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Shopkeeper in Zurich tells Oprah she can't afford a $38,000 handbag

-- Both quotes can not be accurate. Now it's up to you to use common sense to determine which one is more likely to be accurate. Keep in mind, both sources are reporting on the same exact interview with the shop worker

Funny, same can be said about the whole incident. We have Oprah's version and we have the shopgirl's version. Both corroborate that at one point, she does not get the specific item asked for but indicates that what she is holding is the same as the expensive model. That particular action then causes the problem because that can be interpreted in varying ways depending on the person on the receiving end.

Personally, I still maintain most people would dislike a store assistant not bothering to get an expensive item down for view that they asked for.

-- Just curious, why do you think Oprah is concerned about a story about racism growing so big? Did Oprah have the same concern about the Hermes incident a few years back? If not, I to wonder why the difference reactions to the course the story took.

Well, I'm in Europe and the Hermes incident was explained pretty quickly over here on both sides. The story didn't last long as it was made clear that she arrived late and the staff inside who she thought were customers were preparing the store for an event.
Also.. there wasn't a background element about black people (or obvious non-white-non-Swiss looking people) being banned from certain public areas in Paris. The same cannot be said about Zurich where there is wide knowledge of the curbs on anyone who might be an asylum seeker (usually but not always black or dark brown) being banned from public parks, pools and other such places.

Simply put, the context is not Oprah's film in the USA but segregation in Switzerland becoming public policy. Americans are being distracted by antipathy or dislike of Oprah from a much darker and more worrying story.
 
Funny, same can be said about the whole incident. We have Oprah's version and we have the shopgirl's version. Both corroborate that at one point, she does not get the specific item asked for but indicates that what she is holding is the same as the expensive model. That particular action then causes the problem because that can be interpreted in varying ways depending on the person on the receiving end.

I agree. The person looking to find racism, even where it does not exist, can always find it. Of course racists and racism stille exist, but this is clearly not an example of it and liberals - and Oprah - do a great disservice to real claims of racism by making these forms of accusations. The boy who cried wolf comes to mind.
 
Simply put, the context is not Oprah's film in the USA but segregation in Switzerland becoming public policy. Americans are being distracted by antipathy or dislike of Oprah from a much darker and more worrying story.

The Oprah incident and the asylum seekers issue are two separate things that have absolutely nothing to do with one another. The media is conveniently conflating the two as if they were even remotely related. I wonder why they often forget to mention that Switzerland takes in way more asylum seekers per capita than any other European nation. Our government insists on housing these asylum seekers in small towns where they will obviously stand out and where people are bombarded with stories of drug dealing and other assorted criminal activity allegedly going on in and around these asylum centers. Some context and some honesty would be appreciated, but then again, that stuff doesn't make for catchy headlines to fabricate all the righteous indignation and outrage now, does it?
 
The Oprah incident and the asylum seekers issue are two separate things that have absolutely nothing to do with one another.

That may be the case, anyhow - the Oprah incident is becoming yesterday's news. I still would like to hear from anyone who would be happy being served by a store assistant who won't bother to get an expensive item down for view that they asked for.

Anyhow - the media may see the asylum issue as context. Could it influence people's behaviour towards obvious foreigners in their midst..

The media is conveniently conflating the two as if they were even remotely related. I wonder why they often forget to mention that Switzerland takes in way more asylum seekers per capita than any other European nation.

No, that's mentioned in quite a few articles on the whole story here - as well as the BBC website.

Our government insists on housing these asylum seekers in small towns where they will obviously stand out and where people are bombarded with stories of drug dealing and other assorted criminal activity allegedly going on in and around these asylum centers. Some context and some honesty would be appreciated, but then again, that stuff doesn't make for catchy headlines to fabricate all the righteous indignation and outrage now, does it?

We're almost heading into a tangential issue which is dispersing immigrants into smaller towns and looking to integrate them or putting them into ghettoes.
 
That may be the case, anyhow - the Oprah incident is becoming yesterday's news. I still would like to hear from anyone who would be happy being served by a store assistant who won't bother to get an expensive item down for view that they asked for.

Except that's not what happened. She told Oprah the item was identical to the ones she was already showing her, only much more expensive. She did offer to show it anyway, but Oprah was already all butthurt and imagining all kinds of racist scenarios and decided to leave. If this happened to me I would ask the obvious question "Well, how much is it?". I certainly wouldn't be offended.

Anyhow - the media may see the asylum issue as context. Could it influence people's behaviour towards obvious foreigners in their midst..

That's ridiculous. It may affect people in certain areas, but definitely not in downtown Zurich, on the freaking Banhofstrasse, where all manner of wealthy foreigners of all races shop till they drop every damn day.

No, that's mentioned in quite a few articles on the whole story here - as well as the BBC website.

Well, good. Then they should stop implying that we should STFU and take in even more people.


We're almost heading into a tangential issue which is dispersing immigrants into smaller towns and looking to integrate them or putting them into ghettoes.

There is no perfect solution. You put them in rural areas where the number of foreigners is low and the locals are going to complain. You put them in urban, more multi-cultural areas and they'll eventually end up in a ghetto.
 
Except that's not what happened. She told Oprah the item was identical to the ones she was already showing her, only much more expensive. She did offer to show it anyway, but Oprah was already all butthurt and imagining all kinds of racist scenarios and decided to leave. If this happened to me I would ask the obvious question "Well, how much is it?". I certainly wouldn't be offended.

First - a salesperson's job is to sell, I worked in a shop many years ago and my job was to sell. If I could sell a more expensive item then I was helping the company and myself. Instead of upselling - the very least "Adrianna" was doing was downselling.

Secondly, customer service - if a customer wanted to look at a more expensive item than the one being seen then good sales is to make sure to offer the customer a potential sale. Not advise them against it or find ways not to do your job.

Third - she devalued an item - even a $10 handbag is in essence the same as a Tom Ford $35,000 handbag but you don't sell expensive items that way.
Tom Ford should pull his bags from any store that says his high value ticket items are no different from a value item in the store. Does no good to supplier or shop reputation.

Fourth - she devalued the shop and besmirched Switzerland's reputation. However, there will probably be some somewhere who may frequent the shop more now it has a reputation.

So "Adrianna" is an experienced sales girl going by her account and she made several wrong calls.

-- That's ridiculous. It may affect people in certain areas, but definitely not in downtown Zurich, on the freaking Banhofstrasse, where all manner of wealthy foreigners of all races shop till they drop every damn day.

I've been there, expensive and very rarified but that doesn't mean "Adrianna" doesn't read local news or see what local Zurich villages are doing with regard to immigrants in the Zurich area.

There is no perfect solution. You put them in rural areas where the number of foreigners is low and the locals are going to complain. You put them in urban, more multi-cultural areas and they'll eventually end up in a ghetto.

I mentioned it because in another thread - you postulated how good the "melting pot" was in the US. It's good that you acknowledge there is no perfect solution. However - some would argue the perfect solution is to utterly restrict all immigration. (I've not said you say this.)
 
First - a salesperson's job is to sell, I worked in a shop many years ago and my job was to sell. If I could sell a more expensive item then I was helping the company and myself. Instead of upselling - the very least "Adrianna" was doing was downselling.

Secondly, customer service - if a customer wanted to look at a more expensive item than the one being seen then good sales is to make sure to offer the customer a potential sale. Not advise them against it or find ways not to do your job.

Third - she devalued an item - even a $10 handbag is in essence the same as a Tom Ford $35,000 handbag but you don't sell expensive items that way.
Tom Ford should pull his bags from any store that says his high value ticket items are no different from a value item in the store. Does no good to supplier or shop reputation.

Fourth - she devalued the shop and besmirched Switzerland's reputation. However, there will probably be some somewhere who may frequent the shop more now it has a reputation.

So "Adrianna" is an experienced sales girl going by her account and she made several wrong calls.

You asked what people's reaction would be if they were in Oprah's shoes. I tell you I wouldn't care and would probably ask just how expensive the bag is. Not sure why you feel the need to lecture us on proper salesmanship. :shrug:


I've been there, expensive and very rarified but that doesn't mean "Adrianna" doesn't read local news or see what local Zurich villages are doing with regard to immigrants in the Zurich area.

Her account of what happened seems to indicate that it's not something she's concerned with.

I mentioned it because in another thread - you postulated how good the "melting pot" was in the US. It's good that you acknowledge there is no perfect solution. However - some would argue the perfect solution is to utterly restrict all immigration. (I've not said you say this.)

This has nothing to do with the US "melting pot". What I'm talking about here is specific to Switzerland and its asylum seekers.
 
That may be the case, anyhow - the Oprah incident is becoming yesterday's news. I still would like to hear from anyone who would be happy being served by a store assistant who won't bother to get an expensive item down for view that they asked for.

It's called reality, mate. Not everyone can afford to buy a 40k purse and the store isn't obligated to cater to someone's curiosity about an expensive item. It's a business, not an information center
 
You asked what people's reaction would be if they were in Oprah's shoes. I tell you I wouldn't care and would probably ask just how expensive the bag is. Not sure why you feel the need to lecture us on proper salesmanship. :shrug:

It wasn't a lecture - I'm pointing out that her actions were poor decisions all around. Yet here on this thread - it's almost Oprah's fault or Oprah is a liar. As for your reaction to such a sales tactic - I asked my partner (she didn't know about the Oprah story) as she is head of a sales dept and she just felt such actions (by a salesperson) were not justified. YOU may have thick skin about it for partisan reasons (I really don't believe you) but I would wager normally that your reaction would be more like Condoleeza Rice when faced with a similar situation in the USA. (just from reading your posts over these years)

This has nothing to do with the US "melting pot". What I'm talking about here is specific to Switzerland and its asylum seekers.

I would disagree that somehow the example of Switzerland cannot be counted against the situation in other western states but really - that's meat for another story.

It's called reality, mate. Not everyone can afford to buy a 40k purse and the store isn't obligated to cater to someone's curiosity about an expensive item. It's a business, not an information center

OK... yeah.
 
It wasn't a lecture - I'm pointing out that her actions were poor decisions all around. Yet here on this thread - it's almost Oprah's fault or Oprah is a liar. As for your reaction to such a sales tactic - I asked my partner (she didn't know about the Oprah story) as she is head of a sales dept and she just felt such actions (by a salesperson) were not justified. YOU may have thick skin about it for partisan reasons (I really don't believe you) but I would wager normally that your reaction would be more like Condoleeza Rice when faced with a similar situation in the USA. (just from reading your posts over these years)

Her professionalism is up to her boss to evaluate. None of us were there. None of us know this person. What a lifetime in customer service and sales has taught me (different industry, but really basically the same concepts) is that no two customers are alike and sometimes you make the wrong judgement call. It happens. Doesn't mean she sucks at her job. From what I read, she did nothing unforgivable. Should she have jumped and opened up the security display case to show Oprah the bag as soon as she expressed the slightest interest in it? Maybe. I don't know. I wasn't there.

And what do you mean with the Condoleeza Rice comparison? I'm not sure I understand.
 
Her professionalism is up to her boss to evaluate. None of us were there.

Agreed, and right now, her boss is standing by her. However, by her own words - she did not get the item as asked (Which is what Oprah originally said in her interview) until later in her dealings with Oprah.

Should she have jumped and opened up the security display case to show Oprah the bag as soon as she expressed the slightest interest in it? Maybe. I don't know. I wasn't there.

My point is yeah, on a high value item which can make a big difference to a store's finances.

I'm imagining that if a wealthy and potential customer was in a car showroom looking at a Ford Mustang and then asking to see the Ford GT40 being told - "it's basically the same as this car you're looking at right here" and the salesperson doesn't bother opening up the GT40 section or getting the keys - the customer is not going to be blase as so many pretend they would be.

And what do you mean with the Condoleeza Rice comparison? I'm not sure I understand.

Sorry, I'm distracted this week - been a busy sales week for me on my Etsy store.

You said earlier that you wouldn't be bothered but I'm suggesting you're a bit more fiery than this and Condi Rice's reaction in a similar event when a salesgirl didn't bother getting the good jewelry out when asked. I'm simply saying I don't think you're the meek mild timid flower to let a poor salesperson fob you off when you ask to see a product and they don't do it / can't be bothered - whatever.
 
I'm imagining that if a wealthy and potential customer

there's the rub. In such situations a sales rep has to evaluate the customer and decide if this is an actual potential sale or if it's just someone window shopping for things they will never be able to afford. In this situation it was decided to be the later
 
there's the rub. In such situations a sales rep has to evaluate the customer and decide if this is an actual potential sale or if it's just someone window shopping for things they will never be able to afford. In this situation it was decided to be the later

I believe I dealt with this element earlier in the thread - many posters were fooled by the slouch pants photograph when the evidence from "Adrianna" and Oprah show different.
 
I believe I dealt with this element earlier in the thread - many posters were fooled by the slouch pants photograph when the evidence from "Adrianna" and Oprah show different.

We're talking about a 40k purse, mate. You don't need to be wearing sweat pants to look like you can't afford it
 
Another clueless rant, I see.

Yes, so do I!

The charities of Oprah Winfrey support a variety of organizations, mostly focused on African Americans...

Is this not racist? If not...Explain!
 
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