Duke Discount Leads To Magical Moment
Employee purchases a diamond engagement ring for his beloved
Jonathan Gallo's heart raced as he stood arm-in-arm with his girlfriend, gazing at the city lights from the top of the Empire State Building on Christmas Eve.
He took a deep breath and sank down on one knee.
Read More"Will you marry me?" he asked.
As Sarah Mayorga said yes, Gallo reached in his coat pocket and pulled out a small box containing a diamond-encrusted ring.
It was the perfect end to a nerve-wracking few weeks last December for Gallo, a compensation analyst in Duke Human Resources. "I didn't want her to know what I was planning," he said, "so everything had to be kept secret, including the ring."
Gallo started surreptitiously visiting jewelry shops last November in search of a ring similar to one Mayorga admired on a friend's finger. "I must have gone to eight or 10 shops and none of them had what I wanted," he said.
Then he visited Jewelsmith at Erwin Square on Main Street in Durham. The display case didn't have what he wanted, but the salesperson assured him they could design anything he wanted.
Gallo described the ring of his dreams - a white gold band with inset diamonds holding a larger, circular diamond. When he mentioned that he worked at Duke, the salesperson offered a 10 percent discount through PERQS, the Duke employee discount program.
"I was stunned," Gallo said. "Not only was I getting the perfect ring, but now they were offering a discount that allowed me to get a higher quality diamond without breaking my budget."
Two weeks before Christmas, the ring was finished, and Gallo faced another challenge: what to do with the jewel until Christmas Eve? "I was terrified of losing it," he said.
For Mayorga, a doctoral student in sociology at Duke, the evening was magical.
"I was completely surprised, and very touched about how he had been so thoughtful in making all the arrangements," she said.
Now it's her turn: she's arranging the gathering of families for the wedding next June in Durham.