Luxury store staff kneels down and apologises for 'rude' behaviour. 'I did not...'

A Chinese female blogger has slammed a Fendi outlet in Japan for rudely removing a shawl from her shoulder without asking her. She got so angry at the act that four employees later knelt in front of her to apologise.

SCMP reported that a Xiaohongshu blogger known as Annie Datouzai, who claims to be a fashion specialist, posted about the incident. She has reportedly studied at Columbia University and the University of Toronto and currently lives in New York.

Talking about the incident, she wrote that while travelling in Japan, she visited a Fendi store in Tokyo. She tried on a woollen shawl which she wanted to purchase. But she asked the sales reps to get her a new piece from the stock. 

While she was waiting, a senior sales representative went up to her and removed the shawl from her shoulders without permission. He then gave it to a Chinese couple.

"I was completely stunned. Why would a male sales representative take the shawl off my body without any explanation?" Datouzai wrote.

She was livid and tried to file a complaint. But the staff wasn't well-versed in English which caused problems in the process. She said that she felt ignored as well since instead of trying to help her out, the sales rep was completing the sale of the shawl to the Chinese couple.

The store manager asked her to go to the second floor, where the manager, two sales staff, and a translator reportedly knelt down and apologised to her. 

The manager who took the shawl off her shoulders justified his act saying that he had consulted with the staff member who was helping her. He further argued that the store had no surveillance cameras, so it wasn't possible to confirm the incident. The woman checked with another Fendi store in Japan to thwart the no-camera claim.

She later filed a complaint with Fendi’s headquarters and received an apology email from the head of the shop.

People on social media slammed her for exaggerating the incident and getting the staff to kneel down. She later clarified that she did not ask them to do so and was reasonable and calm in the store at all times.

“I am satisfied with how the store manager handled the situation,” she said.