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Fun with Optometry
Mar. 1st, 2005 01:08 amWent to the optometrist today.
I've had bad luck with glasses lately. The pair I'd been using had rusted away to the point where they were unwearable, and since my other current pair had years ago had one of its coatings start peeling off, I didn't really have an optimal pair of glasses anymore.
But it was 2001 or 2002 that I last visited an optometrist, so it was about time.
The store I went to was For Eyes and they have a weird-ass setup. The optometrist and staff are in the back and the buy-glasses-from-us people were in the front. And never the twain shall meet.
Oh, sure, they talked but they didn't even have a computer system or a billing system in common. You got your prescription and the optometrist put it in their computer, and then gave you a paper copy, then you took that paper copy up to the glasses people and they then put it into their computer system.
Weird.
And so efficient.
Overhead Conversation #1. An old Chinese guy walked in while I was waiting and started telling the glasses people that he'd been a customer a long, long time ago. And then told them it was two or three years.
(When I'm that old I don't think two or three years will be a long, long time.)
He kept saying that he wanted two pairs of glasses for $99, and he wanted them with glass lenses, and he just couldn't understand why they didn't use glass lenses anymore.
(I understand; they were heavy as f*ck.)
They eventually talked him into Teflon, I think, which is super scratch-resistant plastic.
The tests were quick. I hate the blowing-air-into-my-eyes-to-test-pressure crap, though it's better then when they used to prod your eyeballs with little plastic discs.
The good news was that my prescription has pretty much not changed. This was the same story that I got 4 years ago, which means my prescription has been stable for 6 or 7 years ago.
My eyes kept getting so much worse from year to year when I was younger that at one point the doctors were suggesting gas-permeable contacts, just because they help keep your eyeball shape. So, stability is terrific, and I guess I get to enjoy it for a couple of years before my eyes start degenerating anew in the bifocal-type direction.
Overheard Conversation #2. Some frat kid walked in while I was picking out my glasses and told the staff that he'd kept his contacts in the same saline solution for five days (dude!) and how was he ever going to get them clean(!!??).
They told him it wasn't a big deal, of course, and that he should just clean them with some new solution before he put them in.
Then he got upset because he couldn't buy the saline solution at the optometrist (oh, man!) and why didn't they stock it and where was he ever going to find it (!!??).
I bit my tongue so that I didn't tell him about the secret stores of glass lenses and saline solution in the back.
The clerk, meanwhile, just pointed across the street to the Walgreen's there.
When I left DUDE was trying to figure out the math for how many more days he got to wear his contacts now that he hadn't worn them for five days.
VSP, my optical insurance has apparently started trying to discourage their members from filing claims. It used to be amazingly simple, but now you have to fill our forms and send them in and wait for a check back for any out-of-network provider.
I'm sure it helps their bottom line at cost to their customers, a typical corporate move. As a result I'll be choosing another vision plan next year.
When I talked with the store they said, no problem, we'll fill out the forms for you, and so I agreed to an appointment.
It turns out that "filling in the forms" means that they handed me the mostly blank forms with their store name and address filled in.
Classy.
I should have new glasses and be able to see right again within a week.
I've had bad luck with glasses lately. The pair I'd been using had rusted away to the point where they were unwearable, and since my other current pair had years ago had one of its coatings start peeling off, I didn't really have an optimal pair of glasses anymore.
But it was 2001 or 2002 that I last visited an optometrist, so it was about time.
The store I went to was For Eyes and they have a weird-ass setup. The optometrist and staff are in the back and the buy-glasses-from-us people were in the front. And never the twain shall meet.
Oh, sure, they talked but they didn't even have a computer system or a billing system in common. You got your prescription and the optometrist put it in their computer, and then gave you a paper copy, then you took that paper copy up to the glasses people and they then put it into their computer system.
Weird.
And so efficient.
Overhead Conversation #1. An old Chinese guy walked in while I was waiting and started telling the glasses people that he'd been a customer a long, long time ago. And then told them it was two or three years.
(When I'm that old I don't think two or three years will be a long, long time.)
He kept saying that he wanted two pairs of glasses for $99, and he wanted them with glass lenses, and he just couldn't understand why they didn't use glass lenses anymore.
(I understand; they were heavy as f*ck.)
They eventually talked him into Teflon, I think, which is super scratch-resistant plastic.
The tests were quick. I hate the blowing-air-into-my-eyes-to-test-pressure crap, though it's better then when they used to prod your eyeballs with little plastic discs.
The good news was that my prescription has pretty much not changed. This was the same story that I got 4 years ago, which means my prescription has been stable for 6 or 7 years ago.
My eyes kept getting so much worse from year to year when I was younger that at one point the doctors were suggesting gas-permeable contacts, just because they help keep your eyeball shape. So, stability is terrific, and I guess I get to enjoy it for a couple of years before my eyes start degenerating anew in the bifocal-type direction.
Overheard Conversation #2. Some frat kid walked in while I was picking out my glasses and told the staff that he'd kept his contacts in the same saline solution for five days (dude!) and how was he ever going to get them clean(!!??).
They told him it wasn't a big deal, of course, and that he should just clean them with some new solution before he put them in.
Then he got upset because he couldn't buy the saline solution at the optometrist (oh, man!) and why didn't they stock it and where was he ever going to find it (!!??).
I bit my tongue so that I didn't tell him about the secret stores of glass lenses and saline solution in the back.
The clerk, meanwhile, just pointed across the street to the Walgreen's there.
When I left DUDE was trying to figure out the math for how many more days he got to wear his contacts now that he hadn't worn them for five days.
VSP, my optical insurance has apparently started trying to discourage their members from filing claims. It used to be amazingly simple, but now you have to fill our forms and send them in and wait for a check back for any out-of-network provider.
I'm sure it helps their bottom line at cost to their customers, a typical corporate move. As a result I'll be choosing another vision plan next year.
When I talked with the store they said, no problem, we'll fill out the forms for you, and so I agreed to an appointment.
It turns out that "filling in the forms" means that they handed me the mostly blank forms with their store name and address filled in.
Classy.
I should have new glasses and be able to see right again within a week.
