Saturday, July 2, 2011

The Gold Got Sold.......Eventually!!!

So, all thoughts of aforementioned dodgy kitchen appliance aside, off I trotted earlier to go sell that Gold. I mean, really......how hard can it be????
Arriving at the store, gold in pocket, I felt that positive buzz of energy you get when you know you are about to do something worthy. I chatted happily as the business owner examined my wares for authenticity and, satisfied that all hallmarks were present and correct, the man made me an offer of a couple of hundred dollars. Yippee!!!!! I know this does not sound much.....but the stuff was basically a small pile of crap and a couple of hundred is a fifth of the way to the next thousand dollars.
I am pleased with myself. So pleased, in fact, that when the man in question had been rambling on about having never seen 9k gold jewelery before (the U.S. usually only use 10k and 14k) I completely forgot to be somewhat alarmed.
Without further ado, the man gets out a small bottle of liquid substance and starts putting a tiny amount on each item I had brought to him. He looked at the first item, then at me, before declaring "this is fake"!!!
"what do you mean, fake? it's all hallmarked, isn't it?"
I heard the man groan to himself before moving on to the next piece.
"this piece also appears to be fake!" he states.
SERIOUSLY.......first I move to a part of America that promises numerous opportunities in the Social Work field in which I am trained, only to be told I am unemployable in said field due to my 'foreign national' status. Then, several adoption agencies turn me down - also due my 'foreign national' status. Now, I am told that British gold is just not good enough in this so called 'land of opportunity'.
Forgive me if I am sounding a little paranoid here, but I am starting to get an inferiority complex. This place sucks......and not just a little bit! I am so friggin' mad, I swear I have steam coming from my ears!.
I try to think rationally and question the man on what exactly he is doing. The bottled substance, it turns out, is some kind of acid. If acid is placed on anything other than gold, the metal turns green. After much discussion, I managed to decipher that because 9k gold is not as pure as 10k or 14k (it is mixed with other metals to 'bulk out' the gold content) the acid was leaving a green residue that the man had only ever seen on fake gold before. It took some arguing about hallmarks and my very best 'pleading eyes' look to get him to agree to take the stuff. Finally, all arguing over, I leave the store still shaking from head to toe with anger, but with that precious cheque in hand.
I WIN

2 comments:

Donald Allen said...

I believe it's a check! I think it is even written on the item in question.

Sarah said...

You American's need to learn proper English! My British Cheque Book clearly has the word "cheque" in big letters. Really! Which one of us speaks English?????lol

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