratis. Too many more to even try to remember all the special things people have given me.

What are some of the things people have given/done for you for doing a great job?

**optical24/7** · 10-22-2009, 12:34 PM

Let's see...

A boot in the butt..
foul name calling...
an apple with a razor in it....but enough about my ex-wife...

I did just get the latest CD from a polka music king. Honest. He's a patient of mine.:D

**keithbenjamin** · 10-22-2009, 12:46 PM

Funny, I just wrote about this in my blog. I really liked Judy Canty's article on the subject in this month's ECP mag. Even the customers most people dread can be the ones that keep you coming back everyday when you remember they are simply people with problems like everyone else. Moreover, when you can get past the challenge, help them solve their problems, and walk away happy, it can be very satisfying.

So, here's a question... which is better; the difficult customer that you are able to make happy, or the just the simply great people that walk through your door? I'm thinking they're both usually somewhat unexpected and bring a certain amount of joy to the day.

-Keith

**DragonLensmanWV** · 10-22-2009, 12:47 PM

We had a guy come in from the local Heiner's bakery and brought us all sorts of bread and rolls.
We have a "candy guy" that comes in every now and then.
I've been mentioned in one of my custom hard to fit patient's books. The one in my first article for ECP mag.

**CME4SPECS** · 10-22-2009, 04:02 PM

I had a customer invite me over for Thanksgiving pie, 26 years ago. I married her daughter 24 years ago!

**Now I See** · 10-22-2009, 04:14 PM

~ Brownies
~ Hugs
~ Pictures
~ Bookmarks
~ Cards
~ and they bring their family and friends!!! :)

**Jana Lewis** · 10-22-2009, 04:22 PM

Had a young lady last year around the holidays that came in and asked for me by name, she was young and I didn't recall her.

I asked what I could do for her and she handed me a tin with homemade fudge in it. Her Mother lived out of town and came in with a repair a few months prior. I fixed her frame and she asked her daughter to drop off this tin of fudge because get this...she APPRECIATED it! Wow huh?

**braheem24** · 10-22-2009, 04:24 PM

Been offered grand daughters on numerous occasions :cheers:

**Striderswife** · 10-22-2009, 05:12 PM

How refreshing! It seems there's not enough of the good ones to make up for the crazy ones. We'll occasionally get cookies brought in to the office. I don't know that I've personally received any goodies (I have had tips before, as much as $20). I posted a few days ago about a boy with screwball prisms, and how his eyes lit up when he finally got them (he'd had them made at a one-hour place, and they got the prisms backwards twice in a row. It made my heart happy to watch his face as he saw his surroundings with depth for the first time.

It is a nice feeling when someone who I used to hide from becomes one of my friendliest patients. It's nice when someone comes in and asks for you by name. It means you're doing something right.

**Strab** · 10-22-2009, 05:21 PM

Originally Posted by CME4SPECS

I had a customer invite me over for Thanksgiving pie, 26 years ago. I married her daughter 24 years ago!

Wow! You must have been really impressive. Pie and her daughter! They weren't at the same time were they:finger:.

I didn't receive a person but I have received numerous flower arrangements, candy, cakes, pies, money, KFC, lunch from restaurants of my choice, etc. Our customers are great! Even the cranky ones.

**CME4SPECS** · 10-22-2009, 06:40 PM

I had an elderly man come in just a couple weeks ago with some mangled glasses that he got through the Veteran's program. I fixed them, it took me all of 5 minutes. He pulled out his wallet to pay and I told him, n/c and thanked him for his services to our country. The next day his wife walks in with a very nice bottle of J Lohr Cab and a nice card thanking me, for fixing his glasses.
I once had a handicapped lady (she passed away) that was wheelchair bound. Her caregiver would park out front and I would go out and adjust her glasses for her. One day when I finished adjusting her glasses she handed me a card, in the card was a $100 bill! How nice was that?
I've had customers give me putters, golf balls, wine, liquor, beer, cookies, candy, cake, lunch, show tickets, gift certificates, etc.
I had a guy come in with a pair of glasses that I made him. He came in one day, a few weeks after he got them and handed them to me and says "here's a present for you... stick em up you a$$"! And he turned around and walked out!

**bob_f_aboc** · 10-22-2009, 06:44 PM

I have a couple that retired from Hawaii to Texas. They still go back a couple times a year. Every time they go to Hawaii, they come in for an adjustment. About a week later when they come back, they bring in chocolate covered macadamia nuts, or Hawaiian coffee, or some other island type goodies.

The best by far has to be when the kids come in to get glasses or tell mom that they need to go see 'Dr Bob' to fix their glasses. There are about 10 kids that have to give me a hug every time they are even close to the office.

*Dr Bob is a name given to me by the above mentioned kids. This in no way is to indicate that I have academically achieved the title "Doctor", nor would I want it.

**FullCircle** · 10-22-2009, 10:45 PM

One of our retail management staff and I just received two adorable little boxes of Fannie Mae truffles this week because we did the obvious and cut down her temples by a few mm.

It was completely unexpected but put smiles on our faces

**Spexvet** · 10-23-2009, 08:48 AM

Wine, cookies, candy, a cd, cards, cash, gift cards, bar-b-q sauce. Even though patients often come in and tell me that they need a screw, I've never gotten one.;)

**Fezz** · 10-23-2009, 09:16 AM

Great thread!

I had a great experience just the other day. I have an Old-timer that comes in a few times a year with his bride for check-ups, etc. They live by one of our Docs and is very friendly with him. This guy is awesome. They haven't bought glasses for years. He called a few weeks ago to ask me what kind of beer I like. I tell him any beer that I am hoisting with a friend is what I like. He calls the other day and asks me to stop by his house after work. I swing by and have a great 45 minute visit. He is a really neat Old Dude.

He pops open his trunk, tells me to grab the case of beer, and thanks me for all of my help over the years! He explains that everytime he comes in how helpful I am, how much I do for he and the misses, and how I never charge or take payment. I thanked him for his kindness. He said, "No, thank you!"!

These kind of things makes what we do ALMOST worth it!

;):cheers::cheers::cheers::cheers:

**Chris Ryser** · 10-24-2009, 01:41 PM

deleted

**kikin** · 10-24-2009, 02:19 PM

Last year I helped a woman and she said she would bring me some beer, she never did, but she was in again this week, I helped her again and she came back with a 6-pack of Obsidian:cheers:.
We have a lot of tourists stop by for adjustments and repairs and often don't charge if it is pretty simple to us. We have received flowers, chocolates, baked goods, etc.

Our regulars often bring in their garden treats, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, honey and lots of hugs.

**Jacqui** · 10-24-2009, 02:23 PM

We're a small wholesale lab in an even smaller town. While we don't normally see the patients, we do have people stop by with all kinds of goodies. Mostly just for helping them choosing where to purchase, advise on what to buy, maybe a few small repairs. Every year the Brownies get to tour the lab and see us in action which brings in more goodies. I can't imagine working in a larger city where things like this don't happen.

**obxeyeguy** · 10-24-2009, 11:11 PM

I almost forgot one of my best gifts. A couple years ago, I was in one of my other offices, and was fitting a 11 year old girl, about a -1.50 ou. The frame she picked was more than Mom wanted to spend, but she gave in as it looked the best. Made them up in about an hour, and after putting them on her face and fitting them to her, her eyes lit up. She got up from the table, and came over to give me a big hug.

I know I live in the south, and it's the way we do things, but that was priceless, and something I will never forget, as it is worth way more than money.

**Striderswife** · 10-24-2009, 11:34 PM

obxeyeguy, that's the best!!! I'd rather have that than cookies, I think.

There's a couple pictures of me in a little girl's scrapbook her mother made. When they came in to pick up her glasses, that was her first pair ever, her mom took a bunch of pictures of her getting fitted. It was sweet.

**DragonLensmanWV** · 10-25-2009, 07:59 AM

Originally Posted by Fezz

Great thread!

I had a great experience just the other day. I have an Old-timer that comes in a few times a year with his bride for check-ups, etc. They live by one of our Docs and is very friendly with him. This guy is awesome. They haven't bought glasses for years. He called a few weeks ago to ask me what kind of beer I like. I tell him any beer that I am hoisting with a friend is what I like. He calls the other day and asks me to stop by his house after work. I swing by and have a great 45 minute visit. He is a really neat Old Dude.

He pops open his trunk, tells me to grab the case of beer, and thanks me for all of my help over the years! He explains that everytime he comes in how helpful I am, how much I do for he and the misses, and how I never charge or take payment. I thanked him for his kindness. He said, "No, thank you!"!

These kind of things makes what we do ALMOST worth it!

;):cheers::cheers::cheers::cheers:

So, you're saying TWO cases and it IS worth it??:cheers::cheers:

**Spexvet** · 10-28-2009, 08:10 AM

Originally Posted by kikin

Last year I helped a woman and she said she would bring me some beer, she never did, but she was in again this week, I ...

How could I forget beer? Then again, I EARNED that beer. Ugh! A high hyperope with 5 D cyl, nystagmus, and a chronic head turn. Mono PDs were like 36/22, and he was what we call "visually demanding".