Special treatment for special people, cool...but if it's not there, then accept it an move on. There's always the next day or even the rest of your life to go into a particular store. If there was truly racism then shame on Hermes, but I've peeked into closed shops where I wasn't let in because the SA had ended his 8 hr retail work day. I don't want to disregard the possibility of something heinous, but there was another very logical reason here, that I'm sure we've all experienced also.
Any rep no matter how powerful would have apologized for this. As high end as Hermes is, it's still a product in the competitive world of fashion, who's up against an iconic very public figure in the forbes top 40 that has a ton of influence on the buying public which includes figures of similar status who buy Hermes. It may not have been physical force, but pretty close. It would have been nice to let her in and truly wish they had, but they chose to keep their schedule so it should have ended quietly right there with a little grumbling.
Any rep no matter how powerful would have apologized for this. As high end as Hermes is, it's still a product in the competitive world of fashion, who's up against an iconic very public figure in the forbes top 40 that has a ton of influence on the buying public which includes figures of similar status who buy Hermes. It may not have been physical force, but pretty close. It would have been nice to let her in and truly wish they had, but they chose to keep their schedule so it should have ended quietly right there with a little grumbling.
and I mean that in the nicest possible way.
I'm wondering if you'd ever believe that people of color are often discriminated against while shopping. Not everyone decides to play "the race card" because it's convenient. I hate the idea of someone dismissing me because of my race. But there have been plenty of situations where it's actually not in the person's head. I personally know a white SA who quit working at a certain department store because the manager (in a conversation that was "off the record") told her that she needed to watch the minority (blacks, in particular) more closely. Not just black shoplifters (as if that wouldn't be bad also), but ALL black people. In her opinion , ALL black people were suspect. I won't mention the name of the department store, but there were many complaints about this particular store and it was even mentioned in a story on 60 Minutes. Also, my husband's grandmother, who looks white (white skin, red hair, blue eyes) has told us so many stories about how people in certain stores will treat her a certain way because they thought she was white and they would even talk about black people (to her because they thought that she was white) as if they didn't belong in the store...black people who can afford to purchase items. Oh yeah...My mother had a student who worked at a department store for a few weeks and then he just abruptly quit his job. She asked him why and he said, "I just couldn't take it. They wanted me to watch all of the black people...even people who look and dress like you, Mrs. _____." (My mom is always very elegant.) Meanwhile, plenty of people who were not black were shoplifting. 
She goes to use the gift card and is completely ignored by a certain SA (white). Another SA (also white) from another department just happens to show up. The SA who is ignoring them is overheard (by my friend's mother and the other SA) "They never buy anything anyway." Just so you know, my friend and her mother had never been in that particular department store (they had been in one in another state), so when the SA said "they never buy anything...", she was not referring to people she knew personally.
