HELP ME HELP YOU.

[GingerBiscuit]

In optics it gets quiet around Christmas. No-one buys glasses when a) they have presents to get and b) there's a recession on.

So, because it is quiet (for quiet read around 10 front-of-house staff standing around staring into space for the last hour) we are desperately grabbing our few customers in order to have something to do.

And boy did she give me something to do.

Strange woman= SW
Me= duh.

SW: Hey, I could do with your help
Me: Of course!
SW: I'm thinking about buying some glasses for my friend.
Me: Oh, O.K, let me talk you through our prices and offers so that when he comes in you don't have to waste time. Or you could get a gift certificate...
SW: Oh, no, he won't be coming in.
Me: O..K...
SW: He's in a foreign country. I'll buy him the frames here and take them over with me.
Me: Well, you can certainly do that, but we ideally like to have the person here..
SW: Why?
Me: Well, because getting glasses isn't simply a matter of choosing a frame. The frame you choose might not suit him, just for starters, and it may not be suitable for his prescription.
SW: What glasses would you buy for a friend of yours
Me *brain/mouth filter failure* I'd bring them in and buy the pair of their choice. But to be honest I'm more likely to buy them booze.
SW: If they weren't with you, what pair would you buy them?
Me: Well, my friends might not be like your friend. My friends are mostly of the punky and gothy persuasion, so I would probably get them something nice from the designer range. Like this perhaps.
SW: No he wouldn't like that.

Seriously, it went on like this, with her giving me no idea of what this friend looked like etc. I cannot help you!

She came in three times in the end, nagging managers for offers and changing her stories.

[bainsidhe]

Not just style, but I'd also be concerned about the fit. Unless wherever he was getting the lenses would fit the glasses to his head. Seems a pretty personalized purchase to be running blind and spending a load on.

Being that we ARE in a recession, did management offer a discount in order to get the business?

[GingerBiscuit]

Hell, we already two a two for one offer. And no, unless you're friend or family of staff or staff yourself you don't get more than that.

She was pee'd off because she wanted one pair to prescription#1 (her own prescription) and the other pair blank, for him. We refused, saying we would let her have the second pair for the price of the lenses (£39) because in managers words, to me, later 'some people just wear them for the look, and then she's got a completely free pair for the look of it!'

Considering we don't charge for standard lenses normally she was getting a bloody good deal. A pair of designer glasses for £39?

edit- yeah, and fit is a massive concern. MASSIVE. What if he had a really huge head?

[karma_gypsy]

And this is where gift certificates would have been the better gift ... she could have easily just found his local optical place and somehow gotten a gift certificate from them or even make up her own gift certificate, like an IOU ... but that requires talent and a little thought ...



Last year for Christmas, a young lady came in looking to purchase a rifle for her boyfriend. I think she even had a sizeable budget to play with, like around $200 (and she was over 18 and all that as well). She didn't know a single thing about rifles and I don't know much either ... but her boyfriend does. So, I basically did the same thing, I told her to it was best to either bring him in or get him a gift certificate. You know he'd understand and appreciate the thought ...


But no ... that wasn't good enough for her... She wanted to buy him a rifle right then and there (and these are pre-owned firearms). She finally talked herself out of it and said she would bring in a friend (who apparently knew a bit about rifles as well) and look at one that she was considering on buying.

She never came back.

We still have her ID ... (oops, I forgot to give it back ... )

[Broomjockey]

Quoth GingerBiscuit

edit- yeah, and fit is a massive concern. MASSIVE. What if he had a really huge head?

Or hell, a long head? My old glasses were of the hookback earpiece variety (no clue what the actual name for that style is), and whenever I got tired, I could really feel them digging in to the back of my ear, since the arms weren't long enough. My next pair just had the straight arms with no hook on the end.

[Chromatix]

My good English friend has a very narrow head. She wears childrens' frames!

[Sliceanddice]

off topic-
i want those frames you linked in purple