A trip to Tiffany's

We hop on my bike and we book it over to Tiffany’s. I park in the private parking lot and lead the way to the private side entrance. Once inside, I store our helmets in my locker and meet up with Marley, my personal shopper from Tiffany’s. She’s learned to have her phone with her at all times – even after her scheduled shift – because I’d always call or text her saying that I’d want a certain item, she’d get it for me and charge it to my Tiffany’s & Co. credit card. I felt bad for her when I woke her up or kept her up past midnight or even on the day before a holiday. Most often than not, she said she didn’t mind; I knew it was because of a hefty commission each time I purchased something.

“Hey, Marley! Vince, this is amazing Marley, my personal shopper extraordinaire. Marley, this old man is my husband of 6 hours. We’re in to get some wedding bands. You know me and my taste. Vince’s taste is quite different than mine. As you know, I’m jeans, t shirt and leather wearing, Jack Daniel’s straight, motorcycle riding and loud Italian woman. Vince, on the other hand, is more of the musical, sherry drinking, quiet and brooding type. Show us what you’ve got!” I said.

“Follow me,” Marley said; motioning to her assistant to get Vince and I both a glass of champagne. The assistant came back in a moment or two with champagne. Vince gave me a quizzical look, I mouthed to him that I’d tell him later. He shrugged.

“Ok. So what I have here are some classier rings that seem to fit Vince more. I’ve got some more modern rings that fit Deppgrl and over heeeeeeeeeeeeere, I have some rings that are modern yet classy that fit the both of you,” Marley said as she motioned to her assistant to bring us both another glass of champagne. “I’ll give you guys some time to look over the rings and decide. Just holler if you need anything!”
“Thanks, Marley!” Vince said. “What’s up with the champagne? It’s great, trust me I’m not complaining, but neither of us will be ok to drive back to the apartment. We both had 5 glasses. Babe, each bottle has enough for four glasses. Please tell me that the champagne is free.”

“The champagne is the best of the best. No, neither one of us will be fine to drive back; a limo will take us back, Marley will take the bike back to the valet and the limo will take her back here. The champagne is slightly more than free,” I replied.

“Um, I hate to ask you this, Babe, but are you paying for the limo and the champagne?”

“Yes and yes. It’s not a free service that’s included into the yearly VIP service, even for me.”

“How much is it?”

“It’s about how much your salary is….for 5 years.”

“Wait. I make $45,000 a year and you’re telling me that the champagne and the limo are costing you $225,000? I hate that your dropping all this money like it’s nothing!! You’re making $1.75 million dollars a year with the PD plus an additional $5 million dollars a year with the new company. You’re spending a quarter of a million dollars BEFORE the rings?”

“Vince, relax, ok? I’ve been saving since I started with the PD. I’ve worked with them for 8 years. In those years, I’ve earned $140,000,000. I’ve saved a ton of it. It’s my money and I can spend it how I like. So sue me for wanting the best in life! Ok, my apartment is shit, but that’s beside the point. Just let it go! I’m healthy, I have two amazing jobs, one hell of a pension, great benefits with both jobs, two amazing life insurance policies and I’m finally married to you. God forbid I die before you do, you’re gonna be set for life. God forbid you die, I’ll be fine.”

“Yeesh. You don’t need to jump down my throat!”

“Me? Jump down YOUR throat? You’re the one that went off about how much money I’ve spent so far today. I never do anything fun with my life. For the first time in a long time, I’m actually getting out of my apartment to do something other than working and going to the gym. I don’t spend much time with friends, I’ve hardly dated since we broke up….the last boyfriend I had was 6 years ago. Lighten the hell up, Vince. You’re my husband, not my father!!” I said as I head on over to the ladies’ bathroom.

I place the champagne flute down and splash some water on my face. I can’t believe that we’re fighting about me spending money that I clearly have. I could spend a ton of money every day for the rest of the year and still have plenty left due to the income from both of my jobs. I knew going into the marriage would be somewhat difficult but not this early. I take the champagne flute and walk back over to my hubby.

“Deppgrl, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to tell you how to spend your money. It’s yours, not mine. I won’t say anything about your money again.”
“Thanks, Boo. Let’s drop it, get more champagne and find our rings,” I said motioning to Marley’s assistant. She came running over with the rest of the champagne from the third bottle.

We spent the next hour trying on rings, figuring out if we wanted “my” style, Vince’s “style” or the combination of both our styles. We compared the styles that Marley pointed out to us to see what fits the best with the engagement ring. After a few scowls, glares and pouts, we finally decided to go with Vince’s style since it matched the engagement ring. I’m so glad we did because the set that we chose is both Vince AND I.

“Do you want me to just charge it to your card or do you want to know the price of the set?” Marley asked.

“Well, it depends how much is on the card,” I said.

“There WAS close to $5 million dollars charged on it as of last week but it looks like it was paid off on Monday around 11:15 am.”

“That’s impossible, Marley! We both know I wasn’t here! I was with my lawyer signing paperwork to take over a company. You know that I’m the only one authorized to pay the card off!”

“I know, I know. But Tiffany’s & Co. policy generally states that we don’t mind who pays of the charge card as long as it gets paid off. Aha. I see a note here. It says that the now former president and CEO of your company paid it off. He also said that he’s putting a $2 million dollar credit towards any jewelry and china purchase,” Marley said.

“Vin, you wanna use the credit towards our bands?? We might as well,” I said.

“Sure, we’ll use the credit. We can always come back another time to use the rest, right, Marley?” Vin asked.
“Ok. There’ll be $1,997,500 left on the credit. And yes you can. There’s the one stipulation though. It has to be within the next year. I don’t think that you’ll have a problem with that at all, especially if Deppgrl gets in her mind that she needs more chinaware,” Marley said. “How do the rings fit?”
The rings fit perfectly on the both of us. It was as if the rings were made just for us. Marley called the limo out front for us and grabbed her helmet from under the counter, led us back to the locker. We grabbed our helmets and I gave her the keys to the bike. Vince and I hopped into the limo with Marley following us.

Once we got back to the apartment, she took the bike over to the valet and we hopped out of the limo. As the driver helped me out, I quietly asked if he’d been paid and tipped. He said he had but by the look on his face, I could tell that it wasn’t enough. I asked him how much he was getting paid and tipped. He told me it was under $125. I was stunned.

“Vince, go ahead in. I’ll be up momentarily,” I said. He nodded. “Marley? How much did the driver get paid and tipped? As in the total?”

“It was $105 even,” Marley said.

“What this man gets paid to drive the VIPs to their residence and back is NOT enough to live on. This man is on call 24/7, every single day of the week. He’s missing out on family, holidays, birthdays, friends….life just so he can pay his bills. He gets one VIP a month; me. $105 a month is not going to pay rent, it’s not going to pay for food, it’s not going to pay for gas or anything else in the city for that matter! Maxwell, how much is your rent, food and gas a month?” I said.

"Um, Lieu, it’s close to $8,000 a month,” he said.

“Are you late on anything?” I ask.

“I’m two months behind on rent,” he said.

“Please call your landlord and tell him that I want him to come to my personal apartment so I can talk to him. Here’s $10,000 to pay for gas and food. Don’t worry about rent for now. I’ll talk to your landlord about it,” I said.

Marley looked at me like I had three heads. I told her that with her being this man’s sole boss (and NOT Tiffany's), he still needs to be paid hourly and that he’s due back pay. I warned her that if wasn’t paid by the end of business today, she’d get fined for not supplying this man his pay. I explained that if I hear that Maxwell continues to NOT get paid, I will make sure he gets a lawyer.  She paled and said she’d take care of it immediately. I turned to Maxwell and told him that I expect his landlord in a few minutes. He nodded. I ran upstairs and explained everything to Vince.

“I see your point but you can’t go paying everyone’s salary. Just do what you can with Maxwell, ok?” Vince said.

“I feel bad for the man. He’s not earning what he’s due and it’s not fair. Marley will get it taken care of by the end of the day and will give him he previous earnings. I made sure she understood how important it was.”

The doorbell rang and I opened it up. It was Maxwell and his landlord. I led them to the living room and invited them to sit. They both did and I explained to the landlord what Maxwell told me. The landlord confirmed this to be true. I told the landlord that I was willing to pay ONLY the past two months rent and not to blackmail or bribe me because of my job at the PD. In front of the landlord, I typed up and printed a contract stating that I would be paying him cash for the past two months rent for Maxwell and that was all I was going to pay. I printed out both copies. Maxwell and Vince signed both copies after the landlord and I did to signify that they were witnesses attesting to this contract. I told the landlord that once he and Maxwell left, I was faxing my copy to my lawyer and was going to give her my copy Monday morning. He paled at my seriousness. I do what I need to in order to protect myself.

Vince escorted them out and hugged me. We laid down on the couch and fell asleep, wrapped up in each other’s arms.