Confusion

She said.  Then another she, said.  Two sides.  Two different stories.  Very different.  Such is the situation with Lady O and the Swiss sales girl over a pricey handbag that Oprah wanted to see in Zurich.  Oprah says she was out shopping alone--a fact I find hard to believe.  The sales person says a man was there with her.

Now to the purse.  A $38,000 one.  Expensive?  No doubt.  Could she afford it?  No doubt.  Oprah thinks she wasn't shown the bag because it was too expensive for her because she is a black woman.  The sales clerk says that although she didn't recognize Oprah, nothing could be further from the truth.  That she is an excellent salesperson with great customer service.  She says she asked O if she'd like to see the bag more closely.

I'm thinking if Oprah really wanted to see the bag she could have 1) pulled out her black American Express card  2) asked to have someone else wait on her 3) asked to see the manager.  If the sales gal had shown Oprah the bag, she might have made a fat commission.  And, she might not have.

My question is, is this part of what the sales girl might have been trained to do, regardless of someone's color?  I have been in snooty stores where they (correctly!) assumed I wasn't going to buy something but does that mean I cannot look at it?  I don't know.  I guess it depends on the store, the level of customer service, the salesperson, and how they were trained to deal with customers. 

Is it a coincidence that Oprah has a new movie coming out about a butler at the White House way back when, and the way staff was treated back then, what they saw, and what they heard?   I just am wondering if perhaps she was a little overly sensitive and perhaps the sales gal was a tad insensitive.  Beats me. Sure is interesting when there are two sides of a story, that are poles apart.  Today I know the truth is usually somewhere in between.