Ü: Brunch at Tiffany's

A few weeks ago, J and I went to several jewelry shops in NYC. That was educational, overwhelming, and somewhat stressful, due to the the weekend/holiday madness in Manhattan in December. We checked out quite a few places like Georg Jensen, Tiffany, Cartier, Piaget, Montblanc, and even Chanel. For the sake of fun, we also visited Mikimoto, Van Cleef, and Harry Winston. If you like to know my thoughts about every single one of them, talk to me and I'll give a full speech! Now, let's fast forward to two days ago, when J and I went down to Tiffany again.

幾周前, J跟我逛了紐約市內幾間珠寶店。由於年底節假日曼哈頓內洶湧人潮，我們學了不少，也費神傷神不少。其中，逛了Georg Jensen、Tiffany、Cartier、Piaget、萬寶龍，還有香奈兒。為滿足好奇心，也晃了Mikimoto、Van Cleef，以及傳說中的鑽石之王Harry Winston。如果您想知道我對上述各家觀感，我很樂意特別詳述。現在，請容我快轉至兩天前，J跟我再度拜訪了Tiffany。

J and I live in the middle of nowhere, and the closest Tiffany is still the one in New York City. This time, we decided to go in early on a work day. After getting on the bus at 6:10AM, we got to Tiffany right after it opened for business. The atmosphere was completely different because of the lack of early customers. Right after entering, a gentleman handed us the guide of the building, and we realized that Tiffany meant a lot more than just the ground floor... Our specialist Margo welcomed us right after we exited the elevator on the second floor. We told her what we were looking for, and she brought us to her desk. While waiting for her to bring a few rings, we were treated with tea served in the pretty Tiffany cups. Margo came back with the classic Tiffany design and the Harmony design for my curiosity. The real fun and tricky part started after settling with the design. We got to decide which stone we wanted to go with the design. Before Margo brought us more rings, we had more tea...

我們住在鬼地方，最近的Tiffany就是紐約市那間。搭了早上六點十分出發的巴士，我們在Tiffany剛開門營業時拜訪。由於非假日加上早上客人稀少，氣氛大不同（前一次簡直是菜市場）。一踏進店裡，馬上有服務人員遞給我們店內介紹，我們才發現原來Tiffany的服務有六層樓之分。一出二樓電梯門，來自波蘭的Margo馬上熱情歡迎我們。一得知我們來訪目的，她帶著我們到她的介紹區先坐會。在我們等她拿戒指的同時，還有服務人員招呼我們用Tiffany杯組呈獻的烏龍茶。Margo帶來Tiffany的經典設計與我好奇的Harmony設計，在比較一番後我說還是比較喜歡Harmony，接著就是最有趣又最讓人頭痛的部分，選石頭！Margo起身去準備更多戒指，我們喝了更多烏龍茶...

Margo came back with three Harmony rings with different sizes and qualities of stones. Without any professional guidance, she asked us to rank the brightness of the stones. Unfortunately or fortunately, J and I both got them perfectly in order with our naked eye. Margo was very thorough and helpful. She also took us next to the window to see how different ranks of stones shine under the sun light. From my experience, I couldn't see any difference under that circumstance. Since the differences seemed to be very subtle, we brought up another variable, wedding band, which could help us nail the final choice. Margo got up for more rings and we got asked to have more tea...

於是，Margo帶著不同等級不同大小的石頭回來。在不知情又未受任何訓練的狀況下，她讓我們為這三顆石頭排等級。很幸運或是很不幸地，J跟我竟然能用肉眼為這三顆差距不大的石頭排出正確等級！Margo相當周慮地提供我們各種欣賞角度，她帶著我們到窗邊看這三顆石頭在一般日光下的差異。根據我自身經驗，在一般光線下，我完全看不出任何顏色與亮度差異... 由於等級造成的實際差別其實相當細微，我們建議配合婚戒一起看，也許能幫助我們下決定。Margo再度起身，我們喝了更多烏龍茶...

She brought us a few different designs of wedding bands, and that was extremely helpful. Putting on the rings next to each other completed the picture. Some of the stones lost their beauty in certain combination. Once I caught that, it couldn't be unseen. In a few minutes, I knew what combination I love the most. I told Margo what I wanted, and Margo requested some champagne for J and some sparkling water for me. She was very sweet to take a few pictures for us. After J got out from a Grounded Vindaloop (South Park Season 7) to process the payment, Margo asked me if I liked to wear it right away. We were convinced to take a moment at the Tiffany private area. They brought us cute blue cakes, more champagne, and more sparkling water. Just like that, J knelt and gave a little speech, I got to say yes, and we got to walk out with the ring on my finger! Mwahahahahaha...We believed that Tiffany had everything recorded...

她帶來三款不同設計的婚戒，相當有幫助！一旦同時戴上兩個戒指後，某些缺陷馬上浮上檯面。而這些缺陷都是一旦被發現，就無法被忽略的那種。於是，幾分鐘後我就告訴Margo我的喜好與決定。這次，Margo請我們香檳與氣泡水（我酒精過敏），還幫我們照了幾張相片！在J順利通過Grounded Vindaloop考驗（請參考南方公園第七季）成功付款後，Margo問我是否想馬上戴著戒指。看著我無法再等的表情，Margo帶我們到Tiffany二樓某個安靜無人的角落，請人準備更多香檳、氣泡水，與Tiffany招牌藍盒子樣的小點心。就這樣，J下跪發表感言，我說好，然後我們戴上戒指離開Tiffany！Mwahahahahahaha... 相信Tiffany有整個過程影音檔案...

At the end, I would love to point out things I love about this shopping trip especially
1. Margo was thorough, patient, pleasant, and humorous
Margo did a fantastic job covering things we should take into our consideration in terms of choosing the best fit for us/me. In the mean time, we didn't feel pressured or rushed. Because of her sense of humor, the purchase became more personal, intimate, and fun.
2. International and lifetime services
According to Tiffany customer services, I could walk into any Tiffany in the world and get the Tiffany rings clean any time with no charge. They also fix the prongs for free if needed. After the purchase, customers could exchange and pay the price difference for an upgrade(only one time). After the purchase, I could choose to remount the stone from one setting to another (e.g. Harmony to Tiffany) for free(also one time only).

這次旅程，有幾個特別讓我想闡述的部分
1. Margo很周慮、很有耐心、很有幽默感，讓我們覺得很愉快
Margo除了點出數據上的不同點外，也讓我們有機會用很實際（非專業）角度考慮所有面向。她相當有耐性，讓我們在過程中沒有壓力又從容不迫，而她的幽默讓這次經驗變得更特別，更親密有人性，且更有趣。
2. 跨國且終身服務
根據Tiffany售後服務，我能隨時拜訪世界任何一間Tiffany，終身免費清理戒指（與免費修理戒指金屬的服務）。購買後，若我某天覺得戒指不夠高檔想要升等，Tiffany允許更換補差價一次。購買後，若我某天突然覺得看Harmony底座膩了想換成經典Tiffany，Tiffany也會免費為我換底座一次（這個次數其實我不太記得了）。

We couldn't think of anything else that could make this trip even more perfect... Okay! If Tiffany also has certified official that could marry couples right there to complete the Tiffany experience, we would totally sign up for that...
我們實在想不出還有甚麼其他服務能讓Tiffany旅程更完美了... 好！如果Tiffany同時雇專業人士能提供我們機會就地合法結婚，那我們勢必會馬上報到...