Published on •Updated
Indian-American comedian Zarna Garg, who has made a name for herself with her humorous take on the lives of Indian immigrants, has circulated a story about her experience in a luxury shop on Berlin’s Kurfürstendamm.
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Garg, who is currently in Berlin as part of her comedy tour, posted footage of the incident on Instagram (source in German).
Shortly after using the toilet at the Hermès store, the comedian tried to open the sliding door, but it jammed.
At first, Garg saw the funny side and, together with her team, started filming the wait to be rescued. She even made little origami figures out of paper towels. But as more and more time passed, the situation stopped being amusing.
According to Garg, staff initially tried to force the door open on their own.
Crowbar and store alarm
The staff asked her to push against the door from the inside while they used a crowbar. To make matters worse, the alarm went off during the attempt. Garg said she was afraid the crowbar might injure her, while her daughter and her team stayed outside and watched the increasingly tense rescue attempt.
Garg said her team pressed staff to call the fire brigade, but they hesitated, according to Garg, because they were worried the door might be damaged.
After 80 minutes, she was finally freed by Berlin’s fire brigade.
After the incident, Garg said she was relieved that a fire had not broken out on top of everything else. She had been worried about being locked behind a door which, in her view, was cheap and flimsy and might not have met the required fire safety standards.
Garg turns down offer of champagne
For Garg, the ordeal did not end there. After she was freed, no one apologised to her, explained what had happened, or even tried to speak to her, despite the fact that she had been shut in for more than an hour.
Instead, a member of staff approached her with a bottle of champagne – apparently as a gesture of compensation. Garg and her team turned the offer down.
Her family had to watch everything unfold
What particularly upset Garg was that her children and her team had to witness the dramatic rescue operation from outside. They watched helplessly as staff tried to open the door. Afterwards, she says, nobody looked after them or tried to reassure them.
In the end, the comedian responded with the humour that has become her trademark: she drew a pointed comparison with Hermès bags, joking that they are famously often difficult to open and close – just like the bathroom door that had trapped her.
Her final verdict was far less light-hearted: she described the incident as a story of a “useless bag, a useless door and useless people”.
Her post has sparked a wave of reactions on social media.
Many users argued that a simple apology and an acknowledgement of the incident would have been more appropriate than a “gift”.
Hermès has not issued a statement. Garg said she understood that the luxury brand might be holding back due to potential legal consequences and pointed to her own legal background.
Before her career as a comedian, Garg worked in New York as a civil litigation lawyer – specifically in personal injury law and compensation claims.
Euronews has contacted Hermès for comment.