Let me introduce myself (again)...

[tx11]

This is a new thread for everyone here to do one thing. RE-introducing yourself and let us know your "optical standing" so to speak. I'll start: Hi I'm tx11 I'm a dispensing optician in TX, currently employed by an OD. I'm ABOC, I sell and dispense eyewear, frame buying and Finish work. Been dispensing since 1985.

[Now I See]

HI TX11! LOL..I feel like I'm at an Optician's Anonymous meeting!

I'm Now I See, NC licensed optician (also hold my ABOC and NCLEC), independent owner of a dispensary (hooray...the end of the year marked my 6 year anniversary!) I've been in the optical business for about 21 years and love every minute of it (well almost every minute of it...but I can't think of another thing I'd like to be doing, I've found this to be very rewarding and challenging!) I'm married, have 2 kids, a dog, a pet bunny and 2 guinea pigs (wheek, wheek!)

[tx11]

Hello Now I See. Thanks for posting. Come on everyone else DON'T LEAVE US HANGIN' Just trying to be friendly and welcoming.

[optilady1]

Why hello there. I'm Optilady1, am in my 18th year in the optical industry, have my associates degree, CT state license, and am currently working on getting my Washington license because my husband of 10 years is getting a transfer in the navy. I have 3 cats, 2 St. Bernards, 2 kids, and will probably start having the beginning of a nervous breakdown in the next months to come!!! Work for a big evil conglomerate. Who knows what's to come in the next 8 months?

Now whooooooooo's next?

[standarduck]

I'll play!

I'm standarduck (though I also use my real name on here often). I'm in my fifth year in optics, and I'm currently training to be a Dispensing Optician (in my first year). Work out of a small, independent practice, where I take care of (well 95% of) dispensing, glazing, lens & frame ordering, along with various other 'important' duties (such as tea making).

I'm in a training contract, so I'll be sticking around for the next three and a half years at least! :)

Hi everyone!

[chaoticneutral]

Hi everyone, Im chaoticneutal. I was classically trained as a lab rat at lenscrafters 10? 12? years ago? I forget. I was a floater for 9 different stores until I volunteered for the AR hub and spoke program in Natick MA. It was the first in house AR coating lab that lens crafters attempted. We used a Status or Stratum? I dunno it was a long time ago. My memory isn't what it used to be. I remember what just happened and what's happening right now but after that all bets are off.) AR machine that coated 4 lenses at a time. It was a pretty busy lab. I moved to Florida and started working at a company called 1-800-Clip-Ons. I was their Tech customer service rep(some of you may remember). ECP's would take a picture of glasses from a crappy 3.1 megapixel cell phone, email it to us and we turned it into a custom fitting clip-on for your patients glasses. It worked roughly 83% of the time. Sadly, they did no advertising or attempted to improve the technology so they went under. I was picked up by a very small independent optometrist. This was my very favorite job ever ever ever. The optometrist took appointments for 3 or 4 hours a day and let the 3 remaining staff members do ..... well .... nothing for the rest of the day. I got a lot of very important online gaming done making far more money then I should have. All work and no play makes jack a dull boy. I moved to NH and now work for a tremendously busy optical as a dispensing optician/lab rat/insurance specialist/customer service rep/whipping boy/gopher/do boy/jester making half of what I used to. As Jerry Garcia (may his bearded soul rest in peace) once said "what a long, strange trip it's been"

[opty4062]

Hi! I'm opty4062. I have worked off and on in the industry since 1990. All my experience so far as been in private OD offices in the southeast, Tenessee, North Carolina, Tennessee again, Alabama and now back home in Georgia. Currently I am jane-of-all-trades at our office. (front desk, pre-test, auxiliary testing, CL fitting, sell fit and repair glasses, file insurances and I make a wonderful pot of coffee)
I love what I do and I am thankful to do it. It gives me great self satisfaction to feel like my job helps people, even the grumpy rude ones. =)
Oh and I've got those pretty letters behind my name too, A.S., ABOC, NCLEC, L.D.O.

[vcom]

Hello, My name is Vcom, and I'm an Opti-holic. I first started in the optical business at 19 years old, as a Lab Tech at Pearle Vision Express in Danbury, Connecticut, in February 1998. I first cut my teeth, and lenses (jokes!) on that old work horse, the Gerber Coburn Rocket 2113 generator, and a pair of 506 cylinder machines. We had a pair of Horizon II pattern edgers, an old AIT (Edgemaster or a Mark V maybe?) and a WECO 2440. We even had one of those monster lap tool cutter things. Yikes! Even with all that lead alloy, the racks and racks of custom frame patterns, changing out that 10,000 gallon vaccum drum of lens swarf, the glass chem treating/heat tempering units, and working with a manager who's coffee became less coffee and more brandy as the day went on, it is still one of my most favorite places ever having worked. I passed the ABO the next year, and moved on to Conway, NH, where I managed a Wal-Mart Vision Center. Then off to Rhode Island where I worked at LensCrafters in the Warwick Mall, and the Providence Place Mall, until moving again to Charleston, South Carolina. There I worked at America's Best Contacts and Eyeglasses, which unfortunately, I have to say was my least favorite place to work. Every job was ordered complete, and we didn't even have a lensometer to inspect the jobs when they came in. When we got a new sliding wall filing cabinet for patient's charts, I had an ongoing battle with one of the employees about how to arrange them. I started to file them ABC order, left to right, top to bottom. This made no sense to here, and she wanted them ABC order from top to bottom alternating left to right, right to left in a serpentine pattern as you moved down the shelves. She said it made it much easier to pull/file charts if you moved back and forth, instead of always having to start at the far left side. Needless to say I barely lasted a year, and in 2003, moved north to Framingham, Massachusetts, where I worked at the Pearle Vision. I worked there before, during, and after the Luxottica take over, the removal of our finishing labs, the farming out of most jobs to our local LensCrafters, all sorts of management changes. After 7 years there, I moved even more north, to Bangor, Maine, where I currently work as an Optician/Lab Tech at an independent MD/OD/optical office. THis has been my first experience not at one of the monster's of the industry, and it has goods and bads. Working direct with vendors is pretty darn cool, however dealing with the ownership of this practice brings a whole new set of challenges. I never planned on staying in this field for (gulp) 16 years, but clearly I must like it, or I would't still be doing right? Right?? Anyways, That's me in a nutshell (Help! I'm trapped in a nutshell! And what sort of nut, has a shell this big??) I've worked with some amazing people along the way, Married/divorced one of them, and dated two more, and met some pretty outrages characters, and tried to bring as much knowledge, care and fun to all of their days, as much as humanly possible.

(this is me on the left, at Pearle Vision circa 1998)

[CathyO]

Hello there,
I was introduced to optical in 1977 as a 16 year old waitress. The Pearle manager offered me a job and I have been in the business since in many different ways. I went to Pickens Tech in CO in 88-89 and received a dispensing optician certificate. I have managed multiple chain stores, worked in boutiques, for ODs, and MDs. I learned how edge on equipment from Fitzsimmons Army Base but have happily let those skills rust along with my CL skills. I now work For a MD. Great hours, great autonomy and I like working for MDs best and really enjoy having mastered my craft. I also have a general associates degree as well as over 140 credits copleted but never seem to finish one degree. I've got a pretty good career so I find completing my bachelors degree becomes less important.

[Java99]

Hi, I'm Kira. I've been in optical since 1998. I started as the bookkeeper in a For Eyes in Atlanta, and couldn't keep my hands off the frames. From there I've worked at Eyemasters, LensCrafters, and a couple private practices. My last prior job was managing the optical for a 5 doc OD practice. I left there in 2011, and in 2012 opened my own optical. Next month it will have been open for 2 full years. I have an ABOC, and that odd beast: the Texas license, which is and isn't a real license, as it's really a voluntary registration with educational requirements, but they issue you a license number. I had delusions of available time to prepare for the ABO-AC two years ago, but I just don't have time at the moment. Eventually I will.

[SeaU2020]

My optical journey began at LensCrafters in 1990. I was hired to be a cashier and quickly got my nose in the business. Moved on up to Asst. Retail Manager and then demoted myself because I made more money as an optican with the "spiffs" back then. Although I wasn't ABO I was in charge of teaching the 12 credit "Quality Fitting and Adjusting Program". In 1997 I was lured to Fedco, a 10-chain membership store where I was manager of the optical in their busiest location.. This is when the powers that be decided I needed an ABO to be a manager. I studied on my own for 3 weeks, took the ABO, and received a 96% on the exam. I loved that job because there was no lab behind my back and we did not take ANY insurance. But, alas, Fedco folded after 2 years and then I went to work in a fancy WeHo boutique for about 3 years. The commute was too much so I moved closer to home and worked for a pair of ODs for 7 years. It was in many ways like a long, horrible marriage. Now I am the sole optician at an MD office and I do it all. Hands down my best job ever!
On the personal side, I also met my husband at LC in 1990 and he's still around (we're still together,lol!) and in the business. We have 2 daughters, 1 dog and 1 cat. We never talk shop unless it's something extremely interesting.

[EyeCare Rich]

My Journey began in 1994 over a few beers with the manager of my Shopko Optical (I was in sales on the floor with sporting goods). Her finish lab tech was moving away, she knew (or at least thought)I was a hard worker, and asked if I wanted to learn how to cut lenses for glasses. The learning journey has been ongoing, and I hope I continue to learn as the years go by. Like mentioned, I worked the finish lab, that went on for about 6 months, and I moved to working in the dispensary as well. That was in the great non licensed state of Montana. After about a year I moved to Washington to be closer to family, and make more $$$ as we all like. I stayed with Shopko for a couple years, then went to work for a large regional insurance company to work in one of their Vision Centers. I worked there for 9 years, climbing the "ladder", managed the location for about a year, and then went to work with one of the OD's opening a private practice as the only optician. This last 6 years has been a complete blast, wouldn't trade it for the world. I hope to continue the learning journey as far as the trail will take me, or at least as far as I can hike it.

On the personal side, I studied music in college, thinking I wanted to be a music teacher before my future wife's job took her to MT. I am still involved in music, I play trombone for our regional symphony, and in a fantastic Big Band/Jazz Orchestra. I have a wonderful supportive wife, 3 fantastic kids, a rabbit and a chicken (yes the eggs are better than store bought).

[Slim]

Let me intorduce myself....my name is Humptee.... pronounced with an Umtee Yo ladies, oh how I like to h**p thee
And all the rappers in the top ten--please allow me to bump thee
I'm steppin' tall, y'all, and just like Humpty Dumpty
You're gonna fall when the stereos pump me
I like to rhyme, I like my beats funky
I'm spunky, I like my oatmeal lumpy
I'm sick wit dis, straight gangsta mack
But sometimes I get ridiculous

[Spider]

Hello from the Cincinnati area. I'm Spider and I'm pretty much just starting out in optics. I'm 22 and have been in the business four years. I started out at Walmart doing pre-testing and scheduling for the optometrist and worked my way up to spectacle/contact apprentice. Last November I left Walmart for another retail outfit and have learned quite a bit more since. I'm trying to get them to cross-train me in the lab as I'm much more interested in making the glasses than selling them at this point. I'm happy to announce that last week I received notification of my passing score for the ABO exam. My application for Ohio licensure was in the mail Wednesday and I plan to take the NCLE exam in November. I realize I have a ton more to learn and I'm not going to lie, I spend a good chunk of my downtime on OptiBoard. I've found it to be a very valuable resource.
That said, when I'm not reading or doing heavy research, I'm mom to four cats, a pit bull, a tarantula, a leopard gecko and a betta. I live with my amazing boyfriend and my grandma but we're in the process of getting our own condo here in a few months. Nice to meet you all!

[tx11]

Thanks guys and gals! Its always nice to know a little a bit about the people that are giving you opinions, advice and fellowship.

[tx11]

[becc971]

My real name is Rebecca, i've been with the same practice for about 4 years with a brief hiatus to go manage a store about an hour away. the brief hiatus ended fast when i remembered i actually like to be busy and have patients to talk to in the words of one of my esteemed co workers i could sell "lemonade to a drowning man" ... I have also been described in my bartending career as "aggressively social" ... i suppose the two things make me a good, slightly moody optician I have done everything in our optical from edging to selling, and am cross trained throughout the practice so i can always find something to do. I've never been a tech, but there's time to learn. I am ABO Certified, not licenesed because you don't need that in Maine, but i still feel like you should need to be in all 50 states!! I get very annoyed when people belittle my career, and i get even more annoyed with online glasses. I know its the way things are going, but that doesn't mean i can't dig my heels in and fruitlessly fight it.

I've had at least two jobs since i started college ten years ago, and i started working when my dad opened his own business when i was 8 years old. I had three up until earlier this year when i found out i was expecting and decided to "cut back" My managers at both of my current jobs are taking bets on whether or not i can actually take 8 weeks of maternity leave.

I'm due to have a nugget at the end of next month, so i'm currently waddling around our ginormous practice trying on a daily basis not to fall over or just quit walking all together and use a wheelchair. She is already very similar to her mother, ruining any and all ultrasound pictures we have tried to take of her (hand in front of face, foot over forehead, face smushed up against the cord) and every time we have an ultrasound it looks like she's "talking" non stop (her mouth is moving at least )

I strive to leave maine for a place with a more acceptable weather pattern, but unfortunately i love new england, so that may never happen.

[AngeHamm]

I'm Andrew. By day I'm an Optical Dispensary Manager. By night I'm Batman.

I started at a VisionWorks in 1989. Went to college to study theatre from 1992-96. Moved to New York, then Albany, supporting my acting habit at Lenscrafters and Sterling Optical. Moved back to Richmond in 2002 to go to grad school, and worked in a private practice for a year. After getting my MFA in theatre pedagogy, I joined the staff of Richmond Shakespeare as Associate Artistic Director for a few years before my position was downsized due to the faltering economy. I found a home at my current practice, where I've been for over five years. They graciously allow me the schedule flexibility I need to work as an actor, director, and musician around Central Virginia.

[JC1111]

Im Joe Colton, I am currently in charge of sales, marketing and IT work at a wholesale lab in Illinois- Acculab- I started as an optician a few years ago working for the evil empire. I never planned on getting into the optical field I was working three jobs trying to pay the bills. I quickly excelled and became a manager at a sears optical, I then realized how immoral the place was and no longer wanted to be a part of it. I found a job at a private practice franchise where I remained for a year before running into Acculab. A little background info on me I try to keep things in perspective I am not your average sales person, I wont bull**** you, I have personal moral and ethical standards in which I try and live by.. I have a strong relationship with the god of my understanding. I would rather get to know my clientele and meet friends-- whether they decide to use my services or not. I try not to take life to damn serious. : )

[chaoticneutral]

No one likes lumpy oatmeal

[Now I See]

No one likes lumpy oatmeal

Well, it appears our fellow O'board member Slim does...but Slim is spunky, too...so there ya go! LOL!

[SeaU2020]

Let me intorduce myself....my name is Humptee.... pronounced with an Umtee Yo ladies, oh how I like to h**p thee
And all the rappers in the top ten--please allow me to bump thee
I'm steppin' tall, y'all, and just like Humpty Dumpty
You're gonna fall when the stereos pump me
I like to rhyme, I like my beats funky
I'm spunky, I like my oatmeal lumpy
I'm sick wit dis, straight gangsta mack
But sometimes I get ridiculous

And I thought you were...
Slim Shady, the REAL Slim Shady, and all the OTHER Slim Shady's are just imitating.....

[Flux3r]

Im Flux, Came from a heavy Law enforcement and security background before starting as an OD's assistant, moved into the lab and have loved it ever since. i enjoy going to the shooting range, short walks to the fridge for beer and baseball. i currently work for an OD in a private practice, and will continue to learn until i can be ABO certified. or if the industry goes upside down i may return to law enforcement, who knows?

[Java99]

I wouldn't worry about the industry going upside down. After a certain age, 100% of the population needs glasses. Hard to beat that for job security.

[carriew]

Hello I am carriew, born and raised in Wi. I have been in the eye care field for 11 yrs. Currently I work for a large clinic group practice. I work the front desk, as the doctors asst, fit cl's, optician and everything in between. I have earned my ABOM, NCLE-AC, and COT.
I find the eye care field is my passion not my job!