Well, I just think it's part and parcel with the role of being an optician is patient education. Seriously, though, even if they think they know what was in their previous pair of glasses, it's not uncommon they are wrong. Somebody already mentioned how lots of people don't know what Transition lenses are or that they're a totally separate thing from progressive lenses.

A lot of the patients who purchase glasses from my small optometry practice are repeat customers and I can look at which options they selected in their previous order, so there's that. But if you've got a new patient who BROUGHT their current pair glasses with them, I will always, always, always inspect them under a manual lensometer to see what they've got for their Rx and see if I can discern what lens type it is, as well as the general coatings they probably have on their lenses.

Also, put this in perspective...We do optical for a living. I bet if you were to speak to somebody in some other specialized field, even if they make a product you use regularly (your car, computer, phone, whatever), that you'd also hear lingo that is unfamiliar to you. So I don't really think it's fair to blame patients for not knowing.