I recall a saying that an optician is a man with an eye for business. Given the profession's unprecedented prosperity, that would seem to be true - but, I have to add, up to a point. The qualification derives from the further adage that if you want to make money, you have to be where the money is - and that, in my view, is not always so in its case.
The basic problem is that, pharmacy apart, ophthalmic optics is unique among the professions by virtue of its hybrid status. Some practitioners still experience difficulties in reconciling prof- essional and commercial functions - the latter a matter of deep resentment for ideological purists. This resentment is, of course, exacerbated by the realisation that while professionalism understandably retains pride of place, they are not merely economically dependent upon retail profits but, more significantly, that the majority of their incomes derives from this tainted source.
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