Until a year ago, when I would buy new glasses I would always wonder what possesses a person to spend $1,000 for a pair of glasses? What is so extraordinary about some plastic and metal that a price of such magnitude could be justified. Are the people who pay so much for glasses stupid or do they know something that the rest of us don't? Well, wonder no more. I'm going to put your mind at ease and keep you from making a mistake that you'll regret.
Exactly one year ago, I was walking through the shops in ultra unique and historical Doylestown, Pennsilvania. I wear glasses but never put any time or effort into finding that 'right pair' that fit my face and odd shaped head perfectly. I wanted to look in the mirror and say, "wow, now that's a handsome man" (ok not really but you get the point). So when I stumbled across this interesting eyewear boutique on Main Street I just had to check it out. I walked in and the lack of style options was kind of sad but when I took a closer look there were a few pairs of glasses that really stood out to me and I began to try them on and Wow, they looked great. I then looked at the price tag and to quote the philosopher sidekick of Scooby Doo (Shaggy in case you've never watched the cartoon), 'Zoinks'!
I was looking at a price tag of $1,100, which didn't include lenses. Did I put them back and say forget it? No, like an idiot I made an impulsive purchase. The snotty service and pretentious verbal assaults (on steroids) evenly distributed to all the store's shoppers by a wife and son owner team should have set up red flags and forced me out of the store but for some reason, I followed through with the purchase.
After the order I had to wait about a week for my glasses to come in. When I went in to get the frames fitted properly the 'new' lenses were scratch up and were the lenses connected to the frames had crud and dirt caked on them as if someone wore them on a construction site all day and sweat and dirt created a crust on my new glasses. I mentioned this to the wife and son team as I was trying them on and they said that it was because my face was dirty. Yes, they actually said that, and I have to admit, at 9am, while I wear a suit and tie to go to my office where I work in investment banking, I like to roll around in the mud for a while each day. I guess it just makes me feel more like a man to be crusty and muddy each day as I head to the office (yes, the sarcasm is thick in this blog post). After enough huffing and puffing to blow your house down, the 'son' took out the lenses and cleaned off the crust in question from my brand new, now, $1,500 pair of glasses.
I went back several times to get my new glasses fixed at Artistic Eyewear in Doylestown but they were either closed or completely ignored me when I walked in. The 'son' enjoys long romantic talks with his girlfriend about her internet domain business that focuses on the Doylestown and New Hope region, ah yes, as I stood there like an idiot many times, I overheard all kinds of conversations. The store is the size of a closet so when you walk in and the owners are talking to their friends and lovers on the phone, it's not exactly easy to 'not' hear the intricacies of their calls. Though I went back close to a dozen times, I could never get my glasses to fit properly so I just stopped wearing them until today.
Today, I was cleaning out the space beneath my bathroom sink and among the empty vitamin bottles, value pack toilet paper and soap was this brand new pair of glasses from Artistic Eyewear. I decided that today would be the day I get these fixed and begin to wear my $1,500 investment. I got dressed (admittedly, I was kind of excited to actually get these fixed and wear them) and left for Main Street, Doylestown. It took forever to find a parking spot but after I did I speed walked to Artistic Eyewear and can you believe it? I walk in and there were a couple customers in there but instead of tending to the customers, the owner (the son) was talking to a web designer about his girlfriend's web business that focuses on domain names in Doylestown and New Hope and he was trying to set up a partnership by a Philadelphia based marketing company and his girlfriend's company. I was shocked and it takes a lot to shock me. After 15 minutes of, once again, standing in a 3x3 showroom listening to this horrid owner go on and on about the internet business he and his lover were trying to get going I decided to leave.
I got home and my wife said, why not just go down to Lens Crafters and get those glasses fixed? Lens Crafters? Are you joking? Isn't that like the Kmart of glasses boutiques? She encouraged me again and I decided that I would pay them if I had to, I just wanted to be able to wear these glasses that I paid a premium for at Artistic Eyewear in Doylestown. read more
