When I woke up, I was a little upset. I thought, I’m not even after a Birkin. It’s not that rare. It’s only a bracelet and sometimes it’s available to be bought on the website. I then had the impulse to check the website.
Naturally it showed the website in French since I’m in France and I gasped when I saw the Add to Cart button on the page of the blue agate bracelet. So I decided to come back at Place Vendôme and since it’s the mothership, I had assumed they would be able pull out from their online inventory and sell it to me.
So I went back, this time to the other half of the Place Vendôme store and proceeded to be assigned a male Asian SA. I told him what I was looking for. He led me upstairs, and while walking asked me where I’m from. I said I’m originally from the Philippines but I’ve been living in Denmark for many years now.
He told me to wait by his desk while he gets me my drink (I chose water) and my bracelet.
“I’m sorry, sir,” he said when he came back. “It seems like we are sold out of the blue agate bracelet.”
“But I saw that it’s available at your website,” I said, showing him my phone screen that said “Ajouter au panier” button below the picture of the bracelet. “Can I buy this right now and pick it up here on Monday when you open?”
“Sorry, sir, that’s not enough for time to do that.” He hesitated for a bit and said, “let me make some calls.”
With every call he made he updated me. “Just a moment, sir.” “I’m going to try another one. Please be patient, sir.”
At one point I heard him say “xiexie” so I asked if he’s Chinese. “Taiwanese,” he corrected me. “And you’re from the Philippines so we’re just neighbors.”
After what seemed to me like a lot of phone calls, he said, “I think we are getting lucky. Please be patient, sir.” He waited until his phone rang, and when he hung up, he told me, “wait for me here.”
He emerged from the back door carrying the jewelry tray just below his chest. I was seated so I couldn’t see what’s on it. When he was in front of me he said, grinning, “are you ready?”
When I said yes he set the jewelry tray on the table, and I saw the most perfect shade of blue for my agate bracelet, not too light, not too dark. Like a Goldilocks blue.
“It’s so pretty,” I said. He asked if I wanted to try it on and of course I said yes.
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At this point I thought the worst was over and I could happily go back to my hotel after paying. But no, when I tried to pay for the bracelet, all my cards keep getting declined.
I thought of three things:
- This can’t be happening
- I have enough money in my bank account to cover the bracelet (I use direct debit)
- I have paid for way more expensive things at Hermès and my card didn’t get declined
I kept apologizing profusely for the SA’s inconvenience, and also I was deeply embarrassed after asking him to try many times and with various amounts.
I ended up calling my bank. And I kept on getting disconnected because signal was weak from where I was seated, so I stood beside the window of the store and tried calling again. Whatever luxury I felt while doing this purchase has been thrown out the window.
I thought, now I’m like those customers I see near the cashier at Hermès FSH, frantically calling their banks, sometimes crying, because their cards have problems.
My bank’s customer service explained to me that since I’m outside Denmark, a cap is placed on my cards to prevent fraud, and so they assisted me in how to split the bill for each card so that my payment goes through. To be fair to me, this is my first time to spend this big in another country. I may have spent more at Hermès but that was still done at home.
I asked the SA to process my payment one last time, giving him the same instructions the bank gave me. At last it went through and I breathed an audible sigh of relief.
“This is important to me,” I told him. “It’s my gift to myself. I just became a citizen of Denmark last September after living there for so many years. I did it all on my own. This bracelet is to celebrate that occasion. And I came here in Paris just for this bracelet. There’s no Van Cleef and Arpels store in Denmark and I wanted to see it in real life before buying it.”
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(The Danish citizenship ceremony last September)
“Congratulations,” he said. “What a great way to treat yourself.” I asked him if he’s a French citizen. “Of course,” he said. “I’ve been living here for 22 years.”
He mentioned that sales of blue agate bracelet has skyrocketed for the past six months, and he doesn’t know why. I said it’s probably because of Queen Camilla; she has the exact same bracelet. He agreed that the UK royal family is fond of his employer’s creations, and that customers would often come to the store wanting the set Kate Middleton has.
“They want the set. Always the set,” he said.
My bracelet got the original packaging so I didn’t even have opportunity to discuss about their recent decision of doing away with the velvet boxes.
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“Would you like to wear it now?” he asked. It didn’t even occur to me to do that but I’m glad he suggested. “Yes please. Thank you,” I said. Later on, when I got back to my hotel, I would learn that it takes a bit of time to put the bracelet on my own.
He carried the rest of my stuff while leading me back downstairs to the entrance. I thanked him profusely for being patient with me. He thanked me in return.
When I got out it was already dark. Since it’s winter, sun has set an hour ago and Christmas lights were already turned on at Place Vendôme, although the VCA store will still be open for two more hours.
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What a fun way to spend a Saturday in Paris, I thought. And what did I learn from this experience, I asked myself.
“How much do you trust the universe?” I remember Abraham Hicks saying. “How much do you know that it has your back? How much do you know that things are always working out for you? Because they do. Things are always working out for you.”
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And that’s the story of how I got my first VCA bracelet at Place Vendôme in Paris.
But it’s great to have more people enjoying this joy! My male friends have also got something from the line lately, seems we are”encouraging” each other now haha.
while reading it! I admit I got a bit teary-eyed toward the end 
