Swiss Boutique's Sales Assistant Hits Back at Oprah Winfrey Over Discrimination Allegation

Sales assistant, who allegedly refused to show Oprah Winfrey a handbag and told her that it was "too expensive" for her, said that the media mogul's story about what happened in the luxury Zurich boutique was "absurd."

"This is not true. This is absurd. I would never say something like that to a customer. Really never. Good manners and politeness are the Alpha and the Omega in this business," the sales assistant told Switzerland's SonntagsBlick newspaper Sunday, August 11, according to Daily Mail.

She also claimed that she did not know why Oprah made "these accusations" against a mere "shop girl" like her and shared her account on the handbag incident.

She said, "I wasn't sure what I should present to her when she came in on the afternoon of Saturday July 20 so I showed her some bags from the Jennifer Aniston collection. I explained to her the bags came in different sizes and materials, like I always do."

"She looked at a frame behind me. Far above there was the 35,000 Swiss franc crocodile leather bag. I simply told her that it was like the one I held in my hand, only much more expensive, and that I could show her similar bags. It is absolutely not true that I declined to show her the bag on racist grounds. I even asked her if she wanted to look at the bag," she explained. Oprah "looked around the store again but didn't say anything else." She and her companion left shortly after.

The shop's owner Trudie Goetz defended her employee, telling Reuters that "this is an absolute classic misunderstanding" because of the sales assistant's lack of language skills. When asked if she wanted to say something to Oprah, the shop assistant answered, "I would apologize and say it was all a misunderstanding. I surely did not intentionally want to insult Ms. Winfrey. I hope this nightmare ends soon."

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