“Can I help you?”

“I’d like to sell my engagement ring.”

“Oh?”

“Yes.”

“Let me have a look.”

“Here.”

“Why do you want to sell this?”

“Because I do.”

(Affixes loupe to eye, scrutinizing.)

“What do you want for this?”

“What do you want to buy it for?”

“Well…”

(Steps to a small scale, weighs the ring.)

“We buy jewelry by weight. And this doesn’t weigh much at all.’

“What will you buy it for?”

“I’m sorry.”

“What will you buy it for?”

“Thirty three dollars.”

“No, I’m going to talk to some people.”

“Maybe you should.”

“It’s worth more than that.”

“Good luck.”

***
“Hi there.”

“Hello.”

“How can I help you?”

“I’d like to sell my engagement ring.”

“Why are you trying to do a thing like that?

“I just am. Will you buy it?”

“I need to take a look.”

(Affixes loupe to eye, inspects closely. Holds it in his hand, bouncing the ring lightly.)

“Well…”

“Will you buy it?”

“How much do you want?”

“What will you buy it for?”

“I need to see it on the scale.”

“Okay.”

“It’s not heavy at all.”

“I know.”

“It’s not the best ring.”

“He wasn’t the best guy.”

“I’ll give you thirty dollars.”

“Oh. No thanks. I’ll just go now.”

“Goodbye.”

***
“Hi there.”

“Hi. I’m wondering if you’d take a look at a piece of jewelry I’d like to sell.”

“Sure.”

“This is my engagement ring.”

“Oh. Oh my god.”

“Yes.”

“You want to sell your engagement ring?”

“Yes.”

“Oh.”

“Um.”

“This is your engagement ring.”

“Yes.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay.”

“Why would you want to sell your engagement ring?”

“Listen. When a woman walks in the door trying to sell her engagement ring, what does that suggest to you of the state of the relationship?”

“Right.”

“Will you take it?”

“Yes.”

“You will?”

“Yes, we’ll sell this. It’s a beautiful ring.”

“Oh, that’s great.”

“It’s so beautiful. I didn’t think you had something like this to sell.”

“I don’t think it’s beautiful anymore.”

“I guess that makes sense.”

“Exactly.”

“Have you ever sold with us before?”

“No.”

“Well, I don’t know if you’re going to want to do this or not, then. We usually sell at one third the retail price and then give you between twenty-five and thirty percent of that.”

“That’s okay.”

“That’s okay?”

“Yes.”

“So we’ll need to do a little research and then we can get the price on this and get it on the floor. Do you know what it went for?”

“Yes. And it was from this store, the one here on the box.”

“Okay, let me look it up.”

“Thank you.”

“It looks like this would have been around fifteen hundred dollars.”

“It was about that, yes.”

“So we’ll sell it for a third of that and then give you half.”

“Oh, that’s great. I thought it was twenty-five to thirty percent?”

“We go half on any item priced at five hundred dollars and above.”

“Okay. So that would be two hundred and fifty dollars?”

“If it sells before we mark it down, yes. But we mark everything down every three weeks.”

“Okay.”

“So if someone comes in and loves it, they could potentially wait it out and get a lower price over time.”

“I see.”

“Is this all still agreeable to you?”

“Yes, this is fine.”

“And we only keep items for three months or so, after which point you need to pick it up if it hasn’t sold.”

“I will.”

“If you don’t pick it up, the ring becomes the property of the store.”

“I see.”

“So that’s all still okay with you?”

“Oh sure, that sounds fine.”

“Okay. Let me just get the papers together.”

“Sure.”

“Could you sign here, here, and here, please?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Okay, we’re all set.”

“Thank you.”

“Your ring will be on the floor in about a half hour.”

“That’s great.”

“I’m sorry this happened.”

“What? No, this is great. Do you know what the guys down the street were offering me? Thirty dollars.”

“That’s crazy.”

“I know.”

“It’s such a beautiful ring.”

“I used to love it too.”

“What I mean is, I’m sorry you’re having to sell your engagement ring.”

“It’s okay.”

“It is?”

“I think so. I think it’s going to be okay.”