# What would you have done in Oprah's place (racism in Switzerland)?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-have-done-in-oprahs-place-racism-in-switzerland/665821
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [August 9, 2013, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-have-done-in-oprahs-place-racism-in-switzerland/665821 "2013-08-09T18:14:40Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2013, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-have-done-in-oprahs-place-racism-in-switzerland/665821/1 "2013-08-09T18:14:40Z")
Don’t know if you’re familiar with [this story](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-23626340), Oprah - one of the world’s richest women - is shopping in a Zurich handbag store and is told that one of the bags she wanted to look at is ‘too expensive’ for her - or that’s what Oprah reports, anyway.
She made $77 mil last year. That’s some serious ‘fuck you money’, Assuming her report of the incident is accurate, it renders the handbag seller’s comment possibly the wrongest you could ever be.
If I were her I’d be sorely tempted to buy the place out and fire her stupid ass. Oprah instead left the store and then spoke about it on TV. What would you do if you had that kind of money and suffered prejudice from someone whose job is to serve customers?
Or do you think it was even a case of racism/prejudice?
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### Author:  [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2013, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-have-done-in-oprahs-place-racism-in-switzerland/665821/2 "2013-08-09T18:16:50Z")
Either:
a) Bought the store, lock, stock and barrel, on the spot.
b) Whipped out my American Express Unobtanium card and shoved it down the perky little drone’s throat.
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### Author:  [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2013, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-have-done-in-oprahs-place-racism-in-switzerland/665821/3 "2013-08-09T18:26:48Z")
I certainly wouldn’t have bought anything from the store. “I’ll show them, I’ll make them filthy rich!”
And if the store wasn’t for sale, I certainly wouldn’t be offering the owner enough money to entice him to sell. Again, I don’t want to make the jerk rich.
I think publicly embarrassing them and getting all my rich friends to boycott the place would be a good start.
One of the things I hated about the movie Pretty Woman was the scene where the ritzy store clerk refused to serve the hooker played by Julia Roberts, so she went to a different store where a clerk treated her very well. When her john, played by Richard Gere, heard this he was outraged. His solution: Go back to the store that mistreated the hooker and spend an obscene amount of money! Ignore the store that treated her well.
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### Author:  [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2013, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-have-done-in-oprahs-place-racism-in-switzerland/665821/4 "2013-08-09T18:30:26Z")
> [@Alley\_Dweller](#):
>
> One of the things I hated about the movie Pretty Woman was the scene where the ritzy store clerk refused to serve the hooker played by Julia Roberts, so she went to a different store where a clerk treated her very well. When her john, played by Richard Gere, heard this he was outraged. His solution: Go back to the store that mistreated the hooker and spend an obscene amount of money! Ignore the store that treated her well.
I think you’re remembering it wrong. They didn’t buy anything at the store that refused to serve her.
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### Author:  [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2013, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-have-done-in-oprahs-place-racism-in-switzerland/665821/5 "2013-08-09T18:33:51Z")
If I had OprahBucks, I’d have a flunky hang out in front of the store and buy-off customers. Offer each customer cash. . .maybe five or ten thousand, to sign an agreement that they would never set foot in the store again.
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### Author:  [@miss\_elizabeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/miss_elizabeth)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2013, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-have-done-in-oprahs-place-racism-in-switzerland/665821/6 "2013-08-09T18:35:07Z")
I think she handled it perfectly.
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### Author:  [@Moonlitherial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonlitherial)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2013, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-have-done-in-oprahs-place-racism-in-switzerland/665821/7 "2013-08-09T18:55:07Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#):
>
> I think you’re remembering it wrong. They didn’t buy anything at the store that refused to serve her.
That’s right, the Pretty Woman method of revenge is to spend large sums of money in other stores and then stop in to visit the offending store with your hands full of very full, very expensive shopping bags.
I love the fact that the store owners defense was “She didn’t recognize you” So clearly not getting the point.
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### Author:  [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2013, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-have-done-in-oprahs-place-racism-in-switzerland/665821/8 "2013-08-09T19:01:22Z")
> [@miss\_elizabeth](#):
>
> I think she handled it perfectly.
Right. In real life, you just leave. In fantasyland, you employ kayaker’s solution and pay people gobs of money not to enter.
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### Author:  [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2013, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-have-done-in-oprahs-place-racism-in-switzerland/665821/9 "2013-08-09T19:02:21Z")
I went and watched it again.
The first shopping scene is [here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIhMSOTfy_E).
The second shopping scene is [here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tY0MaepV3J4).
I’m sorry. They didn’t go back to the first store. It looks like they went to a third store. I still would have preferred that they go back to the store where she was initially treated well.
I remembered wrong.
Thanks for the correction.
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### Author:  [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2013, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-have-done-in-oprahs-place-racism-in-switzerland/665821/10 "2013-08-09T19:20:51Z")
I only remember two shopping attempts.
1. Store that wouldn’t help her
2. Calls Edward
3. Expensive shopping trip
4. Shows up at first store with lots of bags to brag.
Am I missing a scene? (The YouTube links didn’t work).
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### Author:  [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2013, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-have-done-in-oprahs-place-racism-in-switzerland/665821/11 "2013-08-09T19:20:58Z")
Might just be pure snobbishness, maybe Oprah wasn’t dressed “properly” to be in that store in the staff’s mind.
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### Author:  [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2013, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-have-done-in-oprahs-place-racism-in-switzerland/665821/12 "2013-08-09T19:24:12Z")
> [@Mr.Kobayashi](#):
>
> Or do you think it was even a case of racism/prejudice?
I don’t think it necessarily was prejudice. More like racial profiling.
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### Author:  [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2013, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-have-done-in-oprahs-place-racism-in-switzerland/665821/13 "2013-08-09T19:30:13Z")
And isn’t it just plain weird? Aren’t the only Black people you find in Swtitzerland _rich_ Black people? We’re they just “evil African dictators’s wife profiling?” I’m ignorant on this one.
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### Author:  [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2013, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-have-done-in-oprahs-place-racism-in-switzerland/665821/14 "2013-08-09T19:33:39Z")
I would have bought Swizterland and immediately evicted everybody.
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### Author:  [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2013, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-have-done-in-oprahs-place-racism-in-switzerland/665821/15 "2013-08-09T19:37:47Z")
Maybe ?I’m wrong but didn’t she have a similar story a few years back about a shop in Paris? Maybe Hermes?
[Oh yeah, here it is.](http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,1078087,00.html)
Her story and Hermes didn’t match up.
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### Author:  [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2013, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-have-done-in-oprahs-place-racism-in-switzerland/665821/16 "2013-08-09T19:38:30Z")
Are we sure it was any sort of profiling rather than a credit check? It could have been a 220 billion dollar (euro) handbag, and she really couldn’t afford it!
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### Author:  [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2013, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-have-done-in-oprahs-place-racism-in-switzerland/665821/17 "2013-08-09T19:39:02Z")
1: Buy _everything_ in the store.
2: Immediately return it all.
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### Author:  [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2013, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-have-done-in-oprahs-place-racism-in-switzerland/665821/18 "2013-08-09T19:40:34Z")
_“Help! Help! I’m being [del]repressed[/del] redressed!”_
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### Author:  [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2013, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-have-done-in-oprahs-place-racism-in-switzerland/665821/19 "2013-08-09T19:42:17Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#):
>
> I don’t think it necessarily was prejudice. More like racial profiling.
I think it’s far more likely to have been clothes-profiling. If she wasn’t flaunting her wealth in her clothing and was looking too casual, I can absolutely see a snooty shopgirl saying “it’s too expensive for you.” There are plenty of stores with **bouncers** , for crying out loud, to keep out people who don’t look rich enough to shop there.
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### Author:  [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2013, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-have-done-in-oprahs-place-racism-in-switzerland/665821/20 "2013-08-09T19:49:15Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#):
>
> I only remember two shopping attempts.
>
> 1. Store that wouldn’t help her
> 2. Calls Edward
> 3. Expensive shopping trip
> 4. Shows up at first store with lots of bags to brag.
>
> Am I missing a scene? (The YouTube links didn’t work).
On her return to the hotel after step 1, she is intercepted by the hotel manager who takes her into his office. The manager makes sure that she understands that hookers are not welcome, but they will make an exception for Edward. She starts crying and explains her shopping problems to the manager, who then refers her to another store. The clerk there is very nice to her. She buys a black lacy dress to wear to dinner with Edward.
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