Indian-American comedian Zarna Garg went to a Hermès store in Berlin and expected, well, a luxury shopping experience. Instead, she ended up stuck inside its bathroom for about an hour and 20 minutes.And naturally, Garg did what she does best – she started making jokes about it.Garg is currently travelling with her three children, Zoya, Brij and Veer, as part of her Million Dollar Excuses Tour. While in Berlin for a show, she stopped at the luxury fashion house and ended up having an experience she later described as both frightening and frustrating.She documented much of what happened and shared it with her nearly two million followers on Instagram.
‘We thought we’d make a funny video’
At first, Garg wasn’t particularly worried.She and her team apparently thought the whole thing could become a funny story. From inside the bathroom, she joked about being trapped and even made an origami village out of paper towels while waiting for someone to get the door open.“We started recording thinking we’ll make a funny video about what you can do when locked in a bathroom,” she wrote in her Instagram post.She also played games, including guessing how many paper towels she was holding.But the joke started to wear thin as the minutes turned into an hour.At one point, Garg pointed out the irony of being stuck inside a bathroom at a store that is known for its famously high standards.“It is so funny that a place that is so persnickety about perfection, this is happening there,” she said from inside the bathroom.
The situation became serious
According to Garg, her team tried to get the store’s managers to take action after the door refused to open. She said they eventually asked staff to call the fire department, but there was reportedly hesitation because of concerns about damaging the door.Garg said she was eventually told to push from inside while people outside tried to work on the door with a crowbar.Firefighters ultimately helped get her out.By then, the humour had pretty much disappeared.When the door finally opened, Garg looked visibly shaken. Her daughter Zoya was there to comfort her.“Thank God there was no fire,” Garg said.ID@undefined Caption not available.ID@undefined Caption not available.ID@undefined Caption not available.And that, she pointed out, was one of the more frightening things about the whole situation. If there had been an emergency inside the bathroom, being unable to get the door open could have made things far more serious.
‘No one says a word’
What upset Garg most, however, was what she says happened after she was finally freed.According to the comedian, no one from the store apologised or appeared to acknowledge what she had just gone through.“After an hour and 20 minutes, I make it out. No one says a word, apologises, or makes eye contact with me,” she wrote.She also said an employee later offered her a bottle of champagne, which she declined.“A peace offering?” Garg wrote, adding that she and her family refused it before leaving the store.Garg’s Berlin show was scheduled for August 21 at the Punch Line Club, so the bathroom ordeal happened just before she was due to take the stage.
Zarna Garg had the perfect punchline
Despite being understandably angry about the experience, Garg couldn’t resist taking one final swipe at Hermès.“How ironic that the company that makes a bag that is impossible to open and close now has a bathroom door that is impossible to open and close,” she wrote.She then ended with: “Useless bag, useless door, useless people.”It’s very much the kind of punchline you’d expect from Garg. But behind the joke was an experience that clearly left her shaken.Garg, who grew up in Mumbai and later moved to the US, was a lawyer before turning to stand-up comedy in her 40s. Much of her comedy draws from her experiences with Indian families, motherhood, marriage and immigrant life.She is now travelling the world with her comedy special – although after this particular Berlin stop, she may have a very different memory of her trip to Hermès.Hermès had not publicly responded to Garg’s allegations as of the time of the report.