Local artist says he got the Oprah treatment at a Newbury Street clothing store

Wow. Ricardi is a great store. The owner is a little off putting at times as he's an old school Italian dude (I think Italian) but I've never ever had problems with the staff. I'm a big fan of Nudie jeans and always buy mine there but when I first went to the store to buy some I had no idea which pair to get and a very helpful staff member not only recommended a bunch of different pairs but suggested style options and including hemming free. I support the store entirely, sorry that this dude had a bad experience but it does not represent their service at all.

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I've read through the whole entry about 4 times by now and, well, is it just me, or is there nothing in his rundown that actually suggests any form of overt racism? Like, being directed to the menswear section when one is a man: that's racist now?

(I did, however, learn that this ~artiste has had a solo exhibition and is so wildly in-demand now that he needs new clothes, and that he "doesn't care" about Riccardi enough to write to them directly, but apparently, cares enough to write about them on his blog.)

After reading this man's post all I see is that he ran into two rude sales people. This is not an uncommon experience. He offers nothing to support his conclusion that he was ignored due to his race. Should I , an older white man, conclude that when I am ignored it is due to my race or age? I think not. The sad fact is that some sales people are lousy at their job. Nothing more. Nothing less.

"I said hello and repeated my request about suits and skirts for men. He replied, “Yeah, that’s downstairs. This is the women’s department.” I advised him that I was aware of that and that I wanted to know what was available in menswear. He replied, “It’s downstairs,” and just stared at me. I thanked him and told him that I would find it myself.

I left the store. I went to Barneys."

The staff at Riccardi's have always been rude, I stopped shopping there in the 90's.

See, this is the problem - everyone acts all offended for no reason. Are sales people at high end boutiques more snobby? Most likely, then again, most of them can't afford to pay for that they are selling.

As far as the whole 'I'm a fat slob with money and they treated me badly' sort of response you see here, wow, is that a fat person trying to cry about being discriminated against? Maybe you were just creepy. Bragging about a titanium card? Yeah, they aren't that hard to get.

As someone (like myself) who has a taste for finer things (and a wife with the same) I am in and out of the boutiques around the Back Bay (LV, Jimmy Choo, Burberry etc) rocking a flannel and jeans / cut off shorts and have never been given any sort of nonsense fatso and darkie are talking about. Then again, I didn't ask for a skirt like I was some sort of avante garde douche.

It isn't a Boston thing, it isn't a black thing, it is a people thing. Learn to grow a pair, thicken your skin, or actually call out the bad behavior to them / ask for a manager, instead of some lame blog or letter to a large company that doesn't care.

Is there some way that they can both (author and store) lose?

Newbury St. stores are NOTORIOUS for their rude, snobby staff. The whole damn Back Bay is a rude, uber pretentious place. I do not understand why people insist on shopping, eating or even going to bars or clubs where the staff [and management] routinely act like stuck d-bags. Whatever.

I have numerous friends [YES, 'professional' and 'professionally attired'] who've been treated like they were on someones D list while attempting to shop on Newbury St. I myself wear t-shirts and jeans [or *gasp* cargo pants!] most of the time and get dirty looks when I just casually glance for a few seconds at the 'boutiques' while walking by. Attitude REEKS on Newbury, the Back Bay, Beacon Hill, from the valet parkers on up.

From the way this incident was described and knowing nothing else other than this version of events, I wouldn't be surprised if the man was flagged as being undesirable due to who he was. But trust me, this by no means only happens to black people.

If the subset of the world's population that shops for $38,000 handbags constitutes a race I'd have to admit to being racist. I hate "those people".

As much as I personally don't give a hang what people wear, I honestly don't think someone can walk into an establishment and ask for "men's skirts" with a straight face and not expect the staff to be at least slightly taken aback or maybe flustered as top how to respond, if it is not an establishment that specializes in such an item. It simply isn't the most common request around.

As for the sales staff talking among themselves instead of helping him, I find this to be a problem in general, not just in snooty Newbury Street stores, and not confined to customers of any particular race. What REALLY bugs me is an employee at a checkout counter carrying on a personal conversation on a cell phone while conducting the transaction with a customer. This happens quite frequently.