A General Observation

**RIMLESS** · 03-22-2012, 04:29 PM

Riddle me this. Why is it that when I read threads in other forums such as OD wire... I never have to sift through people bragging about being better than the next guy? Optiboard almost seems like a locker room atmosphere rather than a forum for thoughts. Starting to think some opticians are suffering from some sort of persecution or Napoleon complex? Comments from the gallery:

**Judy Canty** · 03-22-2012, 05:24 PM

I believe that OD's share a proscribed level of education that engenders mutual respect. I'm sure there is some measure of dis-harmony, but it is rarely aired in full public view. Opticians do not share a proscribed level of education and therefore feel the need to "prove" themselves constantly. As I have observed in the past, we (I am a Licensed Optician) often behave like crabs in a bucket. See what I just did? When was the last time you heard or saw an OD have to put the qualifer "Licensed" before their professional title? It's not Napoleonic, it's inferior.

**RIMLESS** · 03-22-2012, 05:40 PM

Thanks for that insight. Don't get me wrong OD's have vastly different opinions as well but I seem to think we have a way way way more respectful approach towards each other even when we disagree...BTW I like the crabs in a bucket. You guys do bite hard and the arrogance in here is simply to die for!!!!!!!

**chip anderson** · 03-22-2012, 06:07 PM

I can't tell you how many meetings I have been to where the OMD speaker had to brag about being the first. First implant in the state, first transplant, working with so and so in some foreign country to bring some sort of product or technique to the country. Have known a lot of them that would snipe across the operating room to another about how much better, or how many more of what ever he had done.
However I remember reading a SiFi book once where one group had come upon a deserted alien space ship and one of the officers was noteing how the techs were complaining about how whomever worked on or installed something before them did it wrong. I believe he said that this was something heard from every technician since the beginning of time.
Many optician types and I used to be one of them seemed think that putting down other opticians somehow made them a better optician type.
I have come of late to learn that often one can gain pearls of wisdom from even the least experienced. We have all attended lectures by people that thought they had the great answers who didn't really know which end of the tube the round came out of. But even these people may actually know somethingwe don't or remind of something forgotten.

Chip

**Wes** · 03-22-2012, 06:17 PM

Have a look at the thread linked below. Junebug posted a good bit of nonsense, and suggested that 4 ABO Masters had no idea what they were talking about. This goes on all the time in the real world. Most "opticians" are poorly educated, if at all, and don't know what they don't know. They often assume the information they possess (erroneous or not) is all that there is.
Look at the job board, where posts hiring for opticians say 1-2 years experience preferred, not necessary, license preferred, not necessary, even though it is a legally protected title. I've brought up the same point as cat before about having to qualify myself as a "Licensed" optician. From my point of view, in SC that's the ONLY kind of optician. Optometrists don't call themselves "Licensed" optometrists, do they?
Look at the ABO and NCLE exams. There are Advanced exams, so why are the others not listed as Basic? Most likely because those opticians are too insecure to accept a "Basic" certification. In the Military we had Basic NCO Course and Advanced NCO Course. Medics have Basic Life Support and Advanced Life Support. Yet most "Certified" opticians have no idea that there are higher level certifications than their own. When I earned my Advanced certification, no one I knew outside of Optiboard knew what it was or what it meant. In fact, it led to ridicule from these same ignoramuses.
Most opticians seem arrogant because they are always having to prove themselves, and no matter what they achieve, they rarely get respect from most of the rest of the community. Look at PhiTrace or Nicolay Angelov. Both are brilliant, but get little to no credit because they're "NEW". I've made a point of this on several occasions, and yet Nicolay has decided to hang it up, and PhiTrace has decided to just throw his junk on the table and call it like he sees it. I regularly get called an arrogant know it all by my co-workers because I nearly always have the answer to any issue that arises, and I don't frame the answer as "maybe". Many of these co-workers are nearly clueless about anything related to ophthalmic optics, yet they will brook no suggestion from me, The certified Master in Ophthalmic Optics, believing us to somehow be equals in knowledge.
Honestly, this has to be one of the most infuriating "professional" fields to work in considering the vast disparity in knowledge and capability, yet use of the same title.

http://www.optiboard.com/forums/show...ismatic-effect

So maybe it is a bit of a persecution complex.

**Judy Canty** · 03-22-2012, 06:37 PM

...and it begins...

**uncut** · 03-22-2012, 07:44 PM

Originally Posted by RIMLESS

Thanks for that insight. Don't get me wrong OD's have vastly different opinions as well but I seem to think we have a way way way more respectful approach towards each other even when we disagree...BTW I like the crabs in a bucket. You guys do bite hard and the arrogance in here is simply to die for!!!!!!!

Well stated, and an interesting thread!

I will only state one observation, from the gallery:

I would always trust an optician to cover me in a firefight!

**RIMLESS** · 03-22-2012, 08:11 PM

Originally Posted by uncut

I would always trust an optician to cover me in a firefight!

I totally agree and so far I'm liking Wes, from SC, likes pistols and Burbon and you can't go wrong with that !
Holy Crap, I hope this doesn't start a who's the better shot shouting contest.

**Wes** · 03-22-2012, 08:16 PM

Click image for larger version.

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Booker's

**RIMLESS** · 03-22-2012, 08:21 PM

See, that's what I'm talkin about!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

**drk** · 03-22-2012, 08:33 PM

My impression is that it's because of "orthodoxy". On ODWire, for example, there are more well-defined "rules" of optometry. If someone steps outside of the rules...blammo!

In opticianry, there are less hard-and-fast rules. So there are lots of people of every side of the issues, and therefore fireworks.

**RIMLESS** · 03-22-2012, 08:44 PM

Another good point. Personally I have a great deal of respect for opticians. They are truly on the front lines of the 3 O's. Part Optical Guru, part retailer, part psychologist and always with a smile..for the most part.

**Wes** · 03-22-2012, 08:53 PM

Originally Posted by RIMLESS

I totally agree and so far I'm liking Wes, from SC, likes pistols and Burbon and you can't go wrong with that !
Holy Crap, I hope this doesn't start a who's the better shot shouting contest.

shoot.

**MakeOptics** · 03-22-2012, 08:54 PM

In your tag line I am the other 10% so I like to stir the pot it makes for livelier discussions. Not meant to offend but stimulate conversation. I get tired of the same old discussions and I know there of another opinion but often times I refrain from voicing my p pinion to try and avoid confrontation. This homogenous opinion leaves threads with content but no soul. Call me the soul man. ; )

**uncut** · 03-22-2012, 09:02 PM

Happy 100th post, Phi!

**Chris Ryser** · 03-23-2012, 01:54 AM

Originally Posted by RIMLESS

Optiboard almost seems like a locker room atmosphere rather than a forum for thoughts. Starting to think some opticians are suffering from some sort of persecution or Napoleon complex? Comments from the gallery:

Rimless..........you are a doctor of Optometry, you have gone through university, most probably you are your own boss or will be. Many posters on OptiBoard do not have that advantage and many are not in the boss category which indicates a bit more maturity.

Many are young and still lack expirience and knowdlege and the knowhow to do their own research to come to their own conclusions. Today we can actually just about find any answer on the web on any subject, we want to know about. In the last 12 years I have been active, I have seen so many come and go. The locker room types usually come and go during a short time span, and so do many of the knowdlegeable ones that get fed up, which is the other side.

It is also very interesting to see some serious postings affecting the future of the profession being ignored by many, that rather make a one or two word comment or none at all.

However OptiBoard is still the best ranking optical forum on the internet by far, so it must have its good and interesting sides. Some posts actually pop up in Google minutes after they have been made. Many of us active members have learned to live with OptiBoard the way it is and accept and enjoy it.

**Wes** · 03-23-2012, 06:50 AM

Originally Posted by David26

Medics have Basic Life Support and Advanced Life Support.

Um, yeah. That's what our medics call the courses. ALS. BLS.

**Craig** · 03-23-2012, 06:55 AM

Most opticians are not educated professionals and the results bear that out! Unless you have a intellectual curiosity- which most people lack- the normal optician has been trained to do as they are told and not think outside the box; they work for someone and always will!
It takes the real world of starting a business to help really understand what it takes to not fail. It is easier to figure out what is not working and try to go in a different direction, if you actually care and are curious by nature.

OD's look at themselves as a Doctor and have many years of schooling to help them grow up and mature, the optician has not formal college or a 2yr program to get them the basics.

IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO TRAIN A PROFESSIONAL IN ANYTHING IN 2 YEARS OF SCHOOL; IT REQUIRES AT LEAST 4 YEARS AND THEN A MASTERS PROGRAM FOR MORE GROWTH. This is not all technical truing, but helping folks learn how to open and run a business.

I can teach anyone to bend a frame or take a PD, but it takes a professional to succeed in the business world and that is where most opticians do not reside.

If you read the posts of the intellectually curious, the comments are very different than most opticians. Many of the weaker players have already been scared off by the mean people on this board anyway.

**Craig** · 03-23-2012, 06:56 AM

Originally Posted by Chris Ryser

Rimless..........you are a doctor of Optometry, you have gone through university, most probably you are your own boss or will be. Many posters on OptiBoard do not have that advantage and many are not in the boss category which indicates a bit more maturity.

Many are young and still lack expirience and knowdlege and the knowhow to do their own research to come to their own conclusions. Today we can actually just about find any answer on the web on any subject, we want to know about. In the last 12 years I have been active, I have seen so many come and go. The locker room types usually come and go during a short time span, and so do many of the knowdlegeable ones that get fed up, which is the other side.

It is also very interesting to see some serious postings affecting the future of the profession being ignored by many, that rather make a one or two word comment or none at all.

However OptiBoard is still the best ranking optical forum on the internet by far, so it must have its good and interesting sides. Some posts actually pop up in Google minutes after they have been made. Many of us active members have learned to live with OptiBoard the way it is and accept and enjoy it.

Even I agree with Chris on this one!

**Wes** · 03-23-2012, 07:10 AM

I'll second Craig's sentiment. I can't think of any long term posters who aren't top notch.
There are some posters whose opinions I sometimes disagree with (Barry Santini, Chris Ryser) or often disagree with (Uilleann, Chip Anderson) but I have a great deal of respect for their passion, skills and knowledge.
I find myself learning from these guys as often as anyone who I share opinions with. Thanks, all.

**Judy Canty** · 03-23-2012, 08:08 AM

No yelling in the house. We can hear you just fine.

**RIMLESS** · 03-23-2012, 09:41 AM

Originally Posted by Wes

Im a great shot with this:Attachment 8480

Note to self: Never p-ss Wes off!

**Wes** · 03-23-2012, 09:55 AM

Originally Posted by RIMLESS

Note to self: Never p-ss Wes off!

No worries. Im not a whiskey swiggin, gun totin redneck. I don't volunteer for shoving matches, remember?

Sorry for the hijack, now back to our regularly scheduled animosity!

**B101875** · 03-23-2012, 10:06 AM

Yes, there is alot of posts on here about people bragging about what they have done and who they are. But the knowlege far out ways this, if you can wade through all the b/s. I use to work for Apple Computer. It's diffrent there, everyone trys to help each other. We all have the same traning so no real bragging. Just stay for the knowlege. It's worth that.

**RIMLESS** · 03-23-2012, 10:35 AM

Originally Posted by B101875

Yes, there is alot of posts on here about people bragging about what they have done and who they are. But the knowlege far out ways this, if you can wade through all the b/s. I use to work for Apple Computer. It's diffrent there, everyone trys to help each other. We all have the same traning so no real bragging. Just stay for the knowlege. It's worth that.

That's how it should be, and probably at least one of the reasons Apple kicks butt. But then they all work for the same Co. whereas we all compete.

BTW Wes hit me with your tire size. Me 31 x 10.5 x 15....I know you're gonna smoke me.