Oprah Walks Into a Store ... - Neatorama

Earlier this week, Oprah Winfrey revealed that she, too, was victim of subtle racism during an interview with Entertainment Tonight. She told a story that while in Zurich, Switzerland, she went into a store and asked to see a handbag on the shelf, but was refused:

"I go into a store and I say to the woman, 'Excuse me, may I see the bag right above your head?' and she says to me, 'No. It's too expensive.'"
When Winfrey insisted, the shop assistant allegedly replied: "No, no you don't want to see that one, you want to see this one because that one will cost too much. You will not be able to afford that."
The star said she left the shop calmly without arguing, but that the experience was proof that racism continues to be a problem

Oprah, whose net worth is $2.8 billion, could've bought the entire store, of course, but she didn't name the store or the handbag in the interview. Nonetheless, the ensuing media storm revealed that the store was the Trois Pommes and the handbag as a version of "Jennifer" bag by designer Tom Ford. The price of the bag? A cool $38,000.

The store's owner was put on the defensive, of course, and claimed that it was not racism - rather, a "misunderstanding" by the salesperson, and refused to dismiss the employee. Others, however, disagreed. The Zurich tourism board, realizing that the event had been a complete PR nightmare, immediately apologized and said that it was "never happy when our guests' feelings are hurt."

We can't help but notice: $38,000 FOR A HANDBAG? What was it made of? SOLID GOLD? Maybe it came with a car.

Maybe they just put out the stupidly expensive bag to look fancy and didn't actually want or expect anyone to buy it. Maybe she was trying to save Opera from a big waste of money.

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Oprah just wanted more attention obviously, if she didn't she would've let this slide.
I bet the employee said something like 'I don't think you want this, it's a bit expensive.' And Oprah just turned the words into something different.

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I'll say it again: discrimination is everywhere. As someone who grew up in a small, Southern town with a "Dago" last name ("No, my people didn't come down here from New Jersey") I can tell you discrimination is not confined to racism. Different skin color or not, people will find a way to put one another into either the in crowd or the out crowd. Smarts, looks, talent, money, status, politics friends, relatives and on and on, everyone has something "wrong" with them in someone's eyes.

Not to discriminate against O, but, rather than making a international incident out of it, most of us just laugh it off when we're treated to some minor discrimination.

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Without explicitly being told 'You can't see the bag because you're black', we cannot call this racism. Maybe she though Oprah was too old to buy the bag, or maybe too fat, too short, or too American. Maybe she looked too poor - we only have Oprah's word that she didn't enter the shop wearing pyjamas, with a hangover. First world problem: you didn't get to see a handbag which costs more than most people earn in a year. Get over it.

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Someone must have a movie coming out soon!

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Pretty Woman take 2: I, too, have been subjected to similar treatment. Maybe I was being discriminated against because I was a Yankee in the South (they're still fighting the war, you know, not quite convinced they lost, I guess). When verbally rebuffed for having inquired about the cost of a high falutin' truffle -- this was before anyone knew what a candy truffle was, which made them seem prohibitively expensive and a little naughty; and for god's sake, people, just put a price tag on things, will you?! -- , I replied firmly, "Fine, then, I'll take TWO." The look on the clerk's face was priceless. And very waxy and still. Best $15 I ever spent on two bites of chocolate and almonds!

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"proof that racism continues to be a problem"

Proof that Winfrey continues to talk out of her backside.

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Now if Oprah happened to see someone else step up to the counter and ask to see it and they let them then she would have a definite case of racism But Its a $38000 hand bag. Obviously they are not going to let anyone who asks to handle it touch it no matter what race they are.
They should probably do a credit check before they allow anyone touch it. Doubt if Oprah would have a problem passing the credit check.

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Two words FAME WHORE!

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Oprah needs to get her head out of her own ass and realize not everyone knows who she is and kisses the ground she pees on.

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If you have to ask "can I take a look at that bag" and it's a $38000 bag, then regardless of the color of your skin, it's telling the shopkeeper that you absolutely can't afford it. The fact that Oprah was ignorant of that fact may not be her fault but that doesn't make the shop keeper racist. Almost anyone who would buy a bag like that would know exactly what it was and would have planned out the purchase very carefully and would never say, "can I take a look at it" nonchalantly. If someone is spending that much on a bag do they really want one that was handled by a stream of people that just felt like touching it? No, it devalues the bag, just like how a high end shoe is almost worthless after a few hundred socialites have tried it on. Oprah is being ignorant, mean and petty about this and should apologize to the salesperson and the store for the bad press that they absolutely did not deserve. It had absolutely nothing to do with racism. It has everything to do with an elitist snob who thinks that everyone in the world has a right to go around handling $38000 handbags for fun or else the people selling them deserve worldwide condemnation.

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The problem is, the thing didn't happen quite the way Oprah told it. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2391313/Oprah-Winfrey-says-regrets-mentioning-handbag-racism-incident-Zurich.html

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