The Good, the Bad, and The Birkin

gina_b

gina_b

Member
Jul 27, 2006
3,029
685
#1
[apologies in advance for the length; I guess I'm not feeling concise today. Sorry.]

Question: What is it about rude women and birkins? Must they stereotypically go hand in hand?

The following actually occurred just a couple of hours ago, in a crowded coffee shop in Alaska:

Woman #1, carrying a 35 ebene birkin with GHW, sits down at a small table by the door. A few seconds later, Woman #2, carrying a 35 black birkin with GHW, sits down at the adjacent table. At each table there are two extra seats remaining. Woman #2 glances at the other birkin and then at Woman #1.

An hour passes during which Woman #1 has quietly watched passersby through the window, eaten a goat cheese salad and sipped a latte macchiato, and Woman #2 has had a single espresso while complaining volubly on her mobile phone about other people. The cafe becomes even more crowded, and a disappointed throng collects at the front door by a sign that reads: "Please Seat Yourself".

Couple A approaches Woman #2 and the wife takes hold of the back of one of the empty chairs, looking at Woman #2 hopefully. Woman #2 wrenches herself away from her phone and drawls:

"You aren't from here, are you?"

Wife of Couple A: "Er, why no, as a matter of fact, I'm British."

"Yes," says Woman #2, "I can see that you aren't from here, as you don't seem to know the rules. You can't sit here. This is my table, and I'm not finished yet," she says, nodding at her (empty) espresso cup. She leans over conspiratorially to Woman #1 and stage whispers, "Unbelievable when these people don't know the rules, isn't it?"

At the same time, Couple B approaches Woman #1's table and asks:

"Um, excuse me, is anyone using these chairs? Would you mind if we sit here? It's just that the place is so full--"

"Yes, of course!" says Woman #1, gesturing to each chair. "Please feel free. I'm nearly through anyway, and you can have the whole table to yourselves in a moment."

"Thank you so much," says Couple B, "we promise to be quiet."

"Oh, don't worry, I don't mind. Do please sit down."

Couple B glare disapprovingly at Woman #2.

___________________________________

Which woman would you want your daughters to be?

And what exactly about owning a birkin makes some people feel entitled to be rude and condescending to others?

*sigh* I just don't get it. :shrugs: And that sort of behavior makes me mad. :cursing: It's just unacceptable.

Shall we all make a pact here and now to stem the tide of rude birkin owners the world over? Okay, it's a status symbol. But at the end of the day, it's only a BAG, and is of no consequence relative to anything. I'd still like to think that there are more birkin girls out there with good manners than without!
 
#3
Great question.

Now this is just my opinion, so don't flame me here. But I think that women tend to start thinking that they are really super special when the SAs hold bags for them and give them special treatment and tell poor other people who walk in ask ask to buy the same bag that they are not being made, not available, or give them other such nonsensical stories. Oh, and then an SA walks out with the exact bag they ask for and hands it to a woman already holding a birkin next to you who's acting very supersicilious! lol. This has not per se happened to me, but I hear about it all the time.

I think that the whole "status symbol" effect that the marketing Hermes has employed re: Birkins has created a bunch of monsters running around with the handbags we love.

Granted, the couple could have asked Ms. Chatty on her cell phone if she minded before grabbing the chairs to sit down. It would have been nicer of her to offer them first. They should have known by her manners using the cell in a public restaurant or cafe that she had no manners after all and it was a bad scene to start with.

I agree, let's all make a pact to be nice, caring people and not catty bag-sneaking women. They're only handbags! It should be a happy thing.
 
#4
Woman #2, I wish you are from here and get to read about yourself and your bad behaviour in a public forum that is enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of people from all around the world. You are disgraceful.
 
#5
Gina_B! I was just thinking about you yesterday, missing your wonderful posts!!! :heart:

My first reaction to this tale is that you were the lovely lady with the Ebene bag who graciously offered her table to the out-of-towners! Now, since she (or, you) were so gracious, then I think she (or, you) have actually proven that the bag makes no difference with regard to breeding. The other woman will live a miserable life with her Birkin and her cell phone as her best friends while wondering what is wrong with everyone else...
 
#7
That is so horrible.

You know... I had a similar wrench in my stomach yesterday after witnessing another customer "talk down" to my SA. :sad:

$$$ cannot buy you manners. But uncouth behaviour is regardless of financial status.
 
#8
you can buy a birkin, but you can't buy class.
Click to expand...

Obviously. :yes:

Sophie: 'bag-sneaking' women! I love that! :P

Ya, they are only handbags. But it always galls me how many women lose sight of that fact. Or maybe it's not even the birkin. There's got to be something wrong about a society that allows people to think themselves morally/socially superior by virtue of the possession of a few expensive trinkets. (And wouldn't you think those women must be somehow unhappy with themselves? How can one behave that way and not be? Happy, stable people don't act like that.)
 
#9
*waves to Ms. Twilly* ;)

hermes_lemming said:
That is so horrible.

You know... I had a similar wrench in my stomach yesterday after witnessing another customer "talk down" to my SA. :sad:

$$$ cannot buy you manners. But uncouth behaviour is regardless of financial status.
Click to expand...

I have seen women snap their fingers at SAs and order them about like servants. My SAs have seen it too, and weathered it all with an impressive amount of sang-froid. Bless them. I don't have that kind of patience with idiots!
 
#10
I don't see that a Birkin really has anything to do with the rudenss. Even if it did, there was one nice lady with a Birkin and one rude lady with a Birkin. So one good; one bad... they cancel each other out.

I think it is just one lady is a jerk and one is not.
 
#12
Kallie Girl said:
I don't see that a Birkin really has anything to do with the rudenss. Even if it did, there was one nice lady with a Birkin and one rude lady with a Birkin. So one good; one bad... they cancel each other out.

I think it is just one lady is a jerk and one is not.
Click to expand...

ITA. the birkin seems irrelevant where the behavior is concerned.

and i feel sad for the rude one, #2, because she hasn't traveled much or else she would have been exposed to the charming ways of other cultures, including the idea of sharing a table. she spent all her travel $ on her bag and as a result is not very well-rounded. so sad.
 
#14
Hummm...we all know people who think they are entitled. And, the sad fact is, no one will tell them that they aren't. So, they are ridiculed behind their backs. I know, I've got a friend who works for one. However, that wicked witch only wears Prada!
 
#15
I omitted mentioning that the rude woman was actually Polish but who happened now to live around the corner from the cafe (she had interrupted the conversation of the men at the next table to tell them so). So she's traveled, but clearly not picked up any good manners along the way.

Of course birkins are just bags, and are not intrinsically causes of rudeness. I have noticed, however, that there are women who do use birkins as symbols of status that are meant to be quite in-your-face -- we all know the type -- in order to elevate themselves. Quite sad, really.

I suppose at the end of the day it's not a reflection of the bag (how can it be? it's just a bag), but of one's upbringing. It's just a shame to see well-turned out women proving themselves to have, well... turned out not so well.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top
Back