Month: June 2009

Hakim Craptical

31 May: My ever-wonderful father decides to treat my stepmum and I to a new pair of glasses each. We’d seen various Hakim Optical shops opening up around Winnipeg, and they had an amazing deal of 2 pairs for $199. Too good to miss, we went straight for the nearest one, and after convincing them both pairs were for me (bizarrely we share an identical prescription), placed our order for some fancy new frames, being promised they’d be ready within the week.

Issue One: An hour after leaving the store, they call and tell me they can’t use a prescription from another store based only on a phone call; they needed a copy on paper. Every time I’ve bought glasses before, the optometrist called the last place I had my eyes tested, jotted down the prescription, and made the glasses no problem. But not Hakim – I’d have to go back during the week, pay them my $80 and have my eyes tested again, despite the fact I had them tested less than a year ago somewhere else.

I decided to just go back to said somewhere else, ask for a reprint of my prescription, and go back to Hakim. No problem! They took the prescription and said they’d be ready by the weekend.

Issue Two: A couple of days later I receive a phone call telling me their lens cutting machine wasn’t working properly and had cocked up one of the lenses, meaning they’d have to re-order them, but assured me they’d call me when they were ready.

Issue Three: A week goes by with no word. I call, and a manager informs me one of the two pairs are ready. They end up being Nicole’s. Once again I am assured I will be phoned when mine come in.

Issue Four: It’s now the 18th of June, and still no word. I call and the manager tells me they will be in tomorrow, I can come after work and pick them up and she’d give me a free bottle of lens cleaner, which would definitely make this whole sodding process worthwhile. So I show up the following day after work, and the same manager tells me it’s been really busy that day, she hasn’t had time to go and pick them up from the downtown store, and they were still on Portage.

I work downtown. If she’d called me, I could’ve walked the two minutes and picked them up myself. So I take a bus back to where I’d been half an hour ago, and finally pick up my new glasses. Huzzah!

ISSUE FIVE. The lens falls out two days later. No, I didn’t sit on them or drop them – they’re just shit. I return to Hakim where several other customers are complaining about it “being a bit of a long time”, and an arm falling off… and I’m told this particular style of frame “doesn’t tend to hold weaker prescriptions very well, which is why the stronger lens didn’t fall out….” and that I’d have to talk to the manager on Monday. Doesn’t hold lenses very well? Then why is it still on the bloody shelf?! I decided to pick another frame, and have her ask the manager to just re-frame me with those ones. Which weren’t as nice.

I went in on Tuesday, not able to decide between two alternate pairs, and called the lovely Kyla to come to my rescue. We picked a little pair, at which point the manager tried explaining why I couldn’t have the original ones I’d chosen – the lens had been cut incorrectly, and if she took it to St. Vital they could cut it properly… and lo and behold they were ready the very next day, lenses solidly in frames and all.

$100 glasses are a steal, but I’m not quite sure the 3 week circus extravaganza was entirely worth it…

Back on solid ground (well, sort of)

I’ve always tried to live my life with a positive outlook. Crap gets thrown my way – it’s okay, it could always be worse; I’ve got a lot of things that aren’t totally pants, and well, I always try and learn from whatever it is. The last couple of weeks have been a little tougher than normal, and I’ve kind of put myself on the line; feeling pretty low about myself I turned to those I held dear, and now, after a serious of really good talks, a lot of time to myself to think about things, a potential promotion in the works and really realising I have all I need in the world, I can safely say I’m back on track.

So I might have tendencies of social anxiety. It’s okay – I’m finally getting to be okay realising I don’t have to be a great public speaker to move ahead in the world, I don’t have to look picture-perfect to be attractive, I don’t have to be the life of the party and have plans every Friday night. I do have to realise that it’s not the end of the world if I have to make a speech and I stumble over my words, that nobody’s going to think I’m weird if I eat messy food in public, that nobody’s going to really think I’m an idiot if the back doors on the bus don’t open properly. I’ve realised just how much energy I’ve been wasting on things that really don’t matter at all, and I’ve been allowing it to consume me, to exacorbate my insecurities, when I should just stop worrying so much and use the energy to actually enjoy myself.

I’ve also unfortunately learned the hard way that some people in the world could care less about anyone other than themselves, and would rather take advantage of someone’s vulnerability and use it to provoke drama and conflict rather than help. I’ve been really hurt by a few people recently, but it’s just made me realise how hard it is sometimes to find truly good people in the world, and how lucky I am to have them in my life. So what if I only have a handful of people I can call true friends? They mean the absolute world to me. Their support, encouragement and advice have been invaluable over the last few weeks and you know who you are – thank you, thank you so much.

So I’m sitting in a pretty good place right now. I have people in my life who I know are still going to be there fifty years from now telling me to get my arse in gear. Football season’s started, which means my lovely is gone from six in the morning until ten or eleven at night, but it makes those fifteen morning minutes and the hour before bed together so cherished, so magical. His support and love have also been incredible over the last few weeks, more so than ever, and though we don’t get to see each other much right now, I’m feeling more steady on my feet, and I know in just a few months there’s so many good things to look forward to. I also applied for an internal position at work, a senior position to mine, with more graphic design, more PR, more marketing and less tedious tasks and being in front of people. And my own office, hopefully. Fingers crossed! So I’m sitting in a pretty good place right now – well, not the most comfortable place, considering I got second degree burns on the bottoms of my feet last night and spent the day bandaged and walking on my toes – but other than the flesh wounds, the world’s looking a whole lot better. 🙂