The Decline Of American Life

 My husband needed an eye exam and new glasses. He couldn't go to the eye doctor he had been going to for years because of the fanatical raise in his prices. An eye exam now cost $125. Lenses in his RX (prescription) are $300 and frames cost around $180. That totals to a whopping $605. He used to get a yearly "free" exam from an Ophthalmologist via Medicare but that process has now been discontinued. He also used to get an eye exam and eyewear from WalMart but one year he had two pairs made and each one was a disaster. So, as per WalMart's policy hubby returned both pairs for a full refund. He got his refund but was banned by the optical store employees to never come back. I personally wanted to file a complaint against the WalMart employees but hubby, the patsy that he is, decided to just move on. And pay through the nose!

So, after a bit of research hubby decided to go to Lens Crafters. He got a price quote of $398 for an eye exam, frames and bifocal lenses. The closest Lens Crafters to us is an hour away, inside a mall. I have NOT set foot inside a mall for at least twenty five years. Yes! You read that correctly. I'm NOT a shopper. Never was and never will be. Currently I simply log onto my Amazon account (click here) and order whatever it is I need and simply just move along. 

Today was the first time I walked into a mall in probably thirty years. I don't like them. I think they are stupid. They have no value. Everything I heard about the decline of the American mall is true. There were many, many closed stores as well as two of its anchor stores. Sears was long gone, as was Best Buy. Of the stores that were still open, many of them touted 50% to 75% off their remaining inventory. Despite the piped in music, I found the mall to be a very sad place. There was barely anyone inside the mall. 

Since it was lunch time, hubby suggested we stop in the food court and get something to eat. Before I settled on anything, I checked out the prices. A slice of pizza cost $5.50 (we used to pay a dollar). A frankfurter from Nathan's was $7 (two for $13) I could buy a whole package of eight Nathan franks from the supermarket for five bucks and another $1.39 for eight rolls! Out of curiosity there was a candy store there. The candy was sold by the pound. One pound of candy (licorice, Swedish fish, peanut clusters etc) was $17.95!!!! A take-out Japanese restaurant was giving out free samples of their chicken fried in tempura. I had a taste and it was delicious. It was $5.99 for a small order over fried rice, so I ordered it. That later turned out to be a BIG mistake. Within one hour I got deathly ill. Don't even ask how we made it back home. I spent the next hour on the bowl in our bathroom. 'Nuff said!

Anyway, to get to the point of this post, when hubby got his glasses and tried them on, the lenses were ALL wrong! The bifocal height was set too low and he was unable to see or read. WTF??!! Rather than use a ruler to set the bifocals, the "optician" who was completely covered in tattoos, ear piercings and a diamond circle embedded in his lower right ear lobe, used an electronic contraption to set the bifocals to the frame. Like duh? Modern technology teaches our budding new opticians to use the equipment rather than their brains which in turn cause Lens Crafters (among others) to hire employees less than. If you get my drift?

In other words, the glasses were unusable, couldn't be saved and hubby had to go through the motions all over again. The pair has to be sent back to the lab and be redone. So much for Lens Crafters trying to cut corners and save money? This time Lens Crafters lost. Not hubby. The 'optician' used a ruler this time and correctly marked the height of the bifocals to the lenses. Hubby will have to wait another 7 to 10 days before he can finally get his new glasses. We hope. Fingers crossed.

Full disclosure: I was a licensed optician back in the day. I went to a NYS Authorized College, got my A.A.S. degree in ophthalmic dispensing and worked in the field for several years. My sister is a licensed optician in NY and Florida (but retired and gave up her practice) My brother was an ophthalmologist (now deceased). My dad (also deceased) was an optical manufacturer and my ex-husband is an optician and my current husband worked as an optical technician. So, it's an understatement to say we know the optical business! PS: Optics is part of the medical industry. We had to always dress professional. 

What a disgrace.

Like this post? Want to read more? Sign up as a Follower and instantly get my next posts as soon as I hit 'send'. Comments are most welcome, provided they are respectful and considerate. Hey! We've all had a bad day. Let's be kind to each other, ok?

Want to join Amazon? Click here for the link. Happy shopping! Please note: I make a small commission if you use my link and make an Amazon purchase.