Bench Jeweler Memes

45 Mosh Pit of Jeweler Topics

• Bench Jeweler Memes

Share episode

Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.

0:00 | 1:10:45

We asked for your controversial opinions and your wild store scenarios… and apparently some of you woke up and chose chaos.

So this week is exactly what the title says: a complete mosh pit of jeweler topics. We bounce from one rabbit hole to the next, arguing, laughing, overthinking, and occasionally stumbling onto something that’s actually useful. We tackle controversial opinions, work through real-life jewelry store scenarios, and somehow manage to make sense of at least a few of them.

Is there a clear theme? Absolutely not.

Is it organized? Also no.

Is it entertaining? We sure hope so.

Grab your torch, put in your mouth guard, and jump into the pit with us. As always, take what helps, ignore what doesn’t, and don’t blame us if your next shop debate gets a little louder. 

Follow us on Instagram & YouTube @benchjewelermemes

// Want to support the page & podcast?

https://buymeacoffee.com/benchjewelermemes

SPEAKER_03

Well, good morning, Brad. How are you doing today? It's afternoon. It is afternoon. Well, it's kind of gloomy today. It is. Finally. It's not 8,000 billion degrees. It's not 8,000 degrees, and and we needed the we needed the rain. We definitely needed it. The rain held off for my uh just uh recently turned eight-year-old's birthday party yesterday at the pool, so that was nice. Man. Well, it did hold off, but the storms were so close that you know how storms work, Brad. You can still hear them. Well, guess what? My two youngest uh do what they hear storm. They do not love storms, do they? They s I mean both of them and they scream in different frequencies somehow. Thankfully, the pool, I think because it was a chance of storms, like no one was at the pool except like friends and family of ours, community pool. And uh and it was just like screaming. So I spent the first like 20 to 30 minutes just holding both of them while my wife trying to set up decorations at the book. It was you know, that's not that's not I should have done this on the pre-show banter. By the way, uh, if you get to the end of this after the song and the credits, the cred is the credits roll here. I don't know. The credits the in the end credits scene. Uh after the Marvel movie. Stay tuned after we have it. We have a little story, and we should have included that story at the end, but we didn't. Here we go. And uh watching ourselves on the monitor is making me so nervous because it keeps glitching. This is already our second take because the computer was just like we ain't working no more. Nope. So I'm praying that this works. Um today's episode. Um, we uh I have set aside some topics because a while back, um like a a week or so ago, I made a post on Instagram, which is probably the best place to interact with this, and we put some little clips out there, and then we'll we make our little funny memes. Actually, I got quite a few comments here. Um so I just put a post out that says we need a good debate for a future podcast. Let's hear some controversial jewelry opinions or heated scenario that happened in your store, whether it be between co-workers or clients, and we will discuss and debate. Now, the comments we'll go through, they were honestly some are not really exactly what I described. Uh side note, um don't take this the wrong way, but I get a little laugh when people like have very specific things that they want us to talk about, and we've already talked about it. It's literally already an episode. Um, so I try not to be sassy and say, hey, uh episode blah blah blah. We kind of granted we we ramble and we jump around and we don't spend an entire episode on a very tiny topic. So yes, you might have to but just keep it.

SPEAKER_04

But yeah, invariably people are like, Can you talk about lab drone diamonds and their how how they've affected the industry? I'm like, yeah, we've done that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

It's you I'm gonna be honest, you kind of sound like clients.

SPEAKER_04

You're just you're not gonna be able to do it. Well, it's not the people listening. The people listening know exactly what we've been talking about. We're talking about those other losers. Not the losers listening.

SPEAKER_03

We're getting we're getting so many new uh followers and we appreciate that. Um so um in your free time, go start at episode one. Those are mostly audio only, so welcome to the video version. Um so I have um just some there's some of these are gonna be stories, some of these are just gonna be question topics, and we might just hit them all real quick. I just thought it'd be a fun mosh pit type of episode.

SPEAKER_04

But he keep saying mosh pit.

SPEAKER_03

You said it, and now I can't stop saying.

SPEAKER_04

No, you said it first. Oh, did I? And then I said mosh pit. Ohgepodge. I said Mod Podge.

unknown

Mod. Mod.

SPEAKER_04

That's what the French used to do. It's a Hodge Pit and a Mod Podge.

SPEAKER_03

Anyway, that's one of those episodes.

SPEAKER_04

A Mosh Pit. Let's go with that.

SPEAKER_03

Um before we get to I hate when we delay the actual topic too much, but I think Alright, so we have a a buy me a coffee.

unknown

What?

SPEAKER_03

But I can't read it. So we only have one new one and it is from Cali.

SPEAKER_04

Okay.

SPEAKER_03

And I will show it here, but in after I show it to the camera, we're going to clip it in because it's a video.

SPEAKER_05

What?

SPEAKER_03

You can send a a little video on buy me a coffee. If you're wondering what buy me a coffee is, it's the only way to support what we're doing here because all this stuff does take time and money and equipment, and we've been able to upgrade a lot of stuff via you guys supporting us, so thank you very much. And um Callie sent us $20 and she sent an actual video. And I'm so we're gonna play that right now.

SPEAKER_01

So since nobody's done a buy me a coffee video message, I figured I'd be the first one to do so. And I would like to take this opportunity to say Yeah. No, seriously, thank you guys for all the laughs, all the serious shop talk. It's great and keep it up. We love it.

SPEAKER_03

All right, I don't know how long the video is, but that'll give me a chance to edit it. Okay. Um, very sweet video. Um, thank you, Callie, for sending it. Brad hasn't seen or heard it because we just he's gonna see it live when this episode goes live. But uh, Callie, you're you're the best. Um, we appreciate you uh always sharing, always following. And if you are one of those uh people who listen a lot and you would take just a second, click that link and send us five dollars, five hundred dollars, five thousand dollars, or any increment in between, we will appreciate it very much. All right, did we get through all that? We did back to my notes. All right, so I made a note to go read a story from a couple people that sent me stories based on that post. Now I'm gonna have to go dig through them. So give me one second. Boop boo-doo boo doo. This one will I won't say where this store is because um, Brad, I'll say this. The store is not far from us. Okay. It's the owner who sent me a story.

SPEAKER_04

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_03

All right, he said, I dealt with a client recently. Keep in mind, I have not read these in a while, and I do not good, I do not do good or speaking good on camera. So just bear with me. All right, let me get comfy here. All right, so he says Gather around, children. I dealt with a client recently. I'll condense, I'll condense this as much as humanly possible. He was an ex-NFL player, but I think he wasn't very good because his career was very short. He came in. Did I read this story to you out loud already? You did? Okay. He came in and was the nicest dude you've ever met. He ended up dating my former employee when she was still working for me. I heard how I heard how he had these horrible commitment issues, but he believes in God and goes to church every Sunday and tries to be Christ-like. But whatever, none of my business. I got you. Some of it is just me trying to read it. Okay. One day when I was standing outside, he he's walking up and eating some food. And so he jokingly says, Oh dang, did you bring some for all of us? Well, he gives me this death stare, and then he completely ignores me and walks past me. And in time he and anytime he's ever visited her here, he was just a prick to me for whatever reason. I'm really trying to self-edit here too. Um, so I guess he comes in. Anytime he came in, he was just kind of a prick to her because he was a few.

SPEAKER_04

But before that, he was fine. Yeah. But after the guy was like, Hey, you got enough? Yeah. Did you bring it up for the whole class?

SPEAKER_03

Well, he said he said anytime he ever visited her, the employee, uh, he was always kind of a jerk to him for whatever reason.

SPEAKER_04

Got you.

SPEAKER_03

He said this was probably two-ish years ago. Flash forward to the beginning of this year, he comes in, but now he's so nice again. Oh. Must want something. Turns out he's in the market for an engagement ring and falls in love with one of the rings that we have in our showcase, and he offers me less than half. And I tell him, no. I told him I could give him a really solid discount, and he believes she's a size seven. The ring already is a size seven, but she could be a size six.

SPEAKER_04

Hmm. Six, seven.

SPEAKER_03

I said, I'll throw in the sizing for free for him. He agrees to the price, leaves, and comes back a few weeks later with her, and prior to coming in, asks me to act like I don't know him so that I can size her finger. Turns out she's a size four and a half. So they leave. I explained to him that I have to charge him because of the French uh Pave band, three quarters of the way down the shank. And that drastic of a size jump is exceptionally expensive, but I still will give him a deal. And he gets so irate on the phone. I don't hear him, I don't hear from him for months. Comes back. And again, very nice this time. I have to redo the math based off of his notes because I threw all my written notes away, except his notes didn't include the sizing. So I adjust it and I tell him the price. He's now mad that I have changed the price too many times. And how this wasn't good business. He puts down a deposit anyway, sets up a layaway plan. You could tell he had a good career in the NFL. When you're using the layaway plan. But he has a strict deadline. Of course he does. Which oh yeah, yeah. This has been going on for months now. He has a straight deadline. Uh strict deadline, which uh means he has to come every two weeks in order to get it on the date he requested, I guess, for making payments. Payments. He comes after three weeks, and our sales rep helped him, and he told her, I'm glad it's you and not that other guy. Oh, so the dude tells the sales rep, I'm glad it's you and not that other guy. He's a bad salesman, I guess, speaking of the owner. Yep. So he says I caught wind of it, so I called him and told him I'm refunding the money that he's given because I don't believe I'm the right jeweler for him, and ended the sale with him, and he was pissed on the phone. And he tried to egg me on, but I didn't take the bait. Dude was a straight up broke a hole. He said, sorry for the long message. No, that's we love the long messages. That's great. I like reading somebody else's words. So, Brad, like what so we want to debate or discuss how this was handled.

SPEAKER_04

Okay.

SPEAKER_03

Now we gotta do it quickly because we got a lot more topics a little bit.

SPEAKER_04

Like I mean, the the thing that kind of hit me with that, I mean, customers suck. We all know that. I mean, not all of them. Some of them, yeah. Um like would that be the straw that broke the camel's back in your case? Like, like just you go through all of this, and then the thing that triggers you is him saying, I'm glad I'm not dealing with that guy because he's a harple salesperson. I mean, it's annoying, but like the other stuff seems way worse to me than thanks. Well, I mean, here I mean, it's fun for us to discuss what we would do. See the trying to reconnect part. That's how it happened last time. All right. Sounds good.

SPEAKER_03

All right, so we might have had a little technical issue here, but we're just gonna pick up hopefully where this left off with the story of the ex-NFL football player. Yep. Um, but what I was saying is um You're saying it's your store. Yeah. Um, and and honestly, like I I'm not one to say, like, well, that's not how I would do it. Honestly, that's probably not how I would have done it. Um I don't know though, but but we're also not face to face. We don't know how much of a jerk this guy's being. Oh, I'm sure. Truth be told, if he's and now that I put myself in his shoes, if somebody's just constantly being a jerk for no reason, like at some point it just gets old. And and honestly, probably fair. I think people like that maybe need to be taught like, hey, this is not how I mean we we live in this time where people think we've talked about it before, where people think like we should all bow down to the client. That's just not how it works. Absolutely not. Um that's great if that's how you think it should work, but that's not how it works. Yep. And so, especially a small business, you get the luxury to be like, I don't want you as a customer. Yep. You're you're getting on my nerves, you're driving me crazy. So here's your here's your money back, goodbye. I think is a perfectly acceptable answer. Yeah, I think that's great. Um I really want to uh check our levels over there, but I'm gonna keep it moving. Keep it.

SPEAKER_04

I sound good, but I don't know.

SPEAKER_03

No, I mean like just making sure it's making sure it's up there.

SPEAKER_04

Gotcha. So you want me to talk? Yep. Oh, okay. So we are having some technical problems before because they're doing some road construction and they just decide to hit our internet connection every time they move, apparently. All right, this is a long story. Oh man, y'all really I'm gonna start making Brad read these. Man, nope. You're doing so well. Uh okay. I just want a little blanky. Like, bedtime. Bedtime's cool.

SPEAKER_03

I think um I'm I'm just gonna read it and we'll see. Okay. All right. Um, one particular client of ours who is a supreme Karen and buys the cheapest stuff she can find and expects it to endure her lifestyle. Ugh, yes. I love set the premise. Uh, if I'm not mistaken, the person that sent me this, um, I think they work in a Jared's context.

SPEAKER_04

Okay.

SPEAKER_03

Okay. I don't Did I read you this story too?

SPEAKER_04

I don't think so. I don't think so.

SPEAKER_03

Okay. So we have Karen buys the cheapest stuff. We've had to fix silver rings with the entire head and shoulder structure bent almost to 90 degrees for her multiple times, and she's always like, why does it keep why does it get damaged so quickly after y'all repair it? Why can't you just why can't you fix it anymore? Just fix it. Examples. She brings in a Shy Creations pendant, very cheaply manufactured brand that we carry. Sorry, I can't speak to that. Um, it's a approximate 0.75 millimeters thick at its best. Uh Pave set, heart, and yellow gold, and being so thin that there are no uh pilot holes for the diamonds.

SPEAKER_04

Oh, I I have heard this one.

SPEAKER_03

Okay. One of the jump rings on this pendant has uh busted open, surprise, surprise. And we don't have a laser, so one of our jeweler jewelers soldered it closed. He probably could have done a better job cleaning it beforehand, but without all the pilot holes, there's no way to get all that gunk uh in it would have there's no way all that gunk that's in it would have come out. Of course, the people gunk it in it burns up and turns the diamonds dark. Beautiful. I've been there before, I've been there. At which point she shows up to pick the ring pick the ring up at the promised time to be fair. But then this is a story of contention with with a client and with sales staff, so I think that's why they're getting our opinion. The sales rep working with us on this. Now keep in mind in Jared's, they have like the store, the sales team, and then they have like the shop, and so it's kind of like two separate. I don't think they're intermingling except to drop off and pick up repairs. That's got what I understand.

SPEAKER_04

That's probably correct me in the comments if I'm that's probably a great way to do business, but okay, whatever.

SPEAKER_03

My nose is itching so bad. I forgot to take my my allergy medicine this morning. All right. Um the sales rep working with us who is always okay. The sales rep working with us on this, who always has a bad attitude with the shop, asks what the delay is, and one of our clerical staff shows her the pendant. So I guess they somewhere from the back shows, okay, this is what it looks like. At which point the salesperson takes it out to the guest, who of course is now furious and demands to speak with the jeweler who, quote, ruined her pendant. The cherry on top of the whole situation was that the sales district manager was visiting our store that day. Of course they were. I know. I honestly wonder if the salesperson in question wanted to make us look bad in front of the district manager. This is around when I I was this is around when I was informed of the full situation. And I could tell from the from the way that everyone was acting that nothing good was going to come out of this customer speaking with the jeweler who did the work, but didn't get an opportunity to clean it up. So I volunteered to speak with her and explain what happened and what we can do to fix it. Before I do, uh, I double check with the sales rep who tells me firmly that she is, quote, on the guest side. That's great. Which is a terrible way to support your jewelers. Mm-hmm. I agree. Uh aside from her mistake that put the piece on the sales floor in the first place. So I guess it wasn't technically ready to go out there, but um went ahead and did it anyway. Yep. Um anyway, I typically find that clients calm down when I interact with them directly, but not so in this case. She immediately starts yelling at me about how could you let this happen? And quote, do you know how much money I have put into this place and how much money I've put into repairs alone, etc. I try to explain everything in between her tirades, but she is not backing down, and I'll admit that I was coming very close to my breaking point. But I did my best to stay calm. Sadly, I made the mistake of beginning an interjection with ma'am.

SPEAKER_04

Just say calm down.

SPEAKER_03

She immediately shot back with Don't you ma'am me and stormed off. Oof. I don't know where she was planning to storm off to because she wound up on the other side of the case we were standing next to. But that concluded the direct negotiations. Eventually I was able to explain everything to the district manager, who of course was very involved in the whole matter, and I came up with a plan that would satisfy the customer. It did end up working, and the client did eventually leave us alone, but at the cost of me spending an entire next day delicately pulling every diamond from the pendant so as to not break either the prongs or the stones that were all single cuts, by the way. They happened to fall exactly between the two smallest melee sizes that we stocked. So I had to preserve every single stone, cleaning both pendant and stones thoroughly, resetting all of the stones without losing one or breaking one with the mic with those microscopic prongs, then polishing the pendant in a way that would satisfy a care and just watching just waiting to find another problem. Which it seems I did barely manage, but suffice to say we have not worked with that client ever since. I think this was the maybe the heart of the situation was the conflict between shop and the salespeople.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, that cannot happen. I don't I don't care how big your corporation is, if if you've got sales staff that is is of like against the repair department, I guess, in some way, that just recipe for disaster.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, and I mean I I get stuff happens, but you just gotta be on the same team. Even if even if it was a mistake on the store's part or a staff member's part. I just you can't throw each other under the bus. Um I mean it's funny that because right now, I think this morning and on Friday right before closing time, we have we have a little it's not a big issue, but somebody just some issues with quoting jobs and doing a a CAD render and blah blah blah. Well, it's not really a time or place for that story, but the issue was because I had to step in as, you know, food boss and try to like explain the situation. Again, I wasn't arguing, defending, or putting down Brad or Ari or just explaining maybe what happened and how we got here. And he was pretty, you know, just basically like, well, your staff should not be that far off when they're quoting numbers, blah blah blah blah blah.

SPEAKER_04

You're stupid.

SPEAKER_03

But I b but I basically said in the text, listen, Brad and Ari do uh and a phenomenal job here. I'm sure there was a miscommunication or a mix-up, but put that aside. So what I did was establish right away, hey, we're a team here, we're all on the same page. Yep. But from this moment forward, I'll I'll handle it and I'll address it and we'll I'll take it from here, which is perfectly fine. But um, yeah, it's just even if if one of us here was just dead wrong, yeah, we can all be wrong together, we can all be right together, uh, we can all argue the same point together, but we're all gonna move along at the same speed at the with the same on the same team.

SPEAKER_04

And you would never see it the other way, you would never see it like a salesperson come back and be like, oh man, I I size I I thought this should have been a six and a half, it really should be a six. Can you size it real quick? And and the repair person go out to the customer and be like, actually, they this is finished, but they did it did it wrong. So now it's not done. Like you'd never see that. Stop being weird, salespeople.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. I'm sure there's a lot of good ones, but this stuff does happen and there is a mix up. And that I think that kind of stuff comes up from time to time of people um trying to figure out that dynamic between shop and salesperson, sales team. Yep. But you you gotta I I know it's easier for us than it is for most stores because we're all in a small space, all together. There's only three of us. It's a lot easier. We all get along, we're all friends. But um I don't really have sp specifics on how to do that because I haven't really worked in that environment. But yeah, you gotta have to me I think it's all about just creating a a store environment that where everybody can it I think the bench toolers like just being in their own space in the back left alone. And I think that that is probably needed, but it also creates an instance where it's kinda like you do your thing and we'll do our thing. But then when you have to work together, it creates like a weird yeah, a weird dynamic. So you gotta find I don't I guess my suggestion would be just you know have have I know some stores do like weekly meetings or monthly meetings, um just so they could hang out, spend time together. I think if there's mutual respect both ways, I feel like that in theory should fix some of the issues. But um I get it. If you're a bigger store and there's lots of employees and gotta do the best you can, I think top-down owner, manager, whatever has to establish, like, hey, we're all on the same team here. Yep, yep. Especially when talking to a client, we're on the same team. So if the jeweler if the jeweler says, Hey, yeah, we can't do that, or I don't recommend doing that, then the salesperson doesn't get to go, well, you know, I know why can't we just do this? Like, okay, no, we have to be on the same team. Yep. And I think if that that's more like a top-down messaging, I guess. Yep. What do you think, Brad?

SPEAKER_04

I think um, and they may have these people, but like uh kind of a go-between between maybe like the the manager of the uh bench jewelers, so they can kind of talk with sales staff, talk with the manager, talk to customers if needed, and kind of be kind of the line of communication.

SPEAKER_03

And I will say if I think if you have a a two or three plus bench jewelers, I think there has to yeah, I think being the the the manager or the head bench jeweler doesn't necessarily always mean you have to be the the best or most experienced. I think that really involves like, hey, out of me and if it was me, Brad, and one other guy, who out of the three, or girl, if it was one of the three of us, who was best equipped to to be able to to communicate to the sales staff and to the customers, and then that designated person I'll be in the back. See you later. That designated person is the manager of the shop. Yeah. And even if the other guy or gal is a way better jeweler than me, that that's right. It's just a title. And I I personally I think they should have get paid a little bit more because they have to deal with more uh BS. BS, exactly. Um, okay, so a lot of these in the or I'm I'm gonna go to that post that we made, and there's gonna be a lot of just comments. But before we get into just reading the comments and just kind of reacting to them, Brad, I didn't know if you if this was a good time. We joked maybe in the last week or so.

SPEAKER_05

You know what time it is. Burp time?

SPEAKER_03

Burp time. We need a song. Actually, before I get into this and before I tell my story, should we do shop?

SPEAKER_00

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

unknown

Woo!

SPEAKER_03

Um, I love it.

SPEAKER_04

As soon as one of us says it, I love I love shop talk.

SPEAKER_03

Um again, it continuing from last week. It's summertime for us. Um we came in, it's Monday, like I've already mentioned. We came in. I knocked out like everything that's pretty much due in it recently because I have to I have to miss some more work. And it is not a vacation. Let me tell you, it is not. But let's focus on Shop Talk. I will I will miss a big chunk of the week.

SPEAKER_04

So well, we'll be closed for a little bit.

SPEAKER_03

So that works out when you if you just close because then when you come back, you everybody's on the same page. You're not just like everybody's just taking in jobs, taking in jobs, which is a topic that's gonna come up in a minute. Yep. But um, I don't know, any good interesting repairs, anything that's been a pain in the butt.

SPEAKER_04

Hmm. No. We just knocked out a ton of sizing, so it was we did a bunch of sizing.

SPEAKER_03

I will say the thing I was I took in late last week was it was a uh ornate wedding band, just a plain wedding band if it had like engraving on it. And um and she said it was two toned at one point in time that the middle section was uh rhodium plated or white gold. Oh yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. After we polished it though, I don't I don't think it again was just all yellow gold. Yeah, but it's fine. But the way we do it is um we just take a sharpie. Uh I've heard red is the only one you can use, but I used pink sharpie today. What? And it worked just fine. Oh. Um, but after I took it and um colored the parts that I didn't want to make white. Now, so I don't know if you know this. I'm sure you do.

SPEAKER_04

Well me through this, Dusty.

SPEAKER_03

Um if you're gonna so you can mark off the areas that you don't want to turn white, which I did a great job. Very detailed, fine-point sharpie, spent forever on it. But what you don't want to do is after you do all the coloring, is you do not want to stick it in the electro cleaner because that removes all of the permanent marker.

SPEAKER_04

Oh, so you have to put the sharpie on while you're holding it with gloves or tissue or something.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, I use the little tissue. Oh, okay. The little tissue squares.

SPEAKER_04

You can't be all getting your oils and stuff.

SPEAKER_03

I let it dry, but I'm supposed to go directly into the rhodium, which is right here. Right up there. Um, and just put it directly into the rhodium, but it's a habit to put it in the electro cleaner. So after I spent like five minutes of detailed I put it in the electric, I was like, crap, pulled it out, and all almost all the the Sharpie was gone, so I had to go redo it. I think it's because I was gonna be able to tell you you knew a story and I went into autopilot. Yeah, but it turned out just fine. She's gonna love it. I'm pretty sure that ring was not too tone. Now it is. Once we polished it, yeah, it looked completely yellow. Now it's fine. Um, so then that's um that's my that's my shop talk. Nothing too crazy, just sizings, just repairs. Just a standard, nothing caught up. Alright. But the other thing, so back to what I was gonna talk about before uh before shop talk. Um we gotta do a burp time song. Uh we jokingly joked about doing those things called cameos. We did jokingly joke about we jokingly joked about doing those cameos.

SPEAKER_04

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Alright, so explain what those are if people don't know, and then we can just give like a quick little scenario of what that would look like if we started doing them.

SPEAKER_04

Alright, so like cameos are uh famous or used to be famous or sort of famous people like us. Like us. That um you you uh you pay, they all have they vary their rates, and and basically it's for like a happy birthday message, but it's personalized. So like I might say, Hey, Dusty likes the office, so let me get one of those guys that are on there to wish him a happy birthday, and it might be 50 bucks, and they'll be like, hey, this is such and such from this is Creed from the office. Uh happy birthday, Dusty. When you said Creed, I was like, dang, he went from the office to Creed real quick. This is uh what's his name? Uh Scott. This is Creed, not the band. The character.

SPEAKER_03

What's the guy's name from Creed? Is it Scott? Scott Stapp or something like that? No, yes, yes, this is Scott Stapp from Creed of the Office.

SPEAKER_04

Dude, that would be an epic cameo if somebody have them both have like this is Scott Staff from Creed, and this is my buddy Creed from the office. Hey Dusty, this is Scott and Creed here. Oh my gosh, that'd be awesome. I'm guessing Creed would be a lot cheaper to do a cameo than uh like Michael Scott. Yeah, I'm sure he's not doing them.

SPEAKER_05

Okay.

SPEAKER_04

Anyway, so we thought about it. What if because what there's this guy on uh Instagram we both follow and he does them and he has no talent in the world? You know who I'm talking about? No, who is it?

SPEAKER_05

I don't know.

SPEAKER_04

Well, I don't want to say he has no talent now. It's the dude that dances, and we send it to Casey, and she's like, I don't watch these, why are you sending them to me? But he does them.

SPEAKER_03

Um so we were just like spitballing ideas, and like, what if like let's say you you're in one of the stores, you have three or four bench toolers, or maybe you're a salesperson, and and just as a joke, okay, we the reason we haven't done prank phone calls in a while is because we were only doing it when people nominated the person. It was like, oh, you should do my buddy Susan, she'll think it's hilarious. Yeah, guess who didn't think it was hilarious? Susan did not laugh at all, and she got real pissed.

SPEAKER_04

It wasn't Susan, it was the guy.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. But um, so for the cameos, basically you could be like, let's I'm trying to think, let's just say it was um, let's use our buddies at uh um I'll say V jewelers out in Arizona, uh uh Daniel and Eddie. Let's say Daniel was like, hey, can you can you send Eddie a uh a cameo just like trashing like his his repair work? Yes, and sure could. Then there is a cost involved, it's another way for us to raise money for free. Yep. But we thought about doing like a special discount for the first, you know, four or five people that do it. So we would record like we're doing a podcast, but then it would just be a sh a shorter video, just be like, hey, hey Eddie, it's Dusty and Brad from Bitchur Means Podcast. And um, you know, we heard you've been having a real hard time with repairs, and like solder seams suck, polishing sucks, stones you said are crooked, and how many change you go melt. Yeah. And uh and just kind of just rag them a little bit and just be like, nah, we're just kidding, you do a good job.

SPEAKER_04

Or maybe they really it could just be out in like a setting. Like we don't have to be set up like a podcast, we could just like be holding our phones and be on the room.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, just send like a we can do it the more information you send and like personal notes that you can include, we can just we can go all out or keep it very short and brief, and that's kind of how we'll structure our price. I don't know, it's just a it's a fun idea. Um, I I had this thought this would be I I I hate that I thought this, but if you want to if somebody needs to be fired and you want us to do it for you. Hey, it's Dusty and Brad from the Venture Beast podcast. Uh I just want to let you know that you're fired and today is your last day. So get out. But you just squeeze them into the podcast, not even do them cameos.

SPEAKER_04

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_03

You need to fire somebody, send us an email that Ben Schwierer. Oh, we love it. We can make it jingle.

SPEAKER_04

Fire in time.

SPEAKER_03

You have a little song for Fire in Time. Every week we fire a different employee from somewhere in the world now that we have an audience everywhere. All right, so if you think that's a fun idea, let us know in the comments. Uh send us an email, benstruler memes at gmail. There's a everywhere. Guys, information is easy to find, but I know we have to say it also while we're talking about it. Subscribe to our YouTube channel. Um since we started doing the videos, things are really taking off, so that's awesome. We already passed 300, we're on our way to 500.

SPEAKER_04

So we gotta get to 310 first, and then 320.

SPEAKER_03

Um, you mean check real quick? You me check right now? Check. Let's see.

SPEAKER_04

Live check.

SPEAKER_03

We have a song for everything. It's just our all everything is just a bunch of songs. Wait a minute, that's not it. We're at 309, so I guess our next goal would be 310. Yep. 310. Then 311. I'm gonna read through some of these stories, and if we need to ex go into detail, we will. If not, we won't, because we got about what 15 to 20 minutes to talk. Um, this one is bosses and salespeople not checking current workload before giving out rush promise dates and then getting mad at the jeweler when they can't finish them all in time.

SPEAKER_04

Which you touched on this when you went on uh when you got back from whatever short thing you took.

SPEAKER_03

Yep. There is an Instagram clip from that episode of just saying protect your bench jewelers. Um Yeah, there there is not a scenario in the world where a salesperson or owner should be making a rush job promise date without consulting with the bench jeweler. Absolutely. I I really can't imagine a scenario. Even if even if the message is to go back there and say, Hey, I'm the ball, stop what you're doing and do this. But keep in mind, then the benchelor gets to say, Well, well, also this one is also promised. Yep. And so put the ball in their court and say, the bench jeweler says, Hey, you know, which okay, which job do I need to get first? Yep. And then the salesperson and the owner can explain, like, hey, I actually prioritize somebody else over you if there's a problem, which obviously that's why you want to avoid all that and just go straight into the like, hey, just made this big sale, they need it by tomorrow. Is there a way you can work it out? And bench soldiers, we have to be honest. If we can, if we can do it, just do it. Don't I know sometimes it's easy. I do it too on principle, say no to stuff, but let's chill out. If it's like a size down on a little yellow gold ring, just size it down, squeeze it into your workflow, don't make it a big deal, don't be a diva.

SPEAKER_04

But also know that you own all the carts, you hold all the cards. Yeah. And so but be nice about it. But let them know that you hold all the cards as well. How do they do that? Uh I just say I hold all the cards.

SPEAKER_03

So sit down. Were you about to say something else? Say, get back out there. Sell some more stuff. Um, let's see. Uh let's see here. I hate seeing a self-described master jeweler. A master implies that you cannot improve any further. And there are very few jewelers out there whose work is truly perfect. Uh, we did talk about on the episode with Drew Hadley a few episodes back. If you want to dive into that just a little bit more.

SPEAKER_04

And he told us about how me personally is I'm the only one he's ever seen that's perfect. So you don't even have to go back and check that.

SPEAKER_03

Exactly what he said. We should put our names down and just be like Dusty Pinchelor means Brad, Master Jeweler. Or just hang a sign above your head.

SPEAKER_04

We have a sticker in the store. Right? It's still there. Master jeweler. That's a topic for another day. So we're all right. You join IJO, you get a master jeweler sticker. But only if you're a master jeweler.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. Uh let's see here. Uh this comment said hasn't really become a debate yet, but a personal preference I will take to the grave unless specifically told to do so. I am not going to aggressively polish a customer's antique ring just so it looks flawless. It's going to keep some of that character. Bingo. I do that too. Yeah, I agree. Yep. I mean, sometimes just because the ring is so thin and worn out is like you don't want us to really get in there and polish it. But no, I agree. Even with like wedding bands where it's like, oh, we've been married for 58 years, and there's just some big old dents and things in there. Don't get me wrong, we're gonna polish it, shine it up, but yeah, I'm not gonna go and fill every nook and scratch and dent and I guess if I mean if we want to charge a whole lot of money, they want to pay it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Maybe. But any pattern or design that uh automatically just gets the final polish real quick, nothing nothing too aggressive.

SPEAKER_03

Okay, let's see here. Uh I'm just gonna read these. If we need to skip them, we can. Somebody said um people always say it's difficult to work with family, thus, family business businesses always seem to have issues. Is it better to have a non-family business partner or suck it up and work with family? Also, how do people separate work versus family relationships? When does personal stop and professional start and vice versa?

SPEAKER_04

That's a great question.

SPEAKER_03

I tried to get into this with Eddie when we did have him on. Now it's funny that we mentioned that because it's all family.

SPEAKER_04

And we've had Mac on.

SPEAKER_03

And Mac on, and I think they were both trying to just be nice and and courteous, but I think as maybe we can pin them down. It is hard. I mean, and I don't know what it technically what it's like because I've never really had to. But I think it I think I've seen people on JHJ say, like, hey, in some cases it works and some it doesn't, and I think if it doesn't, it just doesn't, and you can't force it, and there's not a trick or a tip that anyone can give you. If the phymi the physician heck am I saying family dynamic just doesn't work with business, and sadly, I don't know how you would know that before you get started. It just doesn't work. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Um I mean it's the same thing if if two partners are not family, I mean they they could just as well not work out.

SPEAKER_03

So I mean generally I would say from experience, it seems like I hear so this is not even jewelry related, just businesses that go in with like two people with a great idea, it could be six months, it could be six years or sixteen years. At some point you're gonna want to go in different directions or somebody's gonna be headstrong. I don't know. Yeah. It seems like inevitably somebody gets end up getting bought out or stepping out of the business.

SPEAKER_04

And generally speaking, it's like it's great if if it's a family business and um but but one person has to be in charge and the owner and and make tough decisions. 'Cause and I think that happens more with family because yeah, like the maybe the mom or dad dies and it's now it's the kids who may or may not have an interest in the store are now equal partners. And it's like, okay, this you gotta figure figure that out before you die. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Idiot struck by lightning or something. Don't be dying before you figure this out. Maybe somebody email us and be like, my dad owned the jewelry store for 40 years and got struck by lightning. You don't know how how this has affected our family.

SPEAKER_04

This podcast has ruined our life.

SPEAKER_03

Thanks for bringing it up. We had put it behind us. Okay, let's see here. Um this one is I've had some fun conversations amongst other CAD people about whether or not they'll they'll send the model to their client. Some people will, some will only do an STL but no uh 3DM, and some will outright refuse. I think she clarified. Yeah, she clarified. I'm trying to look at the tiny picture. Um I think just she talking about the 3D print it says that's what I thought, but I think she just meant so like when we get a CAD render in a little video and we sent we text it to them, there's nothing really stopping them from just being like, Oh, thanks, and then they drive to another jeweler and be like, Hey, I want to make this ring. Oh. Granted, when they do that, then somebody else will have to recreate it. Yeah. But I think that's what is a big fear of people now is you know, send the images of the CAD render, and then they're like, Oh, perfect, now I'm gonna go somewhere else. I'll be honest, we've had people come in here and it's mostly been like online sites, I think they're using. Yep. And you can tell, like, oh, you've already had a CAD done and you're showing me the CAD and what you don't like about it. Yeah, and that puts everybody in a tricky spot. I don't really know there's man, there's so many things I don't know how to answer. Um, except you gotta do what's best for you. I don't know.

SPEAKER_04

I mean, that is why we charge for that. Yeah. So, like, I mean, we charge 200, and um I mean, I guess if you just want to take the CAD and go away, that's that's your prerogative.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, and we've our stance has changed on a lot of even the things we're talking about. I will say my stance has changed and evolved over time. Uh we used to never charge for CAD because it was such a good selling point, but now people it's just the the things have shifted and now we're just like, yeah, it's two hundred dollars. Yep. That goes towards your job and it's non-refundable. Yep. That way if they ghost us or take it somewhere else, I could I can send uh Jake some money for his time and then I can keep a little bit for my time and uh we move on with our lives. So I think you gotta send it. Um I think it's nice when they I mean, obviously we know the repercussions of people analyzing a CAD too much. Yeah, but that's not what we're here.

SPEAKER_04

But also if you don't send it, it's kind of hard. Because then they have to come in, you have to like show them.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, yeah. Um I don't know. In some ways, I guess I could see how that's probably a good thing, because then they have to make a decision right here in your in your face.

SPEAKER_04

And then you can explain, like, okay, this is not how the prongs are actually gonna look. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

There's pros and cons to both. I mean, I think if I think you can make a solid I like how we're like, let's debate, and we're just like, I think either case is actually pretty fine.

SPEAKER_04

Well, and also it depends on the customer because we have guys that come in and they're just like, Yeah, cool, make it as close to this. This is what you want, I trust you, just go do it.

SPEAKER_03

And then there's people that are the opposite. Um who should and should not be appraising jewelry? We did kind of talk about this, right? I think we've talked about it. In the last episode of Things We Don't Do. Yeah. Um I personally think if you do did not go and graduate from like uh was it Harvard, uh Harvard from uh GIA or went to take like a formal training, um the the one Chuck went to, Paris um July School. Down in Paris, Texas. I don't know if New Approach does appraisal training. I doubt that. That would be silly. I hope they don't. And if they do, cool. Then go do that. It's not silly if they do it. No. Yeah, you I think like that. It's not that I can't do an appraisal. I personally don't think I'm qualified to, so I don't. Unless I am qualified to. If I created the ring, know every single I had a hand in every part, every stone selection, then yeah, I can write up appraisal. That's pretty straightforward. Somebody dropping off, you know, their mom's ring from 30 years ago and wants a appraisal. Anybody can do it. I just don't think everybody should do it. And the question was who should? Not us. Not us. Uh-oh. The trend of clients now bringing in AI dribble designs and lengthy list of highly specific questions, including can I have an accurate quote before I even speak to a human being? What? I don't know. A AI is good and bad when it comes to ring designs. Yeah. Um think I mean, I haven't had a problem. A few people have brought in, like, you can clearly tell they were like chat GPT and something or Gemini. And just being like, hey, this is I get the idea, but like we have to actually make this to where it's wearable and functional and durable.

SPEAKER_04

I'd rather them come with that than nothing.

SPEAKER_03

That's very true. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Because that at least gives us the idea of what you want.

SPEAKER_03

I will say I do get, and this is personal, I get really um personally triggered when people are just like, Well, can I get a breakdown of parts, labors, and materials?

SPEAKER_05

And it's like Yeah. No.

SPEAKER_03

I just I don't know why. Because I love that there's like a meme that floats around that I share occasionally. It's like, hey, it's it's $3,700 to make this ring and it's zero to not make it. I love it. Yep. And I know that sounds harsh, but it's like, okay, I've gone through the trouble of thinking, like, okay, um so and so had to cad this, um, they took their time to do it. I took time to meet with you. Um, somebody's going to there's materials involved, uh casting company or doing it in-house, um, setting stones, and then being able to stand behind it. Like, there's so many costs that as jewelers, eventually we can kind of just figure it all up.

SPEAKER_04

Mm-hmm. Well, why why do they want to break down usually?

SPEAKER_03

Well, so they can figure out what they can adjust to get cheaper. Yep. Yep. It's like, oh, well, if I use less stones, so now and then they want to see, like, well, instead of, you know, seven two millimeter stones, if I use five, then the the labor will go down too. And it's like they're they're nitpicking. Yep. Yep. And it's like, okay, sure. And and I'll just be like, okay, yeah, you can go from seven to five stones, cool. Uh it I've dropped the price by fifty bucks. Oh, is it only fifty? Because now, like, this conversation is now worth the other fifty that you're probably thinking that I was gonna take off. Yep, yep. Sorry, sorry, not sorry. How to repair hollow rope chains always gets heated on JHJ. We've discussed this. Um, I don't remember which episode, but just listen to them all and you'll figure out figure out what works for you.

SPEAKER_04

And then ignore it.

SPEAKER_03

Somebody's somebody said forgetting to close the compressed gas cylinders, but did you die? Um, in which I said, uh I'm with them because I ain't never turned off this gas in like a decade. I I said, um, I've I think when they build these uh propane tanks, uh that they're assuming that at some point an idiot will use it and that they've built all the safety measures in that that ever need to be built in. So it's fine.

SPEAKER_04

I mean, until jewelry stores just start exploding, I don't think we need to worry about it.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, if there's like I know there's gonna be somebody that's gonna in the comments um tell a story about something jewelry stores, but until there's like a string of them in the news, I ain't worried about it. No. Gas is staying on. Um, let's see here. I don't want to get into the lab real natural, and it's just we've done that. Oh, why so many makers look down on the practice of designing with 3D rather than drawing by hand?

SPEAKER_04

Oh, this is like a big, big deal for creatives.

SPEAKER_03

Well, I now we're not talking AI, we're just talking about it.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, we're talking about 3D versus hand fabrication.

SPEAKER_03

No, well, technically they're talking about like a I think a draw like a hand render where you draw it out versus like 3D computer render. Oh. Because you know, back in the day you have to somebody have to sketch it out.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_03

I don't know. I think that's a silly debate in 2026, to be honest. Yeah. Um, I think if you can draw I I feel like I've seen a store or a page or a person who part of the experience is that they are a really good artist and they hand draw what it's gonna look like before they even do the CAD, and it's super detailed, and you could almost like print it and hang it up. I think that's phenomenal. Yeah. The truth is 99% of people can't do that. Um I think there's classes you can take for for hand um hand rendering, uh drawing a hand render a sketch, yeah. But um man, why would you not use uh the things in life that make life a little easier?

SPEAKER_04

Um and plus the Oh well, I mean if you can sketch it in a couple minutes while the customer's there, I think that's kinda cool too.

SPEAKER_03

There's no there's no way you're doing a uh a sketch as good as a CAD.

SPEAKER_04

Oh no, no, no, not not. I just yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Anyway.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, that's silly.

SPEAKER_03

I basically just said it's 2026. CAD is awesome. Alright. Uh someone told me it's impossible from a photo to tell if a diamond is real or fake. Keep in mind they noted they the person had a rhinestone. Now what I initially said was yes and no. Sometimes you can kind of tell and sometimes you can't. But then I clarified. I guess technically it is easier to tell when it's fake than to tell when it's real.

SPEAKER_04

Yep. Yeah, yes, 100%.

SPEAKER_03

And so I stand by that. I think if you see a picture, a good picture or a ring or something, you can kind of be like, yeah, that's it's easier to say like, ah, that's that's probably a rhinestone or a a braided CZ or something like that. But I think if it's like obviously if it's a lab grown versus natural, I don't think that's possible to tell from a picture or video for sure. And by saying I don't think so, I'm it's not possible. Yes, it's not possible.

SPEAKER_04

We said it. It's not possible. Say it with confidence, Dusty.

SPEAKER_03

Um now, if the person said, Hey, uh, my sister just got this new ring and she's 22 and it's a six carat of uh V V S2, is it natural or or lab? I don't even have to see the picture. I can tell you it's lab. It's a lab grown domain. Lab, lab. They're like, you want to let me show a picture? No, it's okay. I got you. Lab. Okay, actually, before I tell you, is she married to an NBA player or an ex-NFO player that uh had a longer career than uh the guy we mentioned earlier? If that's the case, maybe. Mm-hmm. Yep. But I couldn't tell from a picture. Nope. But if she's married to like her high school sweetheart, it's Lab.

SPEAKER_04

Maybe he's in the NBA. That's true.

SPEAKER_03

Because that's what NBA and NFO players are known for, is uh sticking with the sticking with their high school sweetheart after they make billions of dollars. I'm not saying that doesn't happen. I'm not saying that has never happened.

SPEAKER_05

I'm just saying that's not what they're known for. Well no. They're known for their athletic prowess.

SPEAKER_03

Okay, this one is a long one, so I don't know. I didn't realize what time it was too. Um let's see, da da da da da da. Somebody said is platinum rhodium plated. Can be. It uh it absolutely can be. And I I know a few jewelers who say they always uh rhodium plate it um after they're finished. I don't obviously I don't think you need to, but it's probably not a bad idea though. Why? Explain.

SPEAKER_04

Because it just keeps the finish a little bit longer?

SPEAKER_03

Does it?

SPEAKER_04

I have no idea, does it?

SPEAKER_03

I don't think so. You don't think so? No. How you polish platinum all like give it a mirror finish, and then you're gonna electro plate it with rhodium and you say it's gonna last longer?

SPEAKER_04

The the brightness, like it won't turn to like grayish as fast.

SPEAKER_05

I can't believe we're doing this right now.

SPEAKER_03

I didn't this is just a simple question. What? You don't think so? Y'all gonna have to go off in the comments on this one. You'll think so. It's not about if you should or should not rode plate platinum. It's if you rhodium plate a platinum ring after you've polished it, does it help it what did you say? Explain what you just said?

SPEAKER_04

So finish longer? Yes. Platinum like turns grayish over time, right?

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, but that's just okay. It's not turning gray, though. It's just the micro scratches and the abrasions of life like we discussed.

SPEAKER_04

Okay.

SPEAKER_03

So now it's not like in silver, I'm agreeing, I would agree because it's per it's covering up what would nor naturally tarnish. I see what you're saying. But the platinum is not changing color. It's not tarnishing. It's not.

SPEAKER_05

No. Oh. Hmm.

SPEAKER_03

You want to go ahead and say I won this one or what?

SPEAKER_04

No, you a hundred then why would you rhodium plate it?

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, I agree. I don't think you need to, and I don't think you should, but some people just do it. I don't know if they do it out of habit or just like I just always do it because maybe it maybe it gives it a slightly diff maybe it I don't know.

SPEAKER_06

Hmm.

SPEAKER_03

Let us know in the comments if you rhodium played all your platinum rings.

SPEAKER_04

The one thing uh if if you have listened to the last like two or three episodes, you will realize I know nothing about metals. I know how to shoot the laser. I'm like, I don't know how gold prongs wear off.

SPEAKER_03

Is it metallurgic?

SPEAKER_04

I don't know. Metallurgic. Metal Smiths? Metal metal, yes, metallurgy. Yeah. Metal. I don't know.

SPEAKER_03

I'm just like the platinum turns colors, bro. You know, this this comment got me. It says when polishers, I guess this shop has like somebody designated for polishing. When the polishers coming over to use the laser welder for a quick prong re tip and they ruin a $70,000 natural diamond and then lie about using the laser, yet it's all on the shop camera. Like, bruh, stay in the polishing department. I won't say who this is from and where they work, uh, but I actually I will say I think I'm not confusing people, they work for like Tiffany or something like that. Holy cow. And so I said, I said that was an oddly specific story. I said, also, how are you ruining a diamond with a laser? Because that is really hard to do. One that big, yeah. And then he said, exactly.

SPEAKER_04

Seriously, it's like, could you dude could you imagine just being a polisher and then just being like, I can I can re-tip. But also, like you're on the laser a lot.

SPEAKER_03

Like, how many diamonds have you ruined with the laser? No large ones, none. Well, also in the ones that have been messed up, they're like they've got a bunch of carbon in there or they're chips, yep, or something like that.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, they're not they're the only ones I've ever messed up are small ones that are either chipped or yep.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, because like it's it's hard to do that. Um that's the whole point. We have a laser so you can redo the prongs on the diamond without having to remove anything. Uh da da da da da da. Let's see here. As a CAD designer, I have a theory that people think that we're just prompting AI with the renders or just pictures, and it takes sometime soon.

SPEAKER_04

I don't know. We probably will be. I know.

SPEAKER_03

Um, let's see, torture tipping versus laser versus arc welder tipping. We've already discussed this, but I said lasers all the way. Uh me and Brad are in agreement, so we're not gonna debate that. Nope. Um, but if you go listen to the episode with Chuck Kayler, he uh does not agree with us, but it's all right, he's wrong sometimes. Yep. It's okay. I think he only listened to a few episodes and then the one of himself. Yeah. What if he like emails like I listen to every episode? Jerks. Oh. Uh let's see.

SPEAKER_04

Thanks for listening, Chuck.

SPEAKER_03

Cruise and vacation jewelry, the absolute bane of my existence. Yeah, I get that. Um uh let's see here. Oh, the whole waterproof jewelry they put in air quotes. Waterproof jewelry. Yeah, that's like watches? No, jewelry. No, I think that's like a thing that like some of these like online, like you know, you get the ads for stuff, and I think there's like a company or two that are like really pushing like this is waterproof jewelry. It's so stupid.

SPEAKER_04

That is that's dumb.

SPEAKER_03

So stupid. Is there any jewelry that's not waterproof now that I'm thinking about it? Except watches. That's why I no, it's it's definitely jewelry. Like I'm trying to think. And of course, I'm not talking about pools and like chemicals. I'm just saying, like, is there any jewelry that's not waterproof, like just regular old water?

SPEAKER_04

I mean, maybe if it's like a like a gold plated line that resists the all the crap that happens when you go. I don't even know, man.

SPEAKER_03

Keep in mind, we're I'm we're coming from the perspective of jewelry stores, so like sterling silver, gold, platinum, gemstones.

SPEAKER_04

Oh, that's waterproof.

SPEAKER_03

I can't, yeah. We should put a big sign in the shop, in the store here. All of our jewelry is waterproof. And then uh follow it up with do not take any of this in the in the pool, please. Right. Well, water, it's fine. I mean, it is waterproof, it's just not we don't recommend it. Chlorine proof? I don't know.

SPEAKER_04

Exactly.

SPEAKER_03

We can say we don't know what's in your water. If you were like, you know, in a in a mountain spring and you weren't hitting any rocks with it, just left it in the water, I would imagine I could come find it ten years later and it would be just fine. Like for almost any jewelry that was silver, gold, platinum. I don't right?

SPEAKER_04

Might be worn down more.

SPEAKER_03

Okay. From the elements. Geller pricing versus non-geller pricing. A lot of these I'm just gonna say so you guys can debate in the comments because we've a lot of these we have touched on.

SPEAKER_05

Um short answer, do whatever works for you.

SPEAKER_04

We use Geller.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, this was yeah, like I said, this was kind of a hodgepodge and a mishmosh, not a mishmosh pit. A mosh pit of just random topics. Um hopefully we had some recording issues. Hopefully everything goes smoothly there. Uh, I really needed this to go smooth and it didn't, so I'm super annoyed. But uh, whatever. I don't know when this episode's coming out, when you're gonna see it. But thanks for watching. Thanks, watching.

SPEAKER_04

Watching.

SPEAKER_03

Thanks for watching. Uh make sure before this ends to just not describe, subscribe. Or if you're going to comments and and describe what this episode was all about. Or describe it to a friend. Um thank you for sharing. Um, the audio versions of these are available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify every Tuesday morning. Um, but the YouTube versions they typically go out on Friday evenings, but sometimes um if we have stuff going on like this week, it might be slightly delayed, but we'll always get the YouTube version out sooner. Um leave a comment, like the video, share the clips. We'll see you on Instagram, send us an email, and don't forget to buy us a coffee. All right. Peace out, everybody. Bye.

SPEAKER_02

Back to the boundary next week. Counts down.

SPEAKER_04

What? Fancy. Fancy Nancy.

SPEAKER_03

It's absolute uh chaos. Do we decide if I was gonna straddle this thing or not? I can't remember.

SPEAKER_04

Get my shorts down. Get your shorts down. I mean, not not in that way. Pull your shorts down. All right. Can you hear me? I can, yep. I think I need mine.

SPEAKER_03

I need I wanted to move this stuff over here. I can hear the A C now. Okay, now now okay, now I can hear myself and I can hear you. Um we gotta get better at making this um pre-show banter a little more exciting.

SPEAKER_04

We do. Because people will stop listening.

SPEAKER_03

I wanted to, I thought now would be a good time to tell the story of what happened to us when I got here this morning.

SPEAKER_04

Tell me.

SPEAKER_03

You don't remember?

SPEAKER_04

I do.

SPEAKER_03

If I can involve the customer, I feel like I've been setting all this stuff up and I'm out I'm legit out of breath.

SPEAKER_04

Right? Do you need to take a break?

SPEAKER_03

Just go you just pause it.

SPEAKER_04

And unpause.

SPEAKER_03

I feel like I'm out of breath. Okay, so I was gonna die on me now. It's we're recording on a Monday.

SPEAKER_04

Yep.

SPEAKER_03

My ear itches. And um God Lord.

SPEAKER_04

Lord, here we go.

SPEAKER_03

Any one of them ball birds are scratching inside of my ear real quick. Uh I was running a little late. Mm-hmm. We had one of the kids had a birthday. With five kids, any given day could be a birthday. Yeah. And uh we had a party yesterday. Anyway, and then he had a friend over and they stayed up late. We stayed up late and got up late. That's irrelevant. How how late did y'all stay up? Uh it was probably past midnight. Dang. But um, so what happened was so I told Brad, I was like, hey, I'm running a little late, we'll be there. Keep in mind it's Monday. If you don't know, we are closed Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.

SPEAKER_06

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_03

And um because Monday we come in and we do We work. We work and we do our repairs and we catch up. But a lot of people have missed that memo, and it's been this way for a few months now. So I pull in right about 10, which is when we would typically be opening. But um, but we're not open today. And so I knew as soon as I parked and back in, I was walking into the door and I saw somebody whip in and pull in, and I was like, I know, I know they're coming in. But it was a little bit, it was like a few minutes before 10, right?

SPEAKER_04

Yeah. You got here like five minutes.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. And so the guy just chilling in his little car, and I'm like, he's definitely waiting for us. He doesn't know that we're closed today. And he did not. So he he comes up to the door at 10 sharp and is just standing there. And you know, keep in mind, once again, dark in the store, no items, no lights on, no jewelry in the showcase. And um, so I'm like, I'm just gonna have to go over there and tell him. And so he goes uh open the door. I was like, hey man, we're just we're just opening Tuesday through Friday. And he was like, Oh, well, uh, it says on Google that you're open today. Like, nope. It doesn't. Like, I can I I pulled it up that I always double check when people say that because I'm like, dang, does it like maybe I'm what I saw it like rotating hold, please. Now I'm nervous because I think we're starting over again. Oh no. And I'm nervous to see how far we get into this.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Because I need my phone for all of the uh we definitely I need my phone today. I have too much stuff going on.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

I don't know what take this is, I guess, Brad.

SPEAKER_04

Um I have no clue.

SPEAKER_03

I don't know if we're I'm gonna double check it.

SPEAKER_04

Okay, double check.

SPEAKER_03

Okay, um, we're gonna go with it. So I was this is take two. Thankfully, just take two.

SPEAKER_04

Man, so we miss and miss the part where I told you to pull your shorts down.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, I was trying to get trying to get situated. Okay, pull your shorts down, let's all laugh, like I said the first time. All right. What he meant was me fixing my shorts. Because I don't want to show too much thigh. This is uh everybody knows that uh these videos are for all age groups. All age groups. They're not. No. Um in fact I had to tell someone last week, they were like, Oh, I didn't know you had a podcast, and where can I watch it? And I had to preface it with listen, if you're not a jeweler or in the jewelry industry in some way, don't even like it's cool that you wanna you you know me and you wanna support me, but don't like it's not gonna be interesting. You're going to be bored. If you're watching this and you're like, I'm not a jeweler, then you might want to turn it off now. Although this would be at the end. So if you made it this far, you wasted your time. What were we talking about? So we had a all right. I'll skip all the details. So the way we started our day was it's Monday. We're closed Saturday, Sunday, Monday. We do repairs on Mondays to catch up, and we record these lovely episodes on Mondays. And so it's been that way for a few months, but um I was running a little late today. And uh right before 10. On a normal day, we would open at 10 for sure. And so as soon as I'm I park at the back of the lot, walk across, walk in the door, and as soon as I'm walking into the door, like a car whips in, like right behind me, and I'm like, oh, here we go. They're they're definitely here for us. Yep. They don't know that we're closed on Monday. But on the Brad, what does it say on our front door?

SPEAKER_04

It says Tuesday through Friday, 10 to 530 in our name.

SPEAKER_03

Correct. And so is it also says on Google and Yelp and our website and our receipts and our voicemail that we're open Tuesday through Friday, 10 to 530. Yeah. I get it. Monday, I understand people just showing up and just assuming I get it. That's fine. Um But that's not what this guy said. No, he didn't. He can't, so he comes up, he finally comes up to the door at 10, and I'm like, I'm just gonna have to go, I'm gonna have to go tell him. And so I go up there, I was like, hey man, we're we're just open Tuesday, uh, Tuesday through Friday. And he goes, Oh no, it said on Google you are open today. Okay. First off, let's just say that it did. It doesn't. I'm telling you, and the door in front of you says Tuesday through Friday, 10 to 530. And I was like, No, I was like, I've double checked it on Google and Yelp. I was like, I make sure all of it's up to date. And he was like, Well, it says it on there, and I'm like, Okay.

SPEAKER_04

Um just say it did. Like, or are we going to oh you're right, come on, yeah, man.

SPEAKER_03

Well, hold on, let us set up the entire shop here. Just hang tight for like 30 minutes. And this is all happening really fast, so I'm like, no, it it doesn't, but anyway, um, and he goes, and I promise you, he goes, Well, it says, and he goes to pull back and looks at the door, and I'm just like, what does it say? Yeah, read it to me, sir. And he pulls back and he's like, Oh. Well, um, I just I just needed a battery. I mean, he goes straight into I just needed a battery, and while he's telling me that, he's unbuckling, he's like, Yeah, I just I just need we're standing in the door. Like I have it open about a foot. And you got your head stuck out of the door. Yeah. Like you ain't getting in here, bro. And he's taking it off, and I'm like, all right, yeah, man, that's awesome. Uh just swing by any time tomorrow between 10 and 5:30, because that's how businesses freaking work. I swear, I don't anyway. This is all just pre-show bantered.

SPEAKER_04

He might not even know what day it is if his watch is not working, to be fair. I didn't think about that.

SPEAKER_03

Um, I want to tell people like that, like, you know, here's an idea. Why don't you open a jewelry store in our town that's open Saturday, Sunday, Monday? And that way when I'm out hanging out and spending time with my family and having a life, you could be getting all the customers that I'm losing Saturday through Monday. You should try it. And trust me, it'll only be battery customers.

SPEAKER_04

Yep, sure will. Or customers that are looking for bands for a wedding three years from now. Yeah, those are the the two things. Yep. I just went from water to coffee. What are you doing?

SPEAKER_03

Well, the coffee's not that hot, but I like I want it.

SPEAKER_04

Yep.

SPEAKER_03

All right, should we get into it?

SPEAKER_04

Let's get into it. That'd be a nice little Thanks for staying for the Panther.

SPEAKER_03

Um I literally have no idea what we're talking about today. Isn't that exciting? I love it. Isn't that so exciting? We're gonna fumble our way through it because I have to read some stuff, actually. Um, is there a way you can reach the um store foam? Uh yeah, and get out. I'm gonna I'm I might actually, you know what? It's fine. Don't don't no don't. It's fine.

SPEAKER_04

Do you hear me? Do you see me welcome back?

SPEAKER_03

I was gonna see if I need to read emails. I gotta read some some messages and so it's gonna be kind of a mosh pit. So okay, should we just get into it and then explain it? Let's do it. Let's do it. It's a mosh pit. I hope this doesn't, I hope this doesn't. What if it just stopped recording in the middle? Well, whatever. All right, all right, we're gonna start in three, two, one.