People Tell Us About The Worst Karens They've Ever Met
22. Don't Feel Like Chatting? I Won't Warn You About Your Bathroom Mishap
“This happened many years ago before we had the term Karen.
I worked in an office that had multiple shifts which meant sharing desks. This was common in the industry I was in and I generally worked 5 to midnight so was always assigned to a desk that “belonged” to someone during the day.
But guess what boo, you don’t own the desk, and unless I make a mess you have nothing to complain about.
Anyway, this Karen worked at the desk next to the one I was frequently assigned to. And whenever I came in I’d smile and say “Hi” and she would barely grunt at me.
Only once did I have to use her desk and it was literally only for an hour because the person whose desk I was at came in earlier than expected. She only knew because I was still working there when she came in and I was finishing up a double shift so I was very tired (5 pm to 8 am).
I tried to smile and say “Hi” and all she did was pick up the garbage can and start shrieking that there was “a back layer of waxy paper from a sheet of labels in the recycling can and it can’t be recycled!!!” She threw the sheet of paper, slammed down the can, and stomped off.
I just ignored her behavior. The next time I was assigned to her neighbor’s desk I again smiled and said “Hi” and she didn’t even grunt just got up and walked away. It was the end of her shift so I figured she left. Well, it turned out she went to the ladies’ room before leaving.
Came back to her desk to get her things before leaving and as she turned to walk away I saw the glorious karma. Her skirt was fully tucked into her granny undergarments and pantyhose. It was an awful sight to see and I honestly don’t know how she didn’t feel it but I didn’t say a thing.
I wish I could have seen the look on everyone’s faces on that NYC subway train that night!”
Another User Comments:
“I can moderately one up this tale. Once upon a time, I worked in a fabric store whose bathroom was way in the back of the store, in the stockroom.
One day, a frequent customer walked out of the bathroom just before I walked out of the stockroom. It was in the days of long tunic tops that hit mid-thigh on most of us. This poor woman did not have her tunic sweater tucked into her stirrup pants.
Oh no! She had a used sanitary napkin hanging down below the hem of the sweater. This was the old days when pads had tails you fastened with a thinger to hold the tails, or if you were really old school, a belt with the same thingers.
Hated them. It took me a couple of strides to identify what I was seeing, and catch up to her before she reached the more populated area of the store, and scream-whispered that she had to return to the restroom to remove that sanitary pad ASAP!!!
I never even saw her exit the store, let alone return in the future, and she’d been in at least monthly, if not weekly.” Minflick
21. Customer Has A Meltdown Over Rose-Scented Hand Cream At A Closing Cosmetics Store
“A popular cosmetics store is closing in my country.
I went in yesterday after hearing of the closure to stock up on some hypoallergenic items, not knowing that they were already running their clear-out sale making everything 75% off. To say the store was picked over was an understatement. It was darn near empty. I was lucky that they still had inventory on exactly what I wanted.
When I got to the front of a very long queue a wild Karen appears.
Cutting in front of the line that is no less than 10 deep, she demands that they look in the back for a rose-scented hand cream she was unable to find on the sales floor.
The woman at the counter assured her that all the inventory they had was out on the floor and that if she was unable to find the item, they were sold out.
A normal person would accept that a store, with mostly empty shelves probably does not have the inventory to fill those shelves.
Not a Karen. She understood, “We don’t have it” to be the start of the conversation.
The associate called out next, and as I approached the counter Karen held out her arm to block me and said, “I’m not done yet”.
Karen is insistent that they find her item and will not take no for an answer.
She continues to badger the employee pulling out winning lines like, “It’s the only item I can use”, “You had it yesterday”, “I have been a customer for years”, “This is the third store I have been to”. The employee with each statement reiterates what you see is what we have.
Still not satisfied, Karen of course asks for a manager, refusing to move until the manager appears.
At this point, I say to her, “Could you please step aside while you wait so the line can progress.” This was met with her rudely telling me to “Mind my own freaking business”.
I have done my time in retail and live for the moment when somebody pulls out an F-bomb, and I am sure the associate having enough, was also happy to ask at this point that she leave the store immediately for being rude to other customers.
Unfortunately, a Karen only has one mode and that is escalate. I have now committed the cardinal sin of making a reasonable request of a Karen and have inadvertently made myself a target too. She then turns back to me and yells “See what you have done?
I am just trying to get some help here. Now they are throwing me out because you couldn’t keep your mouth shut. If this was somebody in trouble, you would probably mind your own business, but no, you have to be a jerk because I am just trying to get some service”.
A few of the customers in line join in calling her a Karen and noting she was in fact the one who was unable to keep her mouth shut. This only emboldened her to champion for her right to rose-scented hand cream. She then begins to berate every customer who dares question her approach to the situation.
Everybody is a jerk, everybody needed to shut up. We just didn’t understand customer service.
Finally, the manager appears, with the full bin of remaining hand cream. They had no less than 5 other varieties, just no rose. The manager is offering alternatives from what limited stock they had in a futile attempt to de-escalate.
However, Karens don’t understand de-escalation. Now Karen is already shaking mad over $3 hand cream, and proceeds to call the manager stupid for not understanding Rose, and then helpfully spells out R-O-S-E.
The manager again says, “We are out of stock.” Noting she has offered alternatives, and if none are suitable there is no further assistance they can provide.
She tucks the bin under the counter and then says to Karen “if there is nothing else we can help you with today, you need to leave before we are forced to make you leave”.
Finally accepting defeat, Karen leaves, not before knocking several products off a display table on her way out.
I use their hand cream, it’s pretty good. I prefer the vanilla scent as the rose smells almost as bad as Karen’s attitude.”
Another User Comments:
“Great story, but if Karen had said to me “Mind your own freaking business” I would have said “No, I won’t, not when you are harassing the staff.
What are you going to do, Karen, call corporate and get me fired from the line?” Karens hate when customers stand up for the staff, so I, of course, stand up for staff any chance I get.” saopaulodreaming
Reply:
“Once the ice was broken, the sensible masses were all getting in shots.
I did get in a “You made it our business by throwing a tantrum over hand cream”. However at that point just about every customer in the store was in some way or another asking Karen to leave, calling her rude, and trying to drill in the employees could not help her further.
Unfortunately, this did not matter, none of it mattered. She was just escalating, hurling insults at everybody, and overall just being a rabid beast over hand cream. The problem with a Karen is that they don’t understand they are in the wrong. A room full of people telling them they are in the wrong will often only result in them digging their heels in further.
This was the situation. I feel for the associates who were working their last shifts, facing unemployment and having to deal with a barracuda with a bad dye job losing their mind because their hands will no longer smell like bad odor.” RubixRube
20. You Want A Refund On A Perfectly Good Laptop? No Chance
“I recently sold a used Notebook on eBay classifieds (similar to Craigslist). It was a pretty old ACER Notebook I used during uni and had 8 years on its back.
It’s still perfectly fine to consume media on or just use it for personal work. I even replaced the battery, so it would actually hold a charge for more than 30 minutes, and replaced the HDD with an SSD so it boots fast enough to be useable.
The ad was very clear in the fact, that it is used and does NOT come with a Windows Key, since I always used Linux on it. So I installed a fresh copy of Linux Mint on it and also noted that fact in the ad.
I got a few messages from people wanting it for less than the new battery was worth, so I was delighted to get a message from a lady who needed a Notebook for browsing and maybe doing some spreadsheet/text work.
I told her that I would install LibreOffice for her, which is fine for most used cases, and then sent it over as soon as I received payment.
She paid and I sent it.
After ~2 weeks she messaged me that it doesn’t turn on and wanted a refund. I told her to send it back and I would refund her the money. After receiving it, it would turn on easily and would give me a Win7 login screen.
With her Account.
I texted her that it works and has been used by her, so I will send it back again for reimbursement for the shipping. She demanded I delete her data and refund me. So I circumvented the login screen and took a look at her stuff.
She had vacation pictures on there. She took the thing on vacation, used it, and then just sent it back.
After confronting her with all of this, she blocked me without getting the money back and tried to claim the money back instead with her bank.
But since I could show all the receipts for shipping and successful delivery when my bank contacted me, they denied the claim and I haven’t heard from her since. So I have 80€ AND a working laptop to sell.
Screw you, Karen.
(I obviously deleted all her data by cleaning the drive with an eraser tool after this was over.
I may be a jerk, but I am not a criminal.)”
Another User Comments:
“I had the bright idea of refurbishing old laptops and selling them at one point. I had one. I posted an ad on an online Marketplace. Some people requested the chance to see it.
It’s a middle-aged couple – the guy is trying to sound like he’s really smart about computers and failing miserably. He kept asking how much memory it had and I told him the amount of RAM. I think he actually wanted to know the hard drive capacity.
He got really fixated on how old it was to the point I had to look up how to determine the age via the serial number. I managed to stay poker-faced until he said “Does it have a hard drive?” My poker face slipped and was clearly replaced by my wtf face because his wife said “Honey, I think all computers have hard drives.” Then he tries to trade me their ancient desktop for it.
They finally decide they’ll take it – I can’t remember the amount I was selling it for, something like $80-100. A few days later, they called me wanting a refund because it “doesn’t work.” I am confused because I’ve been rebuilding computers since I was twelve years old and I know it does.
I agree to give them a refund because clearly, these people are too stupid to figure this stuff out on their own. I checked it over – it worked perfectly. Wound up selling it to an acquaintance. Never tried to refurbish another computer.” Numerous-Mix-9775
19. She Just Had To Comment On The Food Stamps I Was Using
“So I was grocery shopping this morning as we were out of food at home.
Well, I got my stuff that I came for, and was in line. Everything was fine until Karen showed up behind me. She saw my cart was full of groceries and proceeded to make a nasty look so I knew it was going to take me a bit to unload my cart onto the lane.
Anywho, I was in the process of checking out and pulled my food stamp card out. I was mid-swipe when Karen had the audacity to say: “You should be ashamed of yourself for using food stamps. My money goes towards people like you who leech off the government.
You are all a bunch of lazy people. If you weren’t lazy maybe you wouldn’t need assistance.”
I turned around and said “You know you should be ashamed of yourself for even suggesting that. You don’t know my life. As for how to read the room you failed in that area.
How I live my life is none of your business.”
She proceeded to say a lot of other stuff and I just left. On my way out I heard the cashier say her card was declined and she needed another form of payment. I smiled and didn’t feel bad at all.
I was in the middle of loading my car up when the Karen yet again approached me this time she was loading groceries into her car.
Should be noted she was on the phone yelling into it saying something like “The man who used food stamps should be ashamed, and my card declined because it was his fault!” I looked at her like no..
it wasn’t my fault.
She saw me. I saw her. I ignored her. She then looked at my car (a 2007 Honda CRV) and said: “You don’t have money for groceries but you have a nice car. That doesn’t make sense.”
I looked at her car which was a nice Cadillac, and said: “Well I take good care of my car that’s why it looks nice”.
Also, I continued from where I left off in the store by basically saying: “You had no right to say the things you did towards me just because you didn’t like my cart was full and I was using stamps to pay. So take your rude assumptions and shove them somewhere else.
Good day ma’am!” I slammed my door and left. Didn’t feel bad at all.”
Another User Comments:
“I had a lady try to do this to my friend (who had three kids and a husband who was currently deployed) over a decade ago. I pulled $10 out of my wallet and tried to hand it to her mid-tirade.
She stopped and asked what I was doing, and I told her that her taxes (at the time, now I think it’s around $40 a year?) paid about $10 towards things like food stamps, and if she was that hard-up that she needed to berate a military wife for her need to use food stamps, I would cover her portion.
She humphed and moved to the next line (she probably saw the anger in my eyes), but at least she shut up.” Apprehensive_Gene787
18. Customer Calls 911 After Being Asked to Put Shopping Basket Away
“Karen was in line and put her shopping basket at the end of my belt.
I kindly ask her to put it on top of the stack with the others on the side. (We do that so incoming customers can just grab it from the same stack and we don’t have to run around collecting the baskets to restack them).
She gives me a nasty side-eye and slams it on the ground. I take a deep breath and ring her up. She packs her stuff and keeps staring at me for 2 full minutes. I finally ask: “Can I help you?”
Karen: “How dare you?”
Me: “Excuse me?”
Karen: “How dare you tell me to put my basket away?! Stealing my precious time! I got a train to catch that I’m going to miss because of you!”
Me: “Are you serious, ma’am?”
Karen: “Yes! Now get me your manager!”
I did. She proceeded to complain about how outrageous it is to tell her to put her basket away because by doing that she loses time to catch her train.
The manager looks bewildered at her and tells her that it’s just for convenience and would only take a second. She demands my name and how long I have worked for my store.
Manager: “Ma’am, to put it quite frankly. This is none of your business!”
Karen: “Well, I come here all the time and this has never happened before! I want her fired!”
He tells her that the discussion ends there and wishes her a good evening and walks away. So does she. But oh no. The story doesn’t end there yet.
About 15 minutes later she storms in again, heading straight for me, her phone in hand. She calls 911 and puts it on speaker!
Karen: “Yes, this cashier caused me to miss my train and caused me heavy damage! The manager is refusing to fire her! I want her arrested!”
Since it’s on speaker I can hear the response clearly. “Ma’am, this is probably gonna be the first time you hear this but NO! We will not be doing anything! YOU’RE going to deal with this with the store management and nobody else! Stop wasting the time of the police that is needed for actual emergencies!
Goodbye!”
The 911 dispatcher hangs up. She opens and closes her mouth like a fish and then storms out.”
17. Teaching A Rude Parking Lot Karen A Lesson With Deliberate Slowness
“This happened to me a few years ago. I was hobbling a little because I have/had joint issues (many joint replacements).
I remember it was a busy weekend, football, I think. I had gotten lucky and procured a close spot to the front of the store.
This was at a Smith’s grocery store.
Anyway, I was in the midst of opening my trunk lid and beginning to put groceries into the trunk when a car pulled up and waited for my spot.
After barely a minute, the driver tapped the horn, and I looked over at her.
She then waved her hand like, “Hurry it up!” I scoffed because it had only been like a minute, and my cart still had the heavier stuff like a gallon jug of milk, soup cans, bottled water, and a case of beer.
It was hot, and I was getting grumpy.
She had the audacity to tap her horn again and yell something at me. I couldn’t catch what she said, but the tone of her voice was extremely rude.
I turned back at her and did the “WHAT!?!” motion with my hands.
She responded by yelling, “WELL?!?” and holding both hands up, palm side up, exaggeratedly shaking them.
What a nasty person!
At this point, the blood was screaming in my ears, and I felt the heat of fire on the top of my head. I was seething at her direct rudeness and entitlement towards me. That’s when The Petty Monster reared its ugly head!
Smoke coming out of my nose… fire in my eyes!
I slowed my usually-rushed pace down in putting the stuff in. Grunt, grunt “This is soooo heavy…” Struggle struggle struggle.
Finally, I put everything away, then slooooooooowly walked the cart to the corral halfway down the parking lot.
I could have just taken the short route and put it back inside the store, but, nah.
I slooooooowly walked back to my car, fumbling with my keys…
…and got into the passenger side and put on my seat belt.
I could hear her crazy yelling something at me, and she loudly revved angrily away (she reminded me of that crazy lady Kathy Bates played in Stephen King’s “Misery” when she yelled, “YOU COCKADOODIE!” in that unhinged way.)
It was then I got back out and got into the driver’s seat and drove away. I kinda looked for her, and she was circling the parking lot two aisles away.
I slowly passed by her, making sure she saw me. I was looking directly at her with a big grin on my hot, tired face, waving exaggeratedly and cheerfully.
I just had to show her how I pulled one on her for her stupid-crazy rudeness! The look on her face made it worthwhile.
Yeah. Screw you, Karen.
Thank goodness, nothing like that happened again. It was awfully stressful!”
Another User Comments:
“I used to work at a grocery store and we were told to park away from the store.
Well “away from the store” was also right next to the local Asian/Arabian restaurant and it was very popular. So when I was going out to my car to go home, people would follow me. If they honked or got upset at my slowness, I would take a 30-minute nap in my car.
Someone once complained to the store’s manager of what I was doing (taking a nap) and she told them if I was off the clock, I wasn’t their problem.” H010CR0N
16. Aunt's Meltdown Over Missing Dog Leash Almost Derails Family Camping Trip
“So, I recently went on a camping trip (more like a glamping trip if I’m being honest) with some family.
I spent most of the week doing laundry and sorting my art supplies so I had all that I wanted for the trip packed and by the time the day we left arrived I already had my things in the family RV.
My aunt on the other hand did not have everything ready to go.
In fact, she spent the last night before the trip stuffing her things into her duffel bag and packed everything into the RV on the morning we left.
So, we were bringing one of our three dogs with us. This dog is fairly big, but not hard to control as long as you’re keeping an eye on him.
My aunt got a leash that connects to a belt thing that goes around your waist so you don’t have to hold it all the time, and since getting it she refuses to walk this particular dog without it despite the fact that, as I mentioned before, a normal leash works just fine since he’s really not that hard to control.
Now, as everyone was getting ready to go and packing the final few things, who should appear with an angry look on her face? Auntie Karen.
She began to shout about how she couldn’t find the belt part of the fancy leash she got for the dog and made everyone look for it.
Of course, she was throwing a tantrum, I kid you not crying and stomping her feet, yelling about how all the things she pays for (or my Nana pays for her) are the things that other people lose, and started blaming everyone else for misplacing it.
At some point she started refusing to go on the trip with us, saying she wasn’t going to leave home without it. Keep in mind now, this woman is about 32-33 years old throwing a fit about a dog leash. We have plenty of other dog leashes that have worked just fine in the past, and yet she insists on finding this one.
Eventually, someone finally convinces her to just get in the RV so we can leave, and she continues her tantrum in the back until we reach the first rest stop on the trip. While there, she takes the dog out to go to the bathroom on the normal leash with no problem but continues whining about how she doesn’t have the other leash.
It got to a point where my Papa (grandpa) just snapped and said he’d find a pet store in the next city we passed through.
To put an end to this story, we did just that and stopped by a pet store, getting another one of those fancy leashes for the dog to finally shut my aunt up.
Bonus story – she also got angry at me for asking her not to use one of my only fishing lures since she always loses them. That one isn’t so extreme but it’s an honorable mention. I fly fish so I don’t normally use lures unless I’m going off of my kayak and use a spinner rod, so I don’t have a lot of them.”
15. Customer Calls To Complain About A Free Sandwich
“So this happened a few years back at my old place of employment, but sometimes it just resurfaces in my head and makes me laugh.
I used to work in food service as a manager (for nearly a decade), so I have a mountain of Karen stories.
This is nowhere near the worst Karen I’ve had to deal with but I think she was by far one of my favorites despite being relatively mild. She wasn’t outright rude, just incredibly condescending.
This was during a challenging time so while we were already incredibly short-staffed, we were also training new staff.
So having a lack of experienced staff, mistakes were going to happen. Our dining room had just opened back up to full service rather than just takeout, so it was added chaos on top of that. That day I was stretched thin between trying to help the new reg op up front by traying up orders and trying to help the drive-thru coordinator (bagging orders and handing them out).
She wasn’t new, but it wasn’t a spot she was in often. While being an easy spot, it was fast-paced.
At a point where I wasn’t over there to help, she had accidentally slipped a sandwich for a different order into the bag for a customer she was helping at the window.
She recognized the mistake afterward and the sandwich maker had to remake it — no big deal. I asked if the customer got only the wrong order or got their food as well and she confirmed she just slipped in an extra sandwich by mistake but still received the rest of her order correctly.
As long as everyone receives what they pay for, it’s fine. Free food isn’t something to complain about so long as your order is otherwise correct.
Or so you’d think.
So when people called the store, I always made a mental note of caller ID.
I did this because of repeat offenders (people who just ALWAYS had a problem) and prank callers who just haven’t figured out how to hide their numbers. So when the phone rang, I read the name and answered.
Me: Thank you for calling (store name) how may I—-
Karen: Yeah I need a manager.
Me: I’m (my name), the AGM, how can I–
Karen: I got a sandwich I didn’t order in my bag
Me: (realizing was the situation from before) Oh, yes, we’re sorry about that. We accidentally slipped an extra sandwich in your bag.
You can keep-
Karen: I didn’t ask for a (chain-specific sandwich)!
Me: Oh, I’m sorry. Was everything else in your bag correct or were you missing something?
Karen: I got everything else, just a sandwich I didn’t ask for.
Me: Yes, we had a mix-up at the window and accidentally added someone else’s sandwich.
You weren’t charged for that sandwich. Mistakes happen, I apologize.
Karen: I know. I have the receipt. I’m not complaining about the free sandwich. (despite the sandwich being the reason she called)
Me: Ok? So was there an issue otherwise?
Karen: Yes. I just wanted to tell you guys that you do NOT know what you are doing.
And if I had the corporate number I would call them and file a complaint.
Now I love when people threaten to call corporate because corporate doesn’t actually intervene. They just escalate the issue directly back to the store to deal with either the AGM (me at the time) or the GM.
Since their beef was with the store, it was better for it to be resolved at a store level rather than having some big wig who’s never even touched a fryer basket step in. It always ended up as a slap in the face to Karen and a waste of their time.
Me: Well I’d be more than happy to give you the corporate number.
Karen: (long pause). No. I’m not gonna waste my time. You guys have no clue what you’re doing. Just know that I will NOT be coming back.
Me: Perfect. Have a nice day.
She hung up and I went back to what I was doing. About an hour later the phone rings, it’s her name on the caller ID. It’s now around 14:30, she came through at about 13:30.
Me: Thank you for calling (restaurant name), how may I help you?
Karen: Hi, was there for a pickup order about an hour ago and my ground beef was missing. So I was wondering if you just didn’t have it in stock or if maybe you forgot about it?
Me: (realizing her beef wasn’t with us this time) Ma’am, who are you trying to call?
Karen: (says the name of the local grocery store in a loud, extremely condescending tone spacing out every syllable.)
Me: (mocking her tone, spacing out every syllable) THIS IS (restaurant name).
She called me a verrrrrrrry inappropriate name and hung up.
I took one more call that day from a much more vile Karen and decided I was done answering phone calls.”
Another User Comments:
“She has no friends or social life outside her home because she drove them all away with her lovely personality and doesn’t know how to cope with it, so she has to harass people all day. I’ve met plenty of them. Yelling at people gives meaning to their otherwise meaningless existence.
They spend more time on the phone complaining about literally nothing than they do being productive in any way whatsoever because that’s the only way they can feel superior to others.” bjgrem01
14. Dealing With A Regular Customer's False Claims Of Friendship With The District Manager
“Karen was a regular at the chain restaurant that I used to work for. Every time she came in, she would loudly complain about the food and the service. When we tried our best to resolve her issues, she’d make vague threats about how we should do better, since the district manager was a good friend of hers.
It happened so regularly, that the whole restaurant staff was aware of her, and it was tense when she walked in. None of us wanted to be specifically mentioned in her complaints to the district manager, so we gave her the best service possible, even though she didn’t deserve it.
Behind her back, we were all making fun of her though, because why would you keep going back to the same restaurant if you clearly hate everything about the experience?
It was even worse when she brought in her two bratty daughters, who must have been about 10 and 12 years old.
These two little girls had clearly been learning a thing or two from their mother because they also sat there loudly criticizing us. One time I brought them their drinks (after less than five minutes of waiting), and the eldest girl said in a snarky tone “Finally!
How long does it take you to get some drinks out of the fridge?” and when I looked over at Karen, she was just sitting there smirking at me, like she was proud of her daughter for being rude to me, or something. After a while, all the staff was sick of Karen’s nonsense and constant complaints.
One glorious day, the district manager was visiting our location, and he pulled me to the side and asked if I’d had any unpleasant interactions with a “good friend of his”, who came in regularly. I was a bit uncomfortable, thinking that she must have complained about me personally, but he reassured me that I wasn’t in any trouble.
Quite the opposite! He just wanted to let me know that Karen was in no way a friend of his and that his actual friends would never come into the business that he manages to make a scene. He said that he had met her once before because their kids went to the same school, but they were in no way friends!
He then pointed out that I actually knew him better than she did, and told me that I shouldn’t tolerate her causing a scene anymore. I think he may have had a similar talk with Karen because I never saw her in the restaurant ever again.”
Another User Comments:
“Lmao I love it when they do that. I’m a Sr Advisor/direct support for the owner of a mortgage brokerage. I routinely take the calls that she doesn’t have the spoons for. She’s the number cruncher and I’m the personality that keeps everyone calm and happy.
Every once in a while people will say they want to speak to a senior manager and they get me. I’ve been told more times than I can count that the client is friends with the Owner yadda yadda yadda. Especially funny when the owner is standing there while I’m on speaker vehemently shaking her head no in response to their claims. Always a good time.” SockFullOfNickles
13. New Resident Tries To End Candy Throwing Tradition At Local County Fair Parade
“Every year my county throws a parade to kickstart the county fair, and every year they hand out candy to the kids during the parade.
When they throw the candy, they always throw it all the way off to the side.
I’ve never been to the parade, nor do I really care about the county fair. It’s usually overpriced and overhyped for what it is, and it’s a bunch of country stuff and I’m not really into that.
I didn’t even know that the parade was happening until I pulled out of the street just in time right before the parade started.
Anyways, apparently, some new local Karen who moved here (about two years ago maybe) went to the parade and documented the people throwing candy.
They took pictures and videos of the people handing out candy. They then went on to both of the local social media groups and showed the videos anonymously and then said “they don’t do that where they come from.” Pretty much everybody in my county is in at least one of those social media groups, whenever something happens in the county it’s always on at least one of those pages.
The one video that I saw (there were at least two) was a video of a guy who was participating in the parade walking from the middle of the street with a Dollar General bag full of candy and handing some to a little girl standing beside the road.
That was it.
The anonymous poster then went completely out of its way to contact the really high-up county officials and the parade organizers. They also kept a list of all the participants in the parade and all the vehicles that were in it. They listed them on the post like last old car, 1 beauty pageant winner, Mario float, aqua Jeep, blue Jeep, red dump truck, etc. There were others they listed but I don’t want to say them because then people could find out where I live.
They also listed a state politician for handing out candy, who I believe is a Karen herself due to other reasons, but that’s a whole other story.
I get that there’s some criticism about throwing candy at parades but I think the way this anonymous poster went about listing everybody and every vehicle that participated in the candy throwing and handing out, taking undercover video, going on to both county social media groups and contacting the parade organizers and really high up county officials was all pretty Karen like.”
Another User Comments:
“She better stay away from Mardi Gras!! Man, they chuck, beads, candy, and once a whole box of moon pies that fell out of the sky like silver rain. I was directly in the path and did duck & cover as a hundred people launched themselves toward me grabbing for the pies.
I got scared and didn’t even get one pie.” irishspice
12. The Water Is Free, I Swear
“So I worked as a waiter at a restaurant for a couple of years.
One of the most infuriating experiences was when a Karen and her group of baby Karens sat down at a table.
I took their orders and brought the food, and half an hour later I see that one of them has an empty glass, so I ask her if she wants some more water.
It’s important to mention that in the restaurant I worked at water was free, and part of my job description was to walk around and refill any empty glasses with water.
She looks at me, smirks a bit, and says “yeah, no thank you, I know your type of people”.
I was weirded out, but continued working like usual.
A bit later I ask another Karen at the table, this time the main Karen, if she wants some water. Here’s the dialogue:
Karen: You asked my friend before, I know people like you and I’m not gonna get my money stolen, no thank you.
Me: Um miss what do you mean “stolen”, water is free.
Karen: Haha and I’m supposed to believe that? Why would you intentionally go out of your way to give us free water?
Me: … Because it’s my job…?
Karen: Yeah no, I’m sure you will charge us for that later, businesses always do stuff like this.
Me: Don’t worry miss, water is complimentary and completely free of charge.
Karen: I don’t believe you, prove it.
Me: Um… As you can see here in the menu, it says that water is in fact free.
Karen: Ok but how can I know that you won’t charge me for it later on?
As you can imagine at this point I started losing patience, so I just called in my manager (this very assertive woman who doesn’t take nonsense from anyone) and begged her to deal with it. Needless to say, the Karens left completely defeated, it was honestly hilarious to watch, the whole staff was spying through the kitchen door that had a window haha.”
Another User Comments:
“I work in a coffee shop and we charge for water. We also have complimentary water in a dispenser with 9oz cups and free refills. The logic is that if they serve themselves it’s free, if they want a large 24oz glass of ice water then we tack on a fifty-cent charge, more for the service rather than the water itself.
We make sure people know we are charging for water if they get it from the register instead of the dispenser. It’s not a scheme or whatever, it’s not a scam. That being said, we had one guy who never showed up before and got mad that he was charged 50 cents, screamed at me (because why should I charge him if there’s free water right behind him?), and never came back again.
By the way, we don’t give a flying flip if you never come back, it’s just one less jerk to bother us so it’s a win/win all around if you don’t come back.” kungfubellydancer
11. Quitting My Job After A Year Of Abuse And A Final Encounter With Karen
“I’m quitting my job this morning!
After a year of dealing with unresponsive business owners, who understaff every shift due to not being able to hold on to employees… and many aggressive DoorDashers, homeless folk who are mentally unwell, and just unhappy people in general…I’m quitting thanks to a regular Karen!
Karen, a regular, has never once smiled or said good morning and in general has been totally uncool. Yesterday, she came in and ordered 3 drinks and a sandwich while we were starting to pick up/get busier. The other barista took the order and went to make the sandwich.
I made the drinks, put them in a tray (because she always complains that she has to put them in the tray herself, as they are out for the customers to take when needed), and then called them out. She meandered for a minute then came over to get them.
“EXCUSE ME!!!”
“Yes.” (By this point, she has been rude to me for a year, and I don’t go out of my way… she gets minimum wage/basic service. Hello, thank you, goodbye.)
“I NEED SOMETHING.”
“Yes?”
“I NEED YOU to LABEL my DRINKS.”
“They’re already labeled.” (Go back to working on the drinks I’m making since I’m done with her.)
“Let ME TELL you SOMETHING..” (here we go, looks like I’m quitting this job finally!) “EVERY TIME I come in YOU NEVER SMILE!! You are ALWAYS like this and YOU never smile! SORRY you dislike your JOB so much that you…. etc etc etc.”
My heart was racing and I was angry.
In the last couple of months, I have been spit on, yelled at, insulted, and more by customers, DoorDashers, and homeless people. I let her know that she could have a great day, sorry she didn’t like me. With each attempt to yell and insult me further, I loudly repeated “Have a great day”.
She finally wore herself out and went back to her SUV parked on the red curb outside of our wall-sized window. She sat for a minute, and I made another drink. I looked up and she was staring at me so I made the next.
Looked up again and Karen is holding her left hand up like holding a phone and waving it around. When I didn’t react, she started aggressively pointing at her “phone” hand with her other. She was going bananas. I pointed to my ear, shrugged, and let her know I couldn’t hear her.
Today, I am sending my “I’m not coming in today or ever again” text. I’m freaking out inside, because… rent. But I’ll be darned if I ever deal with that crap or that witch again.
Edit:
I didn’t quit on the spot because the employer understaffed in a dangerous area.
I wasn’t about to leave the other person alone.
I gave the same consideration in quitting that the owners gave me, their longest employee at the location. After I quit, they never got back to me, they just took me off the schedule. I will give any job the same consideration and respect that they offer the people who do their work.
I would have loved to give Karen a few words that she deserved, but stuck with the loud “Have a great day!” because I didn’t want to give her the satisfaction.
I could not care less if Karen thinks she “won”. If that’s how desperate she is to feel like a “winner” (when this is so very clearly not a win at all), let her.
What a sad life one must lead to feel success when abusing others. I don’t have time to teach life lessons for minimum wage.”
Another User Comments:
“Holy moly op. You were so horribly treated for so long, you just had enough. If I were you I would have probably snapped. Customers are way too entitled and rude, that they don’t deserve anyone to be making their food for them.
Forget anyone who is rude for absolutely no reason. If you’ve had a bad day, just set that aside and say “thank you” to your service workers. I’m glad you decided to quit, hopefully you can find another job.” Camanot
10. How I Handled A Non-Paying, Germophobic, Conflict-Loving Housemate
“I share a two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment with someone who gets upset by the most minor things. She thrives on conflict. I do my best not to cause conflict, but that is nearly impossible with this 38-year-old woman who works from home.
For example, she doesn’t want me to be around some of the common areas, such as the small outdoor patio, because she told me her stuff is there. She has a lot of stuff btw. She has so much stuff that she feels the need to put some of it in the living room and on the patio.
She also told me she is a germaphobe. She doesn’t want me to touch anything, such as the light switches, door knobs, refrigerator handle, or kitchen sink handle, or if I do, I need to wipe it down because she thinks my hands are gross and sweaty.
I decided to tolerate it as long as she was paying rent. I’ll let her “seize” those areas and avoid touching a few things, but my patience started to run out when she became a deadbeat. She texted me she would pay me on “the week of June 19th”.
She needed to pay me on June 1st, but I made the mistake of trusting her. Every time I tried to text her about rent, she was vague about it. I am a bit frustrated not only at myself but at her too. I submitted paperwork to get her evicted.
Today, I decided to lie in front of the sliding glass patio doors to get some sunlight. When roommate Karen arrived and saw me sitting near her stuff, she freaked out. She rudely called me out and told me not to sit near her stuff.
I asked her when she’ll pay me back. She ignored me and walked into her room. Then 15-20 minutes later, she walked out while talking on the phone. I asked her again, and she ignored me. She walked around me to go outside to the patio and closed the sliding door behind her.
I just chilled next to her stuff in front of the sliding door. That’s when I decided that as soon as she left the patio, I’d protest by going out to the patio. When she came out of the patio, I went out and closed the sliding door behind me.
After 20 minutes on the patio, I was dumbfounded that she hadn’t tried to argue with me yet. That’s when I caught a glimpse of her on the phone on the other side of the sliding glass patio doors, glancing at me and hearing her say, “he is sitting on the floor watching videos on his phone.” I didn’t think much of it.
She was probably telling her friend how upset she was, which is the reaction I wanted.
10 minutes later, a female cop opened the sliding door. I was baffled because I knew I didn’t break any laws. I did not harass, raise my voice, throw insults, show violent aggression, touch, or threaten my roommate.
The cop asked me what was going on. I nervously explained to her my roommate and I had some conflict on rent, and I added that my roommate gets mad whenever I chill on the patio. First, she told me my roommate can take a walk if she is triggered by me sitting on the patio.
Second, she asked me if I was going through the legal process of kicking her out. I said yes and showed her the emails. She told me to sit tight, then walked back inside to chat with my roommate. I heard my roommate talking loudly.
I couldn’t make out what she was saying. I was worried. Worst case, she could lie, and the cops take her side. Best case, she is trying to convince them that I am the worst roommate ever.
After 10 minutes, the same cop returned and told me my roommate was rambling about stuff.
I just nodded because it didn’t surprise me. She went back inside.
After 10 more minutes, the cop came back and told me they couldn’t do anything and that this was a civil matter. We were told to avoid and not to talk to each other.
Then they left. My roommate went to get her blood pressure checked by a paramedic. She later returns to her room to lament.
Screw you, Karen. I’ll be sitting in the common area next to your stuff!
Update: She has been crying in her room for over an hour.
I think she was talking to her mom because I suddenly received $956 in my bank account. I wasn’t expecting this at all.”
9. A Tax-Exempt Karen Tries To Tell Me How To Do My Job
“This was a bit ago but one night I was on register at my job (TJ Maxx). We very rarely get customers who are tax-exempt but when we do it’s a hassle because they’re usually buying a ton of stuff and it’s a whole process.
But this lady comes up to my register and says “Oh I’m tax-exempt” and I jokingly say “Oh boy” because the tax-exempt people know it’s an annoying process, and we both just laughed. She was a very nice lady until I asked for her paperwork.
She said “Oh I know how to do this, the manager here actually taught me how to” and I just kinda ignored her and once again asked for her paperwork. She refused to give it to me and I just scanned her items. My CEC comes over and does tell her that we can’t just look her up and that we need the tax-exempt paperwork.
The woman just continued to tell me how to do my job.
At this point I was getting very overwhelmed because I was telling her we need the paper, so was my CEC, and my coworker one register down from me was also telling her we needed the paperwork.
She eventually hands it over, my CEC walks away and then I get her all scanned. After my CEC left the woman just kept going “See wasn’t I right, huh I was right! Wasn’t I right??” in a very childish and immature way.
I’m really awkward so I just kinda smile at her and keep bagging her items.
Then I asked the dreaded question, “Ma’am do you have a copy of your paperwork for us to keep on file?” She immediately goes into childish mode again, “But I thought you said it was illegal to keep customers’ information.
I’m not giving you my paperwork again” and I explained to her that we needed a copy for audit purposes and I called my CEC back so she could tell her. As she’s walking back the lady just kept nagging and telling me how to do my job and I sternly but politely said, “Ma’am you are not my supervisor so we will wait for my supervisor to get back.” She was real quiet after that and guess what!
My supervisor told her the same thing I said!
I handed the woman her bags while my supervisor made a copy and told her to have a fantastic day! She said “What’s your name” so I held up my name tag for her and gave her a big smile.
She emailed my store manager and said I was rude to her right from the start and that I rolled my eyes when she said she was tax-exempt. My store manager wasn’t mad at all and just said to keep my composure even if someone was being unpleasant.
I’m actually putting my two weeks in tomorrow so.”
Another User Comments:
“My first job was at the Maxx. I saw so much entitlement from customers there (boomer men yelling till they were red in the face and looking like a walking heart attack was way too common).
The Las Vegas location was way more chill than the American Midwest one I started at, oddly enough (I think it was the Canadian tourists that made the Vegas store so chill.. they loved hearing a “home” accent). Next retail job was at a gas station/convenience store where I had the power to deny sales to jerks.
It was so much better, even on 3rd shift and with getting robbed multiple times.” CheryllLucy
Another User Comments:
“OP please don’t quit your job just because of a Karen. You will have to deal with them no matter where you work or what type of work you are in.
Dealing with them truly stinks, but learning how is one of life’s lessons. I find it a bit easier by trying to understand how they got to be that way. Most are narcissists, which (in general terms) is a result of neglect & trauma in childhood.
They basically never matured past their tween-level thinking.” Chowdmouse
8. Dealing With My Mother's Hypocrisy About Breaking Park Rules
“My mother lives in a small rural town, on a short dirt road with only three houses. At the end of the dirt road is a locally popular park on the river. Because this town is small and rural, one of people’s favorite things to do is hang out by the river.
I’m 40 and I still do it, even in the middle of the night. People have always hung out in the park on her road at night, even though it’s technically against the rules (open from dawn to dusk).
Nothing has changed about the way people use this park.
What has changed is my mother’s old arthritic dog passed away last spring and my mother has a new dog that has to be walked at night before bed. Since she started walking her dog in the park at night, she’s been complaining about the cars she sees down there.
Usually only one or two cars, never open partying, never loud, just people hanging out. I should also say that this park is the only place in town that offers free Wi-Fi, so many people will go down there just to access Wi-Fi…
Instead of complaining, she started calling the cops.
Last night she called the cops on a lady who was there at 8 pm. She wasn’t doing anything but sitting in her car.
She tells me this today, and I get annoyed. Ask her where she gets off. She says “she’s breaking the rules.” I point out that her walking her dog in the park after dark is also breaking the rules, and that she’s being a hypocrite, and it isn’t her park to walk her dog in at night.
She doubles down and says “The fewer cars down there the happier I’ll be,’ and she had such a smug self-righteous look on her face.
It’s been bothering me all day and I’ve been seriously considering calling the cops on her for walking her dog down there at night if she keeps up the self-righteous hypocrisy.”
Another User Comments:
“”I’ve been seriously considering calling the cops on her for walking her dog down there at night if she keeps up the self-righteous hypocrisy.” I would bring this up to her. The fewer Karens walking their dogs after dark, the happier you’ll be.
I would also suggest starting the discussion in as similar a way to how she started it as you can. Try to mirror the situation as best as possible. If/when (probably when) she flips out, explain what you did and why. They have as much right to hang out at the park by the river as she does to walk her dog before bed. Furthermore, what are these cars preventing her from doing?
Lastly, and I don’t blame you for disagreeing with me on this one. Forget the law, it was written by pencil-pushing Karens/Kevins who only care about winning their popularity contests. They don’t care about you. They write dumb rules because they’re at best, out of touch, or at worst, corrupt & incompetent.
Screw them.” PTEHarambe
Another User Comments:
“Sorry your mom is turning into a crotchety old lady. As for calling the cops on her, I would think heavily about any potential scenarios where things can get out of hand before placing the call. Example being if she’ll go full-blown Karen and wind up “resisting” and get body slammed/pepper sprayed into submission (or worse).
Considering you mentioned it’s a small town I’m going to assume the cops more or less know everyone and probably know her, so if that’s the case then I say go for it. Maybe it’ll humble her a little.” [deleted]
Reply:
“The part of town my mother lives in is actually an unincorporated hamlet.
They don’t have their own cops, but there is a state trooper barracks two miles away, so it’s the state police who come when people call here (or the county sheriff but that’s pretty rare). She wouldn’t resist, nor would she get arrested, they would simply tell her she can’t be in the park after dark… The only issue that would arise is what would happen if she found out it was me who complained about her breaking the same rules she is calling the cops about other people breaking.
I’m not going to report her unless she keeps it up, and given her smug attitude this morning, I’m guessing she will…” LizWords
7. You Signed The No-Fault Waiver, So Any Damage Is On You
“Ok so way back in the mists of time, before I had ever heard the term “Karen”. I was 21 at the time, I’m 46 now lol.
I had got my first job since passing my driving test as a security guard/bouncer at a Haven holidays camp. Due to the ground being largely soft clay over limestone anyone staying on site whether a static caravan, a touring caravan or chalet, or a camper van was told the same thing.
The caravan/camper van goes on the concrete pad, your cars go in the car parks. (Multiple ones on site for this reason.) If it rains the grass basically becomes a clay bog. Even the security van had off-road tires fitted for delivery of gas bottle.
Inevitably people would park on the grass and wonder why their car is now down to its floor pan in a grey sticky morass.
The boss told anyone who did it, that yes we can use one of the tractors we have on-site for moving caravans around to pull you out, but you have to sign a waiver that any damage to the car is on you, not the employee or the company.
Of course, I eventually end up doing it under supervision as I have only driven a tractor once before on my first day of training. The supervisor hooks the car up and tells the guy behind the wheel “When I tell you, gently press your accelerator and we will try to pull you out.”
Of course, his car is a rusty old box of a Granada. We get him out but his rear bumper snagged on the curb and got ripped off.
Cue instant red-faced rage threats to sue me, the supervisor, and the company for a new car.
My supervisor just pointed out he signed the no-fault waiver it’s on him.
This jerk then spent the rest of the day drinking and got so hammered he tried to start a fight with the nightclub manager, he ended up getting his family booted out and barred from all Haven parks in the country.”
6. Woman Takes Our Rental Car And Refuses To Return It Promptly, Despite Police Involvement
“I was staying at a hotel with mandatory valet parking.
After checking out, my wife and I went to pick up the car and saw the exact same make/model/color vehicle we had rented pulling away. We joked that it was our car.
The valet attendant goes to retrieve our vehicle and pulls up with a vehicle with the same make/color, but different model.
We immediately let him know and he checks the ticket, keys, and cars in the lot and it was at that point we all realized the valet had gotten our car swapped with Karen’s. We did, in fact, watch her pull away in our rental car.
Karen somehow didn’t realize that the car she was now driving had a full-body makeover, somehow had grown two additional doors, and had a weaker engine… Her new rental was also missing some of her belongings.
The hotel contacted Karen to let her know of the valet’s mistake within 10min and she indicated she would return immediately.
Based on Karen’s location, it should have taken her a maximum of 20-30 minutes to return (long highway bridge with limited exits/turnaround opportunities).
After an hour had elapsed, Karen had not returned with the car, and the police were called. The hotel contacted Karen again and she said she was a few minutes away.
The police said this was not a stolen vehicle issue and to call back if the car isn’t returned or is damaged.
Another 30 minutes elapsed and Karen was still joyriding in our rental car, so we contacted the police again and they dispatched a unit to take statements.
Karen, again, told the hotel she was just a few minutes away after another phone call.
The officer arrived about 15 minutes later and called Karen. She was told to have the car back in 10 minutes or it’d be reported as stolen. When asked about why she was taking so long to return, she indicated that the hotel didn’t notify her about the error until she was in a town about 45 minutes away.
We know this to be a lie based on her earlier conversations with the hotel and the fact that we saw her pull away.
Karen finally returned with the rental car after about 2 hours. She blew up at the valet attendant over having the police involved. She didn’t realize it was actually my wife and I that called them and it could have been avoided if she had immediately returned. She quickly swapped keys out and drove off in the correct vehicle, avoiding interaction with the officer.
We thoroughly inspected the vehicle and noted no damage, but she did burn about 1/3 tank of gas and left an apple core/other garbage inside.
The officer explained to us that during his call Karen stated she had decided not to return immediately after being contacted by the hotel.
She didn’t want to be further inconvenienced by the valet’s error and ran her errands, despite knowing that other hotel guests were waiting for her to return the rental car. He was surprised by her entitlement but said that she did nothing criminal.
The hotel and valet took full responsibility for the situation and appropriately reimbursed us for the inconvenience (aside from the lost time…). The officer provided an event number and indicated that any further action would be civil in nature and between us and the valet company.
No action was taken against Karen.
While fault lies with the valet attendant, I just can’t wrap my mind around how oblivious one must be to still take the wrong rental car and the sense of entitlement one must have to run your errands after being notified of the vehicle swap.”
Another User Comments:
“We went to a wedding once and rented a car. Showed up to the venue, got out of the car. Karen comes around to the driver’s side and starts yelling at my husband (dressed in a tux) for taking so long to retrieve her car.
He responded, “this isn’t your car. This is a rental. I’m sorry you actually drive such a piece of junk.” Valet pulled up behind us in her car. Same make, model, and color.” Illustrious_Leg_2537
Another User Comments:
“It sounds like the officer just didn’t bother doing any more investigating.
In my state, a person is guilty of aggravated motor vehicle theft if that person “knowingly obtains or exercises control over the motor vehicle of another without authorization or by threat or deception.” She has already acknowledged the car wasn’t hers. Once she acknowledged this, she should have immediately seen to it that the car was returned to you or to the car rental company.
From what I’ve read, the only defenses to a charge of aggravated motor vehicle theft are: 1) The defendant owned the car; 2) The defendant believed he/she had permission to take the car; or 3) The police committed misconduct. Even if she had an excuse for not promptly returning the car, any excuse that isn’t “the car broke down on the way” or “traffic was bad” probably would not be recognized as a valid defense – not even “I had errands to run.” In fact, the best way to avoid a charge of aggravated motor theft probably would have been to return the car to your rental company and not to you, as soon as she realized the car was not hers.
Then the rental company can arrange for you to pick it up, and she would probably avoid jail time thanks to either defenses #1 or #2.” [deleted]
5. Client Tries To Haggle Software Development Costs
“For context: the software development company I intern at uses a special sheet to estimate the cost of building a certain software for a client. This sheet includes employees working on the project, how long they estimate it’ll take, yadda yadda yadda. After an intern goes around the departments collecting this info from the various employees we then calculate the cost & send it to the client to “accept” or “reject”.
Sidenote: since our company is so popular in the area we have a pretty long query sometimes, so if you reject the estimate, chances are you might have to wait in the queue all over again to request a new one.
So the day was slow & they mostly had me man the phones and go on coffee runs, typical intern stuff; then a client calls in saying she wants a piece of “Clock in” software for her employees so she can more accurately track their work hours.
By this point in my internship, I had done at least 4-5 of these sheets and I was taught by my supervisor how to identify which departments would be needed for which projects so after gathering the details from the client I hang up and translate the needs for the employees (essentially explain it in programmer jargon).
Half an hour later, I’m done with the sheet & I have checked the calculations 3 times so I email it to the client and I swear not even 2 minutes later I get an “Estimate Rejected” message on the company smartphone I was given. She added a reply stating “This estimate is non-compliant with me” so I respond to it with “We are sorry to hear that ma’am, please enjoy the rest of your day” and then I go about my business.
Roughly an hour later she emails the phone again asking “is that all you have to say?” By this point, I realized what she was trying to do and report to my supervisor that Ms. Karen was trying to haggle the price.
My supervisor calls Karen’s phone and asks if she would like to have the estimate resent to her so she can accept & Karen outright tells her she wants a cheaper price; to which my supervisor tells her the price is non-negotiable and to take it as is, so Karen uses her signature move of “let me speak with your manager”, but my supervisor simply informed her that she’d get the same response and just hung up on her.
Karen eventually did call back and even showed up to the building to “renegotiate” the price but was shot down every time & she eventually stopped.”
Another User Comments:
“I’m impressed that your business doesn’t bow down to these idiots. So many seem to these days.
My hubby and I ran a small mechanical repair business, and we had a client come in to pay for the repairs to his vehicle. This guy was from India. In his culture, it’s common to haggle prices. He told me this himself. He started to try and haggle the price down, and hubby was having none of it.
After a couple of back and forths, hubby said, “Look, we have pre-haggled the price for you to save you time.” Client roared with laughter.” wickeddradon
Another User Comments:
“People do this at the short-term rental complex I work at all the time. They’ll get a price, tell whoever they are talking to that they want a lower price, get told that the price is the price and that’s all we can do.
They then proceed to call back every hour for a couple of days trying to get someone else to answer the phone and give them a lower price. There are only three front desk attendants so they always get the same answer, but they never stop trying.
Also, a lot of people who obviously overspent on their vacations will demand refunds for absolutely no reason, or completely made-up reasons. We can spot someone who is going to try it a mile away.” durtmcgurt
4. Haunted House Worker's Encounter With A Violent Karen
“I (f31) have been working in haunts since 2019. It’s a job I look forward to working every year. Between the chance to make people scream, pee, laugh, or generally freak without repercussion, it’s a good time, and I still have the chance to put some of my safety training to use.
For example, if you’re one foot in the door and sobbing, you are clearly not having fun and you are a risk to yourself and others, so it’s part of my job to pull you aside while my room two partner (f/29?) entertains the rest of the group.
I break character, calm you down, and explain that 1) Everyone here is an actor and nothing can hurt you, and 2) There is no shame if you can’t move forward, because we want you to have fun. We offer you the chance to stay or go and ask if you would like a member of staff to wait with you if all of your friends are going ahead so that you’re not standing outside alone.
Of course, for safety’s sake, we have several rules. No children under the age of 10. No booze. No cursing or foul language (obviously if you get freaked out and drop an f-bomb, that’s different from cussing out and abusing the actors. We know that.). You know… basic, ‘we have minors who work here, please don’t be jerks,’ rules.
One rule we have – the one that gets constantly ignored, and is possibly the most dangerous – is to not touch things. We have fragile props and electrical equipment that you could break, or hurt yourself on. Also, the actors are people, and you could hurt them as well.
And we, since we don’t want the liability, can’t touch you! For the most part, it’s a good system. However, we do get the occasional freak-out punch thrown our way, and we have codes in the haunt to hold our guests in one room to give management time to make sure any laid-out actors don’t need medical assistance.
All this setup to say, the job’s a lot of fun, but it does come with some potentially high stakes physically, mentally, and emotionally. However, because they know this, management has given us essentially a blank check to call them to remove guests who are behaving poorly.
In any case… last night was the final night for haunting for the season. It started more or less as normal, and my partner and I were bopping right along, sending people through, warning the people who needed to be warned, etc. Overall, a pretty reasonable, calm night.
Until everything devolved into chaos.
It started with a group of five teens, mixed boys and girls, probably between the ages of 13-15. They seemed normal. The only thing we noted about them was that another girl came in a little belatedly, then went back out to come in with her mother and another girl her age.
Didn’t think much of it, sent them on their way, then brought in the next group.
The mother in the following group was – surprise surprise – our Karen for the evening.
She didn’t look like much, and right up until she decided to touch one of our props with her umbrella, – it was raining, there’s no coat check, so she got to bring it in – she didn’t act like she was going to be a problem.
But, because she was touching things, she got the same dressing-down that everyone else got by my partner. The character has a hot head, and she yells at you for rule violations. It’s part of the act and the best way to get people to listen and follow the rules.
Usually.
However, Karen decided to push her luck by walking over to my partner and putting her umbrella against my partner’s collarbone.
My partner yelled at her to not touch her, because of course she did, and Karen looked absolutely livid, spitting out a disgusted, “Are you serious?” When she was told yes, that this wasn’t a bit, and that her behavior was unacceptable, she started to storm out, taking the girls with her.
My partner and I followed. After all, we assumed she misunderstood. We attempted to explain that she could go through. She just couldn’t go around touching things or people.
Now, a bit more background… room one is a bit more like a long, double-s-curve hallway.
It’s got corners you go around, and there are places for actors to stand, sit, crouch, whatever. But it’s narrow. Two people might be able to walk side by side, but they’d have to be pretty little.
I’m, personally, a pretty thick woman. Not gonna get into details, but that’s just the honest truth.
If I stand correctly, I can easily fill that whole walking path. My partner is also decent-sized, though not as large as me. The Karen in question is about my partner’s size, but almost a whole foot shorter than me, so she’s barely scraping five feet tall (1.52m for my non-American friends).
Suffice it to say, there wasn’t a lot of room, but! In spite of us three being larger people, I had space to step back and let her through.
However, as she huffed around to prepare to go by me to go back into the haunt (she’d made it back to the front door by the time she actually slowed down enough to listen to us), she raised both arms and body-checked me into the wall.
A purposeful, passive-aggressive shove.
And I screamed. I raised my volume as high as it would go, told her not to touch me, and that she needed to get out. Right. Now.
Karen looked at me in shock, as if I was out of my mind.
How dare I speak to her like that? How could anyone be so rude to her in front of her children?! But my partner backed me up, and the Karen left with a quickness, taking her children with her, just in time for us got get a code Red Rum from upstairs.
Red Rum, for our haunt, means that a guest has become violent and punched one of our actors. I found out later that the group of teens associated with the lady pushed one of our minor actors to the ground and punched her in the face.
Now this actor, this girl, was already nervous to be there – partially because of the acting, partially because the house is actually haunted (whether you believe in that or not, it can get freaky!) – so I can only imagine how she feels right now.
Hopefully, I’ll see her next week and make sure she’s okay.
While my partner went to check on the injury, I did a little damage control outside with the line, thanking our guests for their patience and asking them to continue as such because of the emergency.
In spite of the cold and wet, most were happy to wait so we could make sure our actor was safe.
So… what happened with Karen?
First, she went to our ticket taker to complain. Our ticket taker (bless her), called one of the two owners over to talk to her.
Of course, she lied after my partner got her side of the story out, saying she never touched her! That all she touched was the skull on the desk… but she slipped up and admitted that she ‘just rested her umbrella against her chest,’ and that was enough for our manager to call her out on her lie.
She also came back later and tried to complain to one of our maintenance men saying we (my partner and I) were rude to her. Like our ticket taker, he called one of the owners. Shocker, she got the same owner who essentially told her, “I’ll talk to you, but let’s take a walk.”
Apparently, her youngest daughter also called the maintenance man a jerk during this whole process so… Karens beget Karens, unfortunately.
No police were called, but my partner and I are split about what kind of future we wish for her.
I hope she has a ‘come to Jesus’ moment where she realizes she’s being a jerk, and turns her life around.
My partner hopes that she suffers a lifetime of watching everyone else around her get everything they ever wanted while she gets left behind.
Either way, the rest of the night was fine… and I’m already looking forward to next year.
EDIT: The girl who got punched is okay!
She’s looking forward to next year, but wants us to teach her a little self-defense. I’d call that an absolute win!”
3. Don't Like That You Can Smell My Cooking? There's Literally Nothing You Can Do To Stop Me
“In 2019, I bought a condo. I had not been moved in more than 10 days when I got a knock on the door. I live in a building that only has apartments on the second floor (4), and a communal area below us.
I like the location because I don’t have to worry about being loud to people beneath me. Well, this Karen knocks on the door, and I open it.
K: Hi, I’m Karen, and we share a wall.
Me: Okay. Can I help you?
K: I have done the pricing on having my outlets sealed. You need to pay half because I can smell the food you are cooking since you moved in, and I do not like it.
Me: Excuse me, what?
K: I do not like the smells coming from your house. It makes me nauseous.
Me: What smells are causing you to feel sick?
K: The cabbage and onion smell. And you cooked fish. It is unbearable.
Me: Maybe you should hustle down to Bed Bath and Beyond and buy one of those fancy expensive scented candles.
K: No. I need you to pay me half for having my outlets sealed.
Me: No. I will cook what I want to cook in my apartment that I bought. There is nothing in the CC&Rs that says I need to avoid cooking fish or cabbage.
Also, onions are a primary ingredient in a lot of world cuisine. I will continue to use all of these ingredients.
K: Well, I paid for my apartment as well. So, I do not want to be subject to your nasty smells.
Me: Okay. Here is the deal. I am going to close the door.
If you want to improve your home by sealing outlets that will not stop the smell, you are entirely within your right as a homeowner to do that. However, you will do it at your own expense. Moving forward, there is no reason for you to interact with me unless there is a legitimate issue with the wall or pipes that we share.
K: Well, that is just rude.
Me: I am unconcerned with how you feel about me or the food I cook. There is no reason for you to ever talk to me again unless it has to do with our shared wall and pipes. Goodbye.
I shut the door and went back to my business. A couple of days later, the HOA leader knocked on my door and asked me about the issue. I told her that I was not entertaining any of this crap. The two could call the police and send them out to arrest me over the cabbage, onions, and fish.
The HOA leader laughed out loud and told me that she just wanted to be sure things were calm and that there was no issue moving forward. I told her that we would be cool if Karen minded her darn business and didn’t concern herself with my dietary decisions.
I’ve been here 3 years now, and I see Karen regularly. We do not interact unless necessary. We had a pipe burst during the 2021 Winter Storm, and we had to get together and threaten to sue the HOA when they said they would not fix the pipes (they own them and are responsible for them).
There was no problem. Afterward, we went back to peacefully coexisting without having to be friends or interact with each other.
I still cook cabbage, fish, and onions.”
Another User Comments:
“Well, the only ask that is legitimate of a neighbor cooking is asking to turn on the stove fan.
We have powerful fans above our stoves (into real vents, not just to nowhere). People below us keep cooking fish and we smell it every time. Asked politely if they could remember to turn the fan on high, and haven’t had an issue since. So while I sympathize with Karen, it is important to also realize what rights your neighbors have and what is and isn’t an acceptable request.” socool111
Another User Comments:
“I’m a small-town gal, love living in my house out here in the country. That being said, it blows my mind that people buy places to live yet they have somebody else who owns their pipes and such, they also have to follow certain guidelines of what they can/can’t do in/around their home.
I’m not hating, it’s just not something I understand very well! I’m honestly baffled that people choose to pay big money for a place to live and have a lot of their freedoms stripped away. I’ve never dealt with anything like an HOA. I suppose a person that’s used to these things has no problem with them.
I’m just not sure that would be something I could get used to! I’m glad you and your neighbor don’t really have too many issues and I’m glad you didn’t let her push you around in the beginning. Best wishes to you!!” straightouttathe70s
2. A Valentine's Day Gone Horribly Wrong...For One Person
“My parents are florists and have run their own shop since before I was born.
As a result, I was pretty much raised in their flower shop. Even as a little kid, I would help out on weekends by sweeping, emptying trash, etc. All in all, I enjoyed it.
That is, until Valentine’s Day rolled around every year. If you talk to anyone in the floral industry, they will tell you that Valentine’s Day is a week-long nightmare.
Everyone and their brother wants two things: 1) Roses (preferably red) and 2) delivered to their S/O ON Valentine’s Day so they can stay out of the doghouse.
The worst is when we would deliver the roses to an office building, which many customers demanded. The kind of women (who are, by far, a minority of women) who have to have their roses delivered to their office are usually doing it so they can show off to the other women they work with.
To that particular breed, it isn’t about the flowers or the love. It’s about lording their relationship over the heads of the “lesser” women.
Enter Kevin (the dumb, but well-meaning husband) and Karen (the vicious, cold-hearted wife).
Kevin called in first thing on Valentine’s morning.
I was answering the phones for my parents (I was 15 or 16 at the time) and writing down orders for them. When Kevin called, he was tentative and very apologetic about the late order. But, rest assured, he didn’t want red roses! That was good because we had been out of red roses for a couple of days.
Here’s how he explained what he wanted:
“I want seven yellow roses and two white roses, wrapped. Yellow is my wife’s favorite color, we’ve been married for seven years, and the two white roses represent our two children.”
On the card, he had me write something along the lines of “Happy seven years together for my beautiful wife who gave me two precious daughters.” (It’s been years, so that isn’t the exact wording, but it’s close).
On any other day of the year, this would be a romantic gesture. But, on Valentine’s Day, I knew this was going to backfire when he said he had to have them delivered to her office. I already had four orders going to that office building, so adding another one to the delivery route was not a problem.
I double-checked that he wanted the seven yellow and two white roses, just in case he wanted to change it to a more traditional Valentine’s dozen (in pink or white, which are the second and third choice of most once red is out of stock).
No. He was insistent that his order was exactly what he wanted and that his wife would love them.
I took his credit card info, processed the order, and moved on with my day.
Later that day, a very angry-looking woman stormed into the shop holding a bouquet of, you guessed it, seven yellow and two white roses.
Immediately, she demanded to speak to the manager…which was either of my parents. I got my father and sat back to watch.
As soon as my father appeared, she laid into him. She screamed and ranted about how stupid we must all be because there was “no way” her husband would do something as stupid as sending yellow and white roses on Valentine’s Day.
She accused us of scamming her, lying to her husband, and “making her look bad.”
“All the other women in my office got a dozen red roses in a nice vase! You sent me these crap yellow and white ones! And they are WRAPPED! Who the heck sends wrapped roses on Valentine’s Day?!
You made me look like a freaking fool!”
My father tried to calm her down, but it was no good. She demanded that we refund her husband’s money. So, that’s what my father did. He found the order slip and refunded every last penny of her husband’s order.
She then demanded a free dozen red roses for the inconvenience and humiliation we caused her. Dad tried to explain to her that we were totally out of all roses by this point. It was nearly 5:00 on Valentine’s Day. We had sold our last rose a couple of hours earlier.
At this point, another customer came in so I stepped over to help him. He was a young guy who looked desperate. He asked, in a very tentative (and polite) voice if we had any roses left because he had forgotten Valentine’s Day was a big deal. It was his first Valentine’s Day with his partner and he wanted to do it right.
While my father is busy getting yelled at by Karen and being told that he must be lying (“You must have roses in the back somewhere, go check!”), he overheard the young guy.
Dad (to the young guy): “You need some roses?”
Guy: “Yes, please, if you have any.
I don’t care about color or how many.”
Dad: “You’re in luck. I have seven yellow and two white. They are all yours, on the house!”
Karen: “Oh, no you don’t! Those are MY roses!”
Dad: “Not anymore, they aren’t. You wanted a refund, which I gave you.
They are now my roses and I’m giving them to this nice man.”
Karen: “No! I refuse to not have roses, even crappy yellow ones, on Valentine’s Day. Fine, process the payment again if you have to, but I’m leaving with those roses!”
Dad: “No, you aren’t.
Get out of my store, now. You aren’t welcome here.”
Dad proceeded to hand the bouquet (which was still in perfect condition) to the young guy as well as a box of chocolates for his partner.
Dad (to young guy): “Happy Valentine’s Day! Have a great night with your partner!”
Karen: “I’m calling the cops! That’s theft!”
Dad: “Go ahead. But, do so from the parking lot. Get the heck out!”
Karen stammered for a moment before storming out. I have no clue if she ever called the cops, but we also never saw her again.”
Another User Comments:
“When my husband and I were going out he got me a bouquet of yellow roses on our first Valentine’s day and I stupidly made the mistake of questioning why because yellow=friendship, but in my defense I was 17 and didn’t scream or throw a fit like Karen here.
I felt like crap after learning it was because yellow is my favorite color. Karen’s husband sounded so sweet and put so much thought into his choice. I feel so sad his sentiment got crapped on by his ungrateful wife.” imherenowiguess
Another User Comments:
“Valentine’s Day is the biggest load of crap.
You have 365 days to show someone you love them. And it’s not roses or chocolate or stuffed animals or fancy dinners. It’s in the little things. Every day. My partner surprised me at work one morning with breakfast, coffee, and a single lily, just because.
I’ll take that any day instead of meaningless, unoriginal, not thought out Valentine’s gifts. That being said, that woman was a total jerk, and your father handled her very, very well! Her poor husband.” morganalefaye125
1. A Rude Customer Kept Snapping Her Fingers At The Walmart Employee
“This morning I had to make a Walmart run for some cat food and some coffee creamer. I head into the store and jump into a mobility cart and start cruising my way towards the cat food.
When I get there I see the only bag of my brand they have is the really big one I am not able to lift on my own due to my back so I hit the customer service button to get an associate over to me and I wait.
Just as the Walmart guy comes around the corner, I greet him and ask if he could help me get the big bag of cat food into the scooter as well as a bucket of litter while I’m there. He happily obliges but when he reaches for litter, a middle-aged lady calls out to him while snapping her fingers (I hate it when people snap at me) to get his attention.
He looks her way and tells her to hang on a moment that he is helping another customer.
So she rushes up right next to me (like uncomfortably so) and starts nagging at this poor guy about how she needs help right this second, all while snapping her fingers right up in his face, I guess just to drive the point in further?
“I need help now (SNAP), forget about this guy!! (SNAP) COME WITH ME NOW (SNAP!)”
Ok, I was done with this poor excuse for a human so I stood up out of the scooter, my 6ft 3 in 425lb frame instantly dwarfing her.
“Listen lady!! (Snaps in her face) STOP SNAPPING YOUR FINGERS!!
(Snap) Does he look like a dog to you? (Snap) Stop being a jerk and scuttle your useless self out of here (SNAP).” She flinched really bad at that last snap.
Mouth agape, she gives the associate a quick “sorry” and takes off through Gardening, I’m assuming to the store exit as that’s the closest one.
Sorry guys, nothing much to report on after that. I sat back in the buggy, checked out and the guy helped me load stuff into my car and I headed back home.
Don’t snap at people, it’s very demeaning and rude.”
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