SW
Steven Wade
Sep 13, 2026
To whom it may concern,
My name is LTC Steven L. Wade (Retired, United States Army). During my 26 year military career my Uncle, Uncle Sam, has sent me to various exotic, beautiful and dangerous locales, such as Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Denmark, Canada, Mexico,Turkey, Uzbekistan, Honduras, Panama, French Guinea, Suriname, Qatar, Kuwait, Afghanistan, and Iraq.
I gave the above background to give you context on what I'm going to say about my experience my baby Sister and I received with Malak Jewelers. We entered the shop after strategizing what we wanted and how much we were allocating to the purchases ($5K).
Enter the best Salesperson I've ever encountered, wonder woman Chris. Welcoming assuring and reasoning with a 3 combat tour 82nd Airborne paratrooper. She directed her staff of junior salespersons to accommodate my sister while Chris performed expectation management on the Colonel. We were offered a bottle of Champagne not with the expectation of make us fuzzy about our purchases but genuine sincere friendliness. She encouraged my interaction with the other customers especially another male customer who comminserated with one another about the superfluous gifts we received in the past from our respective families, comminserating that we were finally doing something for ourselves.
After wrangling trying to get the grand total to the $5K limit I artificially set. I deliberately went for Indian Jewelry, 22K with exquisite workmanship and flair. The entire shop was filled with beautiful works of craftsmanship and art. I was secretly glad that my Sister was with me and not my wife where the purchases would've exceeded $10K.
The staff was warm and Mr Malik and his son were so supportive. As we crossed over after closing time, I expressed the tried and true military maxim that the troops, eat first, sleep first and our taken care of before the officers are last he said Colonel Wade I will take of my "troops" and the wrangling continued.
Finally Super Chris got to the proverbial point of putting 10 lbs of scrap in a five pound pail She delivered the kill shot. She said Colonel Wade you want to replace your 22K wedding band and cross you lost at the beach on the Atlantic Ocean. Are you really not going to get the two items that match what you lost because you exceeded your threshold by $300 dollars, the former Private/SGT that worked his way up the ranks to Lieutenant Colonel surrendered to the brilliant closing argument that would have made F.Lee Bailey proud and we sealed the deal. h-&2My sister and I hugged Chris, grabbed our Bounty and left the store to relax on the park benches laughing at how Chris made me see reason.
The store was closing as a light rain was falling over Charlotte, NC where my sister and I were visiting our brother and his wife for a miniature family reunion. Mr Malak came to the door, saw us still there brought us two bottles of water. I proceed to tell him that Chris was his lead sled dog and she was making him oodles of money with her charisma, charming and jewelry knowledge and he better hold on to her tight.
My sister and I were still sitting there when the Malak brain trust exited the store. They acknowledged us and were all genuinely happy about the encounter.
BEST shopping experience ever.
Sincerely LTC Steven L Wade US Army Retired.
Take Care