Eyewear Abuse

[optigoddess]

Just curious as to what forms of "eyewear abuse" everyone has seen....I'll start:

I had a lady bring in her husbands glasses - lenses looked they had come off the generator they were so foggy ! A mechanic, (clumsey, none the less) he had droppped his glasses into something REALLY mucky - he had the bright idea to clean the lenses with LAVA soap...after all, it worked wonders on cleaning his hands...notice how I started with: the WIFE bringing them in...he wouldn't show his face !

Another time, not long ago a lady came in with her frames corroded - come to find out she had left them at the hot tub & they had slipped down in for a week....frame was incredibly weakened !

Okay, who's next....we've all seen it ..... share.....

[LaurieC]

Man (who's one of those types who figures the louder he screams the more he'll get) comes into a store. He's yelling we sold him a piece of s... and wants the man in charge immediately. That "man" was me. He shows me a zyl frame and popped out lenses. The frame was pretty much as warped as I've ever seen and all the air blowers and salt pans in the world weren't going to straighten these babies out.. I explain to him there's no way this just "happened" and ask if he could have left them on the dashboard of a closed car. He screams at me again and asks what kind of idiot I think he is. (I had a number of fine responses to this question but didn't profer them) After going through a several scenerios I finally asked how he cleaned them. His response: How do you think I clean them? In the silverware tray of my dishwasher of course!

[Cindy Hamlin]

Originally posted by LaurieC
response: How do you think I clean them? In the silverware tray of my dishwasher of course!

Oh My GAWD! I am crying I am laughing so hard! Can we say DUH! That is the best one I have heard!

~Cindy:)

[Joann Raytar]

LaurieC:

I can't beat that one. We have had some interesting accident stories involving wood chippers, snowblowers, snowplows, horses, birds and automobiles but not one where someone did something on purpose.

[EyeManFla]

Another shining example of never underestimate the stupidity of your customers.

Life's just too much fun.:hammer:

[harry a saake]

:angry: Lady came in with lenses that were just about white. I asked how this happened and she repilied dunno, i cleaned them with comet.
S.C. good ole boy came in with a pair of mangled glases. Said he didnt understand how they got that way, as all he did was run them over with a bush hog, but he thought they was guaranteed.
Lady came in with a large rimless frame that she had dropped and caused a large chip off the edge. She asked me if i could fix them as she believed the medicine had dun leaked out were the chip was.
Lady and husband came in one day and wanted me to make them one pair of glases that they both could use. Wanted an exec with his rx on top and hers on the bottom. Thought they could save money this way.
Man came in one day complaining that he was constantly losing his contacts. We asked him when and how this was happening. He replied while having sex.

[LaurieC]

You definately beat me hands down!!!!:bbg:

[Alan W]

Your stories are hysterical.
And, your timing was perfect including the theatrical pause last paragraph.
I know I heard . . . d'dum dum after each one.
Got any more?

[Maria]

I had a woman who complained that her prescription wasn't written down correctly, because when she went to get it made up, they had told her to go back to the optician's. It looked OK to me, so I asked her where she had taken it to. The chemists!

We also had a blind man come in and ask for air-freshener, because he thought he was in next door. The irony did not escape him when he found out what we sold.

[Cindy Hamlin]

Originally posted by harry a saake
:angry: Man came in one day complaining that he was constantly losing his contacts. We asked him when and how this was happening. He replied while having sex.

Any other girls want to meet him???????

~Cindy

[Cindy Hamlin]

I once had a man throw his glasses at me because he couldn't see! I immediately noticed the lenses were gone. I kept telling him "that's because the lenses are gone" and he kept hollering to check the prescription, check those lenses, etc.

I finally got him to pause long enough to see my fingers poking through the place where the lenses should have been and then stopped and calmly said "Oh, my lenses are gone". I had to fight every urge in my body not to say "DUH???????".

~Cindy

[louise]

I'm sure everyone has heard this one..

They were absolutely perfect when I put them in their case last night.....


;)

A walk in px wants to browse at frames,with wife.Declines assistance,20 mins later he presents himself at the reception desk.."Have you got aany more coming in ,you haven't got anything here for me"
"Could I help you choose perhaps?"
"NO I know I can't see through any of them.I can see just as well without them"

(Honestly! It's true!)

[stephanie]

We all know too how dangerous it is to leave your gls on the infamous nightstand. I think I am going to start telling people to stop leaving them there!! LOL!! OOOHHHH and how about the doggy delicacies!! I have had several people bring them in totally mangled by the puppies!! Still nothing beats facecheese. Would much rather see the mangled matter than the cheese any day!

Steph

[Joann Raytar]

We had a little girl, around four years old, come in with her very angry mom. It appears that the child wasn't interested in drawing on walls and decided to have at her glasses. She took a ball point pen and wrote all over the lenses pressing hard enough to put deep scratches everywhere she wrote.

Last winter one of our patients had been out shoveling snow. For some reason he put both his sun glasses and his regular glasses down on top of a snow bank at the edge of his driveway. He got about ten feet away from the snow bank when a plow came up the street clearing away the snow bank and both pair of glasses. The sunglasses were found down the block mangled but the dress pair were never located.

Have you ever read those lens care inserts that come with some overseas lenses; you know the ones that tell you not to boil your glasses? At first, we laughed knowing that the reason that the warning was on there was because someone had boiled their glasses. Then we met one such person. Actually, they didn't boil their glasses. They left their "cooking" glasses on the stove right next to a lit gas burner. I am sure you can form your own mental images for the results of this Eyewear Blooper.

[Corey Nicholls]

I have an idea-

When these are all compiled, someone should publish a book to me made available to all in the industry.

This would come in very handy for a relaxing laugh on those days where Mr bloggs comes in very angry, with his specs that he ran over in his Kenworth prime mover, saying that "I just opened the case and they were like it", "And it's all your fault!"

What do you think?

[ph]

Cleaning paint splashes off with a brillo pad is common.
Sticking frames together with super-glue and getting it all over the lenses must be second.
My favourite was the lady who said her glasses suddenly stopped working. It was very strange she said, because her friends glasses stopped working at exactly the same time.
Then the chap whose reading glasses only worked in the morning when he read the paper, but didn't work in the afternoon when he wanted to read the racing results on the TV.

[stephanie]

Oh yea Corey excellent idea!!! But why do it for free??? We'll market the book and make a profit!! Anyway I had a boy one time who decided to tint his poly lenses with RIT. His mom came in yelling about what we did to them and I kept explaining to her we didn't tint poly. Well finally I asked the boy where the color came from and he said he had decided he wanted sungls so he put the RIT dye in a pan on the stove took the lenses out and VIOLA!!!! PRESTO CHANGO.....crazed tada!!! Of course mommy just couldn't believe her son would come up with such an idea and THEN get this tried to justify his actions saying we should have told her upon purchase that this material couldn't be dyed!!! Like who in the world thinks some 10 year old kid is going to remove lenses and put them in dye???

Steph

[optigoddess]

I 'm glad to know that I am NOT the only one who has these type of customer situations ! (you know, after awhile, you just have to start wondering...) Thanks for the smiles & chuckles, everyone ! There's got to be more out there...

Karen :)

[harry a saake]

:bbg:This is a long one ,but an absolute true story that happened to me in a dispensary in Gainesville ,Georgia. A lady named Thelma came in with one of those terrible rx,s, something like -6.00 -4.75 x 135 ou + 250 add. We made the glasses and upon picking them up indicated to me that she wanted about 45 degrees of panoscoptic tilt. I explained this would not work and i would not do this. She left in a huff and a little while later i recived a call from a good ole boy with kind of a meek voice.
..............He said, my names mr smith and my wife came home and said you was ugly to her. Now lord only knows thats my wife thelma and i sure do love her so and i dont want no body being ugly to her. I explained the situation and he replied, mr. Saake i,ll bring her down and you adjust dem dere glasses the way she wants and i,ll take the responsibility, because that theres my wife thelma and lord only knows i sure do love her so,
.............They come in the next day, him, her and a trail of 5 kids and i think to myself you sure do love her so. Comes over to me and says, mr Saake i,m mr smith and this heres my wife thelma, and if you,ll adjust dem dere glasses the way she wants i,ll take the responsibility,because thats my wife thelma and lord only knows i sure do love her so
...............So i adjust it, and i bend this pair of glasses where the bottom of the frame is literally pressing into her cheeks. She looks for a moment and replies, i cant see this way!. I reply thats what i was trying to tell you.
...............With that, meek little mr smith jumps out of the chair, comes over to her and says, WOMAN, I DON,T THINK YOU KNOW WHAT THE HELL YOU WANT. Almost as quickly he turns to me and says,mr. Saake i sure do apologize,but that theres my wife thelma and i sure do love her so, and if you,ll adjust them dere glasses as you want, we will be gone. Thank god

[ph]

LaurieC
Thanks for the post about dishwashers, I would never have thought to ask about them otherwise. It is surprising how many otherwise sane people have tried it.

[Jim G]

Thanks for the laughs. Now, from a lab-rats side...

I have a pair of frames on my desk, probably been there 2 years now, that are absolutely FLAT. Had to have been run over by a car...and returned as "defective." We replaced 'em.

Our lab manager asked me to measure a seg height. I got 22 1/2; he got 23. It was returned as "seg height too high." The Rx was for 22. The kicker was that the frame had (adjustable) rocking pads. We remade 'em (but I talked to that dispenser's boss as this wasn't the first; he was determined to find us at fault. Oh, he also used to work for us.).

I can't count how many pair of crazed SRC and/or ARC lenses we've replaced from just sitting on the dashboard...

We remade a kids specs 7 times for scratches...all within 7 months. I finally talked to the dispenser who felt caught between the doctor and the patient. Turns out the kid didn't like specs and was deliberately scratching 'em so she wouldn't have to wear 'em. I talked to the doctor (MD) and suggested that she may want to fire that particular patient. She did.

Uncut lenses sent back for "doctors change" that were the same shape, left and right.

And, I could go on, and on, and on...

[chip anderson]

Anyone else as fed up with people who "fix" their glasses with super glue? Today, I spent 45 min. removeing a nose pad, which if finally had to burn the XXXX super glue out of the socket.

We all see this over and over. Any way we can inform the public not to use the stuff on spectacles?


Chip

[JennyP]

At dispensing, I try to tell every patient with a metal frame that we prefer to check the screws about every 3 or 4 months....I tell them that the short screws (in these modern, light-weight frames) get lost easier...BUT do NOT glue them in because if the lenses should need to be replaced, we'll not be able to get them out, and they will have to buy a new frame.
I particularly stress this for someone who complains about "loose screws". I say, you'll probably be near here sometime soon anyway, so come in and get a tuneup. Now, if they think to come in after 6 months or so, I compliment them on such good maintenance of their glasses.

[Cindy Hamlin]

JennyP said:
At dispensing, I try to tell every patient with a metal frame that we prefer to check the screws about every 3 or 4 months....I tell them that the short screws (in these modern, light-weight frames) get lost easier...BUT do NOT glue them in because if the lenses should need to be replaced, we'll not be able to get them out, and they will have to buy a new frame.
I particularly stress this for someone who complains about "loose screws". I say, you'll probably be near here sometime soon anyway, so come in and get a tuneup. Now, if they think to come in after 6 months or so, I compliment them on such good maintenance of their glasses.

Jenny,
I always used the analogy about their cars and regular maintenance (oil changes every 3 months, etc). I think it put a clearer picture in their mind.

[Texas Ranger]

I had a fellow bring in his "opague" and cracked lenses a couple months back; way back there, he had gotten some hair spray on them(ar poly), I swiped them with acetone, and it took it off. Well, he got a light mist of spray paint on them, so went to the hardware store, got a can of acetone, and soaked the lenses in a bowl of it, overnight! he says, well, you said it was OK to use acetone on them!, well, swiping them with a little acetone on a cloth isn't quite the same as "soaking them overnight", now is it?