If you make it they might buy it

I used to make jewelry for consignment in galleries and stores. I would just make whatever I wanted and hope that other people would like it enough to buy it. Trying to guess what might sell is nearly impossible. What i thought was a homerun would be a total dog, but at least I liked it and I would get to keep it. I sure have alot of stuff that I thought was great.

Now I do mostly custom work for individuals. I design what I like and convince them it is what they  want. Having people show up with a picture of some other jeweler’s work and having you copy it is not cool. If that is what they want, I tell them they should buy it form them not me. On occasion if the mortgage is due or I am having a bout of self loathing, I will let the customer tell me what they want and almost always I have regretted it.

Case in point about 3 months ago a very strong opinionated customer came to me and said that she wanted to design a ring. Normaly this means I design said ring and she oohs and ahhs about it and tells me how great I am. Not this time. She says that with her creativity and my skills we will make a great team. I am thinkin “More of me, less of you and this might work.” Any way I let her sit next to me while I carve her design. Since she can’t draw she tells me what to do. Oh yea this is workin’ great – sorta like a surgeon with a hedge trimmer.

She is so proud of this thing, she is gonna tell all her friends about us. Us, that’s right -I now have a business partner. She’s a jewelery designer after one ring! She has even figured out how to divide up the profits. She is a member of the monied class, she informs me. At this point my give-a-shitter is busted so I just let her babble away. I finish this masterpiece and she is thrilled. She pays me under a little duress because she wants to use the ring to help get us more business. There’s that ugly word again us.

The next day she stops by -she hates it and wants to do it over. What are you on crack? I am thinkin’ that to myself. I say “Sure no problem, lets’ start over.” She is so happy, but her happiness is short lived when I tell her that she will need to pay me for the new ring. The F-bombs started dropping on my head like a tsunami of filth. She was adding nouns and adjectives to the F-bombs as intensfiers. This is a 60 year old woman filled with years of pent up anger and rage. She is going nuts. I just sat and stared at her with my magnifiers on my head looking rather ambivilant. I don’t say a word, I am too stunned but I know that after she has left I will think of plenty choice things I could have said to her. She leaves and I never hear from her again.

But now for the rest of the story:My friend Craig who is the best jeweler that I have ever seen, is the one who referred her to me. The story is she went to him and he worked for a couple of hours and couldn’t make her happy so he referred her to me. She thought I walked on water for about a day or two. No good deed goes unpunished. My customer with the indoor pool calls and wants something done and I tell him that it is beyond my skill but I have a good friend who can take care of him.  Just to clairfy, Craig and I are good friends and we have turned this into a sporting event – sending each other our craziest customers.

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kevinpotter

Latest posts by kevinpotter (see all)

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