Adjustments Required

I got the message from Costco yesterday that my glasses were ready. It was sooner than expected; I'd been told seven to 10 business days, and yesterday was the sixth business day, and they had to be sent to the Pacific Northwest and back, so that's a pretty fast turnaround.

I'm pretty excited about these glasses, so of course I went to pick them up last night. No problems with the lenses, but the frames had been altered. Specifically, the temples were bowed outward and then bent back in again toward the back, making them too wide for my head. (They were quite straight when I got them, and fit my head the way I wanted.) I also believe (though I can't say with complete certainty) that the edges of the frame, where the temples meet at the hinges, had been filed down slightly to allow the hinges to open wider, causing the temples to angle outward more before the shaping. I had to have the optician bend the ends in more, and after a couple of tries she got them so they held my head snugly enough.

For someone with a hat size bordering on extra large, my head is kind of narrow from side to side, which is one reason I appreciate eyeglass frames that are offered in a variety of sizes. And I understand the difficulty of making glasses for someone when the lab is thousands of miles away from where the person who will be wearing them is, but I've done this a few times now (had glasses made through an online store, or otherwise in a place far away) and I've never seen frame temples shaped like this.

It seems like a much more sensible approach would be to leave the final shaping and adjustments to be done when the customer receives the glasses. If Costco feels this isn't a feasible option (there was only one person on duty at the optical counter last night, so I can see where this sort of adjustment might not always be possible to do quickly), then offer that information up front and let me decide if/how I want to proceed, such as giving specific instructions not to make any changes to the shape of the frame, or taking them to another optical shop and offering to pay for adjustments.

This issue aside, the lenses were done correctly, and were completed more quickly than I expected.

Now, in last week's post about these glasses, I meant to talk about why I was getting another pair after a little more than a year. So let's make this visual. Old frames (image borrowed from DreamShades):

And new frames (image borrowed from the eBay listing of the frames I purchased):

Before the black frames, I used to wear gray metal-framed glasses that kind of disappeared into my face. This wasn't intentional, but at some point I realized that I wanted my glasses to make more of a statement. Glasses that do this and are a more essential part of one's overall style tend to have a bolder frame, which is what led me to the Ray-Bans.

But ultimately I decided that they were a bit too hipster for me, and I also think they make more sense for a younger person. Given my age, personality, style of dress, and the image of myself that I want to present to the world, the round glasses in the tortoise color are a better fit. The black glasses were also too wide for my head, which is a function of them being available in only two sizes. The tortoise Anglo American 406's are available in four sizes, and these are the second-smallest. And finally, I hated the little Ray-Ban logos on the temples.

So, that should be the last I have to say about glasses for a while. If you like these frames and think you might want some for yourself, may I again suggest you visit Optometrist Attic, where they (and other classic and retro styles of eyewear) are available in a variety of colors and sizes.