Dear Walmart Vision Center Employee: Do you really think I'm that dumb...or are you that dumb?

Good afternoon!

People often stop me and comment on this blog.  They say things like, "I don't know if things just happen to you or if you just notice things other people don't notice."

I'm pretty certain things happen to people all the time, but they just chose to ignore it or they're never

Not a clue what the movie was about
I liked the pictures though.

aware of it. It's sort of like the movie "The Matrix."  No, not the concept of the movie...but rather, some people understood the concept and some people just like to watch Keanu Reeves run around in ripped clothing and black leather. Which group am I in?  Well, if you have to ask, then you're clearly new to this blog.

Anyway, several days ago I had to go to the eye doctor.  I don't like going to any doctor.  It's not that I'm afraid it's that every doctor I've ever met, no matter what their specialty is or what I'm in for, feels the need to weigh me.  I'm sorry, why does my sore throat mean I have to be weighed?  Better yet...why does my kid's sore throat mean I have to be weighed?  What, a fat mother contributed to a kid's sore throat?  And why does the dentist need to know my weight?  Are they planning on shooting me with a dart gun and aren't sure what size to use?  just set it to 'Rhino" and you'll be safe!

Anyway, the eye doctor.  Since my experience at the Target vision center two years ago was so negative (they wouldn't let me pick out the frames I wanted, they made me get progressive lens that wound up aggravating my neck injury from my car accident. I blogged about it, but I'm too lazy to look it up. You go ahead and find it. It's in there.) I decided to go to Walmart's vision center.  We used to go there all the time, and I liked it.  Nice eye doctor, cheap frames, quick everything.  I was delighted to find out that the same eye doctor was still there.  WIN!

Everything at the appointment went really, really well, right down to the eye guy I'll call Todd (because he reminded me EXACTLY of my college friend Todd) who made sure that this time the bifocal reading part of my lens actually was big enough for me to, you know, READ.  Which means I won't have to keep tipping me head up like I'm some kind of chicken trying to digest water when all I want to do is read choir music.  My choir partners will be very excited about this.

Monday I got the call. My new glasses were in!  YAY!

So Tuesday, after work, I went to Walmart to pick up my glasses.  It was shortly after one in the afternoon, and the place wasn't crazy busy, but the two employees, one of whom was "Todd" were both with customers.  No problem.  Todd made eye contact with me, indicating he would help me as soon as he was done.  I stood at the cash register and waited patiently.  No, really, I was behaving.  I really was.

An older woman wearing a vision center white coat came out of the exam area and into the  frames area where I was standing.  She surveyed the room. Then she looked at me.  She looked at me for a long time.  Like fifteen seconds.  Then she sighed and slumped her shoulders, as if she'd just seen the human form of a disease.  Still...yep...still looking right at me.

"He'll be with you in a minute," she says and she turns around and goes back into the exam area,

Okay, that was odd. But I gave her the benefit of the doubt.  Maybe she wasn't equipped to give anyone their glasses. maybe she was new. Maybe she was an eye doctor and couldn't help me because she was too smart to run the cash register. Except that I didn't need the cash register, I was just waiting to pick up my glasses. 

Whatever.

So I wait for another ten minutes. I'm not kidding. Ten minutes. The other two employees are working hard, so I have no harsh feelings for them.

And this is where it gets...I don't know...weird.

No, I don't think you did.  Because you
didn't give me a chance to ask.

The older woman, the same one who came out ten minutes earlier and looked at me like I was a steak dinner and she was a PETA representative, walks out of the exam area. She takes a look around the room and then looks at me.  And then, as if we've never seen each other, never spoken to each other, as if I'M A COMPLETELY NEW CUSTOMER WHO HASN'T BEEN STANDING THERE TEN MINUTES AFTER SHE BLEW ME OFF, she says, "Is there something I can help you with?"

WHAT???????????????????

Am I in the Twilight Zone here?  Did we not just have an exchange ten minutes ago?  You are the same person...and I haven't moved...and you're acting like I'm new to this equation?

DO I LOOK THAT STUPID TO YOU?

Turns out, she knew exactly how to give someone their glasses. Mine actually fit me perfectly right
out of the box, so it's not like it was a challenge.  She was quite pleasant through the process, but I couldn't help wondering...WHAT IS UP WITH THIS CHICK?

I realize that Walmart customers are an odd lot sometimes.  I get it. I just didn't realize that the employees got to treat their customers like we were in some weird game of "peek a boo."  Next time I'll know.