I encountered some unicorns today at the Richland Walmart vision center – unicorns as in rare and highly useful people, not the mythical one-horned equine.
Let us begin with Dr. Richard Way. Of late I’ve encountered poor, lackadaisical service almost on every front, but as I told Dr. Way at the end of my vision checkup, he was a welcome exception.
Begin with attention to detail and thoroughness, something appreciated in any matter, but doubly so when the subject is one’s eyes.
Dr. Way practiced good “chairside” manner, carefully explaining what he was testing me for and what results he was getting.
Sometimes, even with medical care, one gets the impression they are just a stop on an assembly line. But Dr. Way took as much time as was required to do his job in painstaking detail.
The good doctor was amiable and conversational, but still got the job done, another bonus. Too many people these days can be nice and pleasant, or efficient, but not both simultaneously.
My vision had changed, which Dr. Way explained sometimes can be the unlikely result of cataracts. I had just a trace of a cataract when last I’d been examined. Now I was up to a 1 or 1.5 in each in eye, on a scale that reaches four and generally calls for surgical intervention at 3.
But I’m fine for now. By the time Dr. Way was finished with my exam, he had a prescription that will do away with the falloff in vision clarity I’d been experiencing.
I made it a point to note to him that I’d been impressed with his work. This got us into a discussion of society in general. I’m 67 years of age and Dr. Way is a tad younger, but comes from the same kind of upbringing in that you do your job, to the best of your ability, at all times.
Sadly, this sort of ethic has been lost amidst a cacophony of artificially high self-esteem, rights over responsibilities, gender confusion and general socialist navel-gazing.
Dr. Way walked me out to a worker, Mrs. Sanders, who was in the midst of trying to juggle multiple phone calls. When she was done, she helped me order a new pair of glasses, with the upgraded prescription.
Like Dr. Way, Mrs. Sanders was pleasant and proficient. It was quick work and I was soon on my way to order some pizza to take home for dinner.
I’d be remiss in not mentioning the young man who did the preliminary testing for glaucoma and peripheral vision. I didn’t get his name, a lapse on my part. But he, too, did his work while keeping it pleasant.
What a welcome change this whole experience was from what I’ve been encountering recently. If only it could be like this more often.
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