What words or images popped into your head when you read the title of this article? The paradigm from which you normally practice opticianry is probably what most affected your thoughts. Grammatically speaking, you could have thought of the word service as a noun or a verb - maybe even an adjective. Even within those three distinctions, so many possibilities exist.
As a verb you may have thought of things like to repair, check, examine, or tune-up, maybe even overhaul. As a noun some of those same words might come to mind, but they mean different things. For example, check and examination might stand for the actual act of doing it, as in, "Before we decide if we can use your old frame to put in your new prescription, let me perform a 'check' on them." When thinking about service, the religious among you might have thought of some ritual or ceremony. In reference to a joyous wedding or moving funeral one might remark, "What a moving service that was." Finally, the word could function as an adjective, "She's our service manager." I wonder, however, how many of you immediately thought of the type of service I want to consider - the service that means to help, offer assistance, guide, provide advantages for, and offer benefits to the people who are the recipients of our service as Eye Care Professionals (ECPs).
I have a friend and colleague whose name is Hari Singh Bird. I first met Hari as a fellow attendee at continuing education classes in Florida. It's kind of hard to miss him in the crowd. As a follower of Sikhism, he's usually the only guy in the crowd sporting a turban. Quiet and friendly, I always liked him. Lately I have come to also respect him for the positive influence he is trying to have on the optical profession and the opticians who practice it. I recently sat down and asked him about the state of affairs in opticianry as he saw it. I think we could all learn from what he had to say...
Hari Singh Bird
Opticianry is defined by how well the eyewear makes contact with the patient.
All Opticianry is local. Eyeglass consumers need and deserve the following:
a) Optician-assisted, in-depth lifestyle interview;
b) Optician-assisted, design and selection;
c) Handcrafted, form-fitting eyewear;
d) Free lifetime adjustments and
minor repair services, none of
which are available online.
Opticians must assume responsibility for loss of market share.
Our gradual drift from hands-on services over several decades is
what has contributed directly to our loss of market share, today. We
can't be any more disconnected from hands-on service than the Internet.
The consumer didn't demand or cause this outcome. Opticians abdicated
their direct connection, vis-a-vis insufficient form-fitting eyewear training.
Opticians traded away direct, personal contact as providers of health care services to PATIENTS for marketing merchandise to CUSTOMERS. Our focus is
now more on Selling than it is on Serving. Opticians must regain the lost balance.
The future of Opticianry is quite literally and figuratively in the hands of Opticians.
It's incumbent on those skilled Opticians who know to teach those who do not know.
And it is just as equally incumbent on those who do not know to surrender their ego.
I figured I'd deal with the politically incorrect pink elephant in the room right away, so I asked him about his religion, and if or how it affected his optical outlook.
Hari explained, "Sikhs are service-oriented philosophically and historically. One of our main tenets is to serve and share with others. Service is an intrinsic value, not a value to be added. Man's purpose is to serve. How does that apply to opticianry? The emphasis should be on service, not on income. Not to say that income is unimportant; it just shouldn't be our primary focus."
While he acknowledged that income is vital, we both agreed that if ECPs were more focused on real service to our patients, the income would follow as a natural consequence.
Hari has seen it all in our profession, and he's seen it all change. Years ago, right after his stint with the United States Marine Corps he went to work as an American Optical lab technician, learning hand surfacing, power generation, hand-stone edging, automatic edging, bench work, final inspection, ophthalmic dispensing, and "handcrafted on the consumer custom fitting." He currently holds optician licenses in Arizona and Florida, and is a member of POF - Professional Opticians of Florida.
When I asked him what he thought about the current state of opticianry, his response was an interesting paradox. While he marveled at the extraordinary accomplishments we have seen with regard to technology in the past 50 years, he lamented the fact that, "the direct patient contact delivery of eyewear has steadily declined for lack of training or emphasis on the art and craft of fitting eyewear directly on the consumer."
He further explains that, "the customized fitting of eyewear involves far more than just adjusting a nosepiece or bending a temple. It has to include reshaping, bending, stretching, twisting, aligning and sculpting of the frame components in order to personalize the eyewear. Anything less compromises the patient's visual comfort and long term wear-ability. I express it this way: Opticianry is defined by how well the eyewear fits the patient." He likes to call it, "In place, on-the-face, handcrafted frame adjusting."
"Because of the declination of this principle, all sorts of secondary deficiencies occur. For instance, opticians cannot acquire the fitting range of sizes in frame eye sizes, bridge sizes and temple lengths. The connection is obvious. When opticians don’t custom-fit the patient, the demand for size range declines, ergo the manufacturers quit offering the inventory. The decline in service goes on to impact frame quality, hand tool availability, practical dispensing furniture, and so on. This creates further deficiencies in the acceptable delivery of prescription eyewear."
One size fits all is now the industry norm.
A full range of eye sizes, bridge sizes, and temple
lengths are no longer available for most consumers.
Can you spot the facial asymmetry in these photos?
Anomalies can affect the design of the frame and lenses.
Facial asymmetries often translate into ear and skull anomalies about
which a skilled Optician should advise the patient, and design their eyewear.
We both agreed that this lack of personal, service-oriented, hands-on dispensing is one of the reasons why more and more optical consumers are turning to the Internet to purchase prescription eyewear. After all, what's the difference between a dispenser in a brick-and-mortar practice who simply hands a pair of glasses to a "patient" and calls it dispensing, and an optical "customer" who walks to his mailbox, opens a box and puts on his new glasses? Not much. One of the most effective ways to reduce the number of Internet-based eyewear sales is to truly give our patients what they cannot get online - a human professional, knowledgeable in the art of handcrafted adjustments and custom fitting eyewear.
"Opticians are Eyewear Professionals. Opticianry
is ultimately defined by how well the eyewear makes
contact with the Patient, not by the number of Customers served.
For the truly skilled Optician, the standard of care must
include a
customized design and handcrafted fitting of eyewear on each
Patient."
Hari has created hands-on dispensing continuing education classes, and I urge any ophthalmic dispenser to attend them when they can. The Florida Board of Opticianry recently made the attendance at such a class for first-time applicants mandatory. This is a step in the right direction, and I challenge other state boards to follow suit.
If some of this is ringing true to you, and you would like more information about Hari, his philosophy, or the classes he has created check out some of the websites he has created - all dedicated to re-humanizing the dispensing of prescription eyewear, and more generally enhancing the profession he loves, see:
OpticianryToday.com - Reviews the history of optical dispensing over the past 50+ years.
OpticiansForChange.com - Attempts to generate-inspire meaningful change in the industry toward improving training and the dispensing of skillfully designed and the delivery of handcrafted prescription eyewear.
ServingVersusSelling.com - Offers insights into practicing a service driven strategy with less emphasis on selling, which has driven quality and craftsmanship out of the optical dispensing equation.
OpticalGuidelines.com - Describes a step-by-step, how-to for the delivery of handcrafted prescription eyewear.
OpticalWorkshops.com - Offers hands-on handcrafted frame fitting training, especially for latter-day opticians who are unfamiliar with the human-touch aspects of a profession, which is incapable of serving the consumer without direct laying-on-of-hands as do manicurists, hairdressers, dentists, etc.
Opticians must assume responsibility for loss of market share.
Our gradual drift from hands-on services over several decades is
what has contributed directly to our loss of market share, today. We
can't be any more disconnected from hands-on service than the Internet.
The consumer didn't demand or cause this outcome. Opticians abdicated
their direct connection, vis-a-vis insufficient form-fitting eyewear training.
Opticians traded away direct, personal contact as providers of health care services to PATIENTS for marketing merchandise to CUSTOMERS. Our focus is
now more on Selling than it is on Serving. Opticians must regain the lost balance.
The future of Opticianry is quite literally and figuratively in the hands of Opticians.
It's incumbent on those skilled Opticians who know to teach those who do not know.
And it is just as equally incumbent on those who do not know to surrender their ego.
Certification, though important, is not the primary issue for today's Opticians. The primary issue is the absence of time in place 'residency training' in the art and science of handcrafting eyewear directly on the Patient. This, more than any other factor has led to the proliferation of prescription ophthalmic sales via the Internet.
Points To Ponder
With regard to today's Dispensing Opticians' concerns about technology replacing the Optician at the dispensing table, check out this edited summary of ‘Humans Are Underrated’, by Geoff Colvin:
What hope will there be for us when computers can drive cars better than humans, predict Supreme Court decisions better than legal experts, identify faces (design eyewear), scurry helpfully around offices and factories, even perform some surgeries, all faster, more reliably, and less expensively than people? The unavoidable question – will millions of people (Dispensing Opticians) lose out, unable to best the machine? – is increasingly dominating (the optical industry) business, education, economics, and policy.
The answer lies not in the nature of technology but in the nature of humans. Regardless of what computers achieve, our greatest advantage lies in what we humans are most powerfully driven to do for and with one another, arising from our deepest, most essentially human abilities—empathy, creativity, social sensitivity, storytelling, humor, building relationships, and leading. This is how we create value that is durable and not easily replicated by technology because we’re hardwired to want it (customized, hand-fitted eyewear) from humans. As technology advances, we shouldn’t focus on beating computers at what they do.
We’ll lose that contest. Instead, we must develop our most essential human abilities (hands-on-the-patient dispensing) and teach our kids (Opticians) to value not just technology but also the richness of interpersonal experience.
Of course, this means we must now be re-training many of today's Opticians, and be prepared to train future Opticians in the art and science of hands-on-the-patient, form-fitted, handcrafted eyewear.
There are a number of conflicted forces at work within the ophthalmic dispensing industry, which keep us from making progress. The two biggest are:
.) We have not yet effectively dealt with the reality that the majority of current dispensers are woefully under trained and extremely challenged when it comes to handcrafting prescription eyewear. For instance, I know senior Opticians who attend Optical Workshops who are unable to adequately customize eyewear directly on a Patient. (The number one complaint by prescription eyewear consumers is they are unable to acquire well-fitting eyewear.)
.) There's also a lot of what I call professional egotism and shaktipad (see NOTES* below), whereby many 'Opticians' are unable to admit, either through ignorance or antipathy, that they really do not know how to adjust eyewear, i.e., handcraft eyewear directly on a patient. Many only think they know and take umbrage when challenged. They have convinced themselves that they need no more training because they've been adjusting frames for years, and they see no need to change.
Regarding this 'professional egoism' issue, we suggest that we ask this question of those dispensers who claim they already know how to fit eyewear, and those who claim that they have been working as an Optician for several years. "Have you had any formal training in handcrafting eyewear directly on the consumer?"
The problem is that many folks are self-taught, and most of those who came up as apprentices were taught by dispensers who have had no formalized hands-on the consumer, frame-adjustment training.
This decades-old history is the main reason, not price, that Opticianry as a profession has lost, and continues to lose market share.
Therefore it is incumbent on those who know to teach those who do not know. And it is incumbent on those who do not know to surrender their ego.OpticalGuidelines.com
*NOTES:
EGOTISM is the feeling or belief that one is better, more important, more talented, etc., than other people.
SHAKTIPAD is a state of egotism in which an optical dispenser is far less experienced, knows far less than they think they know, and who fails to acknowledge it. The worst case scenario is the optician who falls into the trap of convincing themselves and others that only they know the best way, and that the old ways need to change. Beware of the 'tiger's bite'! Shaktipad is a consequence of 'riding the tiger' of pride. One must ever be alert to the signs of shaktipad in order to take appropriate action. In the case of an optical dispenser in the state of shaktipad, the remedy is to seek out practical training with the attitude of a perpetual student, i.e., one who surrenders their ego, realizes that learning never stops, and that one can always improve their skills. See Ego Eradicator.
Read on.
TOO COMMON TESTIMONIALS
These are just a couple of consumer reports we've recently received from Patients who reported their experiences while attempting to acquire what every consumer is owed, skillfully handcrafted prescription eyewear. Here's recent e-mail from Park Forest, IL.
.) "This message is for Hari Singh Bird, Optician. I believe we spoke by phone about 8 years ago. I have not had a good fitting pair of glasses for 42 years. I am now 62 and feeling ignored and kind of in a daze with the lack of interest in my case. The Ophthalmologists are there to examine and prescribe, but they disassociate themselves from the Opticians, and the Opticians simply accept the frame selection they are offered. I just spent over $300 just for trifocal lenses, but the frame I bought two years ago just doesn't work. It was the closet I could find and there still isn't anything out there, to my knowledge that will fit me. I have a mostly straight and narrow bridge, a large head, and some mastoid bone is missing behind my left ear, removed at age 23. (Note: See How To Custom Fit The Mastoid Complex.)
In addition my right ear is much further back than my left, so I require a bare minimum 150 mm temples but more likely 155 mm. I prefer plastic frames (currently wearing Anglo American) as I tried nosepieces in the past, and they just caused pain.
Speaking of pain, I used a blow dryer to adjust my temples down behind my ears so they wouldn't slide, but they still do. I changed the angle of my frame front so they would not touch my cheek, but they still do and by changing the angle the bar of the keyhole bridge now touches the top of my nose and leaves a red mark.
I read your biblical quote by Luke, "Ask, it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. Luke 11: 9-10,” and I have to say I have knocked on a lot of doors that only opened to take my money, and left me to repeat the process again and again. Here is my quote: "Hell is living with ill-fitting glasses and being branded a complainer when questioning Opticians and Ophthalmologists."
If you have knowledge of any referrals in the Park Forest-Chicago area that might be able to help me, please forward me their contact information. By the way, I only have a short time to return my lenses for a remake. My Ophthalmologist suggested progressive lenses after I complained about the distance for reading books, and my office computer screens (2) with my trifocals. I am willing to do that, but I need to find a proper fitting frame. --
Here's recent e-mail from a long-time Patient of ours who is now living out of state. She was handed her new eyewear at a large retail
optical outlet by an assistant dispenser (not an Optician), whereupon no adequate adjustments to the frame
were made, and she was forced to seek appropriate
service elsewhere. She subsequently reflected on feeling fortunate to have found independent Opticians like ourselves, who had
the skills and experience to relieve her discomfort, after having spent a considerable
amount of time searching. She further commented about her previous experiences at the hands of our staff.
.) "Having
you fit my glasses on my face, ears, nose with care and attention to detail, making minute but
essential adjustments, was the best experience I have ever had
of having glasses fitted to my face during my lifetime of wearing
glasses. The first time you did my glasses, and your wife suggested
to me that I also have my lenses tinted to gently soften the
lines around my eyes, was a memorable experience. I have
shared the story of that day, in your dispensary very often,
whenever I get ‘new’ glasses. Most Opticians
are surprised to hear the story and also amazed that having
such care and attention to detail as a part of having glasses
fit properly made such a difference in my life. Having my glasses
not hurt, and having them fit properly was an incredible blessing.
Having my glasses fit gracefully and painlessly is nothing short of a Godsend. I can honestly say
that no other Optician ever did such an impeccable job as you
did.
Unfortunately, I once tried to get new lenses in the glasses that you had adjusted
for me. I came back to pick up the glasses and someone said
to me that the Optician had straightened out the bent side pieces!
I was so upset! I made the Optician come out and I explained
what you had done for me, why you had done it and what a terrible
disservice he had done by ‘straightening’ my side
pieces and that he had to re-bend the side pieces back to where
they had been. Needless to say, those glasses never fit the
same again! After that I never changed lenses without speaking
directly to the person making the lenses and making sure they
knew not to change or adjust the side pieces. If you lived where
I could get my glasses adjusted properly, that is where I would
go..."-- See More comments.
I recall a time before I retired when a patient presented me with a folder containing his medical records. He asked me if I could help him "get more light". He proceeded to tell me his history of difficulties due to his poor visual acuity whereby he had gone from office to office and got no satisfaction. He kept repeating, "If I could just get more light."
Vintage '50s AO Hazemaster
After reviewing his Rx history I walked him over to a sunglass kiosk where there was an assortment of lens types. I placed what I refer to as a pair of 'Hazemasters', the former name of AO's vintage shooting/driving lens, over his eyewear. His eyes lit up, and he began to weep with tears of joy. He said, "Why hasn't anybody ever told me about these lenses?"
He subsequently ordered the 'Hazemaster' lenses in his Rx. "
Read on. --
MySense
Hari Singh Bird
A Personal Testimonial
Kindly permit me to share a message received from an Optical Workshop attendee.
I have been a Florida state licensed optician since 2003. I have taken at least two classes from Mr. Hari Bird. I am a seasoned optician, however I learned so much through Mr. Bird that I repeated his class. Why, because I learned so much. His kindness and patience are beyond reproach. His knowledge stems back to the very basics of what we do. Our job is to dispense glasses, basically. If we can make the patient more comfortable and the glasses feel better they will have more confidence in US and the place we work.
I consider him a gift to opticianry. I was not solicited to do this. I'm doing it because I believe in what he has taught me. I use it everyday, and most of my customers tell me that they have never had such a comfortable pair of glasses, ever. And if he comes back again to Florida I'm going to take the class. It really helps and I always learn something.
Just because you're a seasoned and licensed optician doesn't mean you know it all. If you're a licensed optician there is always room to learn, there is always room to grow, and there is always the patient that will value what you do.
Hang in there. Do everything and anything you can to promote your skill as an optician. Fight for your rights, fight for your needs, fight for promoting the best for your patients. We are for the public good. You've got to make your legislators know that.
I'm thinking about relocating to Arizona. You can't let this (optician license) be taken away from you. You've got to fight. It's your livelihood. And it is for the public good.
Examples: Many dispensers practice four-pointing eyewear on a flat surface as a substitute for handcrafting eyewear directly on the Patient. This is a pointless, time consuming exercise after the frame is initially squared, usually at the lab. Once four-pointed, the eyewear must be fashioned with skilled hands, using appropriate tools, to fit the contours and anomalies that are unique to each Patient's face-skull, to wit four-pointing becomes an exercise in 'fluff'.
Temples must be handcrafted to follow the contours of the skull in order to avoid direct contact with the ears, while resting evenly against the skull at all points with no pressure, whereby the temples act to hold the eyewear comfortably in place with all gaps and space removed, while simultaneously making full contact WITH THE SKULL (without pressure), NOT THE EARS.
Then there is the issue of taking into account the physical anomalies, i.e., the disparate cranial and facial features that all Patients present to some greater or lesser degree, which are ignored by many virtually trained and even experienced Opticians.
Handcrafted eyewear training is absent in the experience of so many applicants that the Florida Board of Opticianry has adopted a rule requiring all applicants to attend a 2-hour minimum, Hands on the Patient, Handcrafted Form-Fitting Frame Workshop before licensure can occur.
"Opticianry is ultimately defined by how well the eyewear makes contact with the Patient, not by the number of customers served." Therefore, the standard of care must always include the customized design, and the handcrafted fitting of prescription eyewear.
"For the last few decades our collective
mindset has manifested as, 'Divided we stand...
united we fall.' We must shift to, 'United we stand...
divided we fall,’ as our paradigm." See 1Plus1Equals11.com.
Just between you and me.
MySense
Hari Singh Bird
If you'll recall, Opticianry is ultimately defined by how well the eyewear fits the Patient. So, the real issue, for Opticians and Consumers to consider, is not whether prescription eyewear can be purchased in stores or online. The real issue is the current deficiency in the delivery of eyewear due to the absence of the craftsmanship and skills required to dispense form-fitting eyewear to the Consumer. The answer: hands-on training, hands-on training, hands-on training. It's time for those Opticians who know...to teach those who do not know.
SHIFT HAPPENS
It's time for a shift in thinking.
It's time for eyewear professionals
to become agents of change going forward;
it's time to return to the days of providing full service;
to improve our hands-on craftsmanship skills; it's time
for those who know to teach those who do not know; and
it's time for those of us who do not know to surrender our ego.
Books,
lectures and tests can take an Optician's skills only
so far.
It is time for touch-and-feel, Hands on the Patient training.
Only one on one craftsmanship training provides this. Craftsmanship cannot be learned virtually.
"Handcrafted frame fitting, i.e., touch and feel, hands-on dispensing,
cannot be outsourced to lectures or virtual sources. It is an art form,
which requires actual and multi-dimensional contact with the patient."
HANDS ON THE PATIENT
WORKSHOP TRAINING AVAILABLE
HERE "It is incumbent on those who know to teach those who do not know.
It is incumbent on those who do not know to surrender their ego."
Grateful
appreciation is hereby expressed to Ennco Display Systems and Systems of Sight for
permission to use their copyrighted images on this website.
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What words or images popped into your head when you read the title of this article? The paradigm from which you normally practice opticianry is probably what most affected your thoughts. Grammatically speaking, you could have thought of the word service as a noun or a verb - maybe even an adjective. Even within those three distinctions, so many possibilities exist.
.) We have not yet effectively dealt with the reality that the majority of current dispensers are woefully under trained and extremely challenged when it comes to handcrafting prescription eyewear. For instance, I know senior Opticians who attend 
.) There's also a lot of what I call professional 
