Money Talks

The saga of prescription eyeglasses has finally come to an end, but not without yet another snafu.

I had a repeat of what happened with the vision center -- no one called me from the optometry office where I’d once encountered snobby, rude, dismissive guy, that glasses were ready , so I had to call them.

“We’ve been trying to reach you, but your number is not working” says they. “Did you change your number?”

That I did … but I changed my number BEFORE I set up the appointment, at which time I gave their office the new number.

Inasmuch as the office called that new number to verify the appointment, I saw no need to double-check to make sure the records had been changed in the computer when I arrived for the exam and eyeglass selection process.

Evidently, I should have because they tried to reach me for pickup at the old number.

Told, “You can pick up any time”, I drove out there this morning.

Walking into the optometry office, expecting to be greeted by the nice ladies encountered at my last visit, I was instead met by some guy. Not certain if this was the dismissive one, when the purchase was a $20 frame repair, I began expecting the worst. Instead, he began fawning all over me, apologizing profusely for the new number not being entered into the computer, saying things like “You spent a lot of money. We want to keep you happy”, taking multiple opportunities to touch my shoulder, my arm, giving me instructions to call, come back, if I run into any problems, and “I like you. You’re not like the mean ladies” because I wasn’t annoyed or making a big deal out of the mix-up and delay – all this I expect because the purchase this time was ninety times as much as that simple frame repair.

At any rate, all’s well that ends well. The glasses are done and I’m happy with both the near pair, the far pair and the cases which, unlike the vision center's throwaway covers that don't even fit the glasses, are nice looking and functional.

You do get what you pay for, and money does talk -- or at least, in this case, had an impact.

The old sugar cravings raised its ugly head this week in the form of a desire for ice cream at night. I managed to squelch the craving with frozen cherries, but then I’d also been craving See’s Candy.

It just so happened the optometry office was 2.6 miles away driving east away from home to See’s in the Montclair Plaza, 8.3 miles driving west towards home to See’s in Victoria Gardens Plaza.

I decided not to resist, and opted for the mall towards home.

Arriving back at the complex, before heading upstairs for an unhealthy lunch of candy and coffee, I made a run through the Community Room to see if there were any late additions to the bulletin board.

There were.

Tomorrow’s movie is The Good, The Bad, The Ugly.

Seriously … that old thing?

No thanks.

I also saw a Memorial Day Potluck is planned. The notice says, “Must bring a side dish. Meat will be provided”.

“What kind of meat”, asked I.

“Ribs, and hotdogs”, someone replied.

“I’ll bring the potato salad and play it safe with turkey dogs”, says I and added, “Who’s bringing the meat?”

“A woman named Xxxxxxxx”, was the reply.

“I don’t think I know her”, says I.

“The woman who looks like a man.”

I still don’t know who that is, but WOW!