Mr. Cheapskate did not want to spend ANY money on his ring. He wanted the plainest, cheapest ring that he could find. If it was out of a gumball machine, he would have been happy.
Thank goodness for the salesman at Jared's. What a trooper! He gave the "precious metal" speech, and when that didn't work, he gave him the "only ring you'll ever buy" speech. When that still didn't work, and Danny wasn't going to give an inch, the salesman didn't give up. It was, but it wasn't, an issue with spending money. But the salesman kept feeling him out, and steering him away from the cheapy rings, and looking for his window.
Finally, he figured out the magic answer: he asked Dan, "Which ring would you pick if money was no object?" Well, when Dan has his "I Don't Care About Money Hat" on, he is a completely different person. Dan didn't look at the price tags, and was wavering between two different rings, one of which was a square one (i.e., kind of funky!). And it started becoming obvious that Danny wanted something different, but yet still plain. And the salesman said, "Now hold on a minute. I think I have just the one for you. I want you to just put it on, don't look at the price tag. Okay?" And Danny agreed.
The salesman had to walk to a different case, but I don't think Dan noticed that. It was the case with all the "bling" rings, so I was worried that he wouldn't even give it a chance and we'd be stuck with the gumball option. But when he brought it back Dan was a Good Boy and just put it on.
And that was the moment I'll never, ever forget: when Danny put that ring on and held his hand out in front of him, admiring the ring, with his eyes shining. The salesman and I were just being quiet and letting him get used to it. And Danny looked like a cartoon character that has stars covering his eyes. Then he'd get embarrassed because he realized we were watching him admire the ring, so he'd stop and put his hand down and try to look at us. That is, until (seemingly without conscious thought) his hand would come back up and he would take another peek. That was my favorite part: embarrassed or no, he just couldn't tear his eyes away. He kept looking, stretching out his arm to look at his hand, turning his wrist side-to-side so he could see that ring sparkle.
The good news was when Dan finally looked, the price wasn't really an issue. Neither break the bank nor cheap, just a good, decent price that you'd expect to pay for any nice ring. And the ring! It was just what he didn't know he always wanted. A plain-looking smooth band, with diamonds inset in the side edges so they weren't obvious right away. In fact, you don't really even notice them unless he points them out to you. It's like a secret.
Shhhhhh!
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