So, how did you get into optics?

[Mike Fretto]

I thought I'd keep this third gen. thing going my grandfather, mothers side, bought a wholesale lab business back in the late 60's, I would visit as a child and he'd put me to work putting temples on fronts. He hired my father to run the lab for him, I went to work part time through the summer as a sophomore in High School (Dad insisted) and then full time after graduation in 1974. Its been amazing to see the advancements in the industry over the years we've come a long way from rockin in cyls on the pan and blocking with pitch. I'll always have fond memorys of blowing up photogrey lenses in the generator. I've tried twice to get out of this business but it seems to keep sucking me back in.

[Andrew Weiss]

3rd generation also; is there a club here? :D

My grandfather emigrated from Romania and, after a couple of odd jobs, supposedly learned how to be an optometrist from a correspondence course he found on a matchbook cover (this was in the late 1890's/early 1900's). He was a bit of a wild man, and eventually opened an office in Waterbury CT, where he spent his office downtime at the movie theater down the street (they even had a slide they'd flash on the screen when he had a patient). He had three kids: my father and his brother both studied optometry and their sister married an optometrist who went into partnership with my grandfather.

I used to sub for the receptionist on Good Fridays (my father stayed open since we were Jewish but let his Christian receptionist have the day off, and in those days public schools up north were closed on Good Fridays). I greeted the patients, took histories, took findings in the exam room, helped with frame selection, etc. Then my Dad installed a very small edging lab in the back foyer of his office, which also house the air conditioning unit and served as a coat closet. He got top-of-the-line equipment, an AO Trimatic edger and cutter with suction cups (!?!), an early form of blocking equipment. His goal was to edge all jobs that didn't involve surfacing -- SV and spherical bifocals.

When I got into high school in 1960, my Dad, in an effort to instill some fiscal maturity in me, had me earn my allowance by running his lab. He was a perfectionist. 0.25 cyls had to be within 3 degrees, anything over 1.00 within 1 degree. All metal jobs were put under a polariscope to check for tension marks; no tension marks allowed, and no washer either. I did it over until it was right.

With the exception of one summer during college, when I worked at the B&L lab in Hartford, CT and learned what very little I know about surfacing, I pretty much stayed away from optical until 1971. Arriving in Boston, MA, with little money and an M.A. in English, during a time when PhD's were driving taxi cabs, I lied my way into a job dispensing for a small OD's office. I called my Dad, told him I had the job, and he said, "Come down here and work in my office for a week." During that week he trained me in the basics of dispensing in his own, perfectionistic way, supervising everything I did. I kept going back weekends to learn more for about a year (he was open Saturday mornings). That job at the small OD's office didn't last long, but I got another, and in 1972 took my licensing exam and passed on the first try. My license even pre-dates Cape Codger's tenure on the Board of Opticianry in MA.

[Grubendol]

My mother had very bad eyes. She was a -13 with about 2-3 diopters of cyl. As well as problems with dry eyes. You name, she had the issue (later on diagnosed with MD).

When I was a junior in high school she had joked to me that maybe I should become an eye doctor so she could get free glasses. I laughed it off, but after a short time the idea held some appeal for me. She arranged for me to follow her doctor for a couple of days and I found the environment appealing. By my senior year I was working for that doctor. I worked for him off and on through college and afterwards as well.

During the time I discovered I enjoyed outside of the exam room more than in the exam room. After college I took a little time out of the business. I worked for the admission office at my alma mater for a couple of years, and also worked for an internet advertising company. Designed websites on the side, but when I fell on hard times, I came back to my old standby and it has sustained me through some of the most difficult times in my life, healthwise.

I’ve now been in and out of Optical since 1989.

[finefocus]

I'm only second generation, so that's chopped liver around here. My dad started as a benchman for AO right after WWII, became a branch manager; in my youth, we moved almost every year as he got a bigger branch (always in Northern California, of course - nowhere else will ever do **). I was trained as a benchman by Frank Ragland, as a surface room animal by Clyde Workman (cut my first saddle-back tool under his tutelage), learned contacts from Fred Eatinger, and temple-bending from Ed Henninger. My father and brother (yeah, he's in the biz too) planned a business together, but cigarettes killed dad so we sons went our ways, me into retail, he into the frame racket. After years as an independent, I'm now employed by a large medical practice, 4 MD's, 4 OD's. I really love combining the technical and style aspects. And the best part? You get to actually help people in a meaningful way every day!

** (p.s. I think I could live and be happy in Vancouver - please take this as a high compliment)

[Ginster]

In 1983 I answered an add in the paper for a One Hour Optical store owned by Eckerd DrugStore in the newspaper, I was living in Miami Fla. I went in for the interview, they wanted to train people from scratch. I was one of 40 people choosen for the position. I was hired for lab, stating in the tint department for $6.50 an hour. That was good money back then. I loved it learned every aspect of the lab and then when I moved to Colorado and worked for a Pearle store they trained me out front in the dispensary. I have an entertianment background in music and love people. I fit right in. I love what I do :D

Regards Ginny

[Judy Canty]

I was a divorced single mom with a 2 year-old daughter to support and a college background in music (oboe). I applied at a local bank, thinking that my college education would at the least qualify me to work as a teller. No go! The bank manager's brother-in-law needed another clerk in his optical wholesale lab (New City in Norfolk) and that was that. I spent my first day at work putting away the day's lens shipments. It took all day to figure out how the lenses were categorized. I've never looked back! 37 years later, I'm still in this up to my neck. :shiner:

[ericagoldi]

I fell into the profeession, part to take the easy road after college but also because I enjoy working with my father. I am graduating at the end of the summer and need a plan. Any advice? I'm afraid, that after all this hard work, how can this turn into a fufilling profession? How bout taking a job abroad? Paris or England?

[va_optikal]

I was in my early 20's and on my last month of unemployment. I was asked by Jim at the employment office if I was interested in O J T , so I said sure I'll give it a shot. I needed a job pretty bad. I had two kids to raise and care for.
My last job was a disaster. I had always wanted to be a Vet assistant, but my experience with that was very much uncool. I had to help put a beautiful little collie to sleep my first week of working in the local vet office. ( I went in the bathroom and cried my eyes out) . The Vet was a drunk who would hit my hands ( enough to bruise) if I held the animal wrong, so after one month in that place I turned him in to the employment office and I quit. I was able to get unemployment.
The man ( I called him Sammy Davis Jr. because he was the spittin' image of the singer) who trained me at my first optical shop position thought he was Gods gift to women and usually had the other gal in the back corner until I came back there and caught him ( much to her relief) . But he actually taught me quite a bit . For that I'm grateful. I tried a few times to get into some other career, but nothing worked. Only the Optical always opened up for me. ( smile) Thats okay, I still enjoy it.
;)

[va_optikal]

I was a divorced single mom with a 2 year-old daughter to support and a college background in music (oboe). I applied at a local bank, thinking that my college education would at the least qualify me to work as a teller. No go! The bank manager's brother-in-law needed another clerk in his optical wholesale lab (New City in Norfolk) and that was that. I spent my first day at work putting away the day's lens shipments. It took all day to figure out how the lenses were categorized. I've never looked back!

Hey, I lived in Newport News Va ( well Fort Eustis) in the early 80's. Beautiful area. My daughter was born at Langly AFB in 1980. ;)

[Judy Canty]

You wouldn't recognize the place. We were transfered to Roosevelt Roads, PR from Va Beach in '84, then to DC for the next 20. Moved back to our house at the Beach and everything's changed!!!

[FullCircle]

I'm afraid, that after all this hard work, how can this turn into a fufilling profession?

I guess that depends on your definition of "fulfilling profession." I've worked in other retail environments and was a cubicle dweller for a handful of years. I made more money in the "corporate world" but it just never felt right. At the end of the day, I hadn't made a positive difference in anyone's lives (except the owner of the company and his bank account) and all I had to show for the work I'd done was an empty in box and some sales figures.

Coming back to optics made me realize that this was my truly fulfilling profession. I'll probably never be financially rich because of it but every day I know I made some difference in someone's life.

[stephanie]

Was a bad accident or coincidence that lasted 15 years....one day I will stop the maddness!!!

[Now I See]

I was working in a daycare, and decided I wanted to go back to school to become a teacher...the owner of the daycare said she couldn't allow me to take off work for the hours needed to attend class, so I took another job in retail (a little more flexibility)..a place called Lens Lab in Greenville, NC. I was completely fascinated! I remember the first time I put a pair of glasses on a man who had come in wearing a very out-dated frame, and watching his demeanor change...he looked happier, it truly changed his whole image, and he was very happy! (even after all this time, I still love to see a person really enjoy their glasses!) After I left Greenville, I moved to Raleigh and applied for a job on the retail floor at LC, they asked me if I would be willing to train in the lab instead...L-O-V-E-D it!!! :cheers: After LC, I went to work for an independent OD, then for a busy place full of MDs...all the while, I was in the apprenticeship program, a couple of years after I became licensed, I decided to take the plunge and open my own shop...and here I am. Ta-Da! It's the best of both worlds...lab and retail!

I think the reason I have stayed with optics, and love it so much, is because it really fits my personality..there is never a dull moment, and it seems like there is always something new to learn!

PS.. thanks to everyone for sharing your stories! :)

[stephanie]

Ok I tell the whole story...I got laid off at my job at a restaurant I was working at. I was looking through the paper for a job and decided to apply for a job I had no experience or business applying for OPTICAL MANAGER!! Ha!! I thought!! They never hire me!! Alas....was one of my former customers and he remembered me from a pizzeria I worked when I was 17!! He knew my grandmom too and decided I was worth taking a chance on....15 years 3 states and a thousand jobs later here I am...still doing it. Some days I love it some days I hate it....some days I just like to run away...but I don't regret most of it because I have a career and I guess God has a reason for everything.

[tmorse]

My 1st wife was taking he Canadian Guild distance-learning opticianry course in Ontario, but couldn't handle the formulas in Geometric Optics. I was getting my B.Sc. in Chem/Math at the tuime, so I learned it to teach her. I then went on to an unrelated field (Law) while she completed her studies. Later we opened three retail dispensaries but then the whole provincial economy of Alberta went into the tank in the early 80's.
I enjoyed teaching and moving to B.C. I realized that there was no optical school in western Canada, so I took every course available in Dispensing and Contact Lens Fitting that I could find in the US, got all the US credentials and amalgamated the best parts of all the course materials and opened my opticianry school in Vancouver in 1984.
First class... 1 student, next class 3 students, slowly expanded and now have full classes into Spring 2009. It was a gamble... and it paid off.:cheers:

[rbaker]

I never consciously decided to work in the eye care field but life's little idiosyncrasies seem to have conspired to place me in the field. I was born and raised in South Central Massachusetts and just about everyone had relatives or neighbors who worked at American Opticals main plant in Southbridge. In high school my main interest was aviation and I had a part time job with the Cessna dealer at the Worcester airport. I received a nice pay check but the main attraction was 2 hours of flight instruction every week. One of my flight instructors was Arthur Clemens and in 1957 he was hired by AO to set up their new flight department.

AO purchased a new Aero Commander and I was hired by AO to drag the thing in and out of the hangar, refuel and wash, wax and clean the interior. I did manage to wangle some duel in the aircraft and in fact I got my multi-engine rating in the Aero Commander. In 1958 I was old enough to get my commercial and instrument rating and thus was allowed to fly right seat and after a hundred or so hours I began to fly as pilot in command.

It was a great job. I flew the Wells family around the Eastern US and met all of the big wigs from B&L, Shuron, Titmus, etc. Please don't think I was a big shot. They sat in the back and about the only personal contact that I had with these movers and shakers was to bring them a cuppa or carry an umbrella.

In the fall of 1958 I went off to the Fletcher School of Engineering at Dartmouth College but continued to work in the flight department of AO for the four years of my undergraduate studies. A lot of the trips that I went on were to conventions and conferences and I was usually invited along to these events - primarily to schlep the equipment or luggage but I found some of the conferences and people very interesting. Yes, Dr. Edgar Tillyer was a frequent passenger aboard N33AO and he was a true gentleman.

Upon graduation from Dartmouth College in 1961 I accepted a commission in the United States Marine Corps and set off to become the next Pappy Boyington. I spent the next six years as a Naval Aviator.

In the meantime I had met the girl of my dreams and, guess what, her uncle just happened to be a dispensing optician. On my last leave before another tour in Vietnam we had dinner with him and he asked me what I was planning to do when I was transfered to Fleet Marine Reserves and my reply was something about my not drawing a sober breath for six months and that once my head cleared I would find something to do with my life probably an airline job. I remember Paul remarking that being an optician was "a license to print money" and that the Worcester Technical Institute had just started a two year program in ophthalmic optics and that perhaps I might consider that as he was thinking of retiring in a few years and I could work into his practice.

Midway through my tour I was involved in a rather serious accident which ended my career in military aviation and would quite possibly prevent me from obtaining an appropriate medical to perform the duties of a civilian commercial pilot. I was released from active duty and returned home with the intent of setting the worlds Demerol and booze consumption records. In short, I was as crazy as a **** house rat. I arrived home the day after Labor Day of 1967 and Ill be damned if Uncle Paul didn't show up to ruin my party. He had taken the liberty of calling the school and had talked them into accepting me as a late admission even though the class was filled. Bummer. But the woman who was to become my bride and the father of my children talked me into at least going to the first day of classes. I graduated two years later and thus began a misspent life in the eye care business (and two other careers.)

Its funny the way **** happens.

[Against the Rule]

Cool topic! It's neat to see how the folks here got suckered into, er I mean started in, optical.
As for me I was bartending and a DM from a major optical chain with Italian connections was a regular customer. She was impressed with my service, especially by the fourth or fifth drink, and on one particularly-tipsy night she offered me a job.
I was hired as a manager at this chain a few days later (she kept her drunken word while sober--pretty commendable really).
Years later now, she's moved higher up the corporate ladder and I've gone on to work for an independent, so things worked out for both of us.

[harry a saake]

after leaving the navy i soon realized there was not much use for CW instructors in the real world, took a job as a bellboy in the garden city hotel in LINY, when we got news it was going to be demolished, so start looking, saw an add in the paper one day that said, do you want a job with a future call 516-555-5555, i did and some lady answered and said, B@L opthalmic division. I replied whats an opthalmic, they explained, i took the job at 75.00 a week polishing cylinders, here i am 42 years later, licensed in several sates and making a good living. _ _ ... ..._ _ ... ._ _. _.. _ _ _.. _ _ _.. ...

[nickrock]

I kinda breezed thru the prior messages, but I think I might be the only 4th Generation optican. I see a lot of 3rd generations in the prior post. Any other 4th's? My Great-grandfather started a lab, optical dispensary in 1911, I guess the rest is 96 years of history

[Now I See]

I kinda breezed thru the prior messages, but I think I might be the only 4th Generation optican. I see a lot of 3rd generations in the prior post. Any other 4th's? My Great-grandfather started a lab, optical dispensary in 1911, I guess the rest is 96 years of history

Wow, nickrock, that is impressive!! I only hope that my shop will be the beginning of a family business...that would be my dream-come-true!

[lensgrinder]

Very good topic.
I started in the summer before high school, June of 1986 to be exact. My step-father had an optical shop with a surfacing lab and my brother and sisters had worked there. I wanted to work there with everyone too so he made me fill out an application and dress for an interview(not with him).
I wanted to work in the lab, but he made me clean base boards, gutters, get him coffee, etc. to see if I really wanted to work. After a week or two of this I was put on the cylinder machines for 6 months, then the big day, I moved up to the generator. After 2 years of surfacing I finally got to try the finishing side, just tinting though nothing else. After a year of mounting and various other things I finally moved to lay out and edging.
I must say those were some good days that I will never forget.

[AdmiralKnight]

I finished highschool at 17, and had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do with my life. I knew I didn't want to spend $20k/year to go to University and end up graduating and still not having a job. My mother had (has) been an Optician for about 30 years, and said to me "Well, what about trying it?" Relatively cheap and short schooling, and even if I wanted to do something else, I'd always have something to fall back on... Why not? :D I'm 22 now, and love what I do.

[Jamelina]

My sister-in-law was the office manager for her father's practice. They offered me a job part time when I was fifteen doing recalls and filing etc. I continued to learn and grow in the office eventually running the front desk as well as doing optician work. Six years later I moved to Texas where I became a full time optician for a chain and became ABO Certified. Less then a year later I accepted a position in a private optometry office...which is much better. :p

[fvc2020]

You wouldn't recognize the place. We were transfered to Roosevelt Roads, PR from Va Beach in '84, then to DC for the next 20. Moved back to our house at the Beach and everything's changed!!!

Judy not to change the subject, but how long were you at Rosey Roads???I was there was 1980-1983.....

christina

[Scott R]

I got married 2 years after highschool to a girl I met while in colledge out side the US. I had a ok job (paid the rent) rebuilding truck engines in a junk yard while I was finishing my BS in psyc. In may of 1995 my junk yard job was turning to junk and I was fed up with college.
My wifes uncle invited my wife, infant son and myself to stay with him and his family for the summer in Toronto (his wife is also an optician). They decided to teach me how to make more money and keep my hands clean by doing finishing work. AIT Robot, Edge Master and finally a Briot with a floating bevel guide free hand drilling etc. in the back of his High End shop.
The last week of August I found a job with a private OD, withdrew from college (for what I thought was for 1 semester) stayed 3 months found a better job with a different private OD (both low end medicade mills) Went back to school for optics while working. After 16 months I got an offer to work for a well known privatley owned High End co. in NYC. Stayed 11 years. 2 months ago I changed jobs to work for a large MD/OD 3 location practice based in NYC. (In 13+ years I have been unemployed for less than 10 days between jobs)
Every optician I have ever met that has tried to leave the industry ends up back in the industry. This industry gets into your blood. Possibly from all the self inflicted screwdriver stab wounds.