Accident rate, funny (sort of)

When I replied to Mr Lewton-Brain regarding accidents I was
reminded of a couple of “unique” occurences.

  1. Around Christmas, a couple of years ago, a friend of mine who
    is also a goldsmith stopped by my shop to see if we had a small
    ruby he needed for a job he was working on. We did and we gave it
    to him. The next day he called me to see if I had another one.
    When I asked if he had lost it he said, “Actually, I had pulled
    out the ruby and had it in my hand when I realized that I had
    forgotten to take my vitamins. I went over and took them and
    washed them down with a coke. When I returned to my bench I
    couldn’t find the ruby, it was then I realized that I had
    swallowed it”! I told him if he waited a couple of days he could
    probably recover it, but he prefered a new stone.

  2. This same guy had a customers emerald and diamond ring for
    months, he just couldn’t get to it for whatever reason. The
    customer had threatened to take actions that my friend would find
    very unpleasant if the ring was not delivered, and fast. So my
    freind worked late into the night to finish this job. He was
    working on a couple of other jobs at the same time as well as
    casting a peice using another customers gold. He took a break to
    cast, when he returned to his bench he could not find the emerald
    and diamond ring that belonged to the threatening customer. He
    looked everywhere, after awhile he went back to quench the flask,
    he then noticed something sparkling in the crucible. There were
    diamonds and emeralds in the crucible, he had melted the ring
    accidentaly! I asked him how he explained this incredibly stupid
    mistake to his customer. He said that he put him off a couple
    days and made a new ring. When he pesented it the customer said,
    man this looks like a brand new ring! My friend agreed.

My explaination for this very talented fellows mishaps is that
he never sleeps properly. He will work for 48 hours straight and
then sleep 4 or 5 hours. And when he does sleep he often just
pulls the air mattress that he has velcroed to his ceiling down
and crashes on the floor of his shop. My personal rule is not to
work past midnight, no matter how busy I get. I think your
quality of work suffers that night and the next day if you don’t
go home and sleep. Thats another reason I don’t have a bench in
my home, I am afraid I would never stop working.

Mark P.

Hi Mark:

You and I have the same Jeweler or his identical Twinn, about 6
months ago a Jeweler here in CT. presented me with his
credential and resume, he is a GG and has done custom lost was
for 20 years and the list went on, he always does all Zales
Department Stores work , so he says.

It was a disaster that kept me awake nights, he never could get
down to deliver the work for usually 2 weeks and first he blamed
it on the fact that we weren’t home like the Mall stores from
10:00 -9:00 P.M. then he blamed it on his diabetes that he would
forget to take his insulin and eat and would end up in the
doctors office or the hospital once a month, then he broke a
victorian garnet at which point I was at the end of my rope and I
said that things were not working out, that was NOVEMBER and he
still has 3 of my customers merchandise and he cannot fine the
time to return it and twice he claims he sent one item and then
told me he was going to put a tracer on the package, so now
adding to his horrible assests he is a LIAR, it turns out he was
repairing a Shelby original car tag for a Police Officer and good
friend of my partners , so 2 days ago I gave the Police Office
his phone and address to let him try to retrieve it. I must add, I
do not owe this man a penny and he is charming and only 38 years
old, what happens to peoples minds, I have begged him to put it
in an envelope and have ups pick it up , I have even asked why
would you torture someone like this and he just thought it was
just no big deal and just doesn’t find time to get things done, I
don’t want to flame anyone but I am very tempted to call Zales
and talk to them. What is your opinion!!! And if I called him
today, he would say oh Hi how are you, he just doesn’t get it,
obviously this man is really sick. Thanks Chris
http://www.tace.com/gitters

      He will work for 48 hours straight and  then sleep 4 or
5 hours. And when he does sleep he often just  pulls the air
mattress that he has velcroed to his ceiling down     and
crashes on the floor of his shop. My personal rule is not to 
work past midnight, no matter how busy I get 

I always believe in having an enjoyable career. Sounds to me
like the need for greed outweighs the need for sleep. I have
known jewelers like this also. It is not only dangerous to the
jeweler, but it seems to be potentionally dangerous for the
customer.

One of the VERY first lessons I learnt was not to over extend
yourself and remember to say no, once and awhile. For your own
sanity!

I must add, I do not owe this man a penny >

That is the key right there. I have worked with people just like
him, if there is money coming on the job it will be done
post-haste but as soon as it’s paid for, the job will never be
done. Loveland

Mark:

You SHOULD flame this guy. You SHOULD call Zales. They’ll
probably tell you what you already know already. Do not be
afraid to flame someone who yanks your chain this way. These
types use your fear of being impolite to con you out of your last
dime while using you as a literal doormat. He is using you, so
find your backbone and yank his out through his nose. Start by
calling an attorney. Take it from there.

Laura

 I don't want to flame anyone but I am very tempted to call
Zales and talk to them. What is your opinion!!!! And if I
called him today, he would say oh Hi how are you, he just
doesn't get it, obviously this man is really sick. 

Chris,

Wow! My freind is normally fairly reliable and does excellent
work, though not for me. I have a shop and we do our own. The two
stories I told were really unusual for him and funny to me. I
would go to your goldsmiths place of buisiness and pick up the
merch. undone. I bet its in an unsightly condition but at least
you would have it. Don’t wait for him to return it to you.

Mark P.

Maybe we should arrange a meeting between your guy and my female
customer who dropped her watch in water, replaced it and wants me
to pay for it . . . sounds like they may be a match made in
hell! hahahahaha

Thanks for all your suggestions, first I am going to use them,
on top of everything, he never made good on the Garnet he broke,
I was lucky to get the ring back, maybe I should contact the GIA
and maybe that would shake him up.

I will strart by calling him and giving him the his choices of
who he would like me to call first, Zales, GIA, my attorney, etc.

I really believe it is an illness in this case cause he was
always friendly, maybe he just couldn’t take being fired? I can’t
begin to imagine and frankly don’t give a dam.

P.S. I love the answer about some jerk telling one of our
Jewlery designers that he stuff looked like the ceiling of Motel
6, that was the best answer , I am still laughing…A Lady came
into my shop yesterday and looked at a tray of antique jewelry
and said, I go to 47th Street and by everything by the weight
wholesale, So I said thats nice but it is all new and this is old
and irreplaceable. Thanks Chris http://www.tace.com/glitters

 Sounds to me like the need for greed outweighs the need for
sleep.  I have known jewelers like this also.  

hi joy,

i used to do stuff like that too. but perhaps it was because no
one else was doing it, it needed to be done and he had a very
strong sense of obligation to his customer.

best regards,

geo fox

Obligation verses common sense. Experienced jewelers can give
each job a certain number of hours of completion. Taking jobs
that total 30 hours of completion time and jewelers giving
themselves 24 hours to complete them has nothing to do with
obligation. Or I might be wrong. Life is just to short to put
yourself in a corner like that. I don’t mean for this to sound
like I am on a soap box, but I have been there and done that.
First thing I lost was the “artist”. I was no longer happy, I
didn’t enjoy holidays, i dreaded them. With 3 kids, that is not a
good thing.

With me, it’s not a sense of obligation OR common sense OR
greed. I just get on a fever-pitch kind of roll when I work and
my train of thought just flies down the track like a diesel
engine. I don’t like to stop working when I’m like that because
it’s really hard to get myself ‘back on track’. Working till I
finish what I want to finish is my goal. Of course, then, I
always can look at the back of my hand, and think - hmm, common
sense. maybe it’s a concept…

Laura