Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
There's really not enough info...in the US the customer is always right but in many areas of the world that's not the case. The shop owner might have simply thought the bag was a waste of money, she might have thought "why buy this ugly bag for 40k when you can buy this better looking one for half the price?" Retailers do actually think that way in many areas of the world and will refuse to show you something they feel is inferior or overpriced. To me it's racist to assume that's racist.
Where do you come up with stuff like this? The owner purchases the bag wholesale (or personally designs it and has it manufactured in a designer shop) and sets the price themselves. This is a store that sells $38K handbags--not a vendors booth in a market.
It happens. The whole damn country has apologized.
Guess what...the world kept turning.
Time to move on. She'll be fine.
Sorry, you can't just draw a line in the sand and say anything definate about this situation. And yes, they apologized, but that still doesn't make it true. Of course they apologized to Oprah, she's Oprah for god sake.
I've got a good one for you. I went to a car dealer a few months ago, and they had a nice Jag for sale. It was used, but still carried a price of 38 thousand dollars. I inquired about the car and asked if I could possibly go out with one of the salesmen for a quick test drive. I was then told they wanted to run my credit first before allowing me to test drive the car. See, they wanted to be sure I could afford it before they let me touch their stuff. I knew I could afford the car, but I felt slighted by their apparent need to make sure I could afford their car before I was allowed to test drive it. So I left. Apparently, it was due to my color. Because I was dressed quite nicely having been to a luncheon a few hours earlier. So now, I feel I should get hold of the local news and make them aware of this car dealers apparent racism. Since there couldn't be any other possible reason for them denying my access to the vehicle right?
I think that those people who have posted that believe that there is no reason to not show that or any other item to certain people are not thinking clearly. There are many types of people who are as white as the driven snow that common sense would tell you that they are requesting to see the purse and if you let them have it, you will never see it again. Come on people, even movie stars steal stuff from stores. I don't think the clerk even knew who O was for the matter.
Understanding she wanted to see the bag isn't the issue here. It's people getting incensed over saying she couldn't afford it. Probably there was a sneakier/more tactful way to get across to looky-lous that not every person who came into the store got to fondle the bag. Maybe the clerk could've conveyed as much in French, German, or Italian, but not as gracefully in English.
If we agree, which many seem to, that a highly expensive item cannot be handled by thousands of looky-lous without losing value, then what is the method used to determine who can and cannot pay. I actually have no idea as I've never wanted to or tried to purchase anything so high-end. Perhaps they say this to many people who want to fondle the bag, and certainly most of the Europeans I know are more blunt than Americans tend to be used to.
To put it in perspective: take whatever store you go to, and imagine you ask for something that's on the higher tier, and the store clerk says no, you can't afford it. Does that make sense?
We're not talking K-mart Express. We're talking some high end store specializing in stuff most people can't afford. Why would she look at Oprah, decline to show her one expensive purse, and instead opt to show her another expensive purse?
Oprah has zero reason to lie about this incident. ZERO. She had nothing to gain from it.
I never said she was lying. I used the word interpretation. Those are two different things. I will add the word exaggeration, as well. Come on, Oprah has proved herself to be a drama queen and attention seeker over the last thirty or so years.
If you read the article or have any background on this incident, you would KNOW that the reasoning behind not letting her hold the purse was because the clerk thought it was "too expensive" for her to afford: that was made VERY CLEAR.
Self respect for that "one demographic" should be standing up for yourself and addressing any mistreatment. The same could be said for any demographic.
^^ This is irrelevant but..
I think she handled the situation well:
1. She didn't make a big scene and act obnoxious there
2. She didn't mention the store's or clerk's name (which I agree would be wreckless at this stage for several reasons).
3. Asking to see the store manager is another way to go about things but a lot of people's first instinct would be to remove themselves from that situation immediately.
4. She didn't "pull a Reese Witherspoon" and say "DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?!!?"
1. I read the article and the clerk used poor choice in words of her familiarity or lask thereof of english.
2. Standing up for yourself is not what she freak'n did. She instead screamed to the MSM and had them stand up for her; are you really that obtuse?
3. Standing up for yourself involves you taking a stand, NOT the MSM doing it for you. It also involves some sacrifice from your normal comfort zone of pandering sycophants kissing your ring and performing that 'stick around and confront the issue fairly' aspect of actually standing up for yourself, regardless of your first instinct to remove themselves from the "situation".
4. No she didn't do a Reese Witherspoon drunken "do you know who I am" routine she had the MSM do that for her! See my above obtuse reference.
I stand by my assessment of her resorting to the Racist card when she expressly declared she had no intention to use that; "playing the black card"! that's exactly what she's done and You know it or should without pandering to the bullcrap of a one sided story as told to you through HER USE OF THE MSM.
I could have played the blck card but I'm above that and got the sycphant MSM press to do it for me.
I repeat: the rapid default to the position of racism used by predominantly one demographic will impede progress and risk the degradation of whatever remaining self respect that demographic holds for itself.
Yes, and it's not just limited to Oprah. Gwyneth Paltrow didn't do much better with her must-have spring wardrobe that was a half-million dollars. I dunno. I just think right in the wake of all the recent controversy, a conversation over a $40K purse was not the one that needed attention called to the race card. And I'm okay agreeing to disagree on that one. I'm also saddened and disappointed because I've always thought pretty highly of Oprah. I knew she was rich, but I thought we had a lot of the same values. This has completely opened my eyes to how she really is, and not in a good way.
Yeah, I think all people in the public eye face hyper scrutiny for everything, and only the blandest of the bland successfully manage to make no one mad ever. LOL
I don't see this as a knock on her character personally. It's not like she's never spoken on these issues before, so it's nothing new.
To put it in perspective: take whatever store you go to, and imagine you ask for something that's on the higher tier, and the store clerk says no, you can't afford it. Does that make sense?
We're not talking K-mart Express. We're talking some high end store specializing in stuff most people can't afford. Why would she look at Oprah, decline to show her one expensive purse, and instead opt to show her another expensive purse?
This isn't K-mart, though. It's not uncommon for people to want to touch or try on or test drive really high end stuff just for kicks. Most guys can't afford a Ferrari, but most would love to test drive one just to say they had. A woman who can't afford a mink coat might still love trying it on and modeling it in front of the mirror just for fun.
The store has to have some way to determine who can pay and who's just a looky-lou. Running your credit at a car dealership makes sense. Maybe they don't do it the same in Europe. I don't know.
Maybe the store sells purses in a range of prices. A woman who can't afford a $40K purse might still be able to afford a $2K one. I don't know. But I think it's a pretty eyeroll worthy thing to be getting worked up over when you consider the problems some people have. We can't even say "first world problem" here but, "Sigh, multi-billionaire problems! It's such a tough life!"
Yeah, I think all people in the public eye face hyper scrutiny for everything, and only the blandest of the bland successfully manage to make no one mad ever. LOL
I don't see this as a knock on her character personally. It's not like she's never spoken on these issues before, so it's nothing new.
I seriously doubt she's the only celebrity from the USA that wasn't recognized in some other country. Some celebrities might actually enjoy the anonymity. Some want to be viewed as some kind of royalty always.
I really don't understand why Oprah would think she would be recognized everywhere in Europe -- unless her show was big over there, I would think they would have their own shows.
It really hurts her to be seen as a regular commoner. Regular commoners can't afford $38,000 purses.
a good sales person knows you can't always judge how much money someone has by the way they look.
That's very true.
I personally think this was based on snob-ism more than race. Snobby clerk used to dealing with a certain "look".
Years ago I was in a group of sorry-looking white tourists turned away from a near-empty, but very upscale restaurant in Chicago. We knew we were denied a table because we looked hot and and tired and not particularly prosperous.
A couple of us returned the next day carrying shopping bags from the Ritz Carlton. We were seated immediately.
Does it happen because of race? Of course. But it also happens for other reasons. I'd like to see a photo of how Oprah was dressed that day.
Last edited by DewDropInn; 08-11-2013 at 04:11 PM..
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
