11 Times Murphy’s Law Hit Jewelers Right Where It Hurts

MURPHY’S LAW states that anything that can go wrong will go wrong. These 11 jewelers can confirm. From frozen showrooms to ransomware to a nasty Christmas Eve infection, they’ve lived it — and somehow survived.

• “The worst Christmas internally we ever experienced would probably be 2024. Keep in mind, the following events occurred when we had the following on staff to man the store during December: myself (who was actually testing for GG in California for part of this), one full-time staff member who just joined the team in July, one veteran part-timer, and the owner (who worked part-time through December). Mid-November, the previous manager has to leave unexpectedly due to health concerns. December 1st, received an invoice for a $30K diamond we did not sell and had sent back per the memo agreement (ends up being in dispute for months). December 5th, the only jeweler on premises quit without notice. December 6th, we start shipping out repairs that we discovered were VERY overdue to an offsite jeweler in Kentucky. December 12th, the first package of repairs sent to the offsite jeweler in Kentucky gets lost in transit until December 26th. December 28th, phone scammer who paid online with a bogus credit card gets away with two natural diamond tennis bracelets.” — Amy H., Jacksonville, FL

“A few years back our computer was targeted by hackers who were holding our data hostage demanding payment. We did not pay them and started fresh with a new computer. However, we were not able to import data from our POS system from the past six months because it turns out the manager at the time was failing to back up properly, so that was an extra gut punch. We all rallied together though and were able to use physical copies of receipts to re-add in data as much as we could. Lessons were learned for sure. Also, I still keep physical copies because… you never know.” — Becky B., Peabody, MA

• “Mall lease had no clauses for limited hours due to catastrophic circumstances. THE ISSUE: Special mall hours set 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. December 22nd/23rd. Horrific flu affected 8 of 9 employees. A huge snowstorm hit… mall hours didn’t change. Government offices and schools closed. Virtually every entity outside the mall closed. Radio and TV ran announcements to not go out… while continuing to run our advertisements to come shop. It gets worse: It takes an hour prep to open and the same to close. So the 22nd my dedicated part-time college student and I went in at 6 a.m. and got out after midnight. The second day (23rd) he could only help half a day… I ran the store and closed alone. Awful. Completely exhausted. Terrible Christmas. That experience put a plan in motion to ‘get out’! After two years of market research I bought a 6,000-square-foot building, passed on my lease option ending 25 years of mall occupancy. Overnight I became a truly independent jeweler, a landlord, a hero to my dedicated staff — no Sunday craziness, and no more mall hours (went from 81 hours a week to 48 hours a week during normal seasons). My community supported us with a Grand Re-Opening! Overhead went down, numbers went up, and bottom line became very sweet. Everybody won!” — J. Dennis P., Johnstown, PA
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• “I was working with a client on a custom engagement ring. He originally wanted white gold but changed to platinum at the last moment. In [a moment of] pure human-glory, I neither told my custom people it was to be platinum nor gave him a platinum price. When it came in, I didn’t even realize I made a mistake! A year later, we created a platinum band for their ring because that is what my receipt said the metal was. When the color was off at the wedding, my clients were confused. They didn’t get back to me right away, but I re-made their engagement ring in platinum the way it should have been. BUT, she wanted to redesign it after wearing it for so long, so I was happy she had a ring that she really loved!” — Angela C., Atascadero, CA
• “Sold a lab-grown diamond from Stuller when they first came out for jewelers. The customer wanted a lab report and we didn’t have one, as I didn’t realize Stuller had two prices, lab report prices and no report pricing. I had called in to get pricing and quoted the customer after that. Their budget hit the no lab report. She asked for a certificate, I found out there wasn’t one. I thought all lab-grown had one at that point. She became livid, wrote a bad review and screamed many things on the phone because she had no way of knowing if it was a diamond or not. Stuller actually wrote up a letter for me to give to her to explain how they sell their lab diamonds. She was not satisfied, but she had an amazing custom-made ring! I’m sure she still loves it today.” — Julee J., Mankato, MN

“We have a 42-foot tree outside our store which I paid to have decorated with 4,800 lights and 1,300 ornaments. The lighting event had to be postponed due to snow. I had hired carolers, who could not come back the next day and the event as a whole was disappointing.” — Drue S., Albany, NY

• “So funny, I always run out of our gift bags during holiday season. I try to plan way in advance, and regardless, the number of gift bags I order is never enough! It’s always the week of Christmas when my stores contact me and let me know that they are extremely low all of a sudden… and I need to reach out to our bag manufacturer and ask for a rush order! Keeping packaging in stock over the holidays is always the trickiest.” — Daniela B., Guilford, CT
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• “Nothing quite earth-rattling but our internet went out a few weeks ago which means our credit card machine didn’t work. We had a woman in here trying to buy a $15K piece of jewelry for herself and when we couldn’t accept payment she said she would come back the next day to pick it up and pay. She called the next day and said after she slept on it, she decided she didn’t need to spend that much money on herself. You can bet I had a few choice words for AT&T.” — Marc M., Midland, TX
• “Ten days before Christmas the laser welder’s water pump went out. We had to wait for a new one. Then I had to travel twice in one week four hours away to see a doctor. We only have a total of three people so ——” — Steve H., Lake Havasu City, AZ
• “Several years ago — employee shortage due to illness, ice storm and power outage all within a two-day period on one of the busiest days of the Christmas selling season.” — James S., Lowell, IN
• “Insurance ending, got an infection, had to go to the doctor for antibiotics on New Year’s Eve. Have to be here for people coming in. LOL. UGH.” — Monica L., Fond du Lac, WI
 

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