Precious Pawn Shop Stories about Special Engagement Rings!

Pawn Shop Stories

By Lisa Moore Waddell

I guess my favorite job at the shop was helping young men find the perfect ring to give to their future wife. We have helped young men at church, relatives, friends that our kids sent from college, plus all the strangers who walked in off the street.

I’ve pulled rings and sold them straight out of my own jewelry box, as well as given up what was supposed to be my 35th anniversary ring and my 40th anniversary ring. When you know your young lady and what her taste are, and you know you are holding the perfect ring…you have to help her get it!!

We played a part in Melissa’s, Paige and Anna’s rings. When it came time for their bands, they all picked out bands from my personal collection. That was a very special time for me.

There were several times we had to pull some…well, shenanigans to help pull it off and keep it a surprise.

Here’s a couple….

• a young lady came in one day and looked through the cases. She saw a particular design she like and said “Miss Lisa, can you hold this ring and show it to Joseph. This is the style ring I want. I’ll tell him to come by and look at it.”

I pulled the ring and put in my office.

Well, he came by the very next day and I showed it to him. He said if that’s what she wants…that’s what she will have. So, we went to work to make it happen.

I told him that I needed to keep the ring in my office because if she came back in and saw it in the case then she would know he had been by.

Sure enough…after a few weeks, she saw me and casually walked up. She look at me at and said…”has he been by to see it yet?” I answered her…”sweetie, I still have it in my office.” She looked so disappointed and said…”okay.”

The ring was still in my office. I just didnt answer whether or not he had been by. What she didn’t know was that he had the completed ring in his possession waiting on the perfect time to give it to her.

For Lisa’s first story I shared click here!

• when Cory was thinking about a ring for Paige he settled on a design and we went to work. He called me one night in a panic and said, “she said all she wants is a plain square diamond with nothing else on it!” I tried to calm him down and tell him…she just hasn’t see this one. She will love it, I promise!!

Well… their next visit down I had the completed ring. I was in my office

pricing jewelry when Paige came in. I told her I had just put a ring together to sell and asked it she wanted to see it.

She LOVED it!! Cory just stood behind her grinning at me, because he could now put his mind at ease.

Next trip down, right before they came in the shop, I put the ring in the case as if it were for sale. She immediately saw it, tried it on and oohed and ahh’ed over it. As soon as they left, I took it out if the case and returned it to its safe spot.

I told Loretta we needed to fix a fake lay a way for it and get it in the safe. So, we did!

Next trip… she brings her friend Lauren with her. She’s looking in the case trying to find that ring and asked me about it. I went to loretta to see if she knew anything about it and she told me she had ”sold” it and put it on layaway. We even got into the safe and pulled the layaway so Paige could show it to lauren.

When Cory proposed she said she kept looking at the ring and kept thinking, “but it sold…it sold.”

It didn’t matter if you were a stranger, a friend or a relative, if you came to me for an engagement ring, you got the, what my nephews called the “aunt Lisa talk.” At some point in the discussion about the ring, I would work in the question about whether or not they were positive about this choice and to think carefully because God’s plan is to marry for life!

So many memories of being able to be a small part of this momentous occasion in these young people’s lives. They will never know just what it meant to me.

I still get to see several of these couples at church, at family gatherings, and many on Facebook. It’s so nice to still be connected with them and see how their lives together have unfolded.

Like I said….it was the best part of my job! (Lisa and her husband just retired and closed the shop)

For Lisa’s first story click here!