Chapter 648 - 644: Do You Understand Now?

Cecilia Sterling walked up to Yvonne Sterling with an imposing air, her eyes fixed on the salesperson.

"The old ’looking down your nose at people’ routine... this trashy cliché really is a timeless classic that plays out daily in luxury stores, isn’t it?" Cecilia Sterling sneered. "What’s your monthly salary? You work in a place like this and really think you’re something special?"

If Yvonne Sterling and her husband had given off an air of being unable to afford anything when they entered, Cecilia Sterling was the exact opposite. As she stood there, exuding a refined and noble aura, every employee from the salesperson to the manager could instantly feel her elevated status.

Faced with Cecilia Sterling’s intimidating presence, the young salesperson was rendered speechless.

The manager, however, snapped out of it and tried to explain, but Cecilia Sterling cut her off coldly. "As a top-tier international brand, doesn’t your company provide its employees with proper training? Are you not familiar with the basic principle that ’anyone who walks through the door is a guest’?"

"Our employees all undergo rigorous training before starting. I apologize on behalf of the company for any poor service you received today, and I assure you the employee involved will be disciplined afterward," the manager said, trying to smooth things over.

The young salesperson’s lower lip trembled, and she looked aggrieved.

Yvonne Sterling nervously grabbed Cecilia’s hand and whispered an explanation. "Cecilia, I accidentally..."

"It’s fine, Auntie. If we broke something, we’ll pay for it. It’s a trivial matter, no need to get worked up," Cecilia Sterling said lightly, patting her aunt’s hand reassuringly.

With that, she walked over to the Crystal Coral and looked at the manager expectantly.

The manager immediately located the scratch and pointed it out to Cecilia. "You see, ma’am, this scratch is quite obvious."

It was true. Especially on such a transparent crystal, even the slightest imperfection was visible to the naked eye.

Yvonne Sterling and Brendan Harris exchanged a look, both on the verge of tears from anxiety.

But upon seeing the scratch, Cecilia Sterling merely raised a knowing eyebrow and countered, "And when did you discover this scratch?"

Hearing this, the manager turned to look at the dazed Abby.

When Abby didn’t respond, she called her name. "Abby?"

"Huh?"

"The customer is asking when you discovered the scratch."

Abby snapped out of it and stammered, "J-Just now, I saw her... I saw this lady take her gloves off, and her ring snagged on the fabric. I thought it might have scratched the crystal, so... so I immediately called you over, Manager, to take a look, and... and that’s when we found the scratch."

The manager nodded and turned back to Cecilia, who calmly asked, "So, in other words, what you saw was my aunt’s ring snagging on her glove. You didn’t actually see her scratch the crystal, correct?"

"Er..." The manager was taken aback by Cecilia’s question. It took her a moment to recover before explaining, "Ma’am, metal jewelry shouldn’t be worn when touching the crystals."

"Then did you fulfill your obligation to inform her of that?" Cecilia turned to the young salesperson and asked seriously, "Did you tell the customer she couldn’t wear jewelry *before* she touched the crystal?"

"I..." Abby was dumbfounded. ’At the time, I was too busy looking down on the two of them with disdain. How could I have noticed if she was wearing a ring?’

"So that’s a no, then?" Cecilia scoffed. "You failed to perform your due diligence in informing the customer, so you should also bear part of the responsibility."

The manager opened her mouth to speak, but before she could get a word out, Cecilia cut her off again, her voice low and firm. "But even so, that doesn’t prove the scratch on this crystal came from my aunt’s ring."

"Ma’am, your aunt and her husband had already touched this crystal *before* the sales associate came over to assist them. I saw it myself and even reminded them not to touch it with their bare hands. I suspect the scratch was made then, when she touched it bare-handed. After all, the silk gloves she was wearing later would have offered some protection."

Cecilia nodded slowly at her words. The manager saw this and assumed Cecilia was accepting her explanation, but then Cecilia turned to her aunt and asked, "Auntie, after you came into the store, did you touch anything else before you touched this sculpture?"

Yvonne Sterling nodded. She had only touched two items, so of course she remembered.

"That vase over there."

Cecilia asked again, "So you touched the vase, then you came over to touch this coral sculpture, and only at that point did someone come over to help you?"

Yvonne Sterling nodded.

Cecilia continued, "And think carefully. Did the salesperson come over on her own, or did someone tell her to come over?"

"It was... after the manager spoke to me, she was the one who called the salesperson over."

Cecilia turned to the manager again. By now, the manager’s expression was grim; she knew exactly what this formidable young woman was about to say.

Cecilia let out a small chuckle. "From the moment my aunt and uncle walked into this store, not a single employee approached them. Unaware of the rules and with no guidance, she touched two separate crystal pieces while wearing a ring. Only *after* that did an employee—at your request—finally come over to assist."

"So let me ask you: let’s put aside whether my aunt even made that scratch. If she did, wouldn’t you also have to accept partial responsibility for your staff’s negligence?"

"If you hadn’t told the salesperson to step in, my aunt might have gone on to touch even more crystal items, completely unaware. If every single one of them ended up scratched, and we had to split the cost for all of them... I can afford my share. Can you?"

The manager was speechless.

The young salesperson’s face was now a mask of misery. ’I’m not just going to lose my job,’ she thought, ’I might even be held liable and have to pay for this.’

"We were admittedly at fault, but the scratch on the crystal really is..."

Cecilia raised a hand, cutting her off once more. "Don’t give me that ’really is.’ The facts haven’t even been established, and you’re already so certain?"

"I’ve wasted all this breath on you for one reason and one reason only: to make you understand that in a flagship store, it’s the merchandise that’s expensive, not the people selling it. Next time, before you decide to judge a customer on sight, maybe you should check your own bank balance and see if you have enough in there to handle the unpredictable consequences."

"As for this crystal..." Cecilia glanced coolly at the Crystal Coral. "Go ahead and have a professional third party appraise the scratch. Unless this piece was just put on display today, I highly doubt my aunt is the only person who’s ever touched it."

"If the scratch is identified as ’new,’ we will take responsibility. But you will also have to accept your share of the blame for your negligence."

"However, if the scratch is identified as ’old,’ then this has nothing to do with my aunt. In that case, you will likely be unable to find the actual culprit due to your own carelessness, meaning you’ll have to bear the full responsibility. And you will have to offer my aunt a formal apology."

"Simply put, whether the scratch is ’new’ or ’old,’ you, as the staff of this store, cannot escape the blame. You will have to bear the corresponding responsibility either way." Cecilia looked at the two women, one eyebrow arched. "Understand?"