What’s wrong with you? Why do you do this? You are always squinting at things and asking other people to read them for you, and laughingly stating how you need glasses. Sometimes it’s reading glasses but sometimes it’s even prescription glasses that you are supposed to wear, but you’d rather go around half-blind.
Do you think they don’t look cool? Do you think they make you look too dumb? Do you hate wearing them? Why would you choose to go through the world without vision?
I can’t see mid-range things with them on. I can’t work on a computer. For reading, they’re not that helpful. For long-range vision, they don’t help that much.
And I don’t like how they feel.
Because to me, everyone looks young and lovely, like Cybill Shepherd in Moonlighting, or Lucille Ball in Mame. I once put on my glasses at work and was horrified by how hideous all my coworkers were.
Best answer already and it mollified my irritation. 
You might want to keep that 12 inch black and white tube TV while you’re at it.
To the OP. If someone is squinting and laughingly saying that they need glasses, they might just be looking for someone to give them a push, so to speak. Someone to say “Well, go out and get them”. If someone (or lots of someones) tells them to go get glasses it might be easier then just walking into the office one day with them. It’s like the person that mentions that they don’t really have anything going on tonight, but really, they’re hoping that someone says “Hey, why don’t we go get a get a drink tonight!”
I only need reading glasses. Sometimes I don’t have them on me because I forgot the damned things.
I’m much better now, after 5 or 6 years of needing them, but at first I’d be in the grocery store, for example, and my arms weren’t long enough to read the price on packaged food.
I was out with my son a couple of weeks ago and forgot them in the car. I had to have him read the price on stuff for me. I’m sure people thought I was illiterate.
So, sometimes it’s just that people forget to bring the glasses along.
When I was getting fitted for glasses, the guy was showing me a chart with all of the options and prices. It was in 2-point font. And he held it about a foot from my face. I had to push his hand away to more than arm’s length to read it, and even then, I had to have him read it to me.
He seemed surprised that a customer at the eyeglass store might, you know, need glasses.
I can’t see subtitles and other text shown on TV but when I know I am going to be watching subtitles I wear my glasses. I also need them for reading road signs in unfamiliar places but it’s rare that I go somewhere new that requires me to read road signs so I don’t wear them then either. I can see fine reading books, the computer monitor, etc.
This, exactly. Everyone is much better looking when I don’t have my glasses on.
Also, I can’t work on a computer while wearing them - my eyes go all crosseyed. I do wear them to drive or watch TV or movies though. Also, If I need to walk somewhere unfamiliar I wear them (I want to avoid walking into walls and things. )
Not quite the same, but I should be wearing rigid gas-permeable contact lenses; eyeglasses can’t get me to 20/20. I just can’t adjust to having hard plastic in my freaking eyes. I did the two week ramp up, and I was miserable every second of it. So, I suffer with 20/30 and nothing in my eyes. I’m really, really not looking forward to when I have to wear the stupid things in order to drive; I’d be half-tempted to move to a city with excellent public transportation at that point.
Because I find anything on my face distracting and uncomfortable, and because when I’ m not wearing glasses I can see super-up-close. Correcting for my near-sightedness makes me slightly more far-sighted.
I don’t have any sympathy for ANY of the excuses.
I’ve been wearing glasses since I was seven years old. If I didn’t wear them, I’d probably need a dog and a cane.
When Hubster got old enough to need reading glasses, he damn near broke my bank account. He took the prescription to the optical part of the shop and ordered all the bells, whistles, and birdcalls. Transitioning sunglasses. No-line bifocals. Polaroid lenses. Featherweight. No glare, anti-scratch coating. Expensive frames.
And then he leaves the damned things at home.
We go out to eat, he reads the menu with his sunglasses.
EVERY SINGLE EYE EXAM, he does the SAME thing. He’s got more eyeglasses in a drawer than Fred Sanford.
I tell him, “Keep the damned glasses on your face ALL THE TIME.”
Excuses, excuses, excuses.
It’s a very sore point between us. Really, even with insurance, his glasses cost a fortune. And then he keeps every pair he’s ever had prescribed. He says, “That’s my backup.” “That’s for emergencies.”
He wouldn’t know an emergency if it came up and bit him in the butt. That’s because he doesn’t have his glasses on his face when the emergency bites.
Oh, I feel a migraine coming on…
~VOW
Part of my vision problem is not just proximity and font size, but light. In dark places, such as restaurants, my glasses do me little good. In strong sunlight, I can read almost anything.
I’ve taken to bringing a magnifying glass/flashlight gizmo to restaurants. And yes, I have been teased about it.
Honestly, I’m the same way when it comes to glasses themselves–I’ve had 'em since I was eight, and I only take them off when I’m showering or sleeping. I’ve never once lost them–I don’t understand how people manage to lose them.
That being said, try having sandpaper in your eyes for two weeks, and you’ll understand my reaction to RGP contacts.
Is there a big market for used glasses?
I’ve had RGP contacts, and I sympathize. Now I can wear soft contacts if I want, so just wait - the technology may change for you, too.
But one thing I loved about Harry Potter is the realistic depiction of life with glasses. So often in movies they are an accessory. When Harry gets up in the morning the very first thing he does is grope for his glasses. And that is my life, and my SO’s.
I take them off for showers and sleeping, as has been said. (And yes, it is hard to shave one’s legs in the shower sans glasses - I usually have to do it twice and then go by feel). I can see pretty well without my glasses, I won’t run into things, but I can’t see any print unless it’s huge or two inches from my eyes. Also I can’t recognize people too well.
So, they are on all the time.
To Angel:
I tried contacts for a while. It was neat. However, I’m on a LOT of medication, and 99% of them have the side effect of “dry mouth.” Well, “dry mouth” means “dry EVERYTHING.” I was pouring drops in my eyes constantly, and I finally decided the hassle was not worth it.
To tdn:
There are charities who accept used prescription glasses and they recycle them to provide for people who cannot afford corrective lenses.
~VOW
I didn’t know that. Thanks.
I wonder how easy it is to get a match. It’s hard for me to imagine many people who could use my prescription.
Seriously. I assumed they just used the frames or something. I assume if you are in those kinds of straits it’s “close enough is good enough”.
I probably have one of the goofiest eyeglass prescriptions on the planet. If there is a needy person somewhere who can use my old glasses, he or she has got gargantuan problems to overcome.
I figured the lenses could be reground to “fine tune” the prescriptions for different individuals. I really don’t know for sure, since I’ve never studied optical science. I just think if old glasses can get ANY use, they are better off being donated than just tossed in the trash.
~VVOW