I was about to take Snoopy out for a walk yesterday morning, when I realized that my glasses were sitting on my face oddly. One of the nose pieces had come off. Actually the piece of metal that held the nose piece had broken off. I retraced my steps and eventually found the piece that broke off on the bathroom floor.
In the meantime, Patty had already been on the phone to 4 or 5 different optometries and found a place that could solder the pieces back together again. It wasn't going to be pretty, but it would buy me some time till I got a new pair made. So I hopped in a cab and got myself over there. A nice lady took the pieces from me and told me that the repair would probably cost $10. No worries. Ten bucks is a deal considering I am blind without my glasses. I had to work that afternoon, and I wasn't relishing the thought of calling in to say I couldn't make it, again (but that story is for Part 2 of this post).
The glasses disappeared into a back room with the nice lady, and I took a seat since I really couldn't see anything. I heard an exclamation come from the back, followed by 'Oh my god!'. The other two staff members disappeared into the back and I was now all alone out front. I could make out words like plastic, glass, interspersed between lots more 'oh my god's. Another customer entered the store and one of the women came out to greet her. I managed to snag her as she passed and I asked if everything was alright back there. No, not really she replied and she went to meet the new customer.
For the next little bit I heard phonecalls being made from the back, the occasional 'oh my god' and I began to suspect that my glasses were probably in worse shape now than they were before. A few minutes passed, and finally a woman came out with my glasses...or what was left of them. The lens had shattered when she tried to remove it from the frame. Poor woman, she was visibly upset and kept saying how sorry she was. But she had a plan.
So, she got me some contact lenses to try on, while she explained to me that they were getting new lenses for me. It would take a few days of course, given my short-sightedness. So the contacts were just for the time being. I haven't worn contacts in years now, but these were surprisingly comfortable and I could see again. I even got to pick out a new frame, and then she asked me if I had a new prescription for my lenses. Quick phonecall to Patty and those were emailed over.
I left the store with a rather big smile on my face. When my glassed broke that morning, I wasn't really looking forward to having to spend what would probably amount to $500 to get new ones made. By some bizarre twist I am getting a new pair of glasses, with my new prescription for free. I feel like I just have won the lottery! I'm also wondering just how far I can take this...you know, like the next time I have to get a new pair of glasses. I might just have to snap that nose piece off myself and take it in to get soldered.
No comments:
Post a Comment