• Apprentice opticians help make glasses.eye glasses image by Alexandr Shebanov from Fotolia.com
  
  Opticians help create eyeglasses. However, before becoming a full optician, many must go through an apprentice optician phase. The apprentice optician shares many of the same job duties and roles as the optician, but they get paid around $21,000 to $30,000 a year.
  
  

Client Duties

• Working with customers is a main duty for the apprentice optician. They may in fact have more hands on time with the customers than a full optician. Apprentices in many careers often have to do the busy work that the master doesn't have the time to perform fully. It is no different as an apprentice optician. Greeting customers and making them feel comfortable is the first step. Finding out their needs and the reason for their visit is the next. Apprentice opticians must measure the customer's face and eye size in order to craft the best pair of glasses possible. Glasses that are too small may crack and glasses that are too large will fall off of the face. Apprentices help the customer pick out glass frames that suit their face. After the glasses are finished, they help verify that the lenses are correct to the prescription and help adjust the frame and length positioning for the client.
  
  

Eyeglass Construction

• Making the eyeglasses will be a duty placed on apprentice opticians late in their apprenticeship. Working under a skilled optician will help ensure that they learn all the necessary skills for creating eyeglasses. The apprentice will take the patient's prescription and facial measurements to carefully carve the glass lenses. Opticians that make lenses are called "dispensing opticians." They will then place the lenses into the frames using the measurements gained earlier. Some opticians send the lenses to ophthalmic laboratory technicians to grind and fit the lenses. They must provide these technicians with detailed instructions on creating the glasses. A full optician that does the grinding in the office will often have his apprentices perform this activity. Grinding and fitting the lenses helps the apprentice opticians learn the ins and outs of the glass making process first hand. Understanding the process helps to more fully understand the job.
  
  

Paper Work

• Doing all the day-to day paper work often falls on the apprentice opticians shoulders. Full opticians don't usually have the time to do all of this paperwork. Paperwork includes record keeping, accounting, inventory and work order placement. Work orders are written by measuring opticians and given to the dispensing optician to create the eyeglasses. Record keeping keeps track of all prescriptions, change of prescriptions and payments made by clients. Accounting helps balance the intake of client payments and expenditures, such as paying wages and buying equipment. Inventory helps make sure the shop has all the equipment necessary to perform. This paperwork will often be done at the end of the day, which can add hours to an apprentice opticians work week. Keeping up to date paperwork ensures the success of the shop and will reflect very well on the performance of the apprentice optician.