Indian-origin comedian Zarna Garg in an Instagram post shared she was trapped inside Hermes store bathroom in Berlin. She shared multiple videos of the incident clubbed together in a Reel, claiming she was locked inside a bathroom for 80 minutes. But that\u2019s not the part which left people who watched the video appalled. According to the comedian the staff initially refused to call the fire department and were not at all apologetic about what transpired.<\/p>\n
For a brand built around luxury, exclusivity and impeccable service, getting trapped inside a bathroom is probably not the kind of customer experience Hermes would want going viral. But that is exactly what Indian-American comedian Zarna Garg says happened to her at a Hermes store in Berlin. Garg is currently in Berlin for her Million-Dollar Excuses comedy tour. Her show is scheduled for August 21 at Berlin’s Punch Line Club.<\/p>\n
In a lengthy post accompanying the video, Garg said she was \u201clocked shut\u201d inside the bathroom for more than an hour while her children and team waited outside. And according to her, what happened after she was finally freed was almost as disturbing as being trapped in the first place.<\/p>\n
‘At first we made light of it’<\/p>\n
Garg said the incident initially seemed like an inconvenience that would be sorted out quickly. Instead, the situation dragged on. \u201cAt first we made light of it. Things happen,\u201d she wrote, explaining that she and her team began filming the incident and joking about what they could do while waiting to get out.<\/p>\n
She said she made an \u201corigami village\u201d using paper towels and played games, including guessing how many towels she was holding. But the mood changed as the minutes passed.<\/p>\n
Garg said she and her team became increasingly concerned that the staff were not making progress and eventually demanded that managers call the fire department. According to her account, the store refused, insisting that the door needed to be \u201cprotected\u201d.\n <\/p>\n
‘They asked me to start pushing the door’<\/p>\n
Garg’s account then becomes considerably more alarming. She said staff eventually asked her to push against the door from inside, before telling her to \u201cback away\u201d as they allegedly jammed the door with a crowbar. She also said alarms went off during the attempt to free her.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was scared that they had some equipment to blow the door open and possibly injure me,\u201d she wrote. After around one hour and 20 minutes, Garg said she was finally able to get out.<\/p>\n
What happened next, however, left her even more upset.<\/p>\n
‘No one says a word’<\/p>\n
According to Garg, there was no apology, explanation or acknowledgement from the store staff after she emerged. \u201cNo one says a word, apologises, or makes eye contact with me,\u201d she claimed. She said that, as she was leaving, an associate handed her a cheap bottle of champagne.<\/p>\n
\u201cA peace offering?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n
Garg said she and her team declined it. She then claimed that the store employee closed the door behind them and locked it again. India Today has reached out to Hermes for a response to Garg’s allegations. The brand’s response, if received, will be added to this story.<\/p>\n
Garg says the bathroom door may have violated fire-safety rules<\/p>\n
One of Garg’s most serious allegations concerns the construction of the bathroom door. She described it as a \u201ccheap, flimsy piece of plywood\u201d and alleged that it was in violation of fire code. Her bigger concern, however, was what she described as the store’s response to the emergency.<\/p>\n
Garg said she is a lawyer and understands why a company might be cautious about making statements during a potentially serious incident. \u201cI understand it. Their legal team probably advised them not to say a word,\u201d she wrote. But that, she suggested, did not make the experience any less unsettling.<\/p>\n
How people reacted to the post<\/p>\n
Understandably, people in her comments section were furious. \u201cOmg !!! This is appalling, they should have broken the damn door,\u201d Seema Sajdeh wrote.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe audacity to talk to you like that at the end – only in Germany smh,\u201d wrote Elnaaz Norouzi.<\/p>\n
See more reactions below:<\/p>\n
However, Zarna seized this opportunity to tickle everyone\u2019s funny bones.<\/p>\n
She ended the post saying, \u201cSo 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. Shakespearean tragedy but also so authentic. Useless bag, useless door, useless people.\u201d<\/p>\n
A lapse or a careless move?<\/p>\n
– Ends<\/p>\n
Published By: <\/p>\n
Tiasa Bhowal <\/p>\n
Published On: <\/p>\n
Aug 21, 2026 15:46 IST<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Indian-origin comedian Zarna Garg in an Instagram post shared she was trapped inside Hermes store bathroom in Berlin.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":68461,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12919],"tags":[42170,42169,42171,4953,42168,42173,42174,42175,42172,41878],"class_list":["post-68460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-hermes","tag-80-minute-lock-in","tag-berlin-bathroom-incident","tag-fire-department-refusal","tag-hermes","tag-hermes-berlin-store","tag-luxury-brand-controversy","tag-million-dollar-excuses-tour","tag-punch-line-club-berlin","tag-store-staff-response","tag-zarna-garg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68460"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68460\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}