Real-Life Decision Making
Your shop has just received a bunch of jewelry that needs stone replacements and prong repairs. Prongs are the little metal claws that hold the gems in place.
Much of the work in this contract involves emeralds. Emeralds are very sensitive to heat and crack easily if you get them near a torch. To repair the prongs, then, you have to remove the emeralds first. This is time-consuming, but it's the only way.
However, these are Chatham emeralds -- they are "lab-grown," as opposed to emeralds that form naturally and are found in the ground. You have heard rumors that Chatham emeralds can take heat.
This is supposedly because of their perfect crystalline structure. Natural emeralds have flaws containing bits of carbon, liquid and air, which expand under heat and crack the gem.
Removing the gems will be a real pain. If this rumor about Chatham emeralds is true, you could save a lot of time and money by repairing the prongs without removing the gems.
On the other hand, if you end up breaking emeralds while doing your repairs, the replacement costs will come out of your own pocket. The whole process could backfire on you.
What do you do?