39 Our First Video Poddy Exclusively on YouTube… But Here is the Audio

Episode 39 is officially our first-ever full-length VIDEO podcast, which means you can now watch all the awkward eye contact, random hand gestures, and questionable facial expressions that were previously hidden by audio-only technology.

As usual, we start with a plan and immediately abandon it. We answer a few listener questions, share some wild stories from our days working together at the jewelry store, and somehow manage to bounce between a dozen completely unrelated topics along the way.

At its core, this episode is exactly what Bench Jeweler Memes has always been: two bench jewelers sitting around, talking shop, telling stories, and giving each other a hard time for an hour or so.

If you’ve ever wondered what happens when you put cameras in front of two jewelers with no real agenda, here’s your answer. Consider yourselves warned.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:08

Well, good afternoon, good slash. Yeah, it's not slash, but slash if you're listening to this in the morning, good morning. If you're listening to it at night, good night. I don't know that doesn't make sense. How you say goodnight as a goodbye, but like good morning, good afternoon is a greeting. You never greet somebody with good night. That's true. Hmm.

SPEAKER_02 0:28

I'm not justice just a little. Dang, that's weird. I never thought about that.

SPEAKER_01 0:32

Me neither. I was gonna say, because you would say good evening. Yeah. But if you say goodnight, it's like that's clearly not a greeting.

SPEAKER_02 0:39

That's a salutation.

SPEAKER_01 0:45

Um, so this is I don't know. I can check this lighting I can check I can check in real time what episode number we're on because I don't know. We'll see what episode number do you think we're on, Brad? I'm gonna go 36. Way off. Technically, this is episode 39. Oh, okay. Um but you know, we have some special episodes. If you haven't caught the special episodes with uh BJ Mandrill, highly recommend that. I would not. Um it's two hours of fun. It's it is it's a blast. It's crazy that that's two hours because we uh we were talking uh me and my wife and the kids have been watching the Avatar movies, and they're all over three hours, and it feels like it. So I'm wondering if people if they listen to this BJ Mandrilla interview and are like, that feels like two hours. It felt like it, buddy. Felt like it, guys. Um, all right, so we're recording this. This is post post uh JCK. And I guess we've been still on today. Well, yes.

SPEAKER_02 1:54

I mean, but not many people are still there.

SPEAKER_01 1:56

I I don't yeah, a lot of people I saw were like getting home yesterday and today, and I'm sure some stay for today for the last day. Um anytime you go to a jewelry show, it seems like that last day people are like, I'm getting out of here. They have all their fun on Saturday and Sunday. Some people just go for like a day or two, which is crazy, but I guess it makes sense because everything's expensive out there. It is. But um We were not there. A lot of people thought we were. We were not there. I'm thinking next year somebody's gonna have us out there. And we were talking about this, Brad, before this morning when we came in. But um I want to make it clear that if some company wants to bring us in, I don't want to work the whole time. Oh, I want to hang out and socialize and make jokes. Yeah, don't bring us in to demo tools. You want to demo this new Cisma laser? Sure. No, I'll tell you how great it is, but I'm not gonna demo it. Do you want to demo this new stone setting tool? Nope. I'm if I go if we go out to Vegas, I ain't I ain't putting on a clinic, that's for sure. Nope.

SPEAKER_02 2:57

I will answer questions. I'm putting on uh Tommy Bahama shirt. That's what I'm putting on. We're putting on a clinic, but it ain't gonna involve fixing jewelry, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_01 3:08

Imagine like and this is not a knock at anybody, but um I I how to meet this gonna be a knock on a lot of people, apparently. Like I we when we're here at the shop, we're working and we're repairing and we're setting and we're staring down microscopes. And so if I go to a show, I don't want to just do more of that. And so it makes me wonder if the people who are like, yeah, I'm granted, if they're like, hey, we'll fly you out here for free and cover everything, then then maybe that is a pretty good opportunity. But I'm like, you must not be doing like the repairs that we are doing if you're like I want to go to Vegas and do some more repairs. That's just me. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 3:50

You want to go to Vegas and do some hollow chain repairs?

SPEAKER_01 3:54

We'll we'll put that the clinic we'll put on. Brad will. Brad will put on the hollow chain clinic. Nope. He'll be like, this is how I do it. Yep. I throw it away. But it seems like people are having fun. It seems like I feel like I'm trying to like read between the lines of what everybody's posting. Seems like a good time. I mean, it's I guess it'd be hard to have a bad time in Vegas, but it also seemed like the show was going well, except for our buddy Trax in YC. Oh my gosh. You were just you We're not gonna dive on it, but what did what did you send me and and tell me?

SPEAKER_02 4:24

So I did not watch the entire video that he posted. I just watched that he was upset with somebody apparently at the Venetian. Seems like they've had it out for him for a couple years, is what I gathered. I'm like, I sent Dusty the message, and Dusty's a fan of tracks. And I am I like I don't have a problem with the guy, but it it he just seems exhausting. Like he's always so upset about something. I'm like, gosh, you probably had deal with somebody like is it his brand?

SPEAKER_01 4:55

Is that kind of like you know, once you kind of get a a shtick, you kind of have to stick with it. It'd be weird if he was just like, hey guys, I'm I'm I'm actually pretty normal 90% of the time. I don't maybe I don't know. I mean, people watch for the drama. I mean, if there's drama on a page, no, yeah. It's no different than people being on JHJ. It's like if I'm scrolling and I just don't see any drama whatsoever, then I I swipe off. No, like I'll scroll for a little bit, but if there's no drama, then it's like, well, what am I doing here?

SPEAKER_02 5:20

So you think if you like saw him at JCK the rest of the week, he was just chill and then like Or do you think every time you saw him he is mad?

SPEAKER_01 5:29

I don't I would honestly I would venture to say if you just ran into him regular outside walking around, I bet he would be pretty cool.

SPEAKER_06 5:37

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 5:38

Maybe I'm assuming, maybe one day. I know he was he's been on a couple of big big uh podcasts, but it would be cool to have him on here one day. Not this one.

SPEAKER_02 5:46

Yeah, yeah, no, it'd be cool. Yeah, I'm just saying he hasn't been on this one yet.

SPEAKER_01 5:50

No, he has not yet. Yet. Although, oh Brad, I don't think I told you this.

SPEAKER_02 5:55

He'll be like Brad's had it out for me for two years. He hasn't had me on this podcast.

SPEAKER_01 6:00

Let me um if I've got a confirmation on this yet. Um somebody that we've teased will eventually be on the show. Um I we was kind of we were kind of filling each other out, like, hey, you should be on. And um filling each other out, huh? And so Friday he said, Um, hey bro, let me know what date you would like to do the podcast. Um would be fun. Love everything you all do. Um and so I let him know we record on Mondays, and what about June 8th or 22nd recording and meetup? And um it looks like he did see my message but did not answer me.

SPEAKER_02 6:37

He must be very fine with that.

unknown 6:41

Oh, Jesus.

SPEAKER_01 6:42

All right, maybe I'll put him off to June 22nd. So that'd be yeah, I uh although we'll see. We'll see what works. We'll we'll see what works for now. Yeah, I don't know. Um, all right, so back to what we were gonna do. So just to buy some time because we had to record late last week, and then we pretty much had the weekend, and so we came in this morning and we're like, oh boy, what are we gonna talk about?

SPEAKER_02 7:04

Like nothing's happened since we last recorded.

SPEAKER_01 7:07

Uh not really. I mean I mean we could talk about we could talk about life, but you know, we're trying to keep it somewhat jewelry related. Now, here's gonna be the awkward part since we have a video for this time, because I still don't have the shop talk music saved on here. So I'm trying to figure out. I guess we're just gonna have to pretend like we're dancing when we say it. Okay. And we'll do our best to make sure it lasts, because I think that's about three or four second jingle.

SPEAKER_02 7:36

Okay, sounds good.

SPEAKER_01 7:37

All right, so our before we get too deep into today's topics, are we ready for shop talk? We're ready for shop talk. All right, shop talk, cue the jingle.

SPEAKER_04 7:44

Shop, shop, shop, where we talk, shop, shop, shop, let's talk, shop.

SPEAKER_02 7:49

Did you do it? No. Okay. I did. I bobbed my little head. I know. We should stand up and dance. I know. No, yeah, we should.

SPEAKER_01 7:56

All right, let's do it. No, we're not gonna do it. Let's do it again. Let's do it again. Because this is really hard to edit. We are keeping it moving. So, how is your repair box looking, Brad? It's right behind you, kind of, right? Oh, here goes chair sounds. So, how's the prepare repair box doing?

SPEAKER_02 8:12

Looks good. Uh, right now it's empty because everything in there.

SPEAKER_01 8:19

So when we come in tomorrow, is everything due tomorrow done? Yeah, or cleaning. Um, so yeah, I'm in good shape. How about yourself? I am very good, surprisingly. Um When's that time of year, right? I have I think I've gotten all the repair stuff out of there, and I have like two or three custom jobs that I have to set stones. Um and I just don't want to because they're not like due tomorrow. So I just don't want to do them. But I actually have to get started on those tomorrow when Ari's here. Yep. Maybe we could have, you know what I could oh, you know what I could convince Ari to we could record one day while you're on vacation. Oh and she can sit in your chair. Oh, that would be a good one.

SPEAKER_02 9:00

And we'll bring you on remote. Oh, dude, that's a great idea.

SPEAKER_01 9:05

I love it. I'm wondering if we just we should probably do a test run to see if you can just take the mic with you and hook it up to your phone and see how it works. I don't know how it's gonna work, but we can try it. And then um we'll we'll uh bring you on. I don't know if I want to be a guest on this podcast. Ari will be uh she'll be the co-host and you'll be a guest. We'll just ask you questions. So, Brad, uh, what you've been up to. Okay. Um, all right, so we ask our Instagram, which we highly encourage you. Uh oh, we didn't finish Shop Talk. Um, did we? We kind of did. It's pretty chill. It's summertime. Think chills out a little bit, which gives us opportunity to do the video podcasting. I can't promise this every week, but we're gonna do our best. Uh for right now, we are still trying to raise a little funds to update some computers and cameras. And if you guys are just like, you know what, this is fine, then it's fine, then don't send us any money, and that's fine. But if you want to support the show and send us some money, the way to do that is somewhere where you're listening to this, hopefully on YouTube, there is a link in the description called Buy Me a Coffee. You click that and it'll allow you to send us a message, which we will usually read, which I haven't checked. Should I check them right now while I'm talking about it? Just check them. If you do send us a few bucks, um, we will read whatever you say. Literally, whatever. Whatever you say. Whatever you say. If we have to send Dusty, we'll read it. We will, but okay. So let's see here. I think we have a couple. Actually, we do have we have two to read. Oh, yes. So um Beach Dahlia Jewelry Um said Forgive me, I never know if it's he or she, they said, Love what you guys do. Dahlia sent us, sent us 10 bucks a ruse. That is going to the uh buy me a laptop uh fund because I'm gonna well so what happened now is I have to do all the editing where we also are point of sale computer, which is running the edge. So between the edge running and the millions of pictures we have on there for the edge and trying to edit stuff, it is like just bogging everything down. So I need to buy a nice enough laptop where I can do some editing um somewhere else.

SPEAKER_06 11:20

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 11:20

Makes sense. Uh somebody else said at Clay Don Drums, oh, Claydondrums or Clay Don Drums, I do not know. But this is what he she said, they said. Thanks for keeping us smiling on the bench over here in the UK. It's so funny that we are not alone and stores are the same the world over. Enjoy your coffee, Mark and Sam from Clark's Jewelers. Although they did spell jewelers, oh that's how we spell it. Yeah, they spelled it the right way. I was about to correct them on. No, do we use two L's or one? We just use one. You're an idiot. Yes, we use one. Well, they use two. Yes. So they're in a different country. Clark's Jewelers. They speak the Queen's English. Oh, that reminds me, dude. Somebody sent me a message. Um we're never gonna get to what we were actually talking about. Let me read this because I don't want to mess it up.

SPEAKER_02 12:17

We're gonna have to travel to England, apparently, because that's where our biggest fans are.

SPEAKER_00 12:23

Oh my gosh, dude. Where did it be?

SPEAKER_02 12:27

Now, now you guys know how we felt when the Beatles came, but same same feeling.

SPEAKER_01 12:34

Dude, somebody made a comment about where was it at? It might have I wonder if it was was it on YouTube, maybe? I I have no idea. Somebody basically was laughing at our at our British accents, I think. What? I think they were either telling us to stop that they were to keep doing it. I can't remember if they were saying like please stop or spot on. Spot a T. Uh let's see here. I don't know. Why can't I find it? That's gonna drive me crazy. Oh no. This is so sad.

SPEAKER_02 13:08

Maybe it was on the live chat. I think it did.

SPEAKER_01 13:11

No, no, no, no. I think they said like you gotta you gotta chill with the um. Oh, I found it. I found it. My dudes, stop it with the accents already. I'm literally crying over here, but they did put laughy faces. See, see, like stop it. You're so crazy. Oh, it's oh, it's Rob, the one that sent the email. He's he's the one that said it. Oh, okay, see and I said um I said I couldn't control myself. Um all right, speaking of, since we have Rob on the line, sorry.

SPEAKER_02 13:39

Dog's buddy.

SPEAKER_01 13:40

I was gonna try to work that.

SPEAKER_02 13:41

Oh, my bad. We'll just get that out.

SPEAKER_01 13:44

No, I didn't. I was gonna I was thought on the way here this morning that we should try to work that in. The yo dog's body. Um since we have Rob on the line, since I pulled up his chat, um he he asked a question because we put on our Instagram, hey, what can we talk about today? Because we didn't come prepared. Um what's the okay what's the question he asked was, what's the one big mistake you only ever make once?

SPEAKER_02 14:15

Oh that's a great question.

SPEAKER_01 14:17

I think it to me, I think it would be how I polish chains. Yep. Because it when you first because when you first start polishing chains, you think, you know, I'll just do it this way, and you might not put a lot of thought into it. But when the polishing wheel grabs it and slaps your hand with it, like whips it like a thousand times before you can pull your hand out. How does it do it's like before your brain is like, hey, you're you're you're about to lose a hand. Yep. Um, and so from that moment on, after that, you're like, I'm gonna be real careful the way I'm gonna think about this. What's the best approach for this? I'm gonna be very careful doing this. Yes, because I can honestly say that I haven't got hand whipped by a chain, but only but only one time. Well, it was like fifty times, but it happened in one one sitting. It's like fifty revolutions.

SPEAKER_02 15:08

Um, I just got whipped by a chain. Uh that you didn't learn, did you? Uh oh, you okay. Um like last year. That was but that was the first time it's ever happened to me. Uh well, good for you.

SPEAKER_01 15:23

Because you you are the type who if somebody's like, hey, this is dangerous, you just take their word for it. Yeah, oh yeah. Where I'm like, it doesn't seem it. I bet it's fine. Let me just do it anyway until something bad happens. And I'm like, you know what?

SPEAKER_02 15:36

I'm not gonna I shouldn't do that. Yep. Like, you shouldn't drive a car. Okay, I won't. Sounds good.

SPEAKER_01 15:43

Yep. Um, there's so many things I was about to say. But anyway, continue on. What's the one besneck you only make once? I don't even know. That's a good question. I wish I had like posed that earlier so we could question. Um what about for like watch repairs?

SPEAKER_02 15:58

Watch repairs, I think God, there's a million of them.

SPEAKER_01 16:02

Because like holding a screw with the tweezers and having it fly out, like that's not something you just do once. Like that just somehow, no matter how safe you are, yeah. It just happens.

SPEAKER_02 16:11

Um, I would say anything that has to do with the dial, like like trying to clean a dial or something like that, that rarely goes right. Um, things with the hairspring, like you can get into a lot of problems with that. Um so you just learn your lesson the first time. Mm-hmm. No. See, that's the problem. Like it it's nothing, like I think with the whipping, that's something that's like ingrained in us because it's safety related. If it's not safety related, I don't think we like there's not that off switch. Like, no, I'm not gonna do that again.

SPEAKER_01 16:45

Well, how about this? Why don't I read what Rob said? What did he say? While you're thinking. So he said, number one, not checking to see. I have I'm I have not pre-read these. Not checking to see if the water in the quench pot has evaporated away before taking the red hot piece of metal out the teasers. Arguably, even having a quench pot that you might be tempted to use is dumb. Um I see what he means. Like maybe you thought it quenched, and then you grabbed it, and then you grabbed it. Um, I do remember, which will relate to another question. So remind me to come back to uh hot silver rings. Okay, just remind me to come back to that. And then the other thing he said, firing the laser without checking to see if someone else changed the settings. Oh, I do that all the time. So you so he said he only did that once, so you still haven't learned, huh?

SPEAKER_02 17:35

Nope. I still do it, and honestly, it's worse now because I will be aware of it and I'll just be like, no, I don't really care because at this point I know how to fix it. If Wow.

SPEAKER_01 17:47

Yeah, yeah, some arrogance to it. You're so good that you're okay with making mistakes.

SPEAKER_02 17:54

Yep. I try to make mistakes just to show how good I am, except for uh like if I'm re-tipping, then I have to make sure it's on the right setting because you can't just like blow a hole through a prong and I thought you were gonna say blow a hole through a diamond, and I was like, that's not possible. Well, you can't other stones.

SPEAKER_01 18:09

Uh very true. So that's what so Rob answered his own question, but that is so is there any there's not anything you can think of, Brad? No. Rads don't make mistakes.

SPEAKER_02 18:20

What are those?

SPEAKER_01 18:23

Uh something about silver ring? Um no, I'm gonna get there. I'm gonna get there. Because it's gonna it's gonna relate to another. Let me get to the other responses that came in real quick. Um this one, this is kind of related. So somebody said talk about unhinged comments from previous shop bosses, and I'll add other like co-workers, maybe. Yes, but uh before we answer that, I'm really gonna talk about because it reminded me of what Rob just said about grabbing something hot. Um, it only took me one time for when we worked at our old job. Did Mike get you with this? Oh, yeah, he did. Okay, because I was gonna tell the same story. I don't know if he got someone else, and I witnessed it, and that was enough learning for me. I can't remember now. I think I actually witnessed somebody else. So our the old bench stiller we used to work with at our previous job, um, he's he was just old school. Oh man. Armenian dude. And um I'm pretty sure like all of his fingertips were like just rawhide leather. Yes. Um, and so he would, you know, after soldering or polishing or having the torch on something, whatever, he would just, you know, grab grab the item and and hold it. No big deal. You could always tell though, because you could smell the flesh burning. But um, but you know, it was a big silver ring. Were you was were we both there for this? This might have been was it me that he did it to?

SPEAKER_02 19:56

Did you get burned by this? Yes. Okay, maybe this is you're like telling my story for me.

SPEAKER_01 20:01

Well, you go ahead then, because I wonder if it's the same story. Okay, so it's gonna be working on a big silver, heavy ring. Yes, big heavy ring. So even after the red goes away, it's and he's holding it. Yes, he's on it with his hand, with his fingers.

SPEAKER_02 20:15

And so I'm over there and he said, feel feel how heavy this is. Which is brilliant because like like if somebody tells you you don't realize it. Now you can show them how you how you that's what I'm doing. Yes, okay. So, well, kind of. So you hold your hand out like you hold it like and you're you're like balancing it, waiting for something to be heavy, so you're trying to cushion it. You're not thinking of like smacking it away, throwing it away. And so he's like, I was there, it's heavy, it's heavy, and so he lays it on my hand, and you know right in the center of your palm, right in the center of my palm, and instantly I'm like, holy cow, this is hot. But you know, it's hot metal against flesh, and so it's like stuck, but it's not really stuck. So I like just like brand your palm.

SPEAKER_01 21:06

But yeah, I was branded for a little bit. So now if somebody's now, because I witnessed that and because you experienced it, if if any jeweler ever says, you know, tries to hand me a ring, I'm nope. I'm suspicious that it's hot. Yep. Even if it's room temperature. Yep. Yep. I'm gonna see if I can get you with that, see if you forgot. Although now it's back to your forefront.

SPEAKER_02 21:30

So it is on my forefront. Is that what it's called? No, I don't think so. Forefront of your mind? Yeah, sure. Front of your mind? Yep, the forefront.

SPEAKER_01 21:39

It's in the back of your mind. It's the front of my forehead. It's not in the back of your mind anymore after this conversation. But anyway, back to unhinged comments from previous shop bosses. Some of these I just need time to really reflect on. But I'm sure we have, and we've discussed just conversations, incidents, which I could that could be a whole nother episode from our old. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02 22:01

We keep saying it's gonna be a whole episode and we just never come.

SPEAKER_01 22:04

But this one says specifically from from the boss. From the boss. So do we remember we won't say his name, but do we remember anything from our old boss that was just like an unhinged comment? Can you think of anything? Not unhinged, just Oh, there was some crazy. Crazy. Crazy stuff. Um I don't know. That's it. I think we're gonna have to think about that one.

SPEAKER_02 22:30

Unless there's any stories that are coming to mind. I guess this would be kind of unhinged just because but it was an action. So oh, and this is even better because video. So I so my bench was kind of facing, it was behind a corner, but kind of facing um the jewelers' benches because I I fix watches at the place we worked at. Um and so I remember poking my head around to see kind of what everybody was doing, and I see the balls at the bench. Oh Lord. Oh, I think I know. And he's got his torch lit. I don't remember this. And he's like fanning it. And then he gets down here. Oh god, and it's like poof. And he like turns it off, turns the torch off, and I'm like, what are you doing? He's like, I smelled gas leaking somewhere, so I'm trying to find where I was. Like, so you use fire? I mean, he did find it.

SPEAKER_01 23:42

And oh and the funny thing is, it's like if you're at your jeweler's bench, there's only one place the gas could be coming from. It's not like it's a mystery. It's probably coming from the propane tank, bro. Maybe, maybe. I don't know. I mean, I guess you it could like be leaking from the torch itself or the tank, but right. But again, like but just check those two things. Right. Without a torch, without using fire. That was pretty funny. There's so many we we need to start writing down stories that happened from our old job, and we have an episode that's just called Stories from Our Old Jobs. Mm-hmm. Yep, that's a good one. Um we should also bring in um his son for that episode. Oh, that'd be fantastic. That episode. Um that was it was that was a very unhinged place to work, I'm not gonna lie. It was. Um, that is where I mean, so many of like in a in a direct or indirect way, so many memes and opinions and things that I've seen and done and experienced come from that job. Because I've worked really hard since opening this place to to do the opposite of that.

SPEAKER_02 24:51

Yep. Personally. Yep. And honestly, and and I've said it and I I still believe it. Like if you worked at that place for three months, I would hire you in a second. Because you would have seen everything. Everything in those three months. Yep. And you would know how to do things the wrong way.

SPEAKER_01 25:14

I mean and the right way. Yeah, you yeah, because you could instantly say, hey, okay, so at this place, this is how you did it, but that's actually not how you do it. Right. So what what we're gonna do is the opposite of that. Um so that was I yeah, I mean, it was not there was fun moments and there was not fun moments, but I'll tell you what, it was a lifetime worth of experience. I can tell you that. It's the reason there's certain things I don't know how to do. It's a there's a it's a reason why I know so many things. Um it's just it's just all the good and all the bad rolled into one big ball of experience. And we and I was there for nine years. That's crazy, man. So it's almost like I've been a bent ruler for 60. Yeah, right. We should call it uh old job years, kind of like dog years. Like I only worked there for two years, but that's like 15 years experience. Right. I only worked there for nine years, so it's almost like I've been doing joy for a hundred years. In old job years. Old job years, yeah. That's kind of how I see it. I'm sure a lot of people can agree. Yep. Um somebody asked, tips, tricks on protecting wounded fingertips, talking about ripped nails, spider bites, etc. Spider bites is a very specific on your fingertip?

SPEAKER_02 26:29

Oh, I guess maybe if they're they're bringing an injury not not from the bench, but to the bench.

SPEAKER_01 26:37

Yeah, it sounded to me kind of like, yeah, like if you maybe maybe they're wounded from excessive bench work, but you still have to keep working.

SPEAKER_02 26:46

Yep. Or you got injured at home, but then you had to come in and work.

SPEAKER_01 26:51

Yeah, I've definitely like done that. I remember, was it Friday after we closed up? I had been doing a lot of stone setting, and um on my uh right middle finger, uh, when you're like kind of using the setting finger. This one. Because I was doing so much setting that particular day, the setting burr um or the heart burr was kind of like it'll kind of catch your finger and kind of make little slices in it. And I didn't realize it because we had gone out with uh with with BJ Mandrill, actually. We should and another content creator. And um, we had um we had a few bourbon pours, and some of it got on my finger, and man, it felt like fire got into my fingertip. That's not really answering the question, that's just me telling a story. Um, but to answer the question, Brad, we made this comment a while, what was it, one of the episodes? Um, and you were just like, Oh, I wear gloves when I polish. I for I forgot what brought that up. No, I do. So like would that be your answer? No, but that's just that's just polishing specific.

SPEAKER_02 27:57

Yeah, so if I like for instance, I've jammed screwdrivers into my fingers. Um like uh I think it's all tender. Separating disc, cut that. That happens fast. Um but usually we have that I don't know what kind of tape it is, but you kind of just wrap like a bandage, wrap it with some uh like thick uh bandage type thing. Um Do you remember what was it when you had all like half of your your fingertips? Yes, yes, that's what I was trying to think of. Yep. I I was testing um it was Father's Day of last year. I was testing the uh burners on the stove to see if it was still hot. It sure was. That was a at home injury. That was, and so I had burned, I had like four fingers got burned, but two majorly. And so um, yeah, for a while I had it taped up and it was a pain in the butt. Um but yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:00

I mean, there's not I mean there's not a there's not like I mean depending on the extent of the injury, there's not a lot you could do. I mean, I'll be honest, if mine is minor enough but annoying, I'd do the old super glue trick.

SPEAKER_02 29:13

Yeah, tell tell the people about the super glue trick in case they don't know.

SPEAKER_01 29:16

So you have some right here about sponsored by Loctite, but um, more of like a gel, which I'll be honest, Brett, I don't really care for, but it's what we have. Sorry. But yeah, if I get a little a little wound or a slice or something like that, especially if it's like an open wound, I'll just um kind of put some super glue in there and just kind of rub it in. You do have to kind of reapply it, but at least I don't like having anything wrapped around my finger personally. So the super glue is the only really tip or trick for me. And the and that's good for you? You just put super glue. Yep. Okay. And then usually by the next day it's probably worn off. Um, and I just put some more on. And after a couple days it's healed up. That's pretty good. Um, same person said, best energy drink, and why is it Mountain Dew Amp? First of all, how old are you? 17? Man, Dusty. I'm just kidding. That was the last time I had a Mountain Dew amp. I'm pretty sure they came out when I was a teenager. I've never had a Mountain Dew amp. You you're the okay. We'll we'll get there in a minute, but I don't I don't know. I'm not really I mean And also I would stay up till uh there's not even coffee timber. I'm sending everybody my coffee cup, um, but there's no coffee in here, it's water right now. But um I knew done both of us start our days with coffee. I thought about actually brewing up a cup of brewing up a cup of coffee for you guys um as a little pre-recording banter, but we were we did not. We drank something else, so you'll have to do this and um see what we drink. Stay tuned to the end for that. But um, but I do I just drink coffee. Um and I don't really think I do it for energy, but I I'm the type who can drink coffee all day. Like not in the summer, I have been known to be like, hey Brad, I'm gonna go grab some Starbucks and grab a nice coffee. But um, but yeah, I can drink like I'll be watching TV at night and send Brad a text of me drinking coffee just to watch him stress out about it. I think it's generational too. It keeps it keeps him up just thinking that I'm drinking coffee at that hour.

SPEAKER_02 31:20

Scares me. Feel bad for you.

SPEAKER_01 31:22

But yeah, I would like to see Brad on an on an energy drink.

SPEAKER_02 31:25

That'd be fun. Because I think like like 10 years younger than us, they're pounding some energy drinks.

SPEAKER_01 31:32

Um, I I will say um maybe at like a jewelry show, energy drink would come in hand. But I think I would still just drink like a crap ton of coffee. I don't know. I just like coffee.

SPEAKER_02 31:43

Yeah, I just love it. So great.

SPEAKER_01 31:46

Um the Mountain Dew amp, is that an energy drink? Yeah, it's like Mountain Dew, but like amplified. Imagine that. Amplified with a caffeine.

SPEAKER_02 31:56

I do like Mountain Dew. It's been a minute since I drank a Mountain Dew, though.

SPEAKER_01 32:01

I was about to say I cannot even remember the last time I had a Mountain Dew. God, it just sounds so sweet, and just I could not. There's no way. Just the thought of that, I just feel like it'd be all over my mouth for like the next twenty four hours. Just pour me a cup of coffee.

SPEAKER_02 32:20

Black.

SPEAKER_01 32:22

Yeah, black. If you have good quality and ice pour over it, black is fine. No, I will not disagree. Um I'm just gonna read this one because somebody went through the trouble to type it up. Are we having a stroke or is there actually burning plastic somewhere? I shouldn't be allowed to just read whatever people send me. I'm gonna keep that moving along. Maybe there's burning plastic. I don't know. No, uh there is burned plastic in there. This one is um let me go to my messages because there was a little qualifier story here. Let me back it out. Back it back. Okay, so her question was I'm assuming. Um I don't understand how to do that. Okay. I want to go back to the comments. Um the question true upper class or false. I shouldn't say this upper class. It did not say class. I did not mean to, I just inserted that. True upper clients versus people who think they are upper clients.

SPEAKER_02 33:32

Well, I mean, I guess that's what they mean.

SPEAKER_01 33:35

Upper Yeah, I think it's just um, and I think when I read that, I instantly kind of knew what they were asking. Because we have clients, and I think every jewelry store probably does. You have the clients who are just like they have money, you know it, they don't make it a big deal, but they come in and they're they spend money and they're good clients, versus the people who come in frequently and they're just asking questions, and they it's like they do spend money, but they think that their level, they think that they're like a high-ranked client in our system, and they're just not, but they act like they are. I think that's what they were kind of getting at. Yes. Yep. Now I will go on to read. Um, they said, for instance, I worked in a jewelry store years ago, and one client who would never who you would never think was air quote rich would drop thousands of dollars every time she visited. And not only was she the sweetest person ever, but she had a really cool life story. Versus we have this one gal, or had, who was mid-tier, but would only spend about a couple thousand once every year or so. And she thought she was God's gift to us because of that. The mid-tier gal also deep gosh, I can't believe I'm about to I should read reread.

SPEAKER_06 35:01

Sorry.

SPEAKER_01 35:02

I'm just reading, I'm quoting. Oh gosh. The mid-tier gal would deep throat her rings to take them off during COVID times.

SPEAKER_02 35:12

During COVID times.

SPEAKER_01 35:15

Okay, and yes, it was full finger in mouth, not just licking. She would always talk about how none of her kids talk to her lol. Yep.

SPEAKER_02 35:25

She was we have that customer as well.

SPEAKER_01 35:28

Yeah. Um people come to mind.

SPEAKER_02 35:30

Um it's frustrating. Yeah. Because that's probably how they live their life. They probably think they're God's gift to everyone that they come in contact with.

SPEAKER_01 35:44

I know we've talked about it because we've had to talk about it like with Ari because she was when she was new, is kind of like I think she was kind of posing the question one day of like, like, how do you know like which clients? Because like she picked up like some clients get a little better treatment or maybe a better price or quicker service. And it's hard to explain because when you're here every day, like me and Brad, we kind of know the clients who are good clients. They don't have to announce it, they don't have to say it, they're easy to deal with, they do spend money, they never question pricing. And um, and so when they come in, it's almost like you want to be a blessing to them and to treat them well and to give them a little better service. So it's like, hey, you know, hey, you know, this repair takes a week, but you know, just give us when do you need it? Do you need it tomorrow? Yeah, we'll take care of it tomorrow. Or like, hey, they picked out something and it wasn't a lot of fanfare, they didn't, you know, ask a billion questions and tie you up for an hour. So it's like, hey, you know we'll knock off a little bit of the price without ever having being asked. Those are the clients that are are good clients versus the ones who think they are good clients. And the one yeah, and you know them because they have to announce that they're good clients. Oh, I'm a good client of yours. Oh, I come in all the time. Yep. And then when you you know look up, it's like, oh, they had four batteries and they bought like a silver necklace two years ago. But they may have been in here, you know, 20 times where the other client maybe comes in once or twice a year. But you you know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_02 37:14

Yeah, and I don't even think it's it's a money thing with us because a little different because we're not salespeople, so we're not paid on commission and all that stuff. So most of what we consider a good client is somebody who you know doesn't waste our time. Yeah, and it just gets to the facts and and doesn't really like it's no rush, you know, whatever works with us. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 37:43

Yeah, the people who have the most demands who who they just come in, you they trust you, they have a good personality, they're not trying to get something, but it's just like, hey, you you guys are my jewelry store, come here when I'm looking for something, and come here to get stuff fixed, whatever it is, and there's not a lot of fanfare, like those are the best clients. Obviously, it helps when they spend money. I mean, yeah. Oh, yeah. Obviously. Um we have a guy who who comes in and although I haven't seen him this year, um, who comes in and he's like that. He's like, Hey, I just want to get something for my wife, walks it through. He's not, he doesn't come in with like these are expectations, this is what I'm looking for, and it's very specific. It's just hey, you're looking for something, you know, what's kind of new, what's something different? And you show him stuff, and he's like, Man, I really like that. I'll take it. Like that's that's a good client. Um, I did post or I share I didn't post it, I shared something from Instagram, which ties into this, so I'll kind of read it. Um, if you don't mind, Brad. Um it said, do you mind? No, not not this time. Okay. It says, Dear business owners, one hard truth in business the clients who bargain the hardest are often the ones who complain the most. Yes, delay decisions, disrespect boundaries, and expect the highest levels of service for the lowest possible price. Yep. Cheap clients are rarely looking for value, they are looking to squeeze. And if you're not careful, they will drain your time, your energy, your peace, and your profit. Not every customer is your customer. Learn to recognize red flags early, price confident, price confidently, and stop over-explaining your worth. Serious clients respect quality, the process, and professionalism. Protect your business from people who only see your price but not your value. What do you think about that?

SPEAKER_02 39:30

Completely agree. Because we even had this customer last week. I forgot what she came in for. Um but it was you know, it was pushback at every it was just a repair, but it was like um, oh, it was a silver something, and and it was gonna be $30. And and Dusty's like, she was like, oh, $30 just to fix it, and Dusty's like, no, we're replacing this part. Oh, okay. Um how long's it gonna be? And Dusty's like, well, it usually takes us a week. We're back all a week? Uh he's going out of town Saturday. Can you have it done by Friday? Dusty's like, yeah, we'll we'll make that work. Oh, actually, his flight leaves Friday morning before you open. Can you have it done by Thursday? And and Dusty's like, actually, no, like Friday would be the soonest.

SPEAKER_01 40:25

Because I picked up on what was happening. Yep. It was just kept asking for more, kept asking for more. Yep. Do you want to finish the story? Do you remember? I I don't know. Go ahead. So she left. She was like, oh, okay. So she left. And I didn't mind because again, because of that.

SPEAKER_02 40:40

That's the whole point of us doing that, is so you either get on our terms or you leave.

SPEAKER_01 40:46

So she left, and um I didn't hear the first part of your story, so maybe they they they overlap a little bit, but she left. She ended up calling, sorry, she ended up she ended up calling back like a couple hours later and was like, hey, I found the the part that's right somewhere else. They just can't fix it fast enough because she we had already, but it's so so or maybe she yeah, she called, or maybe she texted, I can't remember, but I know I was trying to relay the message to Ari. Yes. And basically, I found the part somewhere else, and um, so I just need you to solder it. So can you have that done by Thursday? And I was like, no. Um because I was trying to explain to Ari the the delay in getting it accomplished was not because we had to order a part. It was because we had 40 other repairs ahead of her. Right. And she was already pushing the pushing the limits of like asking for more, more, more faster, faster, faster. Yep. So by this time I just decided like she's not really a client of ours. Now if she wants to wait and pay the proper price, then I have no problem with that. Yep. But and so now she drove God only knows where to find a the part in air quotes. Yeah, I think it was a clasp. And came back to us. And by the way, I'm pretty sure we we had the clasp. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 42:08

I just was vague and like, hey, it takes about a week, we have to order the class, we have to maybe in her head she heard you say we have to order it, and that's where she thought the the time frame came from.

SPEAKER_01 42:18

I don't know. So I yeah, I just had to already explain like the the ordering the clasp, whether we had it or didn't have it, was not the delay. The delay is you're not more important than all of our other clients who came in, who brought their item for repair, and they said yes to the price and yes to the time frame and left.

SPEAKER_03 42:36

Mm-hmm. Yep. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 42:38

Why do you think you get preferential treatment at a lower price, faster service than everybody else on a on a low quality, low budget repair? Yeah. Like, come on, lady. Nope. And so I don't did she end up coming back. I don't think she did. And that's fine with me. And I think that is something that I don't know if that's like um is that like a problem uh for like jewelry stores or a problem in like our the times we're living because I had this conversation with my wife occasionally. I was like, I don't know how to explain it, but I feel like Americans in general are just expect so much for so little, and it's becoming more vocal. Yeah, and I don't know how to combat that. Yeah, and I'm not saying every customer is like that, most customers are perfectly fine, but by and large, and and I I've noticed this out just out in in public in general. It's like, what was it? I was saying on the way to work, you know, I pulled into a gas station and somebody else was on on that on the pump next. And um, they had their their driver's side door just open the entire time. And I could squeeze in, but it was very tight. And I thought when I pulled in that, you know, if it was me, I'd be like, oh crap, I left my door open. Let me shut it so these people can come in because I'm aware that other people exist other than myself on this planet. And they just left the door open the whole time. So I had to so to not look like I was gonna hit their door, I had to get really close to the Pump, I mean really close. And I'm like trying to like pump at an awkward angle. Yes. And the entire time, I mean, they were pumping, you know, for what five, six, seven minutes. Just the doors wide open. They were. They were is that what they were doing, Dustin? That's what they were doing. Pumping. For five hours. And but like that that's just like I'm thinking like we see that in restaurants. We see it in so many places. And I'm like, well, I don't know how we got here. I don't know. Because I go through life and I am constantly aware that I am not the only person at this establishment or in this traffic or it's you know, it's people in the traffic too. It's like they're gonna ride, you know, the the exit ramp or the entrance ramp till the very last second until the lane closes. It's like but you knew it was closed in like a long time and you had and you had opportunities get over. Yep, but you purposely were like, no, I deserve to be at the front of this line. Right. It's such a weird mentality. And maybe I'm hyper aware of it because we deal with the public so much and are you know, yeah in a jewelry store. I don't know. I'm on a tangent, stop.

SPEAKER_02 45:04

No, no, you're right. Because it affects us.

SPEAKER_01 45:07

So people feel entitled. Which is why we're going to go to appointment only one day. Sure are I think we'll probably do a hybrid of that. Like still have like a day or two. It's like maybe just come in, drop off. One day. And then the rest is like, oh, the rest of the days are by appointment. And then when they they come in on let's say we have like a Tuesday that's open to the public. And when they come in, um and we'll just say, Oh, we gotta make an appointment for that. We spend the whole day just telling people they have to make an appointment for I can't just drop off this podcast. No, you gotta make an appointment. Thanks for coming in though. We'll see you um whenever your appointment time is. I'm looking forward to it. Uh I don't I mean, we don't need to belabor this too long. Do we have anything um to add or to take away? We gotta figure out your vacation. I can't believe you're actually taking a vacation. I can't believe it.

SPEAKER_02 46:08

First time in seven years.

SPEAKER_01 46:12

Don't look forward to another one for another seven years. So you really gotta get your work done this week, Brad.

SPEAKER_02 46:18

I sure do. And we gotta figure out like, are we gonna say two weeks? Are we gonna say three weeks for repair completion?

SPEAKER_01 46:26

And I think one of those days, Ari's also. I know, you really screwed yourself. That's exactly what I would do. Are you what we could do though, uh I can't do it that Friday because I'd be pushing it. When do you actually arrive to the beach?

SPEAKER_02 46:42

Uh Sunday. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 46:45

So we could record Sunday through Sunday. So we can record Monday. Yep. Your wife your wife and kids won't give you a hard time if you're like, hey, I need an hour to the first day we get there?

SPEAKER_02 46:54

Yeah, that'd be great. No, actually they really wouldn't. Because they're they now they they can just go hang out themselves. I don't want to have 15 kids.

SPEAKER_01 47:04

We gotta think about what we're gonna talk about next week. We can talk about the Are you gonna record out by the ocean?

SPEAKER_02 47:16

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 47:16

Sound would be great. Alright, well that's a Tom. It is. And when we do these videos, I don't feel pressure to just ramble for too long. Um Last Minute Updates, if you listen this far, uh buy me a coffee. Um so we can keep this thing improving. Um BJ Mandrill, Bench Jeweler Melodies Volume 2 is officially I don't did you look on Apple Music? I feel like I couldn't find it initially. Sometimes they're they're there's a they're a little delayed.

SPEAKER_02 47:48

So I did see that it was on Instagram, I can tell you that. It's it is, so yes. Um it's on YouTube Music and it's on Spotify.

SPEAKER_01 47:59

It's on YouTube Music, right?

SPEAKER_02 48:00

Yeah, because um my son has that. He has a subscription for that. Um and he he was telling me that he saw it pop up.

SPEAKER_01 48:13

So yeah, uh volume two is not on Apple Music for some reason. I think they might just be a little delayed on that, but it is on Spotify and apparently on YouTube Music. Um I should not be opening my text while I'm trying to do this. Um but yeah, so stream stream that, go listen to it. Um I would love for you guys to send us some feedback on that so we can of course pass it along to to BJ. Um I'm sure he because he's not really on social media except for the Instagram account that he did start. He didn't. Um we we had to push him for that. But it's you know, it's just kind of the bare minimum. So I think a lot of times it's just like his agent. Yeah, they're probably because he's a PR person or something. Yeah. Um so we'd love to hear your feedback. What's your favorite song? What songs do you love? Which ones do you love but not as much as the other ones? Because there's no bad ones. So I don't I don't want to hear what your least favorite is. Right. I mean, I guess if you're ranking like you know, from like it to love it, which one do you just like versus you know in the ranking? If you had to rank 'em.

SPEAKER_02 49:25

We should do an episode of ranking.

SPEAKER_01 49:27

Oh yeah, where we rank we can rank like tool companies, we can rank diamond vendors, we can rank I hope people are listening to this along because we want to do a ranking video. What are all the things we should rank? It could be, you know, plier brands, it could be I don't battery brands.

SPEAKER_02 49:53

And it's really good, but I like my dark blue one.

SPEAKER_01 49:57

Um there's so many things we could we could try to rank. Um so send us your ideas. Um should I have checked this I can't check the store email. Is that's the phone we're using to record, so I should have to check it before we record. Well, you're welcome for the video. If you're listening to the audio version of this, I'm sorry. Or or maybe you're lucky because we're ugly. Um we spent so much time before we started recording this of like because my chair won't go any lower and Brad's won't go any higher. But again, once we get some more cameras up in here, then we can uh we can make Brad look taller and me look shorter. But until then, this is what you get. Because I'm definitely not spending that money to buy Brad a higher chair, that's for sure. Just a booster. Sit on a cushion. But we done. We done. Yeah, we're done. I think we're done. Um thanks everyone for listening. Thanks for contributing, thanks for supporting, thanks for liking and sharing our post. Make sure to follow us on Instagram. Also, there is a new professional Facebook page for Bench Jeweler Media. I like how I just tied that at the end there. Sure did. We'll get to that another episode. It's just there, it exists. Um, might be some merch coming. I don't know. I don't know. On that note, Brad, what song should we play us out with? We are going to be able to do that. Should we just keep doing we should just keep doing BJ Mandrell music, I'm thinking until we just cycle them all through. Which song? Let's see. Um, um, um, um, um I don't know. That's not one of the songs. It'll be a surprise. It's probably it's playing right now. It's probably playing right now. It's probably intro in right now. Yes. Yeah. So enjoy this new song from BJ Mandrill. We'll see you guys next time on Big Show Means Podcast.

SPEAKER_05 51:43

The coffee's getting cold again. It's barely half past eight. Another 14 hour day behind the workshop.

SPEAKER_01 55:52

Alright, here's the first clap. That's for all of our banter.

SPEAKER_02 55:58

Banter clap. Okay. I need a jingle. Did you add shop talk to the uh soundboard?

SPEAKER_01 56:04

Of course not. Of course not. Alright, let me turn on my do not disturb on my phone.

SPEAKER_02 56:09

Do not disturb the big Okay.

SPEAKER_01 56:13

Um our pre-recording banter.

SPEAKER_02 56:17

Slash bourbon talk.

SPEAKER_01 56:19

So oh man, this glass is dirty now that I'm holding it up to a light. So during the the the pre the pre-banter talk is when we talk about we have lights now, which is bright AF up in here. They're a little much to get used to. But uh we got oh, you know what? Okay.

SPEAKER_02 56:40

What am I gonna keep? Oh, there goes dusty. Oh, oh, snap. We got a sponsorship, yeah. That's what I just said. We got a new sponsor. Unpaid sponsorship.

SPEAKER_01 56:53

We can't see exactly what's on there, but um it's on a Monday. We're recording. Um we don't normally do this. In the afternoon. In the afternoon. It's afternoon. Uh well, we don't normally do this, but we poured us just to this because our our buddy uh Brad's bourbon reviews picked up this bottle for us and delivered it. And delivered it this morning. So God, it smells so good. Oh. It's essentially um it's a conviction product. Southern Grace Distilleries, it is their their bourbon that has been finished in Jamaican rum casks.

SPEAKER_02 57:28

Jamaican me crazy. What a four-proof.

SPEAKER_01 57:31

We're doing a little banter bourbon review, I guess. What do you think of this? Oh god, dude, that smells good. I already drank it. Oh, but I'm still smelling it. It smells like um smells like bourbon.

SPEAKER_02 57:53

That's pretty good.

SPEAKER_01 57:54

That's pretty good, man. What do you think?

SPEAKER_02 57:59

That's pretty good to me as soon as I started drinking.

SPEAKER_01 58:03

We got you recorded joking. That's good. Dude, I like it. It doesn't really taste that that finish, but like a little bit, which is I like when they do that. It's actually really good. Let me see. Why don't we get one more sip? That's pretty good. Alright, we poured like an ounce, which is everybody knows, and we're gonna sip on that and some water while we are drunk. Uh yeah, the as you can see, the bottle was mostly full. Just gonna keep that keep that back here. Alright, um do we have anything to talk about?

SPEAKER_02 58:46

I think we have don't we have to record twice this week? Because I'll be gone next week. I don't want to think about that. I don't want to think about that. We might do it remote, Brad. I might just have you take your mic and your phone. Oh, I would love that. That would be so great. Where are you gonna do it now where you can be alone for you gonna make your family leave? Dude. As soon as they wake up, they're ready to go. And and I don't always have to go with them. I'm just checking all my text. Yeah, we posted in the story. Hey guys, anything we should talk about? I'm not even checking that right.

SPEAKER_01 59:22

Yeah. Um, I got my phone on Do Not Disturb. Alright, is our banter over? Shall we get started? Uh over. Anything else we need to already freaking burp. I think my body's like, you don't need to be doing this. Whatever.

SPEAKER_02 59:45

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 59:49

You good? I'm fine. It doesn't sound like you're fine. Turn on the volume off of my phone. Okay. Um, alright, so are we ready to count it down? Count it down. Make sure is your makeup done since we got all the lighting. Airbrush. We need to hire an airbrusher. Anyway. Alright, we ready? We won't. Okay. Three, two. Just so you know, I'm gonna clap. Three, two, one. I pretend that. Perfect. Oh, you did? Well, that's gonna mess everything up.