Could it BE!?

By Joseph Walther

A friend of mine owns a jewelry store. I stopped in to see him the other day. While we were talking, we noticed one of his younger sales associates waiting on an older man—looked to be in his late ‘60s. The customer was nicely-dressed and well spoken. He was interested in a diamond necklace that was on sale for a mere $6,899.96.

The clerk, anticipating an imminent sale, dutifully explained the investment qualities of diamonds and his store’s quality guarantee. Almost as an after-thought, he mentioned the inevitable thrill his wife would feel when she found it under the Christmas tree.

“Oh, I’ve been a widower for the past fifteen years, but I’ve finally met someone. I feel like a teenager in love for the first time,” he explained.

At this, my friend (the owner) excused himself for a “minute” and went behind the counter to “help” the clerk close the sale. He’d spent his life in the jewelry business and he knew something about the product that young, inexperienced clerks have yet to learn.

He introduced himself to the customer, complementing him on his taste. He also asked if he’d like to see a matching set of earrings that he might want to consider for a later purchase. The customer seemed thrilled to look at them.

With that, my friend reached for the earrings that were next to where the necklace had been. They, too, were on sale. The price was $8,996.99. His eyes widened and he exhibited the biggest smile I’ve ever seen.

“I’ll take them AND the necklace,” he exclaimed. Harry (the owner) asked if he’d like to include a card and have them gift-wrapped. The customer said that he would like that very much.

Harry handed him the small white, blank card. The gentleman took out a FOUNTAIN pen and wrote in a near-perfect Palmer Method—cursive to you non-Catholics—“I love you, Ann” and signed it, “Tommy.”

He pulled his check book from inside his overcoat and wrote a check in the amount of $15,996.95, explaining that the extra $100 was a tip for being so helpful. Harry concluded the transaction with a warm handshake and a wish for a very warm and happy holiday.

By now, the young clerk had moved toward me. He told me that he would not have believed what just happened had he not seen it with his own eyes. “My boss just talked that customer into buying $16,000 worth of jewelry,” he told me. “I could never have done that,” he finished.

Clearly, this young clerk had no idea what had happened. The customer was there and already committed to buying. The boss knew this because he had a clear understanding about what the customer was trying to buy. All the boss had to do was show the customer what he was looking for.

I tried to explain that while he (the clerk) was trying to sell the customer quality diamonds, the customer was looking to buy a fantastically positive reaction. His boss knew this almost instinctively.

“There must be five or so other jewelry stores within a 5-mile radius of this one,” I told him. “Each sells high-quality diamonds,” I continued. “This customer came into YOUR store. All you had to do was convince him that he’d come to the right store. You had the necklace sale in the bag,” I concluded.

Harry knew that this customer was not buying diamonds for his newfound love because they’re good financial investments. If this were the case, a nice cache of blue chip stocks would have sufficed quite nicely!

No, men who purchase diamonds for the women in their lives do so to experience an exhilarating, sincere, tearful, loving reaction. It’s one of the greatest feelings in the world. In my life, the only joy that ever topped it was that of my children wrapping their little arms around my neck and saying, “I love you, daddy!”

Anyway, this is why Harry has been so successful for so many years. He knows what he’s actually selling. Hopefully, this young clerk has begun to see the point, too. The same lesson is applicable to virtually every other retail sales endeavor.

On another matter, unrelated to diamonds, I volunteer some of my time to one of those homework help facilities. You know… the kind where kids can phone in their questions or pose them via internet forums. This one is unique, though. It’s private.

First, those who provide the help must submit their qualifications to do so. Participating schools verify the credentials, including background criminal checks.

Second, the students who use it must register with their school’s principal who provides each student with an approval code. Whenever a student either phones in or places a question in the online forum, they must provide the code.

Third, the service is restricted to junior and senior high school students. The phone system records student codes, questions, and responder solutions. The same is true of online forum use.

Last the service is free. Responders are all volunteers. The only technology that a student needs to use the service is access to an online-capable computer or a standard landline phone.

Responders are not permitted to divulge student identification in any way. However, I recently received a help request that blew me away. It wasn’t the question, though. It was the fact that it came from a 13-year-old.

I contacted the school and they gave me permission to write about it here as long as I do not divulge the student’s identity, including the name of the school. I agreed and, for the record, the school is not in my home state of Delaware.

The question…FROM A 13-YEAR OLD was as follows. “Is there a way, using simple algebra, to calculate the effects of relativistic time dilation? I’ve tried everywhere to find an answer, but the only thing I found involves Lorenz transformation equations and I can’t understand them.”

The question continued, “I want to figure out how old I would be if my father left on an outer space trip that took him ten years traveling at 80% of the speed of light.”

My response… “WOW, you’re only thirteen?” To answer the question directly, yes, you can use simple linear algebra to calculate a correct answer. The key is to concentrate on relative time lapses instead of worrying about figuring out dilation factors.

Since it took dad ten years to make the trip, I assumed the ten years to be his time inside his space ship. As such, calculate the square-root of (1-0.8²—the 0.8² represents 80% the velocity of light). The square-root of it all is 0.60.

Then, divide this into 10 (representing the ten years of dad’s reference trip time. This will put your reference time, upon his arrival back on Earth, at about 16.7-years.

The answer makes sense because, in terms of relativity, clocks run slower the closer you get to the speed of light. This isn’t speculation, we’ve already proved it.

In other words, relative to the clocks on dad’s space ship, a total of ten years went by, while 16.7 years went by on your Earth-bound clock. The formulation works in the other way, also.

Assume the same speed of travel. Then, say dad leaves on a space trip and you wait 16.7-years (by your Earth clock) for his return. How many years will have transpired on HIS space ship clock?

Again, calculate the square-root of (1-0.8²), which still equals 0.60. But instead of dividing this into 10-years, multiply it by 10-years. Dad’s space ship clock will show that it took only ten years to make the trip.

While relativistic time dilation is verifiable—it’s done, almost daily, in virtually every undergraduate physics lab in the country—we’re nowhere near actual human age effect verification.

Besides, no massive body can achieve the speed of light. By massive, I do not mean big. I simply mean a body that contains mass. And, we’re not likely to achieve even 50-percent the velocity of light in terms of travel speeds anytime soon.

It took the human race 200-years to go from horse speed to Voyager speed, the fastest space vehicle we’ve thus far developed. Going full-throttle, its speed is about 40,000 MPH.

Don’t fret, though. When Albert Einstein was 8-years old, he wondered what it would be like to ride on a light-beam. You’re a little older than he was when he began thinking about such things, but you seem to think far in advance of your years, the same as he did. Could a Nobel be in your future? Maybe! We humans could use some good news. Keep it up.

Next week… same time and place.

Joseph Walther is a freelance writer and publisher of The True Facts. Copyright laws apply to all material on this site. Send your comments. Just click here.