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Racism? Not sure. (High-end) luxury store clerks are often snobby and arrogant. I was treated badly at a Gant Store (hardly luxurious) here in Oslo, Norway and I am an ethnic Norwegian and I even wore a Gant cardigan
I am more surprised she did not recognized Oprah.
That is definitely true, a lot of high end clerks are snobby and arrogant. But the question that we are trying to determine is if Oprah was denied access to the purse because of her race.
If the salespeople thought they had the potential for a sale then they obviously would've let the potential customer hold the bag. Whenever somebody is considering purchasing anything of this value then it's obvious that the customer would need to check it out. Why was this nicely dressed black woman denied from even holding the bag when it was clear she was a potential customer? Why was she thought so lowly of when likely the only common denominator between her and most other shoppers there is race.
That's a great way to get fired. Expensive stores teach their staff to be more discrete than that. You can shoo people away without saying "next" like you're in line at the deli (which makes me believe the story isn't true).
Have you ever been in an expensive store??? This wasn't some run-of-the-mill nice anchor store in a mall.
That is not what I said. You may have skipped the post where someone asked about Beyonce and I said she would probably have been much more likely to be considered wealthy enough to buy that bag.
Again, what is full Oprah gear? Clothes that may look fine in the US, maybe look odd in Europe and not be associated with classiness.
I don't know what full Oprah gear is because I didn't say that, but I do know that the typical 20 something (like Beyonce) has much less money than a well dressed and well heeled 50 year old, and so do sales clerks. If you didn't know it was Beyonce, you'd have no reason to assume she was wealthier than an older woman.
Here's what I find funny. She claims the high road by just leaving and says "I could have had the big blow-up thing and thrown down the black card and all that stuff."
But then she goes and does an interview calling them racist.
Now I do not argue that what happened wasn't an example of racism. It sounds like it probably was. But to take a superior attitude about not throwing down the black card with one clerk in a store, while you're doing a televised interview in which you're throwing down the black card is pretty absurd.
Have you ever been in an expensive store??? This wasn't some run-of-the-mill nice anchor store in a mall.
Obviously I have, because I've never, in my life, heard a sales person say "NEXT" in one to a customer. As I said, that's something you'd hear in a DELI vs. an exclusive shop. Good grief!
I think it is funny that there are so many in here trying to give the clerk the benefit of the doubt or trying to explain why she chose to discriminate. And at the same time dissing Oprah, calling her crass or unable to dress properly knowing that she's filthy rich, classy, and well verse in the matters of the elite and classy. Yet, she was getting compared to Snoop Dogg.
Stellar post! You get a positive rating from me. I have a cousin who used to work in a high-end jewelry store, and she once told me that she'd sometimes have a short temper with customers who were there to just window-shop. She'd ask them something along the lines of "Are you here to buy something?" and when they'd say no, she'd say "Next!"
the company she works for must have poor management because she deserves to be fired. I don't know any business that encourages this type of attitude, which could negatively impact their reputation
Have to agree. And Tina Turner was married on July 4th, this incident happened prior to that.
So why did it take over a month in this day of texting and tweeting to get in the media?
Could it be due to the fact she has movie coming in on Aug. 16th?????
The film "The Butler" is one of the most anticipated of the year with great buzz so I highly doubt that she purposely created an incident to gain publicity for the film. She was asked in an interview if she experiences racism and she discussed the most recent incident which happened to be at the boutique in Zurich.
I don't know what full Oprah gear is because I didn't say that, but I do know that the typical 20 something (like Beyonce) has much less money than a well dressed and well heeled 50 year old, and so do sales clerks. If you didn't know it was Beyonce, you'd have no reason to assume she was wealthier than an older woman.
I don't think so, Beyonce looks glamorous, one can see she is someone special, with Oprah one doesn't get that impression at all. Maybe 20 years ago, I don't know what she looked like back then. Today she looks like any woman her age.
I think it is funny that there are so many in here trying to give the clerk the benefit of the doubt or trying to explain why she chose to discriminate. And at the same time dissing Oprah, calling her crass or unable to dress properly knowing that she's filthy rich, classy, and well verse in the matters of the elite and classy. Yet, she was getting compared to Snoop Dogg.
It's their standard modus operandi. I am not surprised at all.
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