Locked in the Hermès Bathroom & Luxury Brand Abuse

It's literally the most infuriating thing in my entire life. This is a fire code confine here, like in the case of a fire. Now can you do the same thing you just just know for us to do a leg? Hello, Namaste. Welcome to the Zarna Garg family podcast where all five Gargs are in the house. We are shooting an emergency episode on the back of an event that just happened and we want to get into it while our feelings are new and raw. I was locked in the bathroom at the Hermes store in Berlin for over an hour, almost an hour and a half and they refused to break the door and they were doing everything except being helpful and when the door was finally opened by the fire department, not by anybody in the store, there was not a word of apology, they were rude, they slammed the door shut in our face, forget saying sorry or being understanding, they almost acted like we committed a crime. So this episode is being filmed. Why do we let these companies get away with this? This is not new. Hermes acting badly is not a new thing but we buy into the allure of it. I mean I know that my video is going to add to the lore of Hermes. People are going to be like oh they're so cool that they don't even care. Why do we keep going back to these things? What is what is the psychology of these expensive brands treating people badly and we just keep going back for more and more. Now can you do the same thing you just now press it with your leg? I've been locked in the bathroom at Hermes store in Berlin for about 20 minutes, right? It is very funny that a place that is so first-nickety about perfection does this happen in there but I'm fine. I'm also comfortable with my own but I'm a bit open. No one told, I know what I call this, no one told me. Thank you for trying. They explain it to us because it happens a few weeks ago or the same. Something's happened. Now we can play a game. How many stones are in this gap? Look at that density, one thousand. 15,000 we have no winners because my team can look at that, how do we make a little hole in my ring tower? It's breaking the door and option. For us no. Can we please go down this door? We're happy to pay for it on this one. We have to check if it's not gonna damage at all. What do you mean? The door. The only reason we haven't broken down this door is because you want to protect that one. What we want is just to yes a little bit. We are making a little village of paper towels. I have a piece of ring. Let's move on. We'll add a flower to this We'll be with the great boy of Berlin. That's my favorite. So can we celebrate the door now? Like it's been over an hour? It's even over. That's more. What are they saying? Let us do our job. Wait a minute. Okay could you do at the end of the door, put your phone in. Press it. Oh my god. Guys, let's make people in guys. Oh my god. Thank you so much. Thank god there was no fire. Thank god. Like we would have just. Just taken it out. No apology? What did he say? He said stay. No, he's not saying anything to us. So that's it, you know. What an upstairs. Let me know something for you. What is this? Something for you? Just. No, no, no. No, no, no, no, no, no. There's an hour of being locked. I don't need a bottle of champagne. I'm good. I'm sorry. Nobody told us that. You think we wanted to get locked in that not one person said the door was broken? Like it is so infuriating because I don't get it. I remember one time you maybe go to a different designer store, but along the same like sibling of her mess or something in New York City. And I walked in, I wasn't dressed fancy. I wasn't dressed as nicely as somebody who probably goes to the store. And they treated me like sh*t. Like they literally wouldn't talk to me. They wouldn't look at me. Everyone kept like giving me weird looks. I was going up the stairs to pick something up from my mom. And I remember just being like, this is the worst experience I've ever been. And I don't get it. Like I don't get why it's considered so oracle. Or they gained so many points for being such douchebags. Like they're so mean. It's part of the brand. It really is. But Zara, can I ask you a question? Do you think this could be a burlin versus me? I can't imagine this. No, it happens in New York. It happens, I think. My experience I'm talking about is in New York. But I also want to just add gravity to what happened because I was actually there. And it wasn't just a one off. Oh my gosh. Our mess was rude to Zarna. It was actually the worst treatment I've ever seen in person of a person that I care about. Being no exaggeration. We started the whole experience extremely carefree. Like when she was initially locked in, me and our producing team was, we were making jokes. We were like, oh, it'll be so funny for us to write a newsletter about how satirical it is that mom was locked in the or mess bathroom of all places. We were playing games. And then we were trying to keep it light. We were trying to like, it happens. Yes. It's not get carried away. It's fine. We had a lot of faith in the management team there that they were going to help us figure it out. And 30 minutes went by. And none of us saw any momentum. We were going around. Our producer was asking, you know, I feel like no one's actually called for the firefighter. They're still working on the wrench situation. The other manager hadn't spoken to us. And more importantly, had not spoken to Zarna or mom in the room. You know, usually when you're in an emergency situation, which this was an emergency situation, the person who is responsible says, hey, we know you're in this situation. This is the step we're taking. This is the other step we're taking. She can't visibly see us. There's a barrier. All she can hear is scuffling in the background. And me and our team basically screaming ahead. Are you okay? We're doing okay. Texting her. So we were starting to record almost as a defense mechanism of like, what's going on? So I go back. I'm like, has the firefighter been called? All of a sudden, 45 minutes in. They decided that it was time to call the firefighter, which was ridiculous. Then the firefighter comes. It takes 20 minutes for them to start to resolve this situation. I keep asking, why can't we break down this door? It's been over an hour. We're here for a work trip. This is the one hour that my mom is supposed to be resting. And he's saying, we want to protect the integrity of the door. Let it be known that this door was already a disaster. This door was already broken. They're rigid. We saw that. Yeah. Can I ask you to describe the enclosed space that you were locked in? Because you're so close to probably. There was no bathroom. There was no windows. So it's like, it was a, you know, clean-ish bathroom. So it was not a bad bathroom. But the door that they're talking about, just so you know, was like a cheap piece of plywood. Like, hello, Hermes. The door was, it was not some like 18th century Ming Dynasty recreation of an antique piece of anything. It was like a flimsy piece of plywood. They could have broken it. I would have been out in two minutes. We could have replaced that door. Somebody could have replaced it. It was, and the lady who was showing us the back, this lady who wanted to show us a bag. She had a bag to show us. Said, have you checked out our upstairs? It's brand new. It's fully remodeled. You should go check it out. We have ready to wear. And I've bought a lot of Hermes ready to wear. And I was like, okay, let's go check it out. And I said to myself, oh, let me use the bathroom. Before we sit down and look at the bags. Because that's a bigger decision. And I wanted to be at peace. So the bathroom was a small tiny enclosed bathroom. It was, you know, there's no windows. And I couldn't tell. All I could hear is people pushing and moving in the door. What were the sounds like? Because they weren't taking different pieces of metal. Yeah. Like ginormous pieces of metal and wrenches and wood to try and break this. So imagine bridge and beer and dad. You're in this tiny room. You have no idea what's going on. You have a blindfold on. Okay, and all you can hear is whamming at your door. Can you imagine how terrifying? No, and then the woman comes up. Did they say this has happened before? Yes, yes. Oh my god. They said this has happened before. And then they should have just, someone said an insert in comment section. They should have at least had a sign that says this door is not working. This bathroom is out of order. Even if they had just been like, you know what? Our bathroom's out of order. Sorry, you might not have to go somewhere else. At least do that. I mean, the work that's not aesthetic. Yeah, I'm sure they're like. That's the only explanation because why was there not a sign? If this door was so dangerous, they're going to the bathroom in a designer's door. And they knew about it. No, but then shut up. You know, the funny thing she said was, the one lady who got nervous, who works and are missing, I told you not to close the door. Close the door, first of all, no one told us. Like how do you use a bathroom without bouncing the door actually when I was watching the tapes the first thing They said was we know we didn't tell you and then at the very end they said we told you So I think they realized oh my god. We messed up. We can't make it look like this because you started recording and they just Changed the entire story. I was like insane on my side on the bathroom side I was like I was really concerned that nobody was doing anything for a while because it was just silent Then it was just loud thudding and banging so I was concerned that there was a big saw or something that was gonna Blow the door open inside and I was gonna get hurt just by standing is a small bathroom I wasn't very part to go then the woman said can you go and kick the door then within Second within five seconds. She goes back off from the door. So I kicked the door. I backed up from the door I was like losing my mind. I'm like what is the last thing she said is she expecting me to stand there not stand there And then the alarm kept going off the alarm kept going off and stopping going off and so no one explained to you Why that alarm was going off? I actually don't know why the alarm it was this other automatic door that's meant to protect the calories Oh So it was very very stressful, but I was also with my kids and my team that there are all young people So I me and my brother were no but my producer on our head of content Here's the thing when you're running a young team You don't have the luxury to crash out every five minutes because they're looking to you to stay stable So I knew that if I like if when every time they ask are you okay my my people not their people if I was like Oh my god, I'm scared they would start crying. They would be like oh my god So it was I would have even in that situation. I think I already did cry very mindful that we all need to become to get out of this Like everybody's take home. We're gonna get out of this. We really didn't think we were gonna be doing this No, I was like it happens my mindset for 90% of it was life happens It happens will make funny videos about it and we'll move on will be like we played this game We played that game like oh my god even Hermes has problems We were gonna make a satire video until it took this dark turn in the last five minutes Just a quick reminder watch on Spotify Spotify premium viewers get fewer commercial breaks. How great is that you're treating you like this I wonder how they treat their everyday gas and they knew so the sales person at one point I think started to realize that we were recording and we were getting distressed me the producing team We were starting to get worried and so she I saw went to the manager and said you know this is Zorna guard She's a celebrity, you know, she's on her tour and the guy scoffed as if that was extremely unimportant Yeah, she actually did try to warn this man. I saw it with my eyes people they upgraded engineering That is the worst part in all over them. It's the best engineering. She was that European people have no heart Come on that's not true engineer How many people came over? There was this handicap person and she really don't know The handicapped lady shall up to be fair They did not like that. They did not help her. It was our producer Literally lifted this handicap. We explain what he and she once kind of was a handicapped lady who had bought tickets A differently able lady what bought tickets She was a wheelchair and could not get up had bought tickets who are show in Geneva and no one at the venue would help her Yeah, like she had bought a ticket for her accommodation and ADA ticket and no one wanted to help her our TV producer who's not even five feet I don't she lies. She's five one five one and she went up and picked up this woman and her chair and like helped her come down All the more than in the in the venue. There was no in built There was nothing there was nothing to accommodate the handicapped and like today That was nothing like the firefighters game and we asked them. I was like is this door fire code compliant and they're like no Well, no the crazy or what was me directly asking him also is the only reason we haven't broken this door Because you guys want to protect the door and him saying well, yeah And I was so shocked the door was Broken the wedges were broken the entire situation was a mess and Really what was striking about the situation was our exit because up until this point when she was released We were also relieved, but then we were leaving and then do you want to just know when we when the door finally open I assume somebody is gonna say Sit down for a minute. No one spoke to us not award. No one said anything The managers were gone. The security guy was gone. Everybody just kind of just vanished So we're like kind of like okay because they didn't have the liability. They were scared. They were they were concerned that I mean, that's we some humanity like even if even if they're not gonna accept that the door or whatever, but not even like Are you okay? Not even I mean could you imagine if this happened at one of our shows But we would have made sure that that fan or customer is taking so care of they might have gone and freeze on a guard tickets for life Yeah, I mean we if something goes wrong and things go wrong Which is why we try to cut slack? We we were not planning on making this making a video and making a part none of that was planned We were gonna make a fun video. We are gonna make sure to do when you get locked in the bathroom because they were all in games Yeah, no when you started doing the the towel and then you guys made a colony with the plan No, that was right here. I made a little origami colony while I was sitting there and waiting I was like, let's make this a teaching moment and let's do this and let's just but the absolute Disregard for our stress and for our situation at the end is what has prompted us to make this episode to make this video And bridge before you even say it to make me pledge that I will never shop in that store again and now do I recommend I Don't think this is the biggest customer base is Chinese and Indians not They're biggest customer base is rich Chinese people Indian people Asian people and it's like To be clear, I don't think this was a race thing. This is their brand and we know it. I know it so then why do you keep going back? I don't understand it. I agree with you. This is an issue that we all think it's cool I thought it was cool. I mean just Lebron James's wife was in the news two weeks ago at the same store at the same store The armistice or embarrassed when they didn't honor her. What was she news about and news about she had her shopping appointment and they won't let her in Oh my god wait dad, so they're okay not just that we're not just that mom told me that in 2005 Oprah Winfrey got canceled at the store I mean every day people And say and and we just were like oh wow like our mess is so cool. It doesn't need Oprah. It doesn't need Lebron I just say the only way the store and the brand will pay is if the demand goes down It's like cocaine right the reason drug dealers can keep selling cocaine into America is because of the demand side Not because of the supply. Well dad the other thing that I thought was shocking which I think you might also agree But I'm curious is on her exit. I really in my naivete thought they were gonna roll out the red carpet I thought she was gonna get a kelly bag. I'm not joking. I told both our producers like there's no way she leaves without a free bag They clumsily handed her on her way out without making on to guy contact without even saying sorry without even glancing in her direction They just threw into her hands this random bag and she said what's this and it was a cheap bottle of champagne That she obviously did not accept but so I gotta tell you something and I do know your mother a little longer than you guys know your mother She would not have accepted it. No of course she wouldn't know because from a liability standpoint and a legal standpoint You wouldn't have accepted no, no, no, no forget about legal alarm You should have truly taken the kelly bag so when I'm back on their faces and left What they needed to do is say sorry at the very least I think she would have been that like we Are you okay like what are we doing here like I get it You're cool. You're beyond cool. You're so super chic. But are you not human? But this whole trend of being super cool for everybody else and being just that people is a new modern thing in society And it's taking over here. Do you want to talk about Playboy Cardi? Yeah, sure why not So yeah, there's this artist rapper named Playboy Cardi I'm sure that our whole audience would really dislike him because that's The appeal is to like kids my age little even some adults are really in love with him But it's this guy his whole ideals on how to market himself and how to make music is to literally treat his audience as if they're Like they're non-human. So for his last album he waited like six years to drop teasing it every day changing names And he would just and he wears like black face paint and he has blight you can't even when he does concert mom When you do a show you give people the full experience We have so many different parts of our show that would make it make it interactive make it more fun at his shows He doesn't even do lyrics He holds the microphone. He doesn't walk on stage He has his whole his stage design is literally like scaffolding Explain explain the lateness What do you mean like concert when he go like how long does it take for him to get on oh wait? So let me set this up, hold on. So when we do shows, if anyone who's been or anyone's going, we try to start the show as soon as possible to when we say it should start. - Within 10 minutes of show time, we are on. - That's so nice, like usually it's five to seven minutes, just to make sure everybody is seated, and we run a very, very tight ship. We know our audience is very busy people. - We're very, so usually you can tell, we're very big on customer focus, but this new trend that this guy played with Cardi, that we're bringing up because he's such a big role model for other rappers, other performers right now, because he's selling out mass arenas. He will come on state, I went to his concert, okay? And I was super excited, me and my friends are excited. The show started at seven p.m. We get there, we get there like six, 30 won't be in the front, whatever, we hit seven p.m. We figure he's going to take five, 10 minutes. Like we usually do just because, you know, people need to get seated, we need to show everyone's comfortable. It gets to seven, 10, he's not out yet. Seven, 20 comes, he's not out yet. Seven, 50 comes. We see the projector. - Seven, 50, 50. - Yes, we see the projector. - We see the projector. - Show starting soon, 10 p.m. - Oh my god. - Show starting soon, 8.30 p.m. I swear to god, you can search it up, rolling loud in New York City, play with Cardi, I'm not lying, this is not exactly of 8.30 p.m. Finally, the lights turn off, smoke comes out, and he comes out. - Wow. - Wow, in a half late. But you know what's crazy, we all keep coming back. - Yeah, we all do. - We all keep coming back. - And you get to love the class. - And I get to love the class. - And I love the class. - And I'll come back. - It's a thing. - I mean, listen, you guys are young, but like there's no excuse for me to be part of this world. - By the way, I was just comparing this experience to the experience we had either at Globus, which is a regular mall, which was so much more pleasant. - So, actually, Penny in New York, right? The same idea. - Oh yeah. - All those experiences are so much more pleasant, cost nothing. The customer service people are all available. Remember, Veer, when you wanted to buy that perfume, how available that lady was, was to ask her a question and it's just, I just feel like these upper and brands have just lost the plot and have not, they're not keeping up with the world and how it's changing around technology, around, because this is what we are doing right now. It couldn't have been done to them 20 years ago, right? There was no way to expose them for so long. - I'm so glad that social media has made it so that ordinary people and people that usually would never have a voice are able to shine light on these brands that are so apologetic. - By the way, social media is about to go on trial with Metacapital. - Why are you so excited about that, Dad? - I'm just thinking, are you focusing that? It's a big deal. - I'm curious about it. I mean, I definitely think the child's, I mean, I do wonder sometimes if social media should only be allowed for adults. But what I was going to say is that one thing that we were really torn about with this video was, do we release it? Only because we're such a positive environment. And she has had crazy things happen to her. I'll actually let Bridge tell a story that we've never told on the podcast before. But I think is very relevant to this show. And also a testament to what it took for us to even post this video tonight. But essentially, what I learned from this experience is if you are abroad, you should not go places alone. You just shouldn't. And I have a tendency, especially in safer cities, to be like, oh, like, let me go for a little walk. Let me go into a new store. If my mom was alone in this or my store, which is considered the most highest luxury store, the safest neighborhood in the city, I don't know how long it would have taken her to get out. No one was giving us any information. We had to create so much of a fuss, even for them to call the firefighter 15 minutes in to break into the door, whatever that's called. I have a question. What was the firefighter equipped with the equipment? They took them a half an hour. They wouldn't break the door. Like, I just don't understand five times. Oh, but he was being given strict orders by the Hermes manager. Yeah, to be fair, the firefighters were good. Yeah, the firefighters were good. So they weren't complaining. And thank God for them. No, we love our firefighter. Because our best team had no clue what they were doing. But they were detrimental. Then not just not no clue. They were actively hurting the operation to get you out of that room. Yes, yes. And the firefighters, by the way, which you described to me, when a firefighter comes into a situation, their job is to resolve conflict within minutes, right? They're training it. There's a fire to put that fire out in five or less minutes. The fact that it took trained Berlin firefighters, 25 minutes to handle a plywood thin door. The door was this thickness. You could actually feel it. I was like, I could probably get this down. I know, right? I was just, I was like, you can just get this down. It's just insane. We were trying to like, honestly, if it had not ended, the way it did, we would have all moved on. And been like, this was unfortunate. Things happen. We weren't scared of the video. But I want to tell you, I want to tell you. But the way it ended, which story is it going to end? The comedy seller. I don't know if you wanted to be told the one about the woman. Oh, no, you're going to. We're coming to you with an urgent message. 52.8% of you are watching this podcast, this show, and have not subscribed. That means one in two people who are listening to this show right now, have not hit that subscribe button. It's totally free to do. And it helps us grow the show so much. If you've enjoyed our episodes abroad, if you're enjoying our experimental takes, if you're enjoying how-- We are not just sitting around on our table and doing Mike blah, blah, blah. We are out there responding money, building episodes that compete with reality TV. And 95% of you have not subscribed. That is 95 out of one that have not subscribed. What you're waiting for. What you're waiting for, I want to know. The almost statistician. But please subscribe, subscribe, subscribe. You can click subscribe right here on the episode right below. It is up. It's below. And it's somewhere on the page. It's very clear what the button is. Please hit that button. It is red. Now back to the episode. Is it red? Hey, it's me, Bridge. I just want to stop you for one second and tell you about something fun. If you want the chance to get shouted out in a future episode, please text your name and one question you have to the number of below 855-608-1717. You can text or WhatsApp. It works fully international. Please let us know your name and one question. So we had a similar story, not similar story. We had a different, scary story, very early on a mom's career, actually, once she was performing at the Comedy Cellar. So if you don't know what the Comedy Cellar is, one of the most, maybe the most famous arena in the entirety of the world, not arena, famous club in the entirety of the world, where you can perform. And it's for a lot of comics, comics to perform. And a lot of them, when they're reaching a point in their career where they're about to break out, just go there, which is like their launchpads of extreme fame and start on like my mom went through. The way it works, though, is that the shows are very, very late and you have no option for when you want to do it. And it's in a very tight space. So there's no room to walk. There's no people out there watching over you. It's a little bit sketchy outside. It's safe inside, but a little sketchy outside. And the shows that Mom was doing, especially, you know, she was grinding every night. She's still as she was then, too. And her shows were like 11 p.m. 12 a.m. 1 a.m. And in the dead of winter-- In the dead of winter. Where drunk New Yorkers are wandering McDougal Street. Yes. And so dead of winter, that's a great point. And dead of winter, 1 to a.m. Just you guys know, as kids, we used to not see Mom until 3, 4 a.m. in the morning. It was like having her home 10 p.m. onward was considered a luxury, because she was just working every night from those hours. Monday through Monday. And one of the nights-- And comedians don't get paid much for this either, by the way. Yes. The center pays more than any other club, but it's not a lot. It's like 20, 40, 60 bucks. Yeah. And so anyways, so she finished one of her sets. And she was waiting. She was going outside so that she can get an Uber and come back home around 1 or 2 a.m. So very early morning. Dangerous hours, especially in New York City downtown for you to be alone as a woman or as anybody, but definitely as a woman. And as soon as she walks out, there's this woman who was screaming. She was screaming. She was upset. She was angry. It seems like she was angry at her friend or a partner maybe, but she was very angry. And my mom walks out of the club. This woman sees her. It's the first person she probably sees or maybe associates with her friend and smacks her. She actually uses her hands and slaps mom in the head. Like actually slaps her in the head. And it was probably, do you want to explain how you felt in that moment? I mean, she had a big, big bracelet, like a metal bracelet. So she slapped me and the whole bracelet hit the top of my head. And I was just shocked because I was like, is somebody attacking? You know, you think is somebody attacking? And my phone was in my hand because I was about to call the Uber. So I turned the camera on instinctually and captured a portion of her. I thought, oh, I should see who did this. And then before I could even do any more, she took her bag that had all this metal hardware. And she swung the bag at my head. Oh, my God. I think what happened was that she was so drunk that she thought I was her friend. She didn't realize that I was in the woman she was fighting with. I was just some woman who happened to walk by. So she swung the whole thing at my head. And the video actually ended up capturing the swing and her hitting me. So I took two blows to my head that day. And I had at least one and a half of it on video. And this is after hours of work at 2 a.m. in New York City. Like you don't know what's going to happen in this. You definitely were feeling for your life. And there's no way not to. And by the way, alcohol does not excuse indecency. Like if you are drunk or if you are somebody who drinks a lot, that does not excuse bad behavior. Right? You don't get to just be a mean to people because you're drunk. And I remember when she came home and told me, I was so furious. I was like I wish I was there so I could have at least like done something I mean, and the moment I was younger, I was like, I wanted to just like destroy everybody in that scene and just tear the whole place out 'cause I was so pissed off. Now as a molder, realizing that you can't just do that, but it's what I wanted to do then. And I was like, Mom, let's post this on Instagram. Let's get this everywhere. If this woman, she doesn't deserve anything. What she did was horrible. What she did was horrible, by the way. That I still agree with. But you didn't post it on Instagram. For some reason, you did not post it on Instagram. Even though you knew that your supporters would support you in this moment, you would get love for this moment and you would get some sort of form of validation for the fact that you just went through an extremely traumatic experience. Why didn't you post it on Instagram? - I didn't want to blow up her life. She may have had a drunk moment. I was like, we're gonna put her on blast. Her face, her behavior, she could lose her job, she could lose her home, she could lose a child if she had custody. Like, you know, people have complicate. Like, I didn't believe that she was out to attack me. I believe that she was supposed. She was being an institution and a person. - Yes. - Because the seller didn't do anything wrong in the circumstances you would left their property. So it's not comparable to saying that the seller was at fault for this violence. - Yeah, and in this case, in the case of Hermes, it's not like it was one Hermes person. - Yeah. - The company has sanctioned this behavior. That's why they all went silent. - Yes. - The brand has said, if something happens, everybody look away. Otherwise, the humanity in one of them would have stood up and been like, we're so sorry. We're trying to help you. None of that happened because the brand has decided that as a brand, we are better served by acting like we're above it all. - Yeah. - And just to connect us back to these people. - And people will come back and buy our candies anyhow. - In fact, more people will come back and buy our candies. - I know that as we are making this video, I told you that we are feeding into that mythology. We are feeding into making them greater than they are. - But yet? - By the way, the stock I just looked it up is down a lot. They're not doing very well. (laughs) - No, I know. - No, that's fine. - No, that's fine. - That's fine. - Always. - I'm just saying this point. - The stock price is the ultimate parameter of how well a company and their future looking growth aspects are. So, you know, Chinese and Indians are their best customer. I looked that up as well on GPT. It's not the Americans, it's not the Europeans. Nobody's buying the $50,000 Kelly in America or in Europe. They're buying them in Shanghai. They're buying them in Mumbai. The Mumbai people are buying them in London, but it's the Indians that are buying it, right? And your best friend, as you know, is the biggest customer of China. By making Indians and Chinese upset, they're not serving their cause. I'm promising you that. - That's actually a really good point. It's a Kelly of Birken. - Kelly is actually more expensive than the Birken. - They're sure. - But yeah. - Okay. - What they all is, they're at least as cheaper. But I happen to like it, 'cause you can actually use it. The Kelly and the Birken are impossible as the joke was in the video. Impossible to open, impossible to close, just like their bathroom. - Yeah, yeah. - It's so sorry. - No, I, yeah. - But it's something else that I also just knew. - I mean, there's some products, but there's a limit to where the utility of the product becomes, you know, so Soviet to the brand that you're essentially supporting. - Yeah, yeah. - But Shalab, you are a fan of big brands. You are a fan of fancy brands, right? What do you say about this? This is a branding thing. It's not new. I think to be very fair, I think Armez is the most obnoxious. The most obnoxious. Even among the elite and hoity-toity, Armez just thrives on this sort of abusive behavior and has built itself. - Yeah, I'm the comparables are, are comparables to this Armez pricing is lorapiana. I've never had this kind of experience. - But lorapiana's never, we've never had this kind of experience. - That experience, we've never had this kind of experience. - They are extremely kind and, you know, but they are Italian, right? I think there's a little bit of a distinction between Italian and French as well. - Yeah, okay. - The French can be this way, right? They're just very hoity-toity. I mean, in their minds, they're still living in the French Revolution time. You know, the world has moved on, but they're still, you know, no, again, don't want to generalize all French people. They have beautiful women, for example. - Where are we going with this? - Okay. - Wait, Dad, can I ask you something? 'Cause I was actually so curious about this when I first heard of this incident on DD Tony. What was your reaction to hearing this? - I was beyond belief of said. First of all, I was scared because she really is scared of claustrophobic small spaces, right? So I was wondering if she'll be able to do her show. She doesn't even get into elevators easily, right? So I'm, you know, I was worried that she, I was, I said to Zoya that she should drop her show the, the next day and just take a few days off because she may not be in the right frame of mind to be able to do it. - The show is happening. (laughing) - We're not in the show. (laughing) - But also, I was a little sad for Germany, because, you know what I mean? (laughing) - What? - I was, because they're really good people, right? Joe and people are extremely engineering oriented people. - Well, they don't know how to make a sliding door, they put them back, they put the country back by multiple decades, you know, when, as I was scared for them, I was worried for Germany. Amongst all Europeans, they're my favorite country. I mean, I vote in German speaking part of Switzerland, my boss was German. I really like German people, right? - Well, I will tell you, dad, when we walked out, there was one security guy who was really kind to us. And I said to him, he's the one who does the peace sign in the video, by the way. We have no problem with him. FYI, mom also loves to comment. If you see that guy, we like him. And he was silly. And he was the only person that stayed with us from beginning to end of this whole adventure. And at the end, he came out of the store. And he was the only one who dared to come out of the store. And he said, you know, I am really sorry about what happened. And I said, you know, your manager didn't even apologize to us. Like, that was so upsetting. And he said. - I'm telling you that your mom is right. Our mothers must have instructed those employees that when, it must mean the employee handbook, I promise you. But dad, I'm saying that what he said to me, which is his direct quote, not mine. The reason he didn't say sorry is because he's a German man. - Wow. - Really? - Yeah. - That's what he said, that's what he said. - But I want to talk about sad. I mean, he sure wasn't a language translation thing because I'm telling you, German people are the most- - I don't have any problem with German people. I have a lot of German friends. I think German culture is amazing. I'm telling you what he said. Did he not say that? I don't know what that meant. - No, we were shocked. We were waiting for the Uber because we were like, we just need to get out of here. And he was-- - And I know the Autobahn's and they're driving. It's just not everything about Germany. - But I want to talk about brands. - So this is, I want to go and record, Bridges asked me a question. This is the armist thing, not a German thing. - Okay. Okay, anyways. I want to talk about this entire, because you mentioned brands. And I want to talk about experience I had when I got into an Ivy League institution as Cornell University. And this reminded me so much of getting into Cornell because like she said, I'm sure in their employee handbook or however they're trained, it's like, you are now an Hermes, in the Hermes Sanctuary. You must belong to Hermes and shrewd people as if you are Hermes, right? And how that whole brand of being means to people and you're better than them is. And I remember when I got into Cornell University and this isn't a shade on Cornell. It's more shade on like the ideology that it seems to just have cultivated being an Ivy League. And the first thing I tell you, you go into the auditorium and they're like, you are now part of the Ivy League. This prestigious university. - Okay, Bridges, can you stop? Can you stop right there? Let's not demonize Ivy League universities. - What? - You have more brand names. - Jack. - We have more brand names in our five people family than any of the five people family out there, right? One after the other. - But can you let him bring this point down? - No, but he was about to demonize Ivy League. - I am demonizing Ivy League. I'm not demonizing the Ivy League. I'm fighting against the point that being in the Ivy League makes you a better human being than everybody else. And because-- - It does. - No, it does. (laughing) - Dad, DvV isn't even in the Ivy League technically. - I mean, it's better. It's above the Ivy League standards that have been well. - Yeah, but okay, just to finish, they do tell you very early on, you're in the Ivy League now. You represent the Ivy League. So you must be always thinking about Ivy League principles before you do anything in life. And that should dictate your actions. And they're like, - I'm sure. - Let him get his point out, dad. - So dad went to the Ivy League as well. So I guess that's why he is also-- - Yes, and I've been to like, did he better than Ivy League into the Ivy League, right? - Oh, but you know what? Dad's reaction is why these brands persist. Because the brands persist as long as people continue to buy into that. - It's insane. - As long as there's people that believe that their social status associated with the brand, the brand will continue to own its power and be able to-- - It's like Apple, right? I don't want to bring up Apple, but this is exactly like Apple. - Why do you always say it on Apple? They are other phones that buy a Samsung phone if you don't like Apple. No, first of all, I will tell you that this generation, we are a generation-- - Am I? - And you're not the same. - No, we're not. - Oh, yes, it is. - Oh, we're not the same. - We're not the same. - We're in the same time. - But Jay, it's mine. - No, get out of here. I'm not touching any of you guys. - We, this generation has made a move for sure. They are a sort of-- - Yeah, they-- - Like, the Ivy League today are not what they used to be. They do not attract the quality of students they used to. Now, they mostly are a pile-up of Rich Papus. And like-- - It's a lot of them. - Like, you know, rich kids who've never done anything and can't do anything. They have no life skills, they're just children of rich people. And then they get a handful of real kids, like you guys who've actually done something to get in. But for the most part, and even though you guys will have a degree, you will have a degree, I'm not deluded enough today to think that Ivy League today was what it was 15-20 years ago. Maybe that's from 20 years ago, it doesn't make you like. It didn't, but at the time, but bridge, there was a time where you actually had to do real things to get in. Now, it's like, money can buy so much access that it's totally meaningless, and like the fru-fru degrees also that they've created. All it's utter nonsense. We know people who were enrolled at Stanford and were in New York as study abroad. Only Stanford University can thumb up with that logic. But what do we do? Give me non-gymics. Somebody informs Stanford New York City is still in America. Okay. Dad is so, does he so upset, you guys? Wait, I didn't even think about that. That is not study abroad. Oh, yeah. I didn't even ask it. Study abroad. Study domestic. Wait, yeah, actually, that's actually so true. Guys, let's, how do we move forward? How do you want to move forward? I will tell you that I feel like today I had a bad breakup with a bad boyfriend. Like, I've also bought into the mythology of Hermes. I have borne their bags. I have bought their bags. They're ready to wear all their things. And today, you know, something like life teaches you. And sometimes you have to hit rock bottom to learn. And I feel like today I just got turned. I was like, you know what? I just don't need this. I don't need this. And if anybody doesn't want to align with me because I don't have that shit, that's okay. That's their decision. But one that you know is not. It's not enough though. It's not enough. Because someone in Hermes, in a senior officer position, is sitting there watching this. And going, fine, go away. I agree with you. I don't think that should be a little more. There should be some other. No. I'm saying that there should be some other, you know, thing that should happen. But she's not seeking vengeance. Yeah. I don't think vengeance. I'm not talking about vengeance because basically the examples you guys said that she's not the first one going through this, right? I feel like this should be a accountability. Because social responsibility for companies is an important thing. You know, it's not like they can exist in this vacuum. And be like, I don't care. We don't care. We can, like for the same way that they would not impact an environment. They would not cut trees. And, you know, there is, there is responsibility that these companies have that they have to deal with. Okay, I mean, that's on them. The story is out there. Also, millions of people are going to see it. Whatever they feel. But I'm not going to waste my life or my time. Also, can I say one more thing? Chasing all this. Just one more thing. Just you guys know, like two years ago, these Chinese factories are very upset in America because we were like terrifying and, you know, a bunch of political stuff was happening. And the Chinese factories release all these files that you should check out, literally exposing each and every designer company for using cheap materials for all of their products. And it came out, there was this huge scandal because you would assume that you're Kelly-Freaking-Burke and Bag that's $50,000 plus dollars is built with the most perceived quality of human existence. I've also been trying to explain this because dad's deodorant got a two on you, guys. [LAUGHTER] You could do this to use it. You're using the same quality that companies that I love. Which, by the way, isn't Hermes deodorant. I just realized that's a duality. I think you were banning Hermes deodorant, yeah. Oh, it wasn't Hermes deodorant, yeah. I have been so anti-designer for so long, just on the fact that I cannot stand this culture. I literally, like, there's lie about their clothing and make it seem like it's the most pristine quality. Once it's not, you can literally check the files from these factories. They literally do the exact same thing that companies like UNIQL or Banana Republic do, except short 150 times the price. So I'm so glad you had this breakup. I'm glad you're getting this guy out of your life. He's never going to be good enough for me. Hi, I agree. Can I show you what I'm telling you? By the way, this is the audience. So this is not about the divorce thing. This is Hermes. Oh, gosh. Dad, don't worry. We're excited to record part two of a divorce episode with you and just the kids. But I wanted to share one thing. When we were on the other side of the room and we were causing a fuss and we were being really direct, the only feeling I had was I wish I had done more. I wish I had been more fussy earlier on. There's obviously a balance. If you're too much, you can get yourself in a dangerous position. But there was a moment where this towering six foot five manager made me feel like he knew what was going on and he had control over the situation and he had done. And so if your instinct is telling you something is extremely wrong and you need to take matters into your own hands, I guess this was a lesson for me that in an emergency situation, it's a free for all. You got to figure it out. Did you feel threatened at any time? See, this note is also a slightly a race issue. Not a racism issue, but a race issue because brown women are traditionally taught to minimize themselves. Be the peacemaker. Whatever it is, resolve it. I'm guilty of it. I'm the ultimate people pleaser everywhere I go. I do believe that if this was another race, the women on both sides would have come out swinging and be like, yes, open the fricking door. Yeah, but we are like, no, no, it's okay. It's okay, it's been an hour. No, in the video, you can hear me and the producers literally saying, thank you so much, please, I'm so sorry, thank you. I'm like, why are we so apologetic? There's this TV show, me and BioWash and that we both really enjoyed. And the point of the show, one of the cornerstones of the show is they're always saying, it's this young kid and he's being introduced into the drug world, the drug lord drug boss world and the lords are basically telling him, you have to take up space. Yes. That's like that. Always swing your arms around like take up space because you're not, you have to demand what you really want, otherwise you won't be giving any. But it's so antithetical to being a brown person and especially a brown woman. It is so, like, I hear so much things. No, I do, but I still have to learn. No, I would say that we're, I heard the video of you guys were like, thank you, thank you. They did nothing. Yeah. They were saying, thank you. They really did nothing. We can't say. They were pushing people in the same direction. Nothing was happening. And these guys were trying so hard to be like, oh, thank you for showing up and standing here with us. But you also don't get the same, like, level, like it's, it's not a racism thing I agree, but it is a racing in many ways because if you are a tall white guy, they feel comfortable being pushing you, pushing you, even in sports, like in rivalry basketball, right? I'm a shorter, I'm five foot eight, I'm Indian. When I go play pickup basketball and I'm competing at kids that are six foot six foot two, the level or respect that we're show, that's not a racing, that's like more of a physicality thing. The level of respect that they're shown, versus what I'm shown, like what I have to do to like prove myself compared to them, it's a completely different ball. I guarantee if you guys are men and you guys are older, or I mean, start bigger or taller, there's no, that's the situation when they're not on it. And another thing he kept saying to us is, - But do you feel the bridge men are more of a leader and deserve the kind of, you know, extra respect and so on? I mean, I don't know, but that's sort of how I would align. - Dad, three women and mom, four women, solved this situation from end to end, and there was no man involved really. Except for a firefighter who literally, I could have broken that door faster. - He was, he was, he was, he was so sweet. I actually, he, the firefighter, I have no problem with, but I actually think if you had given the three of us, one of those instruments, we would have figured the situation out. - Forget the instrument, you would have kicked it out. - The last thing I wanted to say on the point of being assertive in a situation like this, is the man repeatedly also told me to go into the living room and drink some water and that he was gonna figure it out and let him do his job. The three of us, me, Simama, our producer, Miley, our head of content, did not budge because we were like, we're not leaving until our boss gets out of this room, that's ridiculous. But if somebody's prescribing you also advice on to leave and you don't want to leave, you can just say no. And I'm so glad that we did because if we hadn't, I would have been really worried. - He was just being dismissive. But he said, he's being patronizing his wife. - Oh, what do you women know? Let us do our job, we don't know anything. - Yeah. And he was just trying to get rid of you guys. I mean, the behavior was just, but I feel like I needed this intervention in my life. I have been very much part of the problem of building these brands up. And now, maybe this has left my system. Sometimes you need to hit that rock bottom to get it out. And I'm happy to say I'm out of it. I'm done. I'm overwhelmed. You can keep your bags to everybody. And no shade to anybody who wants to buy them, seize value in them. They just all go enjoy it. I am not trying to try to change anybody's mind or life on this. I am too old to waste my time doing all that. Go enjoy doing it. But for those of you who are on the fence, for those of you who are struggling with these types of feelings, this episode is for you. We hope that you enjoyed it. And as we end every episode with a round of good grades with Garg, so too, we will end this episode with a round of good grades, where each Garg gives another Garg and A grade for the winning moment of the episode. Who wants to go first? - I mean, in this situation, my good grade has to go to you, but therefore, keeping your mother was a victim, she could not have done anything from inside. Things were in your control. You took control of the situation. You're in a foreign country. Don't speak the language. Six foot five man, so it may have been intimidating. You kept your cool. and kept pushing through, prodding through. I know it feels like a lot, it took an hour and a half, but what if it was three hours, right? So you did take care of the situation, to control the situation. So the good grade has to go to you and your producer for having the mindset to record the whole thing for evidence. - Yeah. - Because if you told the same story just verbally and did not have the evidence, it would not hit as hard than if you had the evidence situation. - No, they wouldn't. They would, she was exaggerating that that wasn't how long the firefighter didn't show up. It would have been, yeah. - We didn't even mention the fact that nobody, that the people, everyone in that store, like on our team, has not had sleep for like 24 hours straight. Like we just had gotten off an airplane, like straight at 4 a.m., like we woke up at 2 a.m. to pack all the bags in the car. Like nobody had slept either. So this was all dealt with with negatively. - Why were you guys going to Hermes without taking a nap? - We just wanted to go for a walk. That was not her fault. - We kind of decided let's go for a walk and see what's out there. - It was probably a nice street of Berlin. - Yeah, that's what you was thinking. - I'm gonna give my A grade to our producer, Simama and her head of content, Miley. Simama had the foresight to be recording from various angles. Miley at the same time was recording from other angles. We stitched together this story so that you guys could see the video in the heat of the moment as we were experiencing it. And we're now recording an episode right after so that you're getting our authentic reactions and it wouldn't have been possible without the two of them. I was freaking out, dad doesn't know. I just basically gave him the high level. But if it weren't for the two of them, I would have actually banged down the door myself and maybe have been exiled from Germany forever. - Yeah, probably. - I'm gonna give my A grade to mom. I think that always in these drastic situations she has the tendency to be able to stay calm better than anyone I know. And we also ran into like a similar issue as this in a big, some big retail store. And she was, she stayed calm the whole time, figured it out. And it's so much easier when you're the person kind of leading the charge with your group of solving these issues. It's easy for the people next to you to be like stay calm, stay calm when you're actually speaking to them and getting minimized by the workers. It's so much harder than it seems. It's much easier said than done. So I'm gonna give my A grade to you for staying calm and making it a later situation. - I mean, I definitely wanted to give my A grade to like, do these some on my Miley as well. But man, that is just so funny. - Oh, yeah, I get the A grade. - He is just so funny. And he's such a star on this podcast. It's unbelievable how entertaining he is. I literally cannot, I mean, if you go through this episode, I'm dying laughing from the comments he made. He goes through these wild tangents that have nothing to do with anything. It's just hilarious. - You have to defend the whole country. - Sure you are. Like where did that even come from? And then sometimes we start with an attractive German woman. Like where does this come from? - 100% unfortunately, but also so amazingly, dad gets my A grade. - Oh, great. Oh, great. He gets an A grade when he dials in on Zoom. - Which, no, you just diminished what he did. He also was able to get on this podcast, zooming in from America on five minutes and notice. So make sure he was here present and energetic, which also, even I forgot about that actually. He gets my double A grade. But first ever double A grade of super A. I'm going to my super A grade. - Yeah, I was, I was falsely imprisoned and scared and kept a cool head and kept, but no, no, please. He was also super A grade. - He gets my super A grade. - I was a first time ever I showed you. - Yeah, just please. - A super A grade. - You know, create a new alphabet for it. (laughing) And you're at it. I give my A grade to Zoya and to my team. All three of the girls. I knew because they were there that I was gonna be okay. - Aww. - I knew it. - That's so sweet. - Because they were not gonna leave. We are a very close tight team. And had I been alone, I would have freaked out and lost my mind and they wouldn't have cared. Honestly, with their attitude, I could have just died there and they did not care. - Yeah. - I'm not even exaggerating. - Nobody asked, even once, are you okay? Not one of us. - Not one of us. - So, but because the three girls were on the other side, I knew I was gonna be okay. And I was able to keep my calm. And I just so happy that this is the team that works together. This is my team, this is our team. I think it was a proud moment for all of us because we came together and we did not create a scene there. We did not, we were most respectful. Even though we were all upset, we did not lose our cool. We did not start screaming, we did not start yelling. We captured authentic moments. We present, we're presenting it to you. So you can make up your own mind. - Hour is later. - We literally were down, we had a drink, I had a drink with Miley. (laughing) And we were like, you know what, let the people decide. We are not out there trolling anybody. We're not threatening lawsuits. We're not doing any of that. We're telling you in real time, here is the documentation of what happened. You decide what you think. And for that, I'm very proud. And we love bringing real moments to you. We were so tired, but we decided to film this raw, wildlife emotions and our memory is still intact. We hope you enjoyed this episode. We wanna hear about your experiences in certain, these types of situations. Please like, share and subscribe this to this episode. Share it with your friends. Let's see what they think. Bring more people into our world. Please hit that subscribe button. Subscribe, subscribe, subscribe. It helps us. It helps us grow. It helps us bring you more episodes. And until we meet again, everybody say that. (soft music)