Liar! Liar!

Uh oh, cheap what do we have here?

The sales person of Swizz boutique who Oprah says refused to show her a luxury handbag costing nearly $40,000 claims Ms. Winfrey lied about what happened.

Sunday, the saleslady spoke anonymously to newspaper SonntagsBlick.  She said she felt ‘powerless’ and in the grip of a ‘cyclone’ after Winfrey went on TV and claimed she had been the victim of racism.

The incident happened in July when the media mogul visited the Trois Pommes boutique in Zurich looking for a handbag to match the outfit she was going to wear to Tina Turner’s wedding.

She claims the sales assistant refused to show her the black crocodile leather bag because – seeing a black woman – she automatically assumed she would not be able to afford it.

But the saleslady is refuting Oprah’s story:

“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.”

The anonymous sales lady continued:

“She looked around the store again but didn’t say anything else. Then she went with her companion to the lower floor. My colleague saw them to the door. They were not even in the store for five minutes.”

She insisted she did not say to Winfrey: “You don’t want to see this bag. It is too expensive.  You cannot afford it.”

The shop assistant said she only sells pricey handbags a few times a year and said the racist claims are “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. I don’t know why she is making these accusations. She is so powerful and I am just a shop girl. I didn’t hurt anyone. I don’t know why someone as great as her must cannibalize me on TV.”

Then she posits this question:

“If it had all taken place as she claimed, why has she not complained the next day at the wedding of Tina Turner with Trudie Goetz, my boss? She was there also at the Turner wedding as a guest. I don’t understand it.

She continued:

“I spoke to Oprah Winfrey in English. My English is okay but not excellent, unfortunately. I didn’t know who she was when she came into the store. That wouldn’t have made any difference if I had.”