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Thread: What Dumb Thing Did You Do When You First started

  1. #1
    Rising Star McAnerin's Avatar
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    What Dumb Thing Did You Do When You First started

    I remember very clearly the first dumb thing I ever did in optical.

    I had been working in a Lenscrafters for about a week, and was finally trusted to handle my first unassisted adjustment. It was a simple nosepad replacement, but instead of using a nosepad popper, I attempted to use regular pliers. Needless to say, my inexperienced hands slipped and I left a nice big scratch across the entire right lens. The dumbest part is this - my 18 year old brain looked at the glasses, then looked at the patient, and then my mouth said, "Was that there before?"

    I did the adjustment in front of the patient, he raised his eyebrows and said "I literally watched you scratch the lens." I went to the back, and grabbed an optician to finish the adjustment, we ordered him a new lens and I apologized. The patient was less than satisfied, and wanted me fired, thankfully, I was not. Though, I was lectured pretty hard about the importance of honesty.

    I'll never forget trying to get out of trouble for something I did under watching eyes. Those were some pretty fun days.
    -Poly is the best substrate for coatings.
    -Poly is extremely scratch resistant.
    -Poly is extremely impact resistant.
    -Poly is unparalleled in clarity.
    -Poly is much lighter than traditional crown glass.
    Like poly, you can trust me about 40% of the time.

  2. #2
    Ghost in the OptiMachine Quince's Avatar
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    Patient came in for an adjustment. Had just gotten new glasses in New York and was up in my neck of the woods for whatever reason. I dunked his hi index lenses right in the hot box without a second thought.... Poor guy. Apparently he had a warranty because I did give him my card in case he couldn't get it covered and I never did hear from him.

    That was within my first couple of months coming from Eyemart where they don't speak of such materials.

    So technically I had been in the field for about a year and a half, but 90% of that time was spent in the fast food of optical.
    Have I told you today how much I hate poly?

  3. #3
    Master OptiBoarder
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    I think it was probably day three in this wonderland called optical. I was working in a wholesale lab and at that time we did not have a hard coater. My job was to clean the lenses and package them to be shipped for hardcoat. I cleaned an uncoated poly lens with acetone. When it melted in my hands, everyone just kind of laughed and said "Oops...forgot to tell ya about that!" We all got a chuckle out of it.
    Last edited by mervinek; 10-17-2017 at 03:24 PM.

  4. #4
    OptiBoard Apprentice
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    Mentioned in another post, but heat treated a pair of plastic lenses.

  5. #5
    Master OptiBoarder optical24/7's Avatar
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    If you worked in a wholesale lab and were not sent to look for the "lens stretcher", you were not properly christened into this business!

  6. #6
    Master OptiBoarder
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    We kept ours right near the bucket of steam.

    Quote Originally Posted by optical24/7 View Post
    If you worked in a wholesale lab and were not sent to look for the "lens stretcher", you were not properly christened into this business!

  7. #7
    Master OptiBoarder OptiBoard Gold Supporter
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    Oh man the list is long. At least one of the stories includes an airbubble in the tint pot because I put the wrong kind of heat transfer fluid in it, a pot shot up in the air and at least a 10 square foot are of the lab was blue.

    Many ruined lenses surfaced too thin, crazed ar during adjustments broken frames and **** sandwiches eaten, here I am - I'm better now though. At least I like to think so

  8. #8
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    When I first began as an aide, our LDO who was training me was trying to teach me how to take a PD measurement. I thought it was pretty simple.. Turn it on, line up the little wires where their pupil is. Done.

    Nope LOL. She didn't tell me (or forgot to) that the wire/line had to directly cross over the tiny little light shining in the back of their eye so I was just placing the wire in the enter of their pupil and calling it a day. Every time she would double check my work she became concerned that I always had patients with one eye looking off to the left and the other going to the right. She finally sat me down and trained me again and then it hit her that she forgot to tell me. I still don't let her live that one down.

  9. #9
    Master Jedi King of the Lab's Avatar
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    I once tried to mark an OC on a patient, it's was only after she leaned back and grimaced in pain that I realized that there was no demo lens in her glasses.

    Yup, poked her right in the eye with my Staedtler marking pen.
    Erik Zuniga, ABOC.

  10. #10
    Master OptiBoarder OptiBoard Silver Supporter lensmanmd's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by optical24/7 View Post
    If you worked in a wholesale lab and were not sent to look for the "lens stretcher", you were not properly christened into this business!
    ha! That and sending a newbie for a box of OCs.

  11. #11
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    I started out in a surfacing lab and all the training books used 6.25/6.25 for base and cross for generating. Somehow in my newbie brain I didn’t realize that those were intended in this case as placeholders for actual base/cross and generated three or four pairs in a row before someone realized what I’d been doing. A while later, when I was learning to adjust frames, I got cocky chatting to my colleague and wasn’t paying enough attention to what I was doing. I melted the frame into an unwearable mess.

    17 years later, I can laugh about it (and tell my new hires) because we all started somewhere...

  12. #12
    Master OptiBoarder Snitgirl's Avatar
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    I was super young (17?) and a newbie. Had someone walk up to the front desk and ask me if we did ocular prosthesis cleanings. Since I had no idea what that was, the guy told me to hold out my hand. He then popped it out and put it in the palm of my hand. Then asked if our office cleaned those. I had no idea if we did or not so I carried it over to my manager who was in the lab. She was shocked to see me with this thing. Nope, we did not provide that service so I took it back to the man at the counter. He popped it back in and thanked me for checking. So dumb....that I left it in the palm of my hand carrying it across the office. I should've known what he was talking about!!!

  13. #13
    OptiBoard Apprentice
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    Also ruined a few optyl frames in my day

  14. #14
    Ghost in the OptiMachine Quince's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by King of the Lab View Post
    I once tried to mark an OC on a patient, it's was only after she leaned back and grimaced in pain that I realized that there was no demo lens in her glasses.

    Yup, poked her right in the eye with my Staedtler marking pen.
    I just laughed so hard!

    ...With you of course
    Have I told you today how much I hate poly?

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by King of the Lab View Post
    I once tried to mark an OC on a patient, it's was only after she leaned back and grimaced in pain that I realized that there was no demo lens in her glasses.

    Yup, poked her right in the eye with my Staedtler marking pen.
    I did this exact same thing as a newbie, but the amazingly cheap optical I worked in only used Sharpies. Luckily, my patient had the wherewithal to blink, so all I did was leave a nice black streak across her left eyelid.

  16. #16
    Rising Star McAnerin's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by King of the Lab View Post
    I once tried to mark an OC on a patient, it's was only after she leaned back and grimaced in pain that I realized that there was no demo lens in her glasses.

    Yup, poked her right in the eye with my Staedtler marking pen.
    First time I marked a bifocal, the patient asked to have it a little higher than before. She didn't have her other set, and assuming that bifocals are PAL's in disguise, marked above the OC and ordered before anyone checked. My preceptor said, "When those lenses get here, you're gonna know why I'm laughing!" to be fair, before remaking them afterwards, the lady did have a good chuckle at what the new guy did.
    -Poly is the best substrate for coatings.
    -Poly is extremely scratch resistant.
    -Poly is extremely impact resistant.
    -Poly is unparalleled in clarity.
    -Poly is much lighter than traditional crown glass.
    Like poly, you can trust me about 40% of the time.

  17. #17
    Master OptiBoarder OptiBoard Gold Supporter
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    Just remembered another one, edged a crizal lens with that protector on it thinking it was the same as contact tape for blocking.

    It was not.

  18. #18
    OptiBoard Apprentice
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    I first started at Lenscrafters on the retail floor but eventually learned the lab side as well. It was a small store so we still had a Coburn 113 generator. The first time I surfaced a lens (my manager was watching the whole time) I cut right through the lens and got halfway through the block before I said "should I still be cutting?". Apparently he hadn't been paying attention at all.

    I also nearly hit someone's eye with my pen thanks to a missing demo, but luckily stopped myself about 2mm from their eye.

  19. #19
    OptiBoard Apprentice
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    I found out why you don't put clear crown glass in the PGX chem temper unit.

  20. #20
    Master OptiBoarder
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    I once adjusted a wooden temple.

  21. #21
    Master Jedi King of the Lab's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by fjpod View Post
    I once adjusted a wooden temple.
    How did that go?
    Erik Zuniga, ABOC.

  22. #22
    Rising Star
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    Was hired as a student optician at a very prestigious optical many, many years ago...
    wanted to make a good impression; so I bought a suit for my very first day.
    boy, I sure looked sharpe, I thought.
    well it didn't take long for my boss to notice I had left all the price tags on my jacket! :o
    even the one that hangs under the arm! ��

    forever known from that day as "mr tag"!

    totally embarrassed, but it did break the ice.

  23. #23
    Master OptiBoarder OptiBoard Gold Supporter
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    Quote Originally Posted by ScottV View Post
    forever known from that day as "mr tag"!
    I will only refer to you as such from now on as well.

  24. #24
    Master OptiBoarder
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    After 4.5 years in the lab, my first week in the dispensary I broke a temple while adjusting a Modo frame. The store had been open for about a month, we wound up having to open an account with Modo to repair said frame. The store ended up selling Modo for a time though.
    Clinton Tower

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  25. #25
    looking up the answers smallworld's Avatar
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    Yep, my elbow slipped while measuring progressives and drew green marker down my patient's nose. Her attempt to wipe with a wet wipe only made it worse. She didn't seem very happy when I told her I needed to try again.

    Once during a pretest I was reaching behind the table during a patient's visual fields test and I fell. My feet ended up trapped on the garbage can, so I had to holler "I've fallen and I can't get up!"
    What is reality but a concept unique to each of us? Can anything be classed as real when our perceptions differ greatly on so many things? Just because we see something a particular way does not make it so.

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