Over the past 47 years, technology has brought a lot of changes to the eyeglass industry, and few people know that better than Mike McDonald, an optical lab technician at Holland Accu-Optical in Chatham.
McDonald just finished his last week after 47 years in the business, finishing his career with the same man who helped him into the business, Allen Holland, owner of Holland Accu-Optical.
McDonald grew up near Louisville and attended a one-room school from grades 1 to 8 with one teacher. In 1967, he started at the Capitol Theatre as a junior usher and worked up to head usher. Then in 1971, he got the opportunity to work in an optical lab.
“I didn’t even know what an optical lab was. Al Holland was working there at the time and he knew me from high school so he told the foreman I’d be a good hire. He hired me and that was it,” McDonald smiled.
Starting with the company when it was known as Bingham Optical on King Street, McDonald said it was different than he imagined it would be.
“I never knew so many people wore glasses. I was in the mail department and we pushed out over 100 pair of glasses a day and mailed them around to Windsor, Sarnia, Blenheim, Wallaceburg, Tilbury and Leamington,” he reminisced. “Then an opening came inside the lab so I got that within a year’s time and I’ve been doing it ever since.
“Then when Bingham’s closed, Al was working for Imperial Optical at the time, and he got me a job at Imperial just for a few months because he was buying the Bingham building and asked me if I wanted to come. That was 11 years ago, when it became Holland Accu-Optical,” McDonald noted.
When McDonald first started in the lab, he was given on-the-job training to learn the skills of a technician – manufacturing the eyeglasses. Since he started, the industry has changed a great deal, from how they manufacture to the types of lenses and frames available.
“Everything is computerized. Al keeps all the current machines on hand. Before, sometimes it was a chore to get things done. It’s a lot smoother now,” he said.
When he began in the lab, McDonald said 90 per cent of the lenses were glass and now 99 per cent are plastic. With the machines they have now and advances in technology, he said there aren’t that many difficult jobs. He said it used to take a half-day or day to make some glasses and now they can make them in under an hour.
“Another change would be the progressive bifocals, known as invisible bifocals. We sell a lot of those,” he said. “Al is also selling digital lenses that are done in Toronto. A bit higher quality bifocal and you have a bigger reading area.”
Eyeglasses have also become more of a fashion statement and accessory for people, and Holland has over 2,000 different styles of frames in many different colours to suit a customer’s taste and sense of style.
“Glasses are lighter and more stylish now and Al is very fussy on the quality that goes out. If it’s not done to his satisfaction or customer’s satisfaction it comes back,” he added.
McDonald said Tasha Holland, the optician, “is very good at finding the right frame for people and so is Al. They are both very good at what they do”.
Now that he is retired, McDonald said he looks forward to relaxing for a couple of weeks, spending time with his granddaughter and getting back into writing historical plays, three of which had been turned into productions locally. He said he is currently working on one about Jeanne Gordon, the opera singer from Wallaceburg in the 1920s.
