Re: 50 years ago today - how far have we come? : Thu Aug 29, 2013 11:17 am  

Ferocious Aardvark wrote:

Whatever the true facts of what happened, Winfrey has jumped to a totally unwarranted conclusion, that the only reason anyone would think she wouldn't be interested in a £30K handbag must be coz she's black innit.

If I worked in such a shop, to me the worse thing would be to get the 30K bag to show someone, they examine it and really like it, but are then humiliated when asking the price since it is way out of their league, as it would be for 99% of the population.

Why couldn't the conversation go
"Can i see that bag?"
I don't think you could afford it"
"Yes, I could, actually"
"Really? Well, if you're sure. I didn't want to embarrass you."

I might continue:

" Honestly you're the first person I ever met who is so crassly dumb and insensitive as to even consider trashing such an unconscionable amount of good money on a piece of pretentious crap just because they can. "

Why couldn't the conversation just go
"Can I see that bag?"
"Certainly"

Re: 50 years ago today - how far have we come? : Thu Aug 29, 2013 11:38 am  

El Barbudo wrote:

Why couldn't the conversation just go
"Can I see that bag?"
"Certainly"

Presumably, part of the the sales assistant's role is to stop time wasters handling the £30k bag, and as such they have to make sure that the person can actually afford it before they man-handle it.

I guess the conversation actually started:

"Can I see that bag?"
"Are you sure you can afford it, it is £30k?"

Throw in a bit of cross-lingual confusion, and results in Oprah storming off in a huff, probably with a "don't you know who I am"

Re: 50 years ago today - how far have we come? : Thu Aug 29, 2013 11:47 am  

Ferocious Aardvark wrote:

I might continue:

" Honestly you're the first person I ever met who is so crassly dumb and insensitive as to even consider trashing such an unconscionable amount of good money on a piece of pretentious crap just because they can. "

You are Gerald Ratner and I claim my piece of tat

Re: 50 years ago today - how far have we come? : Thu Aug 29, 2013 11:49 am  

EHW wrote:

Presumably, part of the the sales assistant's role is to stop time wasters handling the £30k bag, and as such they have to make sure that the person can actually afford it before they man-handle it.

My wife was very upset at the look the shop assistant gave her when she admitted that she couldn't actually afford the 400 euro handbag she'd fallen in love with.

My sympathies were entirely with the shop assistant.

Re: 50 years ago today - how far have we come? : Thu Aug 29, 2013 12:12 pm  

Lord God Jose Mourinho wrote:

No it didn't.

Which became "waited 2hrs, patiently and were refused service because another customer (White) felt threatened by us" on Mike London's Facebook post.

So it does then.

Re: 50 years ago today - how far have we come? : Thu Aug 29, 2013 12:50 pm  

El Barbudo wrote:

Why couldn't the conversation just go
"Can I see that bag?"
"Certainly"

Why are you asking me a question I already answered?

Re: 50 years ago today - how far have we come? : Thu Aug 29, 2013 1:38 pm  

Ferocious Aardvark wrote:

Why are you asking me a question I already answered?

It's called a rhetorical question.

Re: 50 years ago today - how far have we come? : Thu Aug 29, 2013 5:34 pm  

Sheldon wrote:

So it does then.

It doesn't say that the customer felt threatened because they were black though.

White person complaining about a group of black people is racism? How?

Re: 50 years ago today - how far have we come? : Thu Aug 29, 2013 6:24 pm  

El Barbudo wrote:

It's called a rhetorical question.

No it isn't! For a start, the question suggested: "Can I see that bag" is not a rhetorical question; even if it was, or could be, the post provided the answer to the question, whereas the whole point of a rhetorical question is it implies its own answer. So it fails on every count It's about as far away from being a rhetorical question as Eric Pickles is from svelte!

Re: 50 years ago today - how far have we come? : Thu Aug 29, 2013 7:14 pm  

wigan_rlfc wrote:

It doesn't say that the customer felt threatened because they were black though.

White person complaining about a group of black people is racism? How?

I never said it did.