Being a passionate Dispensing Optician not only helps you excel in your skills and pursuit of excellence in dispensing but can also spill into your day-to-day life. Simple things that are otherwise ignored by everyone else can impact you. Whether it’s a friend that wears a badly fitted frame, or a patient that has just given you a compliment that others might wear like a badge of honour. Below I have listed just some of the things in your life that are impacted when becoming a Dispensing Optician:

1.     I am not a salesperson

So, you’re just finishing your dispensing and heading toward the till. You've done a very good job of advising the patient of the best lens and frame combination to suit their visual requirements. You take pride in the fact that you've utilised your years of studying and haven't allowed the financial aspect of the dispensing to influence your recommendation. Your primary objective is patient care and you put your patients’ needs first. You put the card in the reader and hand it over to the patient. You lock eyes momentarily before they put in their pin and they compliment you; "you’re a very good salesman". To most people, this would be an amazing comment on your service and professionalism but to a Dispensing Optician it’s the equivalent of going to a mechanic, getting a new engine, exhaust, brake pads and the customer pats you on the head and says, "your good at washing cars". It’s not a big deal and it is a nice compliment to receive. But it’s the perception that we are retail staff and not clinicians that triggers a Dispensing Optician. It’s not the patients' fault for seeing us as sale staff but rather the state in which the optical industry has become in the UK. Many high street chains will promote their offers and discounts on essentially what is a medical device. Promotions such as free sight test and buy one get one free spectacle devalues the profession. Rather than presenting an optical practice as a clinical environment, they have transformed it into a retail store. It is a small compliment that gives us insight into how patients perceive the optical profession and reflects the current state of the ophthalmic industry in this country.

2.     Ruining movie night

You’re enjoying your evening, a box of popcorn, maybe a drink and you’re watching a classic movie. The cool guy walks in. Leather jacket, amazing hair, everything in slow motion. But don’t forget, you’re a Dispensing Optician, the first thing you see is the guys' aviators. You try to ignore it, "let it go," you say under your breath. It’s just a movie, don’t ruin another family movie night. But you notice the nose pads are too high and pinching on his nose, lifting the frame to the point where the bridge is over his eyebrows. They pan to the next shot and it gets worse, the length to bend is too far behind the actor’s ears. Thank God it’s not an action scene or those frames will hit the floor harder than thor’s hammer and the G15 glass lenses will shatter like the infinity stones. The movie goes on but you’re battling the urge to comment on how a multimillion production company that spend hours on an actor's clothing and makeup but can’t seem to fit a pair of sunglasses on their protagonist. But we're human, so I make a comment and keep going on about it ruining family movie night again.

3.     Noticing spectacles more often

An architect will marvel at the design of a building and appreciate its structure and aesthetics. An artist will enjoy a painting and the many ideas and themes it represents. A Dispensing Optician will more often than not notice someone’s spectacles on their face and instantly judge them. This is all fine and dandy until you realise that you’ve been looking too long, and the wearer has locked eyes with you for one second. It’s at this point you bring out your phone and look to move to the other side of the world out of embarrassment. In all seriousness, we do tend to subconsciously judge other people’s spectacles. Assess the fit, style, colour and shape. When it is an aesthetically pleasing frame you notice how it highlights the person features. You have an internal smile at someone doing their job right. On the other hand, you see someone with a frame that contradicts their facial features, and you struggle to hide your dismay. It’s like stepping on a flower or eating a KitKat© on its side; it’s just wrong. It’s a one-second glance it’s enough to appreciate the style and finesse of the spectacles they are wearing.

4.     Going on holiday

When going on holiday there are many reasons to get excited. The hot sunny beaches, the bustling markets and shopping centres or bush-walks in the wild outdoors…at least pre-pandemic. But one of the most appealing factors of holidays may be sampling the culture of your destination, the escape from what we know and exploring something new. So, when given the chance, between the trip to a restaurant and a landmark, I’ll pop into one or two optical practices. It’s fascinating to see the differences between the styles and fashion of spectacles and sunglasses in other countries. In the UK as a whole, we tend to have a more conserved sense of style, more monotone colours and regular shapes. Whereas if we take a trip over the channel to France, we can see the much brighter colour pallet that is implemented in their frames. Also, we can see the difference in shapes among the public, where the shapes are more exaggerated and defined rather than hinted in contemporary British designs. In Istanbul, I managed to speak to one of the owners of independent optical practice and we had an interesting conversation on the differences between British and Turkish opticians. I’ve managed to visit optical practices in every country I have visited thus far. My friends and family that I’m going on holiday with have to put up with the hiccups of me popping in and looking at spectacles for a few minutes but the ice cream that follows normally makes up for it.

5.     Watching Youtube© as a Dispensing Optician

I’m not going to lie. Besides the important things that I do, such as blogging and preparing for work, a lot of my time is spent on Youtube©. More so during the pandemic. Unlike when watching a movie, YouTubers, vloggers and influencers tend to have full control over their content and how they present it. So, when there is a flaw in their video, whether its spinach in their teeth or it looks like they filmed the video with a potato, they ultimately can’t blame it on a producer or director. Many YouTubers wear spectacles or sunglasses in their videos. Some look amazing in them. The spectacles seem to fit well, the shape is right, and the colour suits them. But then we look at the lenses and its reflection city. If they wanted to flex their camera set up with the reflections in their lenses, then great! But the hindrance of eye contact when addressing the camera takes away an essential form of non-verbal communication. Eye contact is an important tool when talking to an audience or an individual. It shows that you are engaged, you care about what you are saying, and it helps form a connection between you and your viewers. As a Dispensing Optician, watching a Youtuber without anti-reflective coatings on their spectacles is like walking on Lego©. They have some of the most expensive frames and have their room kitted out with some of the best equipment on the market but didn’t spare some of their money towards their lenses.  If it was someone that had just started and shy of 10,000 subscribers, then I understand. When it is a veteran with 1 million subscribers or more then it’s a different story. You can see that over the time they have upgraded their camera quality, have hired editors and may have their own intro and outro theme. Sure, they get new frames, but please get some decent antireflection coatings on the lenses.