Requested a pupillary distance measurement here after driving some 45 minutes to this Walmart, since it was the nearest Optical place open during my free (late) hours. Stupidly told him that I needed the measurement for glasses I had already ordered online and he then refused to give me the measurement.
Optician refused because he "did not feel comfortable, " and did not want to be "responsible" for any displeasure I might have with any glasses I ordered from elsewhere using the PD measurement that I requested.
Stated that he did not know if the company from which I wanted to order glasses was from America, met standards, etc. I assured him that it was an American company that met all regulations, he mentioned possible punishment on the behalf of the board — I mentioned that I had no interest even in his name and therefore could not report him, he stated that he had gone through 2 years of training to be an optician (how was this relevant?).
Was entirely unhelpful since I did not want to buy Walmart's glasses, and of course would not put lenses into frames that I ordered from elsewhere. Refused to accept any sort of service fee for the measurement (it's an absurdly simple measurement that could have taken half a minute, and I was willing to even pay for the service, but instead he cycled through various excuses over and over for over 10 minutes while refusing to perform the service since I was not going to buy the glasses from Walmart).
I made very clear that I did not want glasses from Walmart, and even if he would only give me the PD measurement were I to purchase glasses at Walmart I still would not, so he was not losing any sort of business by giving me the PD. He recycled the "I went through 2 years of school to be an Optician..." — still as irrelevant as the first time.
Completely indecent, rude, unapologetic, concerned only with his self (perversely too, as he could not comprehend that he was not losing anything by providing a PD except a potential customer somewhere else in the store), entirely unreasonable when I pointed out that he was losing nothing, made bullshit excuses as to why he couldn't be a helpful, useful human being (it's not that he had to cater to the other 0 customers that were in the Optical center over the 15 minutes I was there).
Walmart's policies here are stupid and self-defeating, as anyone who reasonably goes into a Walmart just for the PD measurement is not interested in ordering glasses from Walmart. It is a different audience altogether, and the only way that the optical center is likely to make money from those "customers" ever is by charging a PD measurement fee (I gladly would have forked out 10 bucks for this elusive measurement).instead Walmart is just causing potential customers (only customers in that they may buy other things at Walmart, as I said this is a different market as far as glasses go) to resent and distrust them and the Opticians who clearly will only provide a 30-second service if you shell out for cheap shitty Walmart glasses.
Awful. Ripoff tactics at their worst, and at their stupidest and least logical.
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