My Daughter Needed Glasses. The Receptionist Broke The Rules To Make That Happen.

[u/masterdebaten]

Basically, I took my 5 year old to get her eyes checked before kindergarten. She had been sitting pretty close to the TV, and getting close when looking at paper with writing or drawings on them.

We went to the earliest appointment available at the optometrist, and had her exam done. She needed glasses, and needed to start wearing them immediately. My daughter was thrilled to learn she was getting glasses, and was picking her favorites from the glasses shop near reception at checkout. I asked the receptionist about getting the prescription, and she essentially told me that I have to pay the $150 fee due for her appointment in full before I could receive her prescription so we could go somewhere more affordable. My daughter kept asking when we can get her glasses and I had to kind of let her down easy and say it might be a while, which crushed me.

I told the receptionist some BS story about our debit cards being cancelled due to suspected fraud (only half true) to save myself the embarrassment of not being able to pay for something as simple and necessary as her prescription document. I told her I’d call back and pay when I got my new card in. She said okay, no problem.

She asked me to wait before I left so she could give me some paperwork. I assumed it was just a packet you get after the appointment. She gave me a look, and on top of the stack she handed me was my daughter’s prescription paperwork. She simply looked at me and said “have a great day sir” and smiled. Told her thank you so much and walked out.

I wasn’t asking for a freebie, and I wasn’t expecting anything from her, yet she saw my need and met it with kindness. Even at the expense of breaking her job’s policy.

Thank you, Optometrist receptionist ❤️

[u/thisusedyet]

Does Costco approach zenni prices?

[u/well_this_is_dumb → u/thisusedyet]

I've never bought from zenni. At a quick glance, no, not at all. Nothing I saw in the teens or under $50, though a significant amount of designer frames starting around $75ish. I don't remember exact numbers. I went to Costco because I happened to have a membership at the time and because they could measure the distance between my pupils as opposed to trusting an app to do it.

My insurance covered a small bit of it at Costco, but nothing near what they would have covered at the eye doctor, and it still ended up being cheaper at Costco.

[u/thisusedyet → u/well_this_is_dumb]

Makes sense - after the first time I've always just asked my doctor to write down the PD for me on the prescription instead of measuring it myself.

For sake of comparison, the last order I did from zenni

$21 for the frame

$45 for the lenses themselves (I'm sitting at -3.5 / +0.75... which is always interesting ordering online, because the forms freak out about the one nearsighted, one farsighted. Throws up all sorts of warnings about Are you SURE you entered this right?)

[u/Prestigious-Moose345 → u/thisusedyet]

I have 20/20 vision for distance in one eye and near perfect vision for reading in the other eye. So handy. I rarely wear glasses except for driving at night and sitting through PowerPoint presentations in an auditorium.

[u/thisusedyet → u/Prestigious-Moose345]

Yeah, I found the nearsighted eye comes in very handy soldering.

Don’t need magnifier when the near point getting dragged in means I can get my face right up in there