(At weekends, I run the very small call centre for my workplace, usually just two people. This day, one of our newer members of staff is rota’d in with me. It’s worth noting she’s been in the industry nearly as long as I have, and is studying at university.)

Coworker: *on phone* “We don’t have any appointments for that time, but if you just come in we can see you as a walk-in.” *muffled reply* “Okay, so that will be 2.30 tomorrow, for a walk-in appointment.” *hangs up*

Me: *stares in abject horror*

Coworker: “[My Name], I think there’s something wrong with the system. It won’t let me book a walk-in appointment for tomorrow.”

(After twenty minutes of me trying to explain that a walk-in appointment can only be booked when a patient WALKS IN, I convinced a manager to take her off the phones, and never let her work them again. I’m still not sure she understands why.)

(A pair of preteen brothers are waiting to have their eyes tested. They are both black, and we have a poster for children’s glasses featuring a mixed race girl.)

Older Brother: “This girl in the poster — if you’re this colour, when you grow up you end up white.”

Younger Brother: “That’s not true!”

Older Brother: “Yeah, it happened to Michael Jackson!”

Younger Brother: “He took a lot of drugs.”

Older Brother: “That’s why. If you take drugs, it makes you white.”

(My dad is basically the boss of many buildings in the company. In this story a customer hasn’t been in this office for fifteen years. When he first came he bought glasses.)

Customer: “I bought these glasses a while ago. They broke and I think they are defective and I want a refund.”

Dad: “You haven’t come here in fifteen years. They have been constantly used. No, you are not going to get a refund.”

Customer: “Well, you lost me as a customer!”

(I am epileptic, so I need to have a very specific type of tinted eyewear. I’ve recently moved to another state, and it’s time to get a new set of glasses. We’re in this store for the first time, with my glasses prescription in hand.)

Me: “Before I start looking at glasses, do you know if your company can polarize my glasses at the cross-axis, light blue tint? Like the ones I have on right now.”

Clerk: “Yeah.”

(I go and pick out two pairs, and start talking about prices and such with the clerk.)

Me: “So, how much more will it cost to have these polarized?”

Clerk: “Nothing, that’s free.”

Me: “And it’ll be the same shade as my glasses I’m wearing now?”

Clerk: “…No, that’s too complicated.”

(I am working as a manager in an optical chain, helping to fit a middle-aged man with glasses. It is VERY common for patients to try and avoid going to bifocals, and this particular patient is misogynistic on top of it, making inappropriate comments to our receptionist and refusing to believe I am the manager.)

Me: “So, sir, I see you haven’t had a bifocal lens before. Let me talk you through it…”

Patient: “You will NOT give me a bifocal!”

Me: “Okay. Did you just mean you don’t want bifocals with lines and would rather have a progressive lens, or do you want to have your glasses be specifically for reading or distance instead?”

Patient: “Don’t be stupid. I need to see far and to read! But NO BIFOCALS.”

Me: “Sir, you have something called presbyopia, which means that you can’t see both distance and reading in the same pair of glasses without some kind of multifocal. I can certainly make the type without visible lines for you.”

Patient: “NO! What are you, r******d? NO BIFOCALS. I don’t care if they have lines or not! I need to see near and far and no bifocals!”

Me: *trying to be professional* “Sir, perhaps you’d like to talk to the doctor again so he can go over your options…”

(The patient turns to my nearest optician, who happens to be male:)

Patient: “You! This b**** is just a woman, so she’s too stupid to get my glasses right! Can YOU order me a pair of d*** glasses that will let me see everything without bifocals?”

Optician: “Not without a time machine, gramps.”

(Officially, I had to give my optician a verbal reprimand for insulting the customer, but I took him out to lunch the next day!)

This story is part of our Women’s Equality Day roundup!

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