Started in a lab in 1995, 10 years doing that before moving to the front of house & qualifying as a dispensing optician. Still at it today.
Mid June 1976 for American Optical in Hartford, CT.
39 years times 50 weeks times 5 days a week = 9750 days
Ignore the 7 straight years without a vacation when I had my own business.
Ignore the wholesale years and lets say 1 pair of glasses per hour.
8 pairs a day times 9750 days = 78,000 pairs of glasses.
No wonder I have a callus on the side of my finger from the knurled screwdriver.
Fall of 1980 for me. Have run the gauntlet with labs OD's MD's big box stores and private practice. Just trying to get through the next 15 years and then kick it back to 2 days a week. Do some fishing motorcycle riding travel the nation. Then I can call it all good.
I started as an apprentice while in high school in July of 1975. Will soon see 40 years....
"Coimhéad fearg fhear na foighde"
There was a day when the 3 "O" stayed out of each other's business. Now, Opticians want to refract, OD want to do surgery and MD want to be God (ok, that part hasn't changes)...we had three opticians, to MDs and an OD on the same street back in DC...and we ALL got along.....
"Coimhéad fearg fhear na foighde"
I started making glasses for my OD father's patients in the fall of 1960; it's how I earned my allowance in high school. I got my license in Massachusetts in 1972 and I have been a dispenser and/or lab-rat in some capacity ever since.
Of course, if you count my filling in as the "Good Friday receptionist" at my Dad's office, my starting date is somewhere around 1957 . . .
Andrew
"One must remember that at the end of the road, there is a path" --- Fortune Cookie
I started as an Optical Apprentice in Jul 2010 and as of right now, I just have to pass the NC State Board exam to get my license. So close!
Best of Luck!
"Coimhéad fearg fhear na foighde"
It's tougher today to find a good optician then a good OD.[/QUOTE]
Couldn't Agree More!!!
"Coimhéad fearg fhear na foighde"
Couldn't Agree More!!![/QUOTE]
I will second that. Back in the fifties you sent the runt of the litter to "optometry school" so you could say " my son, the doctor." Boy have things changed. Optometry has done an outstanding job in elevating itself as a profession.
Today, we send the runt of the litter to law school.
I began my optical career 19 years ago today, 6/26/1996. Seven years at LenCrafters....then off to production labs. Everyday has been a new adventure, I love helping people see better.
Since 1985. I have started working in Poland. Now I try to modify my business and start selling eyewear through internet. Currently I have a website: optykciechanow.com
1984 dispensing for my dad. Thenstarted a lab paid for college, sold the lab cause I took on MD's! Did nothing but consulting and working to buy practices with my dad. He then dies unexpectedly and I loose interest only to get sucked back into the game of private practice!
1979, six years old going to work with my dad "helping " find screws on the floor. Thirty six years later, still in the field, still looking for screws I drop on the floor.
43 years.
50 years for me last June (06/01/1965) and will be my last year. I am retiring from the industry at the end of the month of July-2015. All done and now it's time to fade into the sunset.
J. R. Smith
Started working for an independent optician in 1987...have been in the industry ever since.
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