April is Spring into Crunch Time

I still can’t decide what time is busier for my staff and me, Christmas gift-giving season or the month of April. It’s a crazy thing; so much goes on prior to December 24th - so many deadlines for gifts. If you waited until Christmas Day to come into my shop, you would discover you have failed miserably. And don’t think I don’t get calls on Christmas morning begging me to open for just a minute or two so someone can pick out a little something or two, and will you gift wrap? Christmas season is a drawn-out concert that leads to a major crescendo and then ends with a big finish. Not to mention total exhaustion for all members front and back of the house. It’s the main reason I’m always closed the day after Christmas – look, we’re taking a break here! Name one person who wants to go to work that day after? The other reason for being closed the day after Christmas is that it significantly cuts down the volume of returns. I’m serious. I really do close - I have for decades. I have learned a thing or two about people and especially the opposite sex; being a jeweler, I make more women happy in a day than most men do in a lifetime. I discovered that by giving most people an extra day to think about returning a gift of jewelry, remorse or something sets in and most decide to keep it because “It’s the thought that counts.” Or realize it came from a special person and they decide that they like it and soon love it! A 24-hour time period to think about it; it’s a win-win situation.

It’s really nice that the staff and I get an extra day to spend with friends and family (if you enjoy that kind of thing.) It’s a fact that when we reopen the day after our “Day after Christmas Off,” there is always explaining to a few of the grumpy ones why we were closed the previous day and that all the returns are minimal. In fact most folks upgrade to a better gift than the one they are returning. 

Now comes the month of April. Not exactly an “in like a lamb” thing – it’s entirely different. It’s a combination of an out-of-control volume of people, phones ringing all day, and the chaos that ensues from it all.

I have talked about this subject for 28 years, and it doesn’t matter how many times I preach, it kicks off every April Fool’s Day (me being the one who looks like a fool).

A fact is a fact - every business on the island is straight out from December through April, and from where I’m sitting, it goes beyond that now. 

Don’t know the reason, but every April, the workshop gets truckloads of repair work each day with the same story attached to the envelope - MUST HAVE BY. So what changed? A day before, when it was March (that is also a very busy month), I needed a minimum of two weeks before the complicated work could be completed. Yes indeed, the reactions were mixed; there were looks of understanding, disappointment, despair and sometimes outrage from “The Rhinestones“(These wonderful folk were mentioned in my last article). 

In April, all bets are off and so are the gloves. The volume of incoming stuff is astounding! From replacing watch batteries, cutting rings off swollen fingers because someone enjoyed too many trips to the buffet this past weekend, welding a broken eyeglass frame here, tightening this diamond there because they don’t want to leave it. Inspect this and clean and polish that and spend half an hour enduring Show and Tell with Ms. Black, who insists on showing me her jewelry collection!

The real simple easy peasy stuff we try to do immediately because I could remedy the jewelry problem faster than filling out a work envelope, and the last thing I need is another inbox of incoming repair envelopes. The basic easy peasy things my son and I do our best to complete in a few days. Any given day in April is controlled mayhem, and it all stems from one thing…folks have been enjoying the beauty and lifestyle of Southwest Florida and here on Marco Island since you arrived in January. I know you were too busy having fun, enjoying all the things I would love to, especially in April when I can’t. Leave your stuff that needs attention with me when you arrive, not days before you leave. Seems like a simple thing. It just does not happen. It’s always crunch time and a lot of people are leaving for the Great White North and beyond.

One person, after waiting patiently for her turn to be waited on, needed some work done and told me they were leaving soon, like an hour from the time she was standing in front of me at that exact moment. She said she was in a hurry and had to catch a flight in Ft. Myers, “Could you just size my two rings and replace some prongs now? We will be back in an hour. I hope you understand we are in a bit of a hurry!” Needless to say, she made her flight wearing the same loose-fitting rings that were missing a prong here and there that she walked in with. Even in my better days when I was a young hotshot bench jeweler back in Boston, what she perceived I was to complete in an hour would have taken me over two! Did she expect me to get past security and deliver the completed rings to gate 6B? I truly hate to disappoint, but some things are just not possible, and no one does quality work quickly. That’s the whole reason for the wait. I may have mentioned this before - once a guy barged in with a store full of people claiming his wife was having a heart attack in the front seat of their car. I asked if he wanted me to call an ambulance and he said, “No, that’s ok. I’m going to take her in a minute. Oh, another thing, can I leave my chain to be repaired? I’ll pick it up in a few days! Thanks, gotta go!”  The crowd and I were stunned by this obvious charade. I’ll say one thing, it got him to the front of the line.

Besides the repair crowd flowing in April, our retail jewelry sales are brisk, with folks who had been scoping out certain pieces in both my windows and showcases for weeks, and even months, buying that piece of jewelry they have had their eyes on. There is also a great deal of jewelry that is custom-made in the shop, waiting to be picked up. You want to talk about time-consuming - some pieces take months to complete due to the unrelenting incoming work that also has to be done. I’m eternally grateful to my clientele for being so busy - that is a good problem to have - and I only wish folks would be a bit more understanding when I tell them you can’t have it yesterday. Being a goldsmith is a skilled and intricate craft, a kind of art form. It was never meant to be a rushed commodity. Heaven knows, in April not a day goes by that I have to do just that because someone conveniently forgot to mention they were leaving in two days. 

I love the understanding ones. Something I have done for them for years on major projects, complete restoration or custom work is to have them leave their projects for me to do in the slow summer months. Before you know it, you are back on the island and your precious jewelry is in the safe waiting for your return. It’s how business goes in paradise. For months it’s like drinking from a high-pressure fire hose and some months it amounts to only a trickle. It’s all about finding the time off in between to enjoy it here or elsewhere.

So please be kind to your local goldsmith and staff and most of all, the fine people in the island’s service businesses. Please tip them well; they have been working hard and have been enduring long hours due to staffing shortages. Their heroic and tireless efforts keep you fed and hydrated (even inebriated?). A happy and safe remaining 2023 season!