So, last Thursday I took off my glasses and took a shower before work. When I picked my glasses up to put them back on, they literally fell apart in my hands. The metal frame around the left lens had simply snapped in two. 
A frantic half an hour spent looking for my old glasses (which turned out to be in the office,) and searching for super glue, and I left for work with my glasses scotch taped :eek: together - I am near sighted so going without was not an option.
My old glasses are ugly as sin, and have bits of metal embedded in the plastic lenses from the time I wore them while doing some work with a grinding wheel. New glasses are in order.
I tell the supervisor that I have to go see about new glasses, back in a little bit. No problem - we’re a pretty laid back bunch. So, off I go to the nearest optician to get my eyes checked and order a pair of glasses. Astonishingly enough, my eyes haven’t changed much in the last seven years (yes, SEVEN years,) so now we get down to picking out new frames. I pull out my nice old glasses, and tell the optician that I want a pair of frames like them. I see him swallow like he’s got a big old bullfrog stuck in his throat. And, I say, I want them just a little bit larger. I really liked my old glasses, but for seven years I was nagged by the feeling that they ought to have had a slightly wider field of view. Now he swallows like the bullfrog brought in his whole family and all of his friends.
“Well,” says the optician, “those aren’t in style anymore. I’ve got some really nice fashionable frames here that should suit you well.”
OK, I’ll bite. Let’s see what you’ve got. Well, that one is butt ugly, these are all smaller than the ones I need to replace, and Christ on a crutch! No, I really don’t think turquoise with lavendar highlights is really my color.
So we go through all of his “fashionable” stuff with designer names, and ask I him, “So, do you have any frames like my old ones or not.” He finally admits that he doesn’t, so I pay for the eye exam and head for the next shop.
TWELVE shops I went to that morning. In every shop, I haul out my old frames and say “I need new glasses, like this” Bullfrog swallow, “but bigger.” Bullfrog family swallow.
Whole freaking city has been invaded by bullfrogs and bullfrog swallowers - Gulp. GGUULLPP.
Shit. Killed half a day, and have to take vacation time to cover it, and still no glasses.
One guy was cool. We spent a half an hour digging throuhg his catalogs, and found a pair of high quality sunglasses that he could put regular lenses in for me. He ordered them for me to examine, and the next day I go in at lunchtime. Nice frames, just about what I’d wanted, but I need to get the wife’s approval before dropping nearly two hundred bucks on a pair of frames. The guy tells me its no problem, give me your name and address, take 'em home and show the wife then come back on Monday (this being Friday) and tell me what you want to do.
I take the frames home, the wife thinks the frames are cool though expensive, but what the hell - if they last another seven years they’re worth it. “But, hey,” she says, “why don’t you go to the optician here where we live?”
OK, number thirteen. No sweat. I go in and show the guy my old frames, and tell him I want another pair like them. Hmmm. No bullfrog. And just a little bigger. He reaches into a cabinet and starts pulling out frames. Five frames he lays out on the table, every one of them in the exact style I want. Different colors and sizes, and every one of them larger than my old ones. Hot, damn! I’ve gone to heaven!
I pick one out, the wife agrees, and I’ve got new glasses.
Well, not quite. Now we’ve got to do the lenses. This is not trivial. Color (none.) Anti reflex coating (three to choose from, I take the cheapest because I actually LIKE having a built in rearview mirror.) Material (glass instead of plastic, did I mention the grinder already?) And now for the biggy: Index of refraction of the glass.
My old glasses had lenses with a high index of refraction. You can make thinner, lighter lenses if the glass has a higher index of refraction. Problem is, that the lenses have pronounced distortion if you look through them in any place except the exact center.
So, what you say? How about this: Door frames are bowed when you look at the door knob. It makes hanging curtains or drilling straight holes or cutting straight lines with a hand saw tough. Everything is bent, and you have to allow for the curve. It makes shooting pool damned near impossible because the table looks curved when you are lining up your shot, and all of the balls roll along curves instead of straight lines.
So, I want lenses with a lower index of refraction. Yes, I know the lenses will be a little thicker and a little heavier. Fine.
Now we have to wait for lens blanks to come in because the shop doesn’t stock that kind of cheap, heavy, crap.
My wife just called and told me that my new glasses are ready, and here it is only one week after my old ones broke!
This evening I get to go in pick them up. The shop is going to stay open a half an hour late so that I can get them when I get home from work.
Yipppeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! 
BTW: I took the other frames back to the other shop, and thanked the optician for being so helpful and apologized for not buying them from him because I got a better deal elsewhere. I didn’t tell him that the “Hugo Boss” inscribed all over them was a big deciding factor against them, though.
Well, congratulations! Sure is great picking them up and putting them on for the first time. And seven years?!!?! Mine’s changed twice in the past year. Maybe I’m just an old fart.
Funny thing is, they didn’t ask me near the number of questions they asked you - color, AR coating, and so forth. I just got what I got. Not that I’m complaining (just got this pair last month).
Oh, and as an aside - from what I was told by an optical scientist last year, the smaller lenses are actually much better for one’s vision than the larger ones. Maybe some nice scientists on here can validate or refute that somehow.
Yep. Seven years. I bought good frames back then, and they served me well.
As for all of the questions, Germans tend to be thorough and very fashion conscious. I am just a grouchy old American who knows what he wants and makes life miserable for the krauts until he gets it.
I don’t think I’ve ever gone more than three years without needing new glasses. In fact, I have an appointment for an eye exam this afternoon.
My lenses used to be so thick that my glasses would put ridges in my cheeks from the weight; I had one pair that I couldn’t fold and put into a case because one sidepiece would hit the edge of the lens. So I was real glad when they come up with the thinner lenses.
I, too, used to go through eyeglass frames about every three years. I guess I’m just very hard on my frames, mainly while cleaning the lenses. I got tired of having to buy new glasses so often so my lastest pair are Flexon® half-rims. I’ve had these for about three years now and the only problem I’ve had is I had to get one of the strings replaced after it broke. I probably should replace the lenses though, they’re covered with scratches even though I got the scratch-resistant coating.
Jeff, it wasn’t new frames I needed, it was new lenses. I’ve been wearing glasses since I was seven, and my eyesight has deteriorated from slightly nearsighted to everything-more-than-a-foot-away-is-a-blur. There were times when I needed a new prescription every year. I got my current pair about 18 months ago, and today’s exam resulted in a slight correction in my left lenses (regular & bifocal). At least the glaucoma test didn’t show anything unusual.
I did have fun finding frames. My old ones had, of course, been discontinued and most of what was available was for lenses the size of a quarter - way too small for me. Finally found something I liked that wasn’t ridiculously overpriced. One week and they’ll be ready.