Karthik was really hard done by. What is this: 'I've got my eye on you' stuff? He was told to change and he did. It's not his area of expertise but he tried hard and succeeded. Grainne and Mukai are experienced in retail and by comparison, they failed.
I understand that Grainne didn't put him on the shop floor because she thought he might blow up but he didn't, so it wasn't fair that she was allowed to keep bringing that up. And her dithering over who to bring back was awful. I can't understand why Sugar didn't criticise her for that.
It wasn't fair for Sugar to call Karthik Basil Fawlty. It doesn't matter if Sugar doesn't like his style, what matters is what the customer thinks. He charmed that woman. And it was relevant that he nearly sold the bag. She didn't buy it but she left feeling really good, which is what customer service is about. She might even come back and buy it because he planted the idea that she deserves it. So if he was working at Liberty's for real, she'd probably come back and she's a high-spending customer.
Same with the family. All right, they didn't buy much, but they liked him. He's good with people, which is surprising because everything before showed that he was abrasive.
Sugar is always chippy about high end retail, despite dressing very well and expensively himself. I don't care that he or anyone else thinks that expensive handbags are a waste of money. Of course they are, but that's not the point of luxury shopping. If you want to spend only £10 on a bag, that's fine. But the same is true of someone who wants to buy one for £1,000.