Engagement rings are a big deal. People can get very dramatic about the size of the diamond or the cut of the diamond or the setting. It can be all very complicated and usually, men are just along for the ride. Jewelers have a very unique seat for some of his insane drama.
These stories about the craziest moments jewelers have ever seen regarding engagement rings. Golddiggers, drama queens, mean girls, and scammers all play their parts. It's a fascinating look into the drama-filled world of the lovers and (sometimes) haters.
Her Tastes Were Too Expensive For Her Wallet
I find a stone that matches what she says she wanted and showed it to her. As I’m confirming the specs, the price of just this stone is over $12,000, she tells me,
‘You need to shut your mouth right now.’
I stopped and just stared.
She lays into me asking if I’m joking, she doesn’t have that kind of money, if she wouldn’t take the cheaper ones I’d shown her then how could I think she’d be able to afford that. Her adult daughters start in too. I let them go off until they’d run out of steam. Then I responded:
‘Earlier you stated the rings I’d shown you were not to your liking. You refused to give me a price you were comfortable with paying. It’s not my place to judge what you may have in the bank as it’s unprofessional for me to assume whether you can or not you can pay for something based solely on your appearance. Now, if you’d like to give me a price range, I’d be happy to show you what we have that would fit your budget. Otherwise, there is a different store across the hall and a third option close to Dillard’s.’
They asked to speak to the manager. I informed them that I was the current manager on duty and if they would like to speak with the store manager, he would be there in the morning.
They left and never came back.
I don’t particularly care for being yelled at but I’m not going to let someone try to walk all over me either. I did give my store manager a heads up as to what had happened since we opened the store together the next morning. All he had to say was maybe next time ‘don’t say it quite so bluntly’ but at that point, they weren’t going to buy anything anyway so no loss. He was a cool dude to work with. Good at having his employees backs while also helping the customers get what they were looking for.”
She Faked Them Out!
Volodymyr Tverdokhlib/Shutterstock
“There’s a group of ladies out there who thought I was serious when I did this…
A local jewelry store was closing down and they were holding liquidation sale so my boyfriend and I popped in to check it out. He heads immediately to the watches, and I’m browsing the rings. He finishes first, comes over to see what I’m looking at and does a Homer Simpson and slowly backs away. I ‘threw a fit’ I don’t even remember what all I said, something like, ‘Oh you can look at $700 watches but you can’t even glance at a ring for me?! If you don’t want to marry me, just say so!’ and I stormed out of the store.
He followed, concerned, only to find me laughing my tail off. Thankfully we have the same sense of humor so he found it funny, too, but he still hasn’t put a ring on it…”
A Very Sad Return
“I sold jewelry years ago as a second job. One guy will always come to mind.
He was young, very shy, and only after seeing him a couple of times, and becoming friendly, did I find out that he had a TBI (traumatic brain injury). He would come into the store once a week and look at the rings. When he finally settled on one, we put it on layaway, and he would still come by to look at it each week. I came to really like him, he was a good and decent man.
We counted the days together, each week, we counted down to his big night.
The day he came and picked up the ring, I remember putting it in the fanciest box we had. I wished him well and off he went. When I didn’t see him the following week, I just smiled, knowing he was happy.
About a month later, he came back carrying the little bag. He said, ‘Can I give it back, Charlie?’ I asked him what happened and he told me that she said no. I didn’t ask any more questions.
I would have done anything to fix him at that moment, but I knew that there wasn’t anything I could do or say to make him feel better. So I just told him that I was sorry and I rang up his return.
As he was leaving, I said, ‘She has no idea what she’s missing.’ I never saw him again.”
He Tried To Do The Right And Paid A Huge Price
“So about 10 years ago, I was in my early 30’s still working for my dad at the jewelry shop he owned. His health was declining so I had pretty much taken over the duties of running the shop. A young couple came in that looked about 20 and they told me that they wanted to get married and wanted to look at engagement rings.
I went through the normal line of questions (what kind of style, what’s your price range, etc.) and through all of it, I could see that the boy was just so happy that he didn’t care. The girl was so extremely picky and rude and the boy just wanted to make her happy. She ended up picking out a set that was worth about $8,000. I could see in the boy’s eyes that he probably didn’t have the money to pay for it, but he agreed that he would come back. He came back, alone about a week and a half later with $8,000 in CASH. I’m not one to turn away money, but I couldn’t help but ask him where he got it. He said that he sold his car that his father had bought him for graduating from college to pay for the ring. I told him that it was a big thing for him to do, but he was an adult so I didn’t try to talk him out of it.
Anyway, about four months go by and the girl comes strolling back into the shop, except this time she’s with a DIFFERENT GUY! And it was the same exact story of both of them wanting to get married and they were there to pick out a ring. I was in completely disbelief that this girl was with somebody else and was pulling the same strings with that she did for the other guy! It made me SO angry because I remembered the other guy that had sold his car to make her happy. I bit my tongue for the most part but throughout little snide comments here and there like, ‘Hey, you look familiar, have you ever been here before?’ She denied all of it, of course.
She picks out another ring, the whole set was worth about $4,500. The guy agrees that he’ll come back and I’m in complete disbelief of the deja vu that I’m experiencing.
But then it gets worse; the girl asks me if I buy used rings. My blood instantly started to boil but I kept my composure and told her that I did. She then pulls out (you guessed it) the ring that I originally sold to her ex that she conned. She said that it was her grandmother’s ring who recently passed away and I just SNAPPED.
I said, ‘Huh, that’s weird, you said your grandma owned this ring? Because it looks exactly like the ring that I sold to your ex-fiance a few months ago!’
She turned beet red and got absolutely furious with me, cussing me out, saying that I was a liar, etc. Then she looks at her current boy toy and says, ‘Well? Do something!’ That was the moment that this casual day, quickly turned into one of the most traumatic experiences of my life.