Fiancee returns $3k ring - "too cheap"

[Just Joe]

I've heard people admit they like the attention the sales staff give them be it jewelry store, car dealer or furniture store.

I want everything - absolutely everything - sold at an Aldi type store. Don't you dare try to up sell me! ;)

Sales people trying to schmooze with me sets off all sorts of warning bells in my head. Probably shouldn't but there we are.

[Money Badger]

In the article, the guy mentions he's earning low 6 figures, but supporting several of his family and his company had layoffs.   He's a lucky man to dodge Miss Spendypants for sure!   If she didn't like a $3,000 ring from such a guy, then perhaps a pig-ring is more suitable.   Geez!

As a guy, my wife and I bought my simple gold band ring at Service Merchandise for $99 plus tax (I remember sitting with her and waiting at their God awful "take a number" style counter like it was yesterday).    But, the ring has done quite well for 32 years and our annual net out of pocket cost is now down to at about $3 per year and decreasing (Though this does exclude the opportunity cost of capital... and more importantly, the additional cost of not buying it which is my girlfriend would have killed me at the time!  So it was quite a good deal for sure! ;-)   

[Michael in ABQ]

I got my wife a semi-custom engagement ring. The jeweler was a guy who my best friend's dad knew. He worked by word of mouth and appointment only out of a back room in his wife's hair salon. I knew I wanted to get her a claddagh ring and once I found one I liked in a jewelry catalog I decided on a heart-shaped ruby. This was over a decade ago when gold was much cheaper, maybe $600-700/oz. I think the ring was about $400, the stone about $900 and the labor about $100. So $1,400 or so as a college student.

After the engagement my wife and I went back and picked out our wedding bands from him, maybe $300 or so each. Very happy with our decision.

[Dicey]

I've heard people admit they like the attention the sales staff give them be it jewelry store, car dealer or furniture store.

I want everything - absolutely everything - sold at an Aldi type store. Don't you dare try to up sell me! ;)

Sales people trying to schmooze with me sets off all sorts of warning bells in my head. Probably shouldn't but there we are.

OMG! This is me, too. I was in sales my whole career,  and commission sales a good part of the time, 'cuz the money's better there. I swear any time someone tries to schmoize me it takes a concerted effort not to bark, "Fuck off!" at them. Oy.

[DaMa]

I've heard people admit they like the attention the sales staff give them be it jewelry store, car dealer or furniture store.

I want everything - absolutely everything - sold at an Aldi type store. Don't you dare try to up sell me! ;)

Sales people trying to schmooze with me sets off all sorts of warning bells in my head. Probably shouldn't but there we are.

OMG! This is me, too. I was in sales my whole career,  and commission sales a good part of the time, 'cuz the money's better there. I swear any time someone tries to schmoize me it takes a concerted effort not to bark, "Fuck off!" at them. Oy.

Same here!  I always dress down when I have to go shopping in a showroom type setting in hopes that they think I have no money and leave me alone.  It mostly works!

[TheGrimSqueaker]

I've heard people admit they like the attention the sales staff give them be it jewelry store, car dealer or furniture store.

I want everything - absolutely everything - sold at an Aldi type store. Don't you dare try to up sell me! ;)

Sales people trying to schmooze with me sets off all sorts of warning bells in my head. Probably shouldn't but there we are.

OMG! This is me, too. I was in sales my whole career,  and commission sales a good part of the time, 'cuz the money's better there. I swear any time someone tries to schmoize me it takes a concerted effort not to bark, "Fuck off!" at them. Oy.

Same here!  I always dress down when I have to go shopping in a showroom type setting in hopes that they think I have no money and leave me alone.  It mostly works!

I am mostly invisible to humans. Not in any objective way-- light still bounces off of me-- but people mostly don't notice me unless I wish to be noticed... and sometimes not even then. Nor do they tend to remember me: I'm very easily forgotten and overlooked. Part of it is my appearance, part of it is how I move, and part of it is the fact I mostly don't make noise. I've been told I give off a very strong "fuck off" vibe. Whatever the reason, I can walk from one end of a car dealership or commission sales store to the other and not be accosted. But I can't get past animals though.

[partgypsy]

Me, I can look shlumpy/bland/and invisible, look youthful (and get carded), or be visible, such as shopping right after work when I am more put together.  I find it interesting.

[Just Joe]

I've heard people admit they like the attention the sales staff give them be it jewelry store, car dealer or furniture store.

I want everything - absolutely everything - sold at an Aldi type store. Don't you dare try to up sell me! ;)

Sales people trying to schmooze with me sets off all sorts of warning bells in my head. Probably shouldn't but there we are.

OMG! This is me, too. I was in sales my whole career,  and commission sales a good part of the time, 'cuz the money's better there. I swear any time someone tries to schmoize me it takes a concerted effort not to bark, "Fuck off!" at them. Oy.

Same here!  I always dress down when I have to go shopping in a showroom type setting in hopes that they think I have no money and leave me alone.  It mostly works!

We drive our much older car too if our car will be visible.

[snowball]

I've heard people admit they like the attention the sales staff give them be it jewelry store, car dealer or furniture store.

I want everything - absolutely everything - sold at an Aldi type store. Don't you dare try to up sell me! ;)

Sales people trying to schmooze with me sets off all sorts of warning bells in my head. Probably shouldn't but there we are.

OMG! This is me, too. I was in sales my whole career,  and commission sales a good part of the time, 'cuz the money's better there. I swear any time someone tries to schmoize me it takes a concerted effort not to bark, "Fuck off!" at them. Oy.

Same here!  I always dress down when I have to go shopping in a showroom type setting in hopes that they think I have no money and leave me alone.  It mostly works!

I wish dressing down would work for me here in the Middle East...I don't think it matters what I wear though;  a middle-aged white woman walking into a store here is assumed to be a well-off expat.

I have a hard time shopping for anything but groceries because the stores here are so overstaffed in comparison to Canada.  The staff aren't that busy and tend to immediately descend on me like locusts.  I don't want to be rude, but seriously, I will ask if I want help!  Can you not give me space to look at things and think about it without you standing right there staring at me?  (They don't even attempt small talk.  They will literally stand two feet from me and stare, after I've told them I don't need help.  And I don't think there's any way I can explain to them how uncomfortable and annoying this is, plus it's probably what they've been told/trained to do, and they'll get in trouble if they don't.)

So I often end up walking out without buying the thing I came in for, unless I manage to arrive at a time when they're busy with other customers and leave me in blessed peace.  I try to aim for that.  Or just avoid buying the thing at all...

[AMandM]

As a guy, my wife and I bought my simple gold band ring at Service Merchandise for $99 plus tax (I remember sitting with her and waiting at their God awful "take a number" style counter like it was yesterday).    But, the ring has done quite well for 32 years and our annual net out of pocket cost is now down to at about $3 per year and decreasing (Though this does exclude the opportunity cost of capital... and more importantly, the additional cost of not buying it which is my girlfriend would have killed me at the time!  So it was quite a good deal for sure! ;-)

I remember Service Merchandise! We have almost the same story--also married 32 years, also bought plain gold bands. I think his was $79 and mine was $49--even to me it seemed almost unbelievable that they could be so cheap.

My husband bought the stone for my engagement ring from a dealer who was a family friend. When he went to pick it out, the other customer in the store was buying a $15,000 emerald.

[Just Joe]

My family used to shop Service Merchandise too. All those stores seemed so formal compared to the big box retailers of today. The glass cases with a well informed sales person to help. Sometimes I kind of miss it.

They often had some nice things to choose from too. I have a transistor radio that belonged to my grandmother. Wrapped in leather. Still works.

Sort of like what smart phones have become. Substance. Heft. Details. Quality.

Not just the we bought 5000 of these throwaway things and want to move them out ASAP. SALE! SALE! SALE!

[zolotiyeruki]

My family used to shop Service Merchandise too. All those stores seemed so formal compared to the big box retailers of today. The glass cases with a well informed sales person to help. Sometimes I kind of miss it.

Is it a bit like the gun shopping scene from John Wick 2?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIalODmFrZk

[Njdealguy]

Wouldve been great if that ring was purchased at Costco, with their return policy :)

[Just Joe]

My family used to shop Service Merchandise too. All those stores seemed so formal compared to the big box retailers of today. The glass cases with a well informed sales person to help. Sometimes I kind of miss it.

Is it a bit like the gun shopping scene from John Wick 2?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIalODmFrZk

A little. As a kid my family went to Service Merchandise for special occasion purchases. When they wanted something nice for keeps or a gift. Seemed to make the purchase more special to my kid brain. The trip to SM was a big deal.