True Tales: Pregnant Pause

Published

15 years ago

July 2, 2008

Strange stories from the front lines

?A man and a woman came into our store; she was limping in obvious pain and also very pregnant. She had on a wide sterling silver toe ring. Due to her pregnancy, her foot had swollen and she could not get the ring off. She had been in pain the previous evening, and in an effort to remove the ring, her husband had used an electric drill to bore holes in the ring. During this process, he drilled a hole through the ring and into her toe. The ring also became hot enough to burn her toe. Our normal handheld ring cutter would not work because the ring was too wide. The only way I could figure out how to remove the ring was with my flexshaft drill. But the drill was attached to the wall and would reach only to my bench. We decided that if she sat on the chair back with her husband holding her, she could get her foot high enough to use the drill. To keep the ring from heating during the cutting, I ran the drill slowly, stopping often and dipping her toes in a cup of ice water to cool the ring. After 30 minutes, we were successful in removing the ring and in not having to deliver a baby.?

RANDALL P.,
WAYNE, NE

When There’s No Succession Plan, Call Wilkerson

Bob Wesley, owner of Robert C. Wesley Jewelers in Scottsdale, Ariz., was a third-generation jeweler. When it was time to enjoy life on the other side of the counter, he weighed his options. His lease was nearing renewal time and with no succession plan, he decided it was time to call Wilkerson. There was plenty of inventory to sell and at first, says Wesley, he thought he might try to manage a sale himself. But he’s glad he didn’t. “There’s no way I could have done this as well as Wilkerson,” he says. Wilkerson took responsibility for the entire event, with every detail — from advertising to accounting — done, dusted and managed by the Wilkerson team. “It’s the complete package,” he says of the Wilkerson method of helping jewelers to easily go on to the next phase of their lives. “There’s no way any retailer can duplicate what they’ve done.”