large and in charge...sort of

Well, I haven't quit yet.

I have, however, found myself near tears at a couple of instances, tempted to put my fist through a wall in others, and had to bite my tongue at least once an hour. I am still here, nonethelesss.

I'm not so much bothered by the hours I'm working, which have gone from 40 to 44 and now 50 which will be 55+ in a couple of weeks. It's the fact that I have to be aware of an infinite amount of things at any given time. Otherwise the results are either embarassing or disastrous. I thought I was busy when I was the management trainee. Ha. I'm completely exhausted, but all in all, things have gone relatively well.

Unfortunately, this past weekend was a jeweler's nightmare. I was casually going through a repair bag when I noticed the ring it contained was no longer there. And it just-so-happened to be from this store (in Kentucky of all places) that likes me about as much as Kazakhstan loved the new Borat movie. Which was hysterical, by the way. Needless to say I spent that weekend out of my mind with anger at myself for letting this happen and tearing my poor shop apart looking for that sapphire ring. Oh and that conversation with the store's manager? Not pretty. Long story short, one of my employees shipped it out to a vendor and neglected to leave me a note. There are truly no words to describe how I felt at this point, so I'll just leave them to your imagination.

On top of all that? I broke my first diamond. The aquamarine I busted back in September was much less of a big deal since my soon-to-be ex-boss busted the replacement (I found that somewhat comforting) and it retailed for about $300.00. This was somebody's engagement ring and the diamond was worth $2900.00. I felt awful. If my diamond got damaged somehow, it could be replaced, but it wouldn't be that same one that Jonathan gave me that chilly night at the lake. Someone was definitely watching over me that Sunday...the owner was super nice and understanding about it and didn't throw the fit I was expecting. I was picturing myself rotissere-ing over a fire, lightly seasoned with lemon pepper and with an apple in my mouth. Or swinging next to Saddam (duh-doom-doom-ching).

*crickets chirping*

But all that has blown over and things have started to calm down a bit, just in time for Black Friday and the onset of Bah Humbug season. The Christmas season comes to an end right about the time every couple in the tri-state area thinks that getting engaged on Valentine's Day would be just super-dooper.

I apologize to anyone who got engaged or married on V-Day and is currently offended. I'm a jeweler, and reserve the right to be mildly to moderately annoyed by this. Thank you.

That'll do it for now, I think. Perhaps something good will happen today and I can share it with all six of my devoted readers tonight. Or that one crazy lady will come in again and very politely tell me that my work sucks. I'll have an apple ready for her.