Economy and Diamond Buying

I have been working as a Jewelry Salesman going on 3 years now and I have never seen business so slow... As a sales professional I need to sell, its my job. I have been noticing that people are on a very tight budget in the last couple months.. its hurting a lot of businesses I'm sure. People/Customers are buying more necessities for gifts this year... shoes, clothes, all that good stuff.. but they don't seem to making the bigger purchases as far as jewelry, cars, TVs ext... and if they are buying the bigger gifts they are price shopping them to death. Its a hard world for a salesman these days. Usually I spend a nice amount for the holidays and even I am cutting back this year... I told people not to spend much on me so i don't have to spend much on them and that's not my style... For example last year I bought my brother a 32'' flat screen TV, my mom diamond Jewelry... This year my brother is getting a movie or 2, my mom a much more affordable piece of Jewelry than last year...always have to hook up the mother with jewelry... If I am doing this I can imagine how many other people are going to be watching their pockets... All I can do as a salesman is hope the economy gets better so we can get the business back that I have seen in the past 2.5 years.