Empire Actress Gabby Sidibe detailed a run in with a racist store clerk at a Chanel Boutique when trying to buy a pair of glasses.

She says in a blog post that she was directed to a discount store in what seems like an incident of shopping whilst black but Sidibe hypothesises that it could also be because of her size.

She wrote in her essay:

I needed new eyeglasses. My friend has a really cute pair of frames from Chanel that I’d been coveting, so I decided to try to buy a pair for myself at the Chanel store near my apartment in Chicago, where I live while shooting the show Empire. On my way to the store, another friend called. Taraji said she was stuck on set and asked if I would pick up a pair of sandals for her. No problem. I grabbed a cab and in a few minutes walked into the nearly empty shop. I was looking pretty cute. My wig was long and wavy, I was wearing new ankle boots and my prescription Balenciaga shades, and I had a vintage Chanel purse on my shoulder, over my winter coat with a fur hood. I looked as though I were in a Mary J. Blige video. Just how I like to look! The glasses display was near the door, so I walked right over. A saleswoman and I locked eyes immediately. I said “Hello” before she did. She greeted me, but the look on her face told me that she thought I was lost. “Can I take a look at your eyeglasses?” I asked. “We don’t have any,” she answered. “We only have shades. There’s a store across the street that sells eyeglasses.” “Across the street?” I asked, confused. “Yes. In the building across the street on the fifth floor.

” She gave me the name of a discount frames dealer. I had been at her display for less than a minute, and she was literally directing me to another store. I knew what she was doing. She had decided after a single look at me that I wasn’t there to spend any money. Even though I was carrying a Chanel bag, she decided I wasn’t a Chanel customer and so, not worth her time and energy. No matter how dressed up I get, I’m never going to be able to dress up my skin color to look like what certain people perceive to be an actual customer. Depending on the store, I either look like a thief or a waste of time. There doesn’t seem to be a middle ground between no attention and too much attention. Honestly, if I walked out of every store where someone was rude to me, I’d never have anything nice.

Some other employees noticed her…

I still had to get Taraji’s sandals, so I asked where to find them. The saleswoman seemed annoyed but walked me further into the store. As we passed through, other employees who were of color noticed me. All of a sudden, the woman who had pointed me out of the store let me know that even though they didn’t have eyeglasses, the shades they carried actually doubled as eyeglass frames, so I should take a look at the shades I’d come to look at in the first place. Just like that, I went from being an inconvenience to a customer. I bought two pairs of glasses and two pairs of sandals.

Unfortunately, I’m used to people giving me bad service. Honestly, if I walked out of every store where someone was rude to me, I’d never have anything nice. So yes. I spent my hard-earned money on the things I wanted from Chanel, and I’m certain that saleswoman got a commission for finally helping me.

She went onto write:

To be fair, I don’t know why that saleswoman didn’t want to help me. I suspect it’s because I’m black, but it could also be because I’m fat.

Maybe my whole life, every time I thought someone was being racist, they were actually mistreating me because I’m fat. That sucks too. That’s not OK. I’ve felt unwelcome in many stores throughout my life, but I just kind of deal with it. As a successful adult, sometimes I walk out of the store in a huff, without getting what I want, denying them my hard-earned money. Other times I spend my money in an unfriendly store as if to say “Fu$k you! I’ll buy this whole damn store!” But now as I sit staring at what seems like the hundredth customer-service survey I’ve accepted but not completed, it occurs to me: does it matter whether my waist is wide or if my skin is black as long as my money is green?

Read her full essay here.