‘Lil Miss Can’t Be Wrong

Yeah, I heard it before a thousand times…the customer is always right. (Period) That was probably true twenty or thirty years ago. I started doing business with the public at the tender age of 15 pumping gas in my home town with a major highway and realized even in the late 60’s that maybe them being right all the time, well that’s not true; I got used and abused by many on any given day. I remember during a nor’easter some jerk had me check the oil, water in the radiator and the air in all four tires for two bucks worth of gas. I froze my tuchus off. Then there were those that drove off without paying.

In the couple of years I did that job, I realized not all people are the same; some are nice and polite and some were just plain mean, ugly and disrespectful. I never forgot what I learned about people back then. And now after 50 plus years of dealing with folks from all over this country and witnessing what I see traveling abroad it’s a fact that no…the customer is not always right. 

I’m in the gold and diamond business. Things can’t be done for speculation - this stuff is expensive, and no I’m not going to invest my time and money to create some crazy abomination just to see if maybe someone will like it or not. It’s not a hair color or silly putty that can just be reworked and done over and over until “I get it right.” 

Years ago, I had the pleasure of trying to appease a genuinely spoiled rotten “Bridezilla.”  She had already dragged her husband -to-be into a high-end jewelry store in Naples to acquire her very pricey diamond engagement ring and matching wedding band. One of my regular customers suggested she see me to create a custom-made wedding band for her beau.

The whack- a -doodle alarm went off in my head in just seconds into our first conversation; she kind of, sort of, but not really knew what she wanted for him (who, by the way, was not present). After what seemed like a lifetime, I finally got a rough idea of what she wanted and suggested it might be a good Idea to run this by the husband-to-be.

“Oh, that’s not necessary. He will love whatever I decide to do!”  On that note, I did a sample in sterling silver to show her before I did it in the final ring in platinum complete with diamonds, which she suggested. 

Well at first it was too wide, then it was not wide enough, the diamonds are too close together, or too far apart, not enough diamonds or too many. The amount of diamonds and their location changed so many times I honestly did not know what the finished ring would look like. She called the shop so many times to do yet another design change my wife though I was having an affair with her!

Well, it finally came down to the wire. The wedding was days away and I still had no clue what I was doing for a ring for her. To my surprise the groom-to-be popped in without her to check on my progress. “Progress? What progress,” I told him. She changed her mind so many times there is no ring! I suggested he run to the hills and save himself and avoid getting hitched to Satan’s daughter before it’s too late. He saw the numerous sample designs I had created especially to her specifications…he despised all of them. I get a call from her the afternoon before the wedding, “Is the ring ready?”  I replied, “What ring?” You never confirmed any of my designs and by the way your hunny bunny was in a week ago and disliked your ideas. 

Okay, flames came through my end of the telephone. Apparently, there was a relation to Lucifer - she spewed many paragraphs of curse words at me, and lawyers were now involved because I ruined her perfect wedding, and what was she going to do now. I said any jeweler in Naples will have a simple band for the ceremony and hung up! 

I later found out from my customer that recommended Bridezilla that she personally attended the wedding and the bride did a great job torturing everyone involved from the caterers to the florists and even the new mother and father-in-law. The marriage lasted less than six months.