The Older I Get the Better I See

I took a couple days off from work this week to help my wife babysit a couple of our beautiful grand baby girls in Atlanta so their parents could go on a trip.  We just got home after a busy few days for old folks but we had a blast.

My biggest challenge in chasing our little girls was every time I bent over my glasses would fall off my face.  This morning I decided I would take a short break and go to a nearby Target to their optical store to see if they could tighten my glasses.

When  I walked in the optical shop there was a nice middle aged lady sitting at one of the desks seemingly waiting on me to get there.  I asked her if she could possibly tighten my glasses and I would be more than happy to pay her whatever the going rate is for such procedures.  She said she would be very glad to do so and there would be no charge.

So I sat at the little desk (pretty much in a fog without my glasses) while the very nice lady took my only glasses in the back room to work on them.

It was a little disconcerting to me a few moments later when I heard her make a gasping noise coupled with a fairly loud “oh no!”  She came back to my little desk to tell me she had broken my glasses.  I’m sure she had a look of horror on her face but I could not see enough to tell whether she did or not.

I chose to keep my cool as I began to wonder what I would do without my glasses. The fact that I am leaving on a week long business trip on Sunday was on my mind when she told me it takes a minimum of five business days to get new glasses.   I was thinking my prescription sunglasses might work for a week.

As my mind was spinning, I remember her saying the odds of finding frames in the store to match my lenses was about 1 to 100.   I was not very optimistic in this particular optical shop but I was committed to watching it (no pun intended) play out. She finally found a frame that she thought might work.  She told me I may not like the fact they were green but I was fine with green if I could see again. After some maneuvering and measuring, the nice but obviously upset lady decided they would not work.

Back to square one.

I’m not sure how many frames she picked up and measured before she found another frame that she thought might work.  Thankfully I was the only “customer” in the shop so my little problem had her undivided attention.  In a few quick moments, I heard the sound of excitement in her voice when she yelled to me that these frames did indeed work.

I was still seated at the little desk when she brought the new frames with my lenses to me to make sure they fit.  I told her they were perfect.  Actually, any variation  of “I can see” would have been perfect. 

She told me these were Ray Ban frames and they were expensive but she would not charge me for the frames because she broke my glasses.

I quickly told her that I was going to pay her for the new frames - whatever they cost.  I further explained that I heard her clearly when she told me when I walked in the store that she would tighten my glasses at no charge.  No way, I said, that I will leave without paying for the new frames.

Now I had my new glasses on and I could see.

She was crying.  

I’m not sure if the cost of the new frames would have come out of her check if I had not paid or she was emotional because a customer was being nice when maybe the customer had other options.

When I left,  there was one thing I could see very clearly.

That was the best money I have ever spent.

The older I get the better I see.