“How?”
“Black customers get called watchers more.”
“Do you have records?”
“No.”
“Anything written?”
“Sometimes client notes.”
That opened another door.
The company’s CRM stored client notes after visits.
Data team extracted them.
Thousands.
Most normal.
Prefers emerald cuts.
Anniversary in October.
Collects vintage Cartier.
Budget 25-40k.
Then others.
LIKELY WINDOW SHOPPER.
ASKED MULTIPLE PRICES.
WATCH HANDBAG.
UPGRADE APPEARANCE BEFORE PRIVATE ROOM.
NO PURCHASE HISTORY—MONITOR.
Legal reviewed demographic data where available.
Patterns emerged.
Black customers were more likely to receive monitoring notes even after controlling for purchase history.
Younger customers too.
Casually dressed customers.
Clients with non-Western surnames.
The results were not perfect.
Data incomplete.
But enough to investigate.
Then security calls.
Over three years, the flagship called police or building security eighty-three times.
Thirty-one involved suspected theft.
Four resulted in arrests.
What were the other fifty-two?
Some legitimate disturbances.
Intoxicated customers.
Domestic disputes.
Trespass after closing.
But nineteen involved customers who had committed no known crime.
Eleven involved Black customers.
The flagship’s Black customer share was far lower than eleven of nineteen.
That disparity alone did not prove discrimination.
But with testimony and CRM notes, it mattered.
The Black Woman read case summaries until two in the morning.
One stuck with her.
A Black surgeon.
Fifty-six.
Came to buy his wife a twenty-fifth-anniversary bracelet.
He wore hospital scrubs under a winter coat.
Store Owner asked whether he had an appointment.
No.
He was told the private bracelet collection was unavailable.
Twenty minutes later, a white couple without an appointment viewed the same collection.
The surgeon complained.
The complaint outcome:
CUSTOMER MISUNDERSTOOD APPOINTMENT POLICY.
The Black Woman looked at the timestamps.
Same day.
Same collection.
Same manager.
Her jaw tightened.
Another.
Young Latino tech founder.
Asked to preauthorize a credit card before viewing a $95,000 watch.
Policy did not require it.
Bought the watch elsewhere.
Complaint:
PAYMENT VERIFICATION DISPUTE.
Another.
Elderly white farmer and wife visiting New York.
Plain clothes.
Wanted to buy granddaughter’s wedding gift.
Ignored for forty minutes.
No racial issue.
Class judgment.