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[The Faceless Master]

lol, just saw it on the rerun of today's ep...

edit: googled a story on it

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/20/nyregion/20watch.html

 

[ManDudeChild]

For those of us that are males, and need to sign up to see the story, what happened?

 

[jooey]

hermes-tan~~~~~~~~~~~

oh sorry

 

[The Faceless Master]

oh yea, forgot the times requires a sign up...

By ALESSANDRA STANLEY
Published: September 20, 2005

Oprah Winfrey is not a diva. At all. No way. She is so adamant on that point that she brought the head of Hermès USA onto her talk show yesterday to admit it and apologize in front of a national audience.

"I would like to say we're really sorry," Robert Chavez, the chief executive officer of Hermès USA, said contritely. "You did meet up with one very, very rigid staff person."

Ms. Winfrey corrected him. "Rigid or rude?" she asked with icy sweetness. He hastily assented. "Rigid and rude, I am sure."

The Hermès incident was one of the more florid tabloid stories of the summer: Ms. Winfrey, one of the wealthiest and most famous women in the nation, was turned away from the Hermès flagship store on the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré at closing time. That kind of resounding "non" rang a bell with anyone who has tried to argue with a Parisian salesperson. But many people also interpreted the rebuff as racism, arguing that Ms. Winfrey would have been treated better had she been white. (Simpler souls merely relished the prospect that someone as famous as Ms. Winfrey would be denied anything, ever.)

But Ms. Winfrey seemed most bothered that people assumed she was irate because she had been denied a chance to shop. "Shame on anybody for thinking that I was upset for not being able to get into a clothes store and buy a purse," she said. "Please."

sign up (or use bugmenot or something) for the rest

 

[TranceVibrator]

am I right in saying that she was upset that she was turned away from a store at closing time? Until I get clarification on that, I withhold my judgement

 

[xsarien]

But Ms. Winfrey seemed most bothered that people assumed she was irate because she had been denied a chance to shop. "Shame on anybody for thinking that I was upset for not being able to get into a clothes store and buy a purse," she said. "Please."

If I'm remembering the story correctly, she wanted to go into the store either very close to closing time, just at closing time, or beyond the closing time. "Closing time" was definitely involved, though.

Racism? I doubt it. And shame on her for getting a company spokesperson to apologize because she couldn't bother waiting until the next day; even more shame on the spokesperson for caving.

 

[lexy]

am I right in saying that she was upset that she was turned away from a store at closing time? Until I get clarification on that, I withhold my judgement

The store was in the process of being closed, but the store was still active with people still shopping; the door was not locked. She was actually denied entrance to the store after some store clerks had a "discussion" about whether or not to let her in. That is pretty fucked up. Classy move by Oprah not to openly speculate on the reason why she was denied entrance to the store (she just listed a variety of possible reasons) and it was pretty funny to see the CEO sucking up to Oprah on TV.


Oprah has a billion dollars man; a billion dollars.

 

[DDayton]

The store was in the process of being closed, but the store was still active with people still shopping; the door was not locked. She was actually denied entrance to the store after some store clerks had a "discussion" about whether or not to let her in. That is pretty fucked up. Classy move by Oprah not to openly speculate on the reason why she was denied entrance to the store (she just listed a variety of possible reasons) and it was pretty funny to see the CEO sucking up to Oprah on TV.

... after all, it would be terrible to refuse entrance to someone while you were busy closing down the store. I mean, that never happens anywhere else. I've never heard of a store refusing new customers while letting the last few folks mill about and bring their items up to be purchased.

Cough cough cough.

 

[lexy]

... after all, it would be terrible to refuse entrance to someone while you were busy closing down the store. I mean, that never happens anywhere else. I've never heard of a store refusing new customers while letting the last few folks mill about and bring their items up to be purchased.

Cough cough cough.

Perhaps I didn't make it clear enough in my post, OPRAH HAS A BILLION DOLLARS MAN!

 

[TranceVibrator]

haha, yeah, it was silly on their part to stop her from entering, seeing as she is a billionaire... but really, if they were closing the store and told her as such when they didn't let her in that should be just fine. I've worked in a few stores myself and we let the people who were in there to finish their shopping, but we made it pretty clear at the entrance that the store was closing so we wouldn't be letting anyone else in (by half closing roller doors at the entrance and such).

I'm not surprised he appologised, wouldn't you if your store was getting all this negative press, esspecially by Oprah. Seems like Oprah was just acting like a spoilt bitch, esspecially if she's calling it racism. I mean, shit, she's Oprah, everyone loves her. They're not gonna bring her down because of her colour. She should be treated like any normal customer! What a bitch.

 

[teiresias]

As if any of Oprah's American audience can afford to shop at this store, much less have the time to get there between them reading whatever novel she's recommended and taking the kids to soccer practice in their SUV.

 

[DarienA]

Oprah doesn't deserve the amt of attention you guys are giving this story.

 

[sprsk]

HERUMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSUU


BENOITTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

 

[Scrow]

people care about the stupidest things

 

[LakeEarth]

"And now I'm going to celebrate in the traditional Jamaican way... a warm glass of milk and a good night's sleep."

 

[Die Squirrel Die]

haha, yeah, it was silly on their part to stop her from entering, seeing as she is a billionaire... but really, if they were closing the store and told her as such when they didn't let her in that should be just fine. I've worked in a few stores myself and we let the people who were in there to finish their shopping, but we made it pretty clear at the entrance that the store was closing so we wouldn't be letting anyone else in (by half closing roller doors at the entrance and such).

I'm not surprised he appologised, wouldn't you if your store was getting all this negative press, esspecially by Oprah. Seems like Oprah was just acting like a spoilt bitch, esspecially if she's calling it racism. I mean, shit, she's Oprah, everyone loves her. They're not gonna bring her down because of her colour. She should be treated like any normal customer! What a bitch.

I've never worked in retail, but imo a store should not be allowed to refuse entry to someone wanting to enter within the advertised store hours. Store hours aren't for the benefit of the staff but the customer (or at least they should be).
Once that closing time is reached then yeah they should close the doors to everyone, and firmly but politely push any remaining customers to the checkout.

 

[fennec fox]

She made someone grovel before her on national TV and she isn't a diva? That's a head-scratcher.

 

[Doth Togo]

Didn't like her years ago. Don't like her now. Won't like her in the future.

Simple. Said. Done.

 

[Phoenix]

... after all, it would be terrible to refuse entrance to someone while you were busy closing down the store. I mean, that never happens anywhere else. I've never heard of a store refusing new customers while letting the last few folks mill about and bring their items up to be purchased.

Cough cough cough.

If you're open for business, with customers in the store, with unlocked doors, how can you justify keeping customers out? You're STILL OPEN!

 

[dskillzhtown]

Oprah is a intriguing duality. She does alot for poor people, genuinely feels for them, but at the same time demands to be treated like royalty. With that said, if you have the kind of money Oprah has, you do get treated differently. That is just a fact of life. So I can see that when you have a billion bucks and you don't get that treatment, you do feel it is some kind of discrimination. But to go on a show to talk to people making 40k a year if they are lucky and whine about not getting 'billion dollar treatment', is a bit absurd.

 

[DarienA]

Oprah is a intriguing duality. She does alot for poor people, genuinely feels for them, but at the same time demands to be treated like royalty. With that said, if you have the kind of money Oprah has, you do get treated differently. That is just a fact of life. So I can see that when you have a billion bucks and you don't get that treatment, you do feel it is some kind of discrimination. But to go on a show to talk to people making 40k a year if they are lucky and whine about not getting 'billion dollar treatment', is a bit absurd.

Nice summation, I agree. Except for the intriguing part.

 

[TranceVibrator]

I've never worked in retail, but imo a store should not be allowed to refuse entry to someone wanting to enter within the advertised store hours. Store hours aren't for the benefit of the staff but the customer (or at least they should be).
Once that closing time is reached then yeah they should close the doors to everyone, and firmly but politely push any remaining customers to the checkout.

Yeah, we made an announcement over the loudspeaker that we were closing and for everyone to make their way to the checkout. This was a very large store though. The article doesn't mention whether they were softly ushering people out of the store, only that they were still shopping. If it was closing time at this store, finalising the sales that were already going down is fine, but damned if I'd be letting more people in, people have to get home sometime!

If the people at this store had been letting people in just as Oprah got to the door, then she'd have a case, but it sounds like she got there on her own, just as they were closing and getting rid of their last customers. It's not an unheard practice to deny entry to late customers. Just because she's Oprah doesn't mean she should be treated any differently to any normal person. Can't get over how bitchy this woman is!

 

[atomsk]

hermes-tan~~~~~~~~~~~

oh sorry

first thing that popped in my head too

 

[lovelyarsenic]

what do people expect to happen when you get between a woman and her shopping...GOSH, IDIOT.

no, but seriously i think she needs to take a step back and quit advertising the whole ordeal...in other words, like Himuro said, 'what a bitch'.