Jacqui talking about the teen she's training had me wondering how we each got into optics. I'm sure for some, it was just a job that kind of worked it's way into more. And for some, it was a family profession.
So, if you don't mind sharing, what did get you involved in optics?
The RTW designer boutique I was managing went into chapter 13 - and there was a new store opening up on the other side of Niemans than looked very different. ..
I got to know the manager and staff over a bottle of tequila.....
Thought it could/would be a fun job...
Told the DM he HAD to hire me!
Long story short, he said NO!. Didn't want to hire someone without experience in optics. Regardless of management experience.
I bragged.
I begged.
I pleaded.
I lied. (said I could learn the job in months even IF there was a 3 yr. learning curve!)
For some reason, for the first time I didn't get what I wanted.
(or so I thought)
Took another job with Luxottica (no- not in optics) and 6 months later I got a call:
"Hi."
me: "How can I help you?"
"You wanted a job from me."
me: "ok - ?"
"So, are you still interested?"
me: "maybe." "Who IS this?"
"It's D***! From O****!"
me: *unwittingly* "Yes, I'm still interested!"
"I have an opening. But, you need to know that I am the WORST person you will ever work for." "This WILL BE the HARDEST job you will ever have."
me: "Ok -?"
"...And what is the LEAST amount you are willing to work for?"
(pause to hit mute, LOLROF!!!)
*compose self*
*add 5k to current salary + bonus)
me: "I can do it for $****"
"Sh*t, F**k*n, G*d**n, Cr*p - (incomprehensible babble insert here____________) "I gotta call you back!"
Phone disconnects
30 minutes later...
Pick up line 4 -
me: "Yes?"
"How soon can you start?"
And that is a true story.
It did take me 3 years to get comfortable with optics. He was the (2nd to the) worst person I have ever worked for, and I say that with all the sincerity and affection he deserves that I learned alot from that guy. I thank him every day for the education I received.
that's my story and I'm stickn' to it.
Got born into the optical.......................
Got born into it.........................learned it.........and stayed with it all my live. ;)
Father brought me in to do the accounts payable at the tender age of 14. Hated it. Then I started interacting with customers, and I loved it.
At 19 and still toying with the idea of going to college(should have)I went down to the employment office in my new town. They pulled an index card and asked me if I wanted to work in optical. Sure. I'd worn glasses most of my life anyway. So down for the interview and hired on the spot. Thirty years later I'm still looking at frame boards everyday. Funny, I don't get tired of it too often.
I didn't even answer my own question!
I was 18 and working part time at Venture (like KMart), hating every second of it. A coworker told me his friend that worked at a national optical chain was looking for a lab tech. So I applied and got the job.
I never intended on having optics become anything more than a part time gig as I was going to college and was more interested in chemistry. But optics sucked me in and I haven't regretted it for a second
After age 18 my hard-a$$ dad insisted I get a job, which I thought was a good idea also. So I had a few jobs, mostly warehouse working that turned out to be temporary. My dad gave me a deadline- after my 21st birthday, I was to be kicked out of the house, job or no job. When the time came, I had just lost my last temp job, but out I went anyway. Fortunately, I had a friend that had a small house he was renting, and he let me sleep on the sofa. That was pretty good, but he had a girlfriend and, um, she could get pretty loud at times. :oThis was embarrassing, of course, and I would have to leave for awhile.
Then another friend of mine told me his dad, an OD, wanted to talk to me. He wanted to open up a small finishing lab above his practice, and I jumped at the chance. He sent me up to White-Haines in Charleston to be trained by the wonderful Gene Pratt for two weeks. Then I was on my own. Glass only, and at first, only SV, then I graduated to bifocals and learned soldering, which I was already pretty good at due to my brother and me making our own slot car chassis.
I worked for him for four years happily, then his son, my best friend, got killed in a plane wreck in Jamaica- the power had gone out at the airport at night and they talked him in on radio. Unfortunately, they were off by a hundred feet or so and they crashed a half mile before the runway. The six seater broke in half between the front and rear seats, the pilot and his brother were ok in the front half, my friend and another burned in the back half. Then Jamaican authorities refused to send the body back and had him cremated (the rest of the way). Dr. Bodie's wife's sister was among the movers and shakers in D.C. at the time and all it took was one phone call from Dr. Kissinger to get him flown home. After that, I was treated a bit differently around the office and I knew it was because I reminded him so much of what he had lost with his son. So I moved to Monfried Optical. What a joke that place was! After a year there, I found a job in Huntington with Jim Rumbaugh ( an optiboard member) working for Marshall Levin. Four years later Marshall sold his place and I came to where I've been for the last 29 years.
DragonlensmanWV N.A.O.L.
"There is nothing patriotic about hating your government or pretending you can hate your government but love your country."
Late in 1998, we moved to Texas from Iowa because my girlfriend (wife now) found out she was pregnant and wanted to be with her mom. When we got to Texas, the only job I could find right away was back flipping burgers. The following spring, we were in the mall with our tax refunds to get me a new pair of glasses. After chatting with one of the managers at LC, she told me that they were looking for a new lab tech. I applied not expecting to ever hear from them again. About 2 weeks later, I got a call from the GM to come in for an interview. I interviewed and was hired and scheduled to start in a little over 3 weeks (had to wait for the next regional orientation to be held). Long story short, 3 days before I begain my illustrious career in optics, my daughter was born a month premature and kept in the hospital for 10 days. I still attended orientation 40 miles away and spent the rest of my time in the hospital with our daughter. For my first week I commuted between home and work and the hospital and slept around 2 hours a day.
After 6 years with LC, 3 stores, and a GM that was obsessed with getting me fired no matter which store I was at, I made the move to a private practice and haven't looked back.
In 1994 I was a struggling single parent of 2 boys looking for a way to give them the best life I could provide. I had a friend who was an ophthalmic tech at an very large practice. She told me what she was making (which was much more than I was waitressing and being a receptionist) and that they provided on the job training. They were not hiring at the time, but another smaller office was. I applied and was called back for an interview and was told that the position had been filled but they had an opening in optical, would I be interested. I had no clue what in the heck I would be doing, but I said sure! I had never worn glasses or even sunglasses much until then. 2 months later my vision started getting worse and ended up in glasses!! Hexed myself!! It was a perfect fit for me and I took to it like a fish in water! What also helped was doing an apprenticeship as it would have been very hard for me to work 2 jobs, raise 2 boys who were really into sports, and go to school. I felt like I had truly been blessed and was going to do everything I could to make the most of this opportunity. I got my license and NCLE and they were the proudest days of my life aside from my children being born. This was a big turning point in my life and I am so grateful for it. This secured my future for me and my children and gave me a career that I love! Although I am remarried now and have 2 more boys and don't work quite as much, I know that the opportunities are there when and if I want to go back full time.
My father was a lab manager since 71, so I was born into it, for sure. I remember my obsession with clumps of alloy, and of course, the glass beads! I worked there part time in the summer starting at 15yrs old. My dad owned the lab by then. I mainly surfaced, tinted and did the deliveries. Then by the time I graduated high school, I really wasn't sure what I wanted to do with my life. I was going to take an art major of some sort whether it was design, architeture or fine art. My parents weren't very impressed, to say the least. They constantly reminded me that that art isn't were the money is or that I would be a "starving artist". I couldn't take the pressure of making my final decision, so I decided to take a year off and work. My pop hired me fulll time, which is when I learnt to use the edger, lensometer, cut formers, solder, etc; I really enjoyed my job, but I knew that there was more I could be doing. I applied for Opticianry, the first day of class is when I knew I had made the right choice!
I needed a job, (mostly for beer and gasoline at that age) it was available and I thought I would smell better if I didn't take up being a mechanic, machinist, or watchmaker, or railroad worker like previous generations.
Chip
Should I have mentioned it was 1957 or 1958, I think.
Last edited by chip anderson; 05-26-2008 at 08:12 PM. Reason: 1958
I was a full time college student working part time at Sears roebuck dept. store. Saw this cute guy working in the lawn & garden dept. Starting dating, became pregnant, got married but couldn't work in the same store if married. Beside the fact, if I had to stand for more than 5 min. I became very sick. My manager told me optical had an opening. I didn't have to stand all day and my husband & I could still be in the same store because the optical was a lease dept. Took the job without looking back. Realized after 1 year that I really enjoyed what I was doing but I wasn't getting the proper training with cole. I fell into the perfect job an apprentice could have. I began working for Card's Opticians (a family owned optical in central Fl,) The Card Family were great mentors and wonderful people to work for. To this day I bless them for teaching me and instilling in me the drive to always to learn more.
27 years later I'm still in the business and I usually love everyday. If I do have a really bad day I blame my daughter. It was her fault I had to find a job where i could sit down every now and then.
Memories--OSF-- My Alma Mater From a previous post-Young and dumb at seventeen, fresh out of high school and without a clue as to what to do with my life I took my best friends advice and applied to OSF, Opticians School of Framingham!
Started in the garage of Bela Biskei (I hope I spelled his last name right) my freshman class of 18 students began our career as opticians in classrooms. Bela as many old time Boston area opticians know owned a contact lens buisness specializing in hard contact lens adjustments. This was the mid 70's when gas perm's and soft contacts were just hitting the market. Bela by the way escaped the Russian tanks as a radical youth and immigrated to America as a Hungarian Revolution refugee in the late 50's. Upon arriving in "The Land of Opportunity" he was surprised at the lack of formal education this country offered opticians. He built from scratch a successful buisness and sought a way to give back to his adopted country something for his sucess. Few schools then and now for that matter offer formal education in opticianry. In gratitude he and his devoted wife Martha (who really ran the school) founded OSF.
The school was in its infancy and trying to gain state accreditation.
Our first year optic theory course was spent doing lots of mathematics.
We would be given thicknesses and materials of a lens (index of refraction mattered) blank size and base curves and would figure powers and thicknesses from all these formulas I never have used since!
But I think it made me a better optician!
Then there was Gauss!! (I hope I spelled his name right.) This guy I think had way to much time on his hands as he figured "What the heck lets trace a theoretical ray of light through several substances and see where it focuses at 5 decimals points. New York's and I think Forida's exam had a Gauss equation for one of it's questions, so being the complete school OSF strove to be required we learn it. I have never needed to use it since.
But I think it made me a better optician!
We had to make 10 glass lens jobs by scoring and crimping then hand beveling before we could move on to the automatic edgers. It didn't take long before we realized the final rx should be written AFTER the job was done! Combination prism with different seg heights jobs were common!! Our lab teacher was a retired B+L pro who's skills were amazing. Just by feeling the lens he could tell you its power. Many master benchman on this website undoubtly carry on this ability. I've never scored and crimped since.
But it made me a better optician!
Sixteen of us graduated OSF and took the State board at Worcester Poly Tech in 1977. The Cape Codger himself signed my license!
-My mom and dad had a small gift shop next to the very successful optician in town. He would take Memorial Day to Labor Day off! I'll never forget my dad taking off his glasses one day and telling me "This piece of plastic costs $xx. It probably costs pennies to make".
Ok, I'll admit I find your specialty fascinating. I know I couldn't do it, but am curous how you ended up fabricating prosthetic eyesOriginally Posted by chip anderson
I am a 2nd generation optician. My late Father was the first optician in our city and I grew up in the business from a very young age. Worked in the lab (started as the delivery boy) then graduated to the dispensary and got my licence. Have owned my own location for 14 years now.
Regards,
Golfnorth
BTW as delivery boy my pay rate was 25 cents an hour. I think I was 12 at the time.
Golfnorth
I quit my retail sales job to enjoy an extended birthday/holiday celebration. I was in college away from home and my mid November birthday celebration in Vegas plus Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years at home were not going to work well with the peak retail sales season. So, I quit. I returned to my college town in the new year looking for a job. My boyfriend shared that he heard of a job opening at LC. He was going to apply on Wednesday. I applied on Monday! The last time that I saw him (9 years ago) he was stocking shelves at Wal Mart.
11 years in eye care later I have no regrets. Well maybe one. I wish I had completed my studies. All these years later I am looking to finish that degree as a wife, mom, employee.
He'd be happy to share that with you...................but then he'd have to kill you!...Ocularist's are funny that way!:):):)
"Always laugh when you can. It is a cheap medicine"
Lord Byron
Take a photo tour of Cape Cod and the Islands!
www.capecodphotoalbum.com
LOL! Yeah, forget it. I'm kinda diggin' this whole "life" thing.
We lived in Western Colorado and my Mom was and still is an optician and my Brother and I spent most our weekends hanging out in the back room (finish lab) and when I turned 15 I asked my Mom to train me in the lab (Taco Bell or leran the lab.... I chose lab.... my Mom chose Taco Bell) THAT SUCKED!
When I turned 18 she finally gave in, that was August of 1989.
"Just keep digging son, and soon we can buy frames direct"
I have to give one of my bi-annual talks to the residents on this subject and when I have it finished I will offer it (plan to have a short version for the optician,O.D./O.M.D.'s who encounter this in practice but don't actually want to fit/service artificial eyes and a long version on how it's actually done. Maybe both (short first) on the same DVD. Will be happy to share same when this is finished.
As to how I got in this, I had a nice person who offered me a job as a contact lens fitter tech and said that he didn't have enough work for me to do just this, I would have to do the artificial eyes. He trained me in molding, casting, re-shaping, matching etc, for a few years had wreck and I inherited it. Then some years later, I went to see my friend Vernon Lamb who taught me how to paint, assemble, etc. I came home had a few thousand "stock eyes" in a cabinet, so I painted, shaped and molded at night matching these until I felt confident enough to do at least the charity patients.
Chip:cheers:
In 1950 at the tender age of 10, I was hired by my father to sort screws. Someone in the office had knocked over 2 screw container boxes. 5bbl-7bbl head trim, fancy head trim, glass,extra long glass, eye wire, tons of different plaques,hex nuts, and I can't remember what-all next! I started at 8 and was finished by 12:15 on a Saturday. I was paid the princely sum of 50 cents.Just enough to get into the movies (25 cents) and pop corn and candy bars.I can remember that day so well because that's the day I became a John Wayne fan. The Movie I saw was Sands of Iwo Jima and the co feature (yes youngsters, there were always 2 movies in the old days) was The Strawberry Roan with Gene Autry. I thought I had died and gone to heaven!
"Always laugh when you can. It is a cheap medicine"
Lord Byron
Take a photo tour of Cape Cod and the Islands!
www.capecodphotoalbum.com
I was working in the billing department of an eye doctor at the time. Someone managing a satellite office quit. They thought I would be good at the managing part, but because it was a small satellite office with an optical I had to learn optical. After one month of training they let me loose on my own. Talk about trial by fire. My boss at the time was a horrendous boss (you know the type that steals sales in the middle of the sale because of some contest, or takes credit for something you did) She refused to teach me ANYTHING about contacts. And yet expected me to know all about them when I went to the outlying office. Loved to get upset when you asked questions. etc... The point to the babbaling is that because of her, I started studying and learning everything I could get my hands on just to prove I didn't need her. After a couple of years of this though, I got an offer to open a brand new optical department and manage it with a doctor that I really respect and like, and that is where I have been for the last few years. Now I am thankful that because the manager was so useless, I had to learn most of optical on my and didn't have the info handed to me.
I was born into it. 3rd generation. My grandfather started a lab in his basement after being a stone mason for years.
My wife was also born into it as her dad worked for mine and her uncle also worked for my grandfather before becoming a dispenser and was my dads best friend growing up and eventually my mom and dads best man.
Between the 2 families her uncle retired a dispensing optician, her dad just retired from the lab my family still owns (I don't work there) Her sister still works there, her other sister worked there as did her brother although they are both in different professions now. My older brother is out of optical now but worked in it for 20 years, my oldest sister still works there, my other sisiter worked her way through college as a doctors assistant and my younger brother is a dispenser in Texas.
That doesn't even count cousins and an uncle. So I can honestly say I've been in optics my whole life.
Some people see the glass as half empty, some as half full. I see the glass and wonder what the radius of curvature is.
I'm 3rd generation as well! A lot to live up to!
"Always laugh when you can. It is a cheap medicine"
Lord Byron
Take a photo tour of Cape Cod and the Islands!
www.capecodphotoalbum.com
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