The unnamed Assistant served in a jeweller's shop and served Emily Bishop in July 1976 when she came in to sell her engagement ring. Ernest Bishop's Camera Shop business had gone under and he had been hit with a demand for £300 from the Inland Revenue. The assistant thought initially that she wanted to buy a ring but she put him right and asked him to value her own ring. He ended up giving her £100 for it, much to Ernie's annoyance when he found out the depths they had sunk to.