2002aug27. I visited the California State Fair with friends over the weekend. We went into the first of two “crappy small business” buildings there. You know, knife sharpening, rug cleaners, FREE SPINAL EXAM, etc. We watched the guy commanding a jewelry booth, omnipresent hands-free Judy-the-Time-Life-operator microphone dangling in front of his mouth. People were lined up, giving him twenty dollars for ring-mounted pearls. Mounted right there, while-u-watch. We sat on the side, and quietly observed as he opened an oyster, pulled out the pearl, mounted it, then his hands went down to get a small bag to put it in and he switched it with a different pre-bagged pearl ring. Perhaps this was just a motion of convenience, but at the time we thought of it as low rookery.
