True Tales - INSTOREMAG.COM

The Best-Laid Plans of Mice and Salarymen

INSTORE Staff — Mon, 04 Dec 2023 08:22:37 +0000

Sold a yellow gold 25.00 TCW CZ tennis bracelet. Customer’s plan was to replace the fake stones with real diamonds after he got his Christmas bonus. He said, ‘So do not tell my wife they’re not real diamonds!’ Well, he never got his bonus. The fake diamonds kept falling out of the mounting and my customer’s wife got mad at me. — Barry Fixler, Barry’s Estate Jewelry, Bardonia, NY

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The Engagement Ring Clients That Weren’t Mother and Son

INSTORE Staff — Thu, 02 Nov 2023 03:38:55 +0000

“We had a couple come in looking for engagement rings. The female was a lot older than the male. We assumed he was with his mother. It wasn’t! We Facebook-stalked them after they purchased. Turn the clock back about 10 years, a female junior high teacher was having sex with her 13-year-old male student. She was certainly teaching him more than English. He wasn’t complaining. But somehow, they got found out. She went to prison for several years. Fast forward to now: They are getting married.” — Dave Fadel, Fadel Enterprises, Bountiful, UT

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The Customer Caught With His Pants Down

INSTORE Staff — Wed, 27 Sep 2023 02:24:54 +0000

We purchase jewelry from the general public and often ask them to send us pictures of the items they’d like to sell before making an appointment to come by our showroom. We received a photo from a gentleman of a ring he wanted to sell, and upon closer inspection of the background of the photo, we realized he was sitting on the toilet with his pants around his ankles in a public restroom! — Julie Walton Garland, Walton’s Jewelry, Franklin, TN

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Humor: This Client Had an Unreasonable Request

INSTORE Staff — Wed, 16 Aug 2023 00:08:15 +0000

A guy asked us to resize his wife’s wedding ring, but he did not know any information as to what size. He just asked us to do it. We did not. — Bruce Bragg Jr., Coffrin Jewelers, Sarasota, FL

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Humor: This Former Marine Had a Burning Desire

INSTORE Staff — Thu, 20 Jul 2023 04:00:02 +0000

A guy asked Julie to make an earring for him out of his deceased wife’s engagement ring. She did. Then he asked her to solder it shut in his ear with her torch (this predated the permanent jewelry fad). When she told him the temperature needed to melt the gold in his ear, he said, ‘Go ahead and do it. I can take it. I am a Marine.’ We passed on the solder job — can you imagine the smell? — Cliff Yankovich, Chimera Design, Lowell, MI

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When This Jeweler Decided to Start Charging to Measure Ring Sizes, He Wasn’t Counting on This Customer

INSTORE Staff — Fri, 16 Jun 2023 04:02:23 +0000

Got tired of sizing people’s fingers so they could go buy a ring on the internet and decided to start charging for it. A few days later, I got a call from a young woman who said she needed to get her finger measured, and I said OK but I charge $50 for it. She didn’t hesitate and said that would be fine and she would be by shortly. When she finally came in, she sat on one of my benches in my store and starting looking at her hands. Then she started weeping and couldn’t stop. When I asked her what was wrong, she told me that she didn’t know which finger to measure because her fiancé had died and his mother wanted to have a ring made for her with his ashes in it. I gently suggested she use her right-hand ring finger, and she agreed. I measured her and then she pulled out her credit card. Needless to say, there was no way I could charge her after that! I just sent her on her way. So now I just refuse to measure fingers unless the rings are being purchased from me. — Daniel Spirer, Daniel R. Spirer Jewelers, Cambridge, MA

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Humor: This Client Was All Dirt and No Pay

INSTORE Staff — Thu, 04 May 2023 01:41:40 +0000

A guest told us he had found some pure gold and asked if we could sort through and test it. We, of course, said we could, not knowing … He proceeded to bring in a cooler filled with dirt for us to “sort through.” He insisted there was gold in there and talked a sales associate into checking it, saying we could take our time. One of our staff graciously sifted through it to find a tiny amount of pyrite. We called the guest to say we found no gold and only a small amount of pyrite and to please pick up your cooler of dirt. He never returned, and the cooler sat in a corner in the back room for years until we threw it out. Never again! — Katrina Sustachek, Rasmussen Diamonds, Racine, WI

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This Customer Gave The Salesperson a $500 Tip

INSTORE Staff — Fri, 07 Apr 2023 01:03:41 +0000

(During the pandemic) after a couple of months going back and forth on a custom design sketch (customer kept making changes), when the job was complete, my customer reached over and kissed my hand through his mask and gave me a $500 tip. He said I was very patient with him and his platinum and diamond band came out exactly as he envisioned it. Not to say but I took the tip happily. — Lyla Ismael, Lyla Jewelers, Oak Lawn, IL

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Humor: That Time Mr. Clean Came to Visit

INSTORE Staff — Tue, 14 Mar 2023 02:19:19 +0000

I was helping a customer on a Saturday, and she had brought her husband along to pick up her new wedding band. While they were sitting there checking out, her husband asked if he could use our restroom. Typically, I don’t let the public use our restroom, but they were nice and spending some money on an expensive band, so I said sure. I hear him wrestling around in there, and he was in there for almost 20 minutes. By the time he came out, I had already rung her up and we were just shooting the breeze waiting for him. They said thank you and left, so I went in to check the damage. Turns out the guy found the Clorox wipes, cleaned the facility first, then got himself his own new toilet paper roll, made himself at home and did his business. I have never seen this in our store before and didn’t know what to think. At first, I thought, ‘Who does this?’ But then I couldn’t help but laugh that he made himself at home. At least he was clean! — Marc M., Midland, TX

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Humor: One Jeweler’s Great Service is Another’s … Waste of Time

INSTORE Staff — Thu, 02 Feb 2023 08:50:44 +0000

WITH ALL THE COVID issues, we offered curbside service and delivery. Along comes a young mother who wants small hoops or studs that won’t come out of her 1-year-old’s ears. After being shocked that what she wants costs $500, she settles on a pair of sleepers for $35. Then asks us if we can deliver them to her home for free. I am sure some jewelers would say that is what great customer service is about, but I would humbly disagree and say that is how time is wasted. The offer was made to mail the item or arrange a delivery service … at a cost. — David B., Calgary, AB

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