There was a customer in the optical store where I work today - oh, I was ready to pop her one by time she left. Aaaarrrrgggghhhhh!

Irritating old woman - you could see that the minute she walked in the store - something beady in her eye and the way she walked. I know I shouldn't jump to conclusions about people, but you get to know what people are going to be like almost as soon as they walk in the door, and this woman had irritation written all over. She had a new prescription with her, and went into detail telling me that she would need the very thin lenses for the people with the very worst eyes. Well, honestly, her eyes weren't all that terrible, but they did rate a high-index lens, so I listened patiently, then said that I knew the lens that she meant and that we could fit her up with just what would be best for her prescription. Blah blah blah, etc. Now she wanted a quote on a pair of glasses. Well, of course, that depends on what frame you choose; we're a middle of the road store, and we sell glasses that range between $79.99 and $249.99.  She told me to tell her what the lenses cost and then she'd see what she had left to spend on a frame. Well, it doesn't work that way with a progressive lens, but I did it anyway, and told her it was a ballpark figure, and when all this time had been spent, she told me....

<i>she wasn't going to buy glasses here until we produced her old prescription because she wanted to see if her eyes had improved or gotten worse since the last time she'd been in. </i>

I mean, honestly. couldn't she have asked her optometrist? Opticians are there to dispense glasses, not discuss prescriptions. That's what optometrists are for. She wasn't in our computer, and thought it might have been six years since she got her glasses, which means we'd have to go into storage to find her old file. Really, I wanted to wring her wrinkly old neck. 

This has been good. Venting feels nice. And I don't usually feel like strangling customers - only the odd one, here and there.