We had a gentleman who was so detail-oriented that a simple dispense could take over an hour.
He had a very high minus prescription, so when picking up his new spectacles he would take his current glasses off, hold the new specs under his nose and then spend what seemed like hours perusing his frames and lenses looking for any possible imperfection.
He would question everything, such as why were there color variations in the acetate? We would explain the designer was not looking for exact placement of light and dark in, say, a tortoise frame. The colors fall where they fall, that is what makes each frame unique.
He asked so many questions that most of the employees just refused to see him.
So one day I finally just said: “Why? Why do you question so much?”
He was taken aback. He said he was sorry, he used to be a quality control person in a car parts manufacturing facility and had left the work because it caused him too much anxiety worrying that he would miss something that could be a safety hazard.
He said he had worked there for over 20 years so it became part of his personality to check for minute variances.
After that visit he no longer sat and checked his glasses forever. (I am sure he did it at home, but he understood he was taking up time that was often needed for someone else).
I wish I would have just asked him why sooner.
Martha D., Clawson, MI
This article originally appeared in the January 2017 edition of INVISION.