It seems kinda cool to be able to make glasses for people, but it isn't.
Pros
You get to have a free pair of glasses every year you work. If you go for the ABO Exam and pass, they'll reimburse your exam fee. The medical coverage is pretty good, although my co-pays just went up this year. Some of my co-workers are some of the nicest people I've ever met. It does attract people who care about other people, to a certain extent.
Cons
The management is barely capable of doing their job. If you're part-time, you are not guaranteed any amount of hours, except for eight hours within a 13-week period. The management has too much of a "closed-door" policy that invites gossip and distrust among fellow workers. They explain it away with "the confidentiality clause." When I say "distrust," it means I don't trust the management. The distrust is fueled by the management's hypocrisy. One day they'll write up an associate for being late, and the next day they stroll in thirty minutes late for their shift, taking advantage of their salaried status. There is hardly any room for advancement in the company, especially if you're a lab tech. Either you're the lab tech or the lab manager. If you happen to have become a lead tech, you're doing the work of a lab manager but not getting paid for it. Forget about becoming a lab manager because there is probably some other person who's been at this longer than you have, and has deluded themselves longer than you that they could get the position. The machines are always in need of cleaning up and maintenance. Of course daily maintenance is part of the job -- that's understandable. But even the lab manager doesn't always know what to do when certain things break. It seems it's too much trouble or too much money to get things fixed in a timely manner. It makes it feel like we're working too hard for too little.