The Most Infuriating Karens Ever
22. I Wish I Didn't Let Them Get Away With Judging My Daughter
“This is definitely a mild Karen encounter, but I still feel so salty about it. I was taking my kids to the pharmacy. I have two kids with numerous health needs. My eldest has extreme medical anxiety. My youngest had developed a “cough” in 2020 that we had, at the time of this story, just discovered was a vocal tic due to Tourette Syndrome.
My daughter was struggling with her tic that day because of the anxiety. We got to the pharmacy, which was in a Target.
Two women were shopping near the entrance when we walked in and I was understanding when they stepped away since it did sound like my girl was sick.
I noted it vaguely. Mostly, I was sad, thinking she will have to deal with this a lot as she grows older.
We wandered the store a bit, waiting to be called. I noticed the women again, but they didn’t move away this time, so whatever.
My daughter is standing nearby with my mom. I stood up and stepped back from my eldest to take a few breaths to keep myself calm and that’s when I see the women again. They are glaring at my daughter and whispering together.
I stepped between my sweet girl and the women so she wouldn’t notice the stares.
I kid you not, they ducked into the aisle they were in and peeped around the corner, still whispering, now visibly agitated.
I know this is a mild encounter because they didn’t approach us, but the gall to follow around, whisper about, and even point at a young child!
I’m feeling angry again right now. If my kids hadn’t needed my calm presence, or if they had noticed the women, I’m not sure anyone could have stopped me from giving the Karens an earful. As it was, sometimes the hardest part of parenting is being what your kids need at the moment rather than the parent you thought you’d be or the one you are in your head.
Because headcanon mama definitely embarrassed the women. She put them in their place. Probably everyone in the pharmacy clapped. I guess we’ll never know.”
Another User Comments:
“All 3 of my kids, and one of my nieces have Tourette Syndrome. My youngest has a sneezing tic and a cough tic, we’re pretty used to handling Karens and other assorted jerks when it comes to tics.
One of the things that works for us is to talk to my kid, but direct the comments towards the jerks. It’s passive-aggressive but it’s effective for 95% of the comments/stares from idiots with bad manners. Try this next time:
Kid – cough cough
You (in a normal or slightly louder than normal voice) – I know honey, having Tourette Syndrome isn’t fun, and I know you aren’t sick, you’re having coughing tics. It’s hard to not be able to control your own body and brain.
Having people talk about you or staring at you just makes it worse, doesn’t it? It would be easier if people would just ask questions instead of staring at us like that. Oh well… I guess their mama didn’t teach them basic manners.” SeagullMom
21. Enduring A Rude Client's Tantrums In Insurance Customer Service
“I used to work customer service for an insurance brokerage, now I manage the CS team and am in charge of client retention as well, so I don’t receive calls anymore and only make a few, but this specific client Jesus Christ, I always have to call her back after one of her little tantrums.
So Karen has made it very clear from the first interaction I had with her almost two years ago that she’s very unhappy with our service and our fees (which she’s been aware of since she purchased the policy because she literally had to read and sign a broker fee agreement where even the specific amounts and reasons of the two fees we have are written, one for payment processing and one for certain types of endorsements).
She always calls us to make her payments, she always complains about the fee, we always let her know she can call the carrier directly or set up autopay to avoid these fees, her response every time? “Why the heck would I do that if you’re supposed to be my agent?
I don’t need to be doing that”.
So, whenever I got her call I’d just let her vent and curse for a while and then in my calmest customer service voice would say “ok, whenever you’re ready you can give me the card number”. She always says that when she opened her policy with us the one agent who sold it to her would explain all her renewals for her at the office but that since he started working from home it’s just issues left and right.
I’ve asked him about Karen since she said she’d call back to cancel her policy, you know to see if he wanted to give her a call or requote her with a different carrier and see if he could find her something cheaper. He just saw the name and said “no, I know who that is, she’s always like that and I’ve requoted her several times, there’s no other carriers for her”.
She’s insulted everyone in the agency and has been the first person to earn a “rude client” pinned note on her file. She calls and insults whoever gets the call and on the next one complains and lies about how she was treated by the last person.
We keep recordings of all our calls so I know for a fact that she’s lying. We also have a 5-star rating on Google and Yelp reviews, most of our new business is from referrals, she’s really the only one who has a problem with us.
The other day, Karen called but the person who took her call was having technical difficulties. He couldn’t hear her much and wasn’t sure if she could hear him, so he repeated a few times “ma’am, I don’t know if you can hear me but I can’t hear you, I’m gonna hang up the call now and call you back” and then he hung up.
He got another call as soon as he did and had to pick it up, when he was done with that, Karen was already calling again. He picked up to her just insulting him, not letting him speak and not even saying what she needed help with, then she hung up.
This rep, let’s call him James, called me immediately (he’s working from home) to explain what had just happened and test his line at the same time, it was indeed having some issues, so he ended up having to reboot his router and computer.
I called Karen back since she was clearly upset and well, client retention remember?
When she picked up and I said my name she immediately started cursing and saying no one had ever treated her so badly as James had, she said she already knew who I was since we’d spoken several times before and that she wanted corporate to do something about James, that he should be fired and we should be more careful who we have working for us.
I tried to explain the situation and that he was indeed having issues with his line but she said that was a lie and that he “acted as if he was doing me a favor by taking my call when it’s his darn job”. I told her I’d personally listen to the call recording, that we take complaints very seriously, and so on.
She said she didn’t give a darn, that she knew this was being recorded then proceeded to say as many curse words as she could think of like a list lmao, and said she wanted corporate to hear that because she was angry.
Then this woman omg she had no shame somehow and told me she was in customer service before and now quality control so she could tell when someone was being unprofessional. Girl, I’ve gotten emails from her business email insulting me, with her signature set up as “respectfully, Karen, Customer Relations (Company name)”.
Like ?? How is that professional? To use your company email like that, and the signature with the actual body of the emails is just darn hilarious. These emails, I always get after she makes a payment with us, she complains that we didn’t send her the receipts when I can literally see they are attached to the email we sent her lol.
I just resend them and say “you can find both the carrier receipt and the service fee receipt attached to the previous email, but I have also attached them here for your convenience”.
Anyway, I spoke with the owner about this, she listened to my calls and James’ and said she’d send Karen an email with the recordings so she could hear herself being so rude.
We haven’t heard back from her in a while, but I’m sure the saga will continue.”
Another User Comments:
“I had a coworker like this. She owned a Volvo. She had been so rude to all the Volvo dealerships in the area that she had to drive two states away to get service.
The Volvo dealerships in the area had “fired her as a customer”. That is what needs to be done in this case.” SheiB123
Another User Comments:
“Since she has sent emails from her business email, could you possibly contact the company/her boss and enlighten them that not only is this the kind of person they employ, but that she is also using her work email for personal reasons?
Even if they don’t give a darn about her behavior, most places don’t like it when people use work emails for personal reasons.” My_Own_Worst_Friend
20. Your Hair Is Not My Problem, Please Leave
“I work as security at a small tourist attraction. On a busy weekend day, we can see about 500 guests. Access to the property and building is strictly controlled to manage the flow of guests.
If you’re not a paying customer you can’t sit around on our property. It was pouring rain and we had covered awnings for our guests waiting outside. If you don’t have a reservation and haven’t checked in with security you can’t be standing under the awning.
A middle-aged woman came rushing past our gate, blew past me as I attempted to speak to her, and went to stand under the awning. I catch up to her and ask her if she has a reservation. She tells me she’s waiting for her Uber.
I tell her we have a dedicated pick-up location on the other side of the property. She holds up her phone and insists her Uber is coming to her location because she has our business listed as the pick-up address.
Thinking she’s a guest who exited, Uber pick-up is next to the exit, I advise her again she’ll have to go to the back.
And she can’t get there while under the awning as the flow of guests is going in the other direction. She then snaps at me “I JUST HAD MY HAIR DONE!” So I inquire again if she’s a guest, because I have no idea how she could have just gotten her hair done.
She yells at me she just left the salon. Which I have no idea how her Uber app had our business as the pick-up location as there are no hair salons near my work that I know of. I even double-checked on Google Maps before making this post to make sure of that.
So if she came from a salon it’s not a legit one with any obvious storefront. I looked at her phone again and pointed at the map “See, the pick-up location is on the other side.” Her dot and the dot for the pick-up spot are clearly in two different locations.
Anyway, I advise her again the only way to get there, because she’s not a paying customer entering our actual business, is to go back out onto the street and around the back. She begins to rage again about her hair. At this point my boss, whom I love, takes notice.
As he walks over she notices me looking at him, so she turns to focus her rage on him. The front of our property is fairly small so I know he heard our entire interaction up to this point.
“I JUST HAD MY HAIR DONE AND HE WON’T LET ME WAIT FOR MY UBER!”
My boss quickly verifies with her she’s not a guest and simply says “Ma’am, you’re trespassing on private property and if you refuse to leave I am more than happy to call the police. They can provide you a ride and get you out of the rain.” My boss is awesome!!!
With her face red as a cherry she stormed off, never to be seen again. Her hair was nothing special either.”
19. Rude Pizza Hut Manager Refuses To Correct Mistake In Order
“This past Sunday, my MIL had ordered pizza for everyone at her house. This is something she does regularly for her family. She’s very kind and generous, often taking the younger kids into her home on weekends so that the kids and parents in our family have room to breathe for a bit.
That doesn’t leave much free time for herself because she works as a full-time PICC placement nurse during the week. We always thank her, make sure she doesn’t need a break that week, and let her know how much we appreciate her.
This weekend, though, she went above and beyond.
She had the 15 and 12-year-old girl cousins and my 6-year-old son from Friday to Sunday night. All of this while bringing him to the birthday party we planned and set up for our son on Saturday, then offering to keep him afterward. She really is amazing.
So, back to the pizza. She likes to order from that hut that makes pizza and normally there aren’t any problems. This time, when her food was delivered, the pizzas were cold and they had forgotten 4 sodas! She was rightfully upset and called the store to see if they could still deliver the drinks or if she could get a discount/refund.
She was very respectful (I have anxiety and any sort of anger or rude language sticks out to me. She had neither.)
She usually takes calls on speaker so this was the conversation:
Mil: “Do you know if the driver who just dropped off our order could bring the sodas back?
I think they forgot them.”
Male Karen: “Nah, they can’t.”
Mil: “Ok. Could I get a refund or something instead?”
Male Karen: “Your driver was through DoorDash so you’d have to talk to them about that.”
Mil: “Oh, I didn’t know that Pizza Hut did that.
Don’t you guys deliver?”
Male Karen: “Yeah but when it gets too busy, DoorDash covers other deliveries.”
Mil: “Wait, I paid a $5 delivery fee to the restaurant, not DoorDash. Where does that money end up going?”
Male Karen: “Look, what do you want?”
Mil: “I was hoping for some answers on my delivery and a discount or refund.
Is there a manager I could speak with?”
Male Karen: “I AM a manager! What do you want!?”
This is about the time the cousins and I noticed his tone shift. We were like “Woah, woah, woah, what!?”
Mil: “…can I have your name?”
Male Karen: “Nah!
You don’t need my name!”
Mil: “Can I just get in-store credit or something?”
Male Karen: “Nah!”
Us in the background, now joined by my young BIL who lives there: “Why is he being so rude!? They were the ones who forgot our drinks! You weren’t even rude to him!”
Mil: “I think I’ll just call corporate, thanks.”
Male Karen: “…you still want the store credit?”
Mil: “Yes. My number is ###-”
Male Kren “What’s your number?”
Mil: “I was just saying it!” Her voice is raising now because she was fed up with his rudeness.
“It’s ###-###-####”
Male Karen: “It’s credited. You need anything else?”
Mil: “The number to corporate if you have it.”
Male Karen: “Nah.”
Mil: “Then no.” And she hangs up.
This whole thing really made me upset because of how much my MIL had done for the family all weekend.
Shame on you, Male Karen. You should not be in a professional position and speak to people that way. As an ex-pizza place worker myself, I understand how rough the job can be. But that’s no excuse to lash out at a customer who simply wants what they ordered or a refund if you can’t provide it.”
Another User Comments:
“100% post on their social media, this is neither DoorDash’s fault nor yours. I’m saying this and I really dislike Doordash. I’d be willing to bet that the manager blamed Doordash perfunctorily so they wouldn’t have to send the driver back out.
Busy or not that’s not how you treat customers and they should rightfully be called out.” ShimmerFaux
Another User Comments:
“As a former Pizza Hut employee (30 years ago) even if you got a partial or full refund, corporate needs to be called. There is no excuse for the attitude that was given.
It’s not like the error came out of any employee’s pocket. Back in the day, when we made a mistake we apologized and fixed it. They made the mistake. If your MIL ordered from the Hut directly and they chose to use DoorDash to fill in it’s on Pizza Hut to fix the error and do it respectfully.
If corporate doesn’t care then there is always Google review. Sometimes that gets an even better response from the restaurant.” BigBlueD7664
Reply:
“I know right? When I was still working at my old pizza job, if I made a mistake, I would personally go and correct it.
It didn’t matter how late it was or how busy it was. I would make sure they somehow, sometime, got the thing they ordered. One time, I was super busy but I’d forgotten someone’s drink. Rather than return all the way to the store to get it, I stopped at a nearby gas station so they would receive it quickly and I could return to my route.
That’s why I’m not sure why this guy was so angry. If he had said it was super busy, but if someone could come pick it up, we could still get it? We’d have done it! I do it all the time if delivery prices are too high.
But this rudeness threw all of us off and my MIL insisted she wanted to call corporate.” chelseyelric
18. Dealing With An Entitled Parent At A Youth Soccer Game
“I just fail to understand the reasoning behind some Karens, this one was lying calling me a liar when she had no idea where I had been for two hours.
I am a board member of a youth soccer club, my position is concessions manager, but I also coach a team.
I get there at 2:30 pm, I worked in the concession stand until 4:45 because I had a game starting at 5 pm. I walk out to the field with my ice chest and chair and setup on the 50-yard line, I was there for about 10 minutes when a player was injured on the field.
It was obviously more than a normal fall, my daughter is the safety coordinator she ran to the victim and as a board member, I did as well. After a few minutes, we called an ambulance and we used our golf cart to move the player to a waiting area.
This is when Karen came up…..So here we are talking to the injured child waiting for an ambulance when Karen walks up, the conversation goes like this:
Karen – this game should have been over already, why is this game taking so long?
Me – I am not sure.
Karen – it says board member on your shirt, you should know.
Me – I do not know, you can talk to the referee after the game and he can explain his actions.
Karen – no, you owe me an explanation, I want an answer now.
Me – I am sorry but I have been on the concession stand for the last two hours, you can talk to the referee after the game, he can explain any issues.
Karen – you are a liar, I saw you on the field.
Me – I was on the field for 10 minutes, it is obvious that we have an injured player and the referee stopped the clock for that.
Karen – you are lying, I want to know why the game is not over already, the referee is running overtime just to give the other team a chance to score.
Me – well I do not know what you want from me, I have no idea what is going on with that game.
Karen – you are a lying jerk.
I tell her to go away as this conversation is going nowhere and we have an injured child to tend to.
I guess she was jealous that the kid was getting more attention than her, I was just appalled at how she kept calling me a liar on something as simple as the fact that I spent the last two hours in the concession stand, what the heck is wrong with these people???”
Another User Comments:
“In the time my son played youth league sports, I saw more bad behavior by parents and I saw more volunteers abused than I care to remember. It always amazed me how people don’t understand that volunteers are donating their time to make these organizations better for kids with no compensation.” Mary707
17. Sometimes You Have To Take Matters In Your Own Hands
“I was at a McDonald’s, on a road trip with my mom. My mom was busy on her phone, so she didn’t even notice what happened, but I did.
A woman was short-changed by 50¢. The cashier was telling her that she will hand her the money when her drawer opens next. Karen was flapping her bingo wings, and demanding “no, not after the next customer, now!” She was basically acting like this woman was trying to make her wait some long period of time, or, god forbid, make someone besides her a priority.
There was literally nothing that the cashier could do.
I was hungry. We were in the middle of Utah and we’d just driven from Phoenix, AZ. I had 50¢ in my pocket, so I went and dropped the money in Karen’s dramatically outstretched hand.
She grabbed it and continued to rant, until I reminded her that she got her money.
This would satisfy most people, but she began shouting a new demand; “You give him that money! You do it! Right now! I want to watch you give him the money!” She was acting like she thought that this woman was conspiring to keep this money or something.
I told this lady “it’s fine.” I said it a few times.
Well, she doubled down on how it is not fine, and ranted about “people like her”. The way this lady was carrying on, started reminding me of Cartman from South Park. In fact, I remembered the dog trainer episode, where the trainer would finger-jab to assert dominance.
So I tried it.
I did a two-finger jab to the soft part of her shoulder and repeated “it’s fine!”
She shrieked “did you just…?”
I said “yes, I did! It’s fine!” This lady started huffing and puffing, then stomped out the door while wringing her hands.
My mom and I ate, relaxed, and used our laptop for a while and I told my mom what happened. She had been focused on reading a work email the whole time, but she was entertained by how I handled the situation.
The icing on the cake was that as we left the McDonald’s, about an hour later, Karen was angrily pacing at the edge of the property, apparently wondering why whatever I did, worked on her so well.
My mom, a retired schoolteacher, got a look at her and she said the lady looks like she didn’t know how to handle someone shutting her up.
The hilarious part, that I just now realized, was that this woman stomped out the door, without her food.”
16. Local Woman Sparks Community Debate Over Use Of Hazard Lights During Personal Emergencies
“My county has two different community pages. Basically, Karen’s daughter went into labor in a city about 45 minutes away (that’s where the daughter lives). Karen didn’t mention anything about pregnancy or labor complications so I’m assuming that means there wasn’t any.
She rushed to the hospital with her hazard lights on and now she’s upset that people wouldn’t get out of her way, and both she and some others are blaming young people.
She, as well as some other people, say that pulling over for fast cars with their hazard lights on was the norm in our community back in the day. My dad and his family moved to our county sometime around ’81, and he said he’s never heard of this being the norm here or anywhere.
He said Karen’s behavior was dangerous and illegal.
Here’s Karen’s post with the names of locations omitted:
“Okay so I’m going to vent for a second or 20, I’ve lived in (county name) my whole life and don’t get me wrong I get that it’s growing leaps and bounds and that’s great and all but here is my issue, yesterday my daughter lives in (city name) and she went into labor so I take off from my house to head to (city name).
I put my 4-way flashers on, now when I took my driver’s test years ago they taught you that when you see someone with flashers on and they aren’t driving slow that means there is an emergency to get over and let them go around you.
If they were driving slow then it was either a funeral procession and you pulled over to pay your respect to the family or they were having car problems so you followed behind them until they pulled off or you could safely get around them.
If you knew the person and they pulled over you lent a helping hand.
Nowadays people in (county name) are just RUDE! They don’t stop for funeral procession and they don’t get over for emergencies. Also SO MANY DON’T KNOW HOW TO DRIVE!
I couldn’t tell you how many times lately we have almost been hit head-on in either (town name) Hill area or (place name) road area. We are better than this my fellow (county name) peeps. I’m sure 1/2 have lost interest in this post by now and that’s okay.
I’m just venting and it’s not like it’s going to make a difference anyways. God bless and all have a great evening.”
A debate has now started on the local social media page. I will show you some people who are supporting Karen (for), and some who are not (against).
FOR:
“Welcome to the New Generation. You mean people who take a driver’s test read the entire book and care. All they care is if they pass and then do what they want.”
Karen’s response: “That’s the truth!”
“You are so right….People are Very Disrespectful these days!
We are better than this!!”
“What the younger generation has to go through to get a driver’s license you’d think they would be better drivers.”
Karen’s response: “Yes!”
“They don’t even pull over for an ambulance or fire truck anymore.”
AGAINST:
“I’m probably going to get slammed but your daughter going into labor is not an emergency….(unless she was having complications but nowhere did you say that in your rant) You can and most do (in a normal labor situation) drive at the speed limit to arrive safely to your destination.
Why misuse the hazard warning lights? I’m a 6-time grandma and have never used my hazards to get to the hospital. I know you were very excited and wanted to get there as soon as possible but why risk not only yourself but others? Also someone with more knowledge than I please tell me that if I’m wrong in saying (unless you’re the one driving the woman in labor) that this was not an emergency for the usage of hazard lights.”
“Only the EMS. Fire department and police officer can do that.”
Karen’s response: “umm no sorry anyone can drive with flashers on for emergencies, people used to be kinder and pay more attention to their surroundings and would get over out of kindness but we don’t have that in this world anymore people want to be rude all the time.”
Somebody responded to her response with the state’s official legal writing for proper usage of hazard lights:
“You are not the police or any kind of first responder just because your hazard lights are on does not mean people have to pull over for you.”
“Congratulations on the birth of your grandbaby first off. However that doesn’t constitute an emergency, when I received the phone call that my mother was in cardiac arrest and could hear the alarms in the background, I didn’t think that I should be allowed to utilize my flashers just to arrive quicker, however, I admit to not exactly obeying the speed limit.
”
“Not an emergency situation, sorry.”
These are just some of the responses. Fortunately, it seems that at least over 50% of the people on the page seem to disagree with her.
I would like to add that my county has been experiencing lots of economic and population growth, so the “old guard” AKA ‘families who have been in this low-population area for generations and have controlled pretty much everything one way or another’ is freaking out.
New people and businesses other than the old guards’ farms are moving in and many members of the old guard are freaking out.”
15. Mad That I Let Someone Go Ahead Of You? You Weren't Going To Get A Table So Quick Anyway
“This was a few years ago, I was at a crowded upscale mall on a weekend and I had made a reservation for my partner and me to eat at a popular restaurant in the mall. It was my first time at the restaurant and when I walked up towards the host outside I could immediately tell it was very busy, like if you didn’t have a reservation you’d probably have to wait a long time to get a table.
There was just an amorphous crowd of people around the host, some with reservations I assume but mostly just walk-ins wanting to put their names down. As I had a reservation, I just sorta just hung back a bit and waited for an opening to check in with the host. As I’m waiting, unbeknownst to me, Karen (who was previously off to my side) gets behind me and creates a line behind me.
A minute later when the host is done taking someone else’s name down, it comes down to me and one other guy to my side. I wave the other guy forward, assuming he was there before me (I genuinely think a lot of these people were there before me, even Karen), and he says thank you.
From right behind me, Karen says “excuse me, I was here before him, why did you let him go in front?!” taking an immediately aggressive tone. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know that” I reply calmly. She rants a bit more, really just saying the same thing, and I just say “okay, I didn’t know that” more assertively and turn back around.
A few moments go by and she confronts me again, “well can I go in front of you?!” At this point, I’m angry she’s making such an ordeal of this, and I firmly say “sure, it doesn’t matter, I have a reservation.” She clearly doesn’t have a reservation, and just huffs and doesn’t take me up on my offer to go in front of me.
The man I let in front is let into the restaurant, I go and give them my name, and then stand off to the side while I wait for someone to take us to our table. While I’m standing there Karen goes up to the host and starts berating him on what just happened, that they let someone in who supposedly got there after her.
It’s a friendly, mild-mannered young guy she’s yelling at, probably not older than 18. After she’s done complaining to him, I hear her say she needs a table for TEN PEOPLE, and the host says it’ll probably be about a two-hour wait. She huffs and stomps off in a fury.
It should’ve been obvious to any normal person that there was going to be a long wait for that many people at this very crowded restaurant. And as soon as they let in the man in front of me, it was apparent he was by himself and they were probably just taking him to the bar or a two-top table, which would’ve had absolutely no bearing on the wait time for a party of ten.”
14. Bookstore Karen Tells Me She Would Fire Me
“When I was 15 I started an apprenticeship as a bookseller. One month into this apprenticeship, a woman came in and asked me if we had a specific book.
At this time, I knew how the books were organized, how to use the cash register, and how our system worked. But I was still a very socially awkward teenager and it took me at least two years to get more used to talking with customers and being confident.
So this woman asked for a book and I knew where it was. I looked, but it wasn’t there. So I went to check in our system if we still had it. And our system showed that we were out of stock. So that’s what I told the woman and I also told her that I could order it for the next day.
She looked disappointed and said she needed it for today, but she’ll browse and search for something else. So she went looking and I went back to doing what I did before.
A few minutes later she walked up to me again… with the book in her hand and was all like “Look what I found”.
I, naive as I was, answered something along the lines of: “Oh you found it! I’m sorry there must be an error in our system. But it’s great that you have what you want now.” She did not like that. She asked me how it was possible that she, a customer, knew the bookstore better than me, an employee.
I apologized again and asked her where she found the book. She pointed at the biography section. I was confused because the book was a Thriller and should not have been in the biography section. I apologized again and told her that someone must have put it there, but that it doesn’t belong in this section.
But she didn’t have any of it. She started to insult me and was really aggressive towards me and I almost broke down in tears, but I managed not to cry. I was shaking when she paid and I just wanted her to leave.
But she wasn’t finished. She had the audacity to ask me if I could wrap the book as a present.
Honestly today, I would have denied her the service, but back then I was so scared of her, so I did it. In bookstores, it is mostly done like one way, so this is how I did it. But she didn’t like it. She looked at the fold and went like “What is this?
This is ugly!” When she left she turned around one last time and yelled: “If I was your boss, I would fire you!” Then she left and I started to cry. My coworker who was on the phone with another customer the whole time came to the front and asked me what happened. He was really shocked when I told him.
When I finished my boss came back from his break and when he saw me crying he asked what happened as well. My coworker told him and he also told my boss the woman’s name, because it turned out, she was a regular! My boss was so angry, he asked me in which direction she went.
I told him and he ran after her. Before he left he told me to go to the back and eat some chocolate we had lying there. He didn’t find her, but he told me that when he sees her again he’ll put her in her place because NO ONE talks to his employees like this.
So in the end, even though it was a horrible experience, I learned that day that my boss would have my back, which is really reassuring to know.”
Another User Comments:
“Oh man that’s heartbreaking, it’s insane the audacity people have when talking to strangers.
So salty so fast and for what?” gniggz
Reply:
“I think it was mainly because I was young and insecure. Many older customers were extremely rude to me because of my age. From “Do you even know what you are doing” to “can your intern even order books” (towards my boss with me standing next to him), to being referred to with “du” (which is the informal way of talking to someone in German, you only use it for friends and family and sometimes people your age) instead of “sie” (which is the formal way), I experienced everything.” Re_sa
13. She Wants A Free Room Because We Ran Out Of Soap
“For context, I work at a hotel (for the sake of my job I cannot say which), specifically overnight auditing. This time around though I was scheduled for an afternoon shift, a rare occurrence but something still manageable.
My previous shift worker told me we ran out of soap, which is yes unfortunate but it happens.
Anyway, I’m checking guests in, not too many today, it’s Saturday. Everything is going smoothly. After I check some in, I go back in the office and do some rudimentary paperwork, when this lady (I didn’t see them come up) starts ringing the bell aggressively.
When I get there she immediately starts asking if I had any extra bars of soap, to which I said “I don’t think so, unfortunately, I’m sorry.” She was annoyed and asked “well you guys don’t seem to be fully booked, can you take some from unused rooms?” That doesn’t sound that bad of an idea, even if she was rude, so I tell her I’ll see what I can do, and give my maintenance guy a call and ask “hey, is it possible to grab a few bars of soap from so and so rooms?” He tells me there weren’t any left, much to this lady’s dismay.
“I don’t want to have to go out and buy soap from the store. As a (redacted) hotel employee, this is unacceptable. You should have some in stock all the time!” This lady was fuming and raising her voice at me. I was taken aback by her sudden outburst and didn’t know what to say at first. She continues to berate me, “It isn’t your fault but I imagine there are several other guests without soap as well?
That is unsanitary and maybe even grounds for a lawsuit! This is UNACCEPTABLE!”
I am someone who isn’t great with other people, let alone someone screaming at me (it’s one of my triggers, in fact, as are other loud sounds) so I wasn’t taking it well and was trying my best to stay composed, but it was becoming more difficult.
“I’m sorry, ma’am, but I don’t know what to say.”
“I want to speak to your manager or whoever manages stock, when do they come in?” Yup there it is, asking for the manager, way to go, lady, you definitely earned your name as Karen.
So I tried calling both of them, even my DM, asking what I should do, but they didn’t answer. (But maybe this was because it was 8 at night?)
I tried to tell her that the manager nor my coworker responsible for hotel stock won’t come in until Tuesday and weren’t currently reachable but she wasn’t having it.
She demanded a discount on top of her already discounted room (hotel employee rate) and I told her I would talk to my DM about it as I wasn’t able to provide that. Then she refused to pay altogether until she spoke with someone and to unsign her name from the room.
Unfortunately, I was also unable to do that because what do I know, I’m just the night auditing guy… and I couldn’t undo her check-in, as it would incur a no-show charge, which would probably tick her off more.
I had no idea what to do, so I told her I would do everything in my power.
After trying to convince her everything was alright, she finally went back to her room.
After that whole ordeal, I went into the back and just kinda broke down. Luckily no one was there to witness it but Christ, that was stressful.
I did end up leaving a note for my manager through text, and leaving a note for the morning shift person, that was all I could have done.
Oh, and to top it all off? I walked into work tonight (yeah I had an overnight shift the day right after) and I see a note saying that she called and apparently had demanded the room be free for her so-called “inconvenience”. I personally don’t think she deserves a free room, especially since she thinks she can get away with it, but unfortunately, I think my DM will cave, but I guess we’ll see what happens in the morning, I’m currently at work typing this out.
Edit: She ended up getting the room for free yesterday, but still continued to argue with my morning coworker about her rate being incorrect, or something like that. It wasn’t about soap anymore – she was out for blood and my coworker handled it like a champ and told her to call our DM directly about her problems as my coworker wasn’t able to take it further herself.
And she still ended up getting charged anyway – still have yet to receive a call about it.
And yeah, she got banned from the establishment, power to my coworker.”
Another User Comments:
“I might get downvoted but I don’t think she’s completely wrong.
I do acknowledge that she went full nuclear Karen on the wrong person. But come on….. your hotel sounds dysfunctional. Keeping toiletries in stock for filled rooms is the most basic thing you guys do. Does she deserve a free room? Not after her meltdown.
But again…. She’s not wrong about some of what she said.” CryptidsNGhoulies
Another User Comments:
“An employee rate, you say. When I traveled on industry discount, a report that I had screamed at an employee of my firm, or a competitor, while on an employee rate, or friends and family using my buddy pass or pass privileges had done so would have resulted in serious consequences such as loss of travel privileges or dismissal. It would be a shame if word got back to her boss that she was being a Karen while using an employee rate.
A real shame. You know what to do next.” KismaiAesthetics
12. The More You Complain The More You'll Get Paid? I'm Gonna Put A Stop To That
“I work from home as a customer service rep. I encounter Karens every day, all day. I had an interesting one the other day.
I’ll try to change some of the identifying things that could cause me to lose my job.
Karen called the other day, she had spoken to several agents before me, complaining about a delivery of a major appliance to her home, which included installation. She noticed that there were some minor dings on the appliance.
When that happens, we offer one of two things – either we can replace it, no questions asked, or we can give you a discount and let you keep the appliance, your choice. She chose to take the discount, no problem. One of the agents who dealt with her also gave an additional discount of $100 because she had to buy a hose clamp because the installation crew didn’t have one.
It maybe cost her no more than $5. Should they have one available on the truck for her? Yes, they should have. Does stuff happen? Yep. It cost her $5 out of pocket, she got $100 for her trouble.
Then she called back and got me, raising a fuss because she hadn’t gotten her refund yet.
I checked and told her that her refund was available, waiting for her at the store in which she made her purchase. She then started screeching about how no one told her it was there, she was expecting it to be put back on her card, etc…I apologized to her, there was one series after another of mess-ups so I can understand her frustration.
And then I started really looking at her order. She had called so many times complaining, that her $2000 order had been cut down by nearly half in discounts. She had been programmed to believe the more she complains, the more money she’ll get back. I stopped that.
In its tracks. She started asking me what I could do for her, how much money can I take off her order because now she’ll have to drive all the way to the store to get it, it’ll cost her gas money…My response? “Ma’am, you have maxed out your discounts, I’m so very sorry, but your refund of $100 for that $5 clamp is waiting for you at the store, have a lovely day”.
Once off the phone with her, I promptly noted her account that she’s had way too many discounts to the point she’s only paying for half her order, and she can go away at this point. Nicely, of course.
We’d be better off as a society if we quit rewarding folks for bad behavior.”
Another User Comments:
“I used to work with a real Karen. When things wouldn’t go her way she would complain and complain until she got her way. Then she would smile and smugly say “my momma always said, the squeaky wheel gets the grease”. She was a miserable person.” Fit-Fisherman-3435
Another User Comments:
“Man I wish companies could publicize the names of problem customers like this. Or at the bare minimum require proof of damages/etc. Like I understand being shrewd and trying to get the best deal possible when dealing with a corporation is the best. Since the corporation does not give two craps about you and is doing whatever it can to maximize its profits.
BUT these people tend to be extremely rude to the people they are dealing with which is just unacceptable. Because not only is that person on the phone not the one at fault they are just trying their ok-est (I would say best but tbh ain’t no one gives their best 100% of the time because that would kill them lol) to help you (if they are not trying to help then I can understand being miffed but generally that is not the situation).
And by publicizing names you can shame people into better action which will then make the rest of the world a bit better. I wonder how many companies have been shut down due to operators who gave out too many discounts and customers who are too entitled to getting discounts.” Azsura12
11. Dealing With An Entitled Customer Threatening To Sue At My Low-Paying Retail Job
“I work at a little run-down store making 10 dollars an hour and deal with jerks all day. It’s located in a less desirable part of town with a lot of homeless and entitled people.
Honestly, if not for the customers, it wouldn’t be a bad place to work.
So I just get on shift with one of my supervisors and manager when this one guy walks in and immediately has an attitude. He’s short, fat, and missing his front teeth.
It was just me at the front and the first words out of his mouth were “Is your manager here, go get them.”
Now I didn’t know which one he was referring to as a lot of times customers would refer to my supervisors as my managers, and I explained that to him, hoping he would clarify who he was looking for.
I also didn’t want to get my manager as, you know, less desirable part of town and some of the customers are creeps, like 50-year-old men who hit on my 20-something coworkers, so I ask him if he needed help with anything to figure out why he was looking for my manager.
He doesn’t say and just snaps “Go get your manager.”
I just shrug and grab both of them to deal with him and this is where I learn why he was here. The guy claimed he was here the night before and had slipped on the wet floor.
Which I believed at first because I was working the night before and do remember checking him out, and the floor was wet as I mop every night.
I normally wait an hour before closing to mop, hitting areas that I know don’t get much foot traffic first and then finishing the busier areas after closing like the main entrance.
But this one night was super busy and after mopping one aisle, a line of customers waltzed up to the counter and I got so busy dealing with them that I forgot to put up wet floor signs. My bad I know and did get written up because of it, so it was completely possible he did slip and fall.
However, as he talked more and the interaction drew on, it slowly got more and more apparent that he was, to put it frankly, talking out of his behind.
For starters, he said he slipped and fell in aisle X, and knocked over a whole shelf of things.
Aisle X happened to be right next to the counter where I was, it also happened to be an aisle for car parts, sprays, flashlights, those kinds of things. So all the stuff he could have knocked over were heavy, LOUD things. Yet I and my supervisor (same dude who was working right now) didn’t hear anything.
He also claimed that he told the cashier at the time (aka me) what had happened. Spoilers, he didn’t, all he did was buy his Dr pepper and leave. He also then claimed he had a recording of him falling and of my supervisor, the same one who was working that night, admitting to seeing him fall.
This angered my supervisor as now the guy was straight up lying about him, and didn’t miss a beat in calling him out. The guy got louder, now almost shouting that he knew who our district manager was and that his uncle was a lawyer, I’m not even joking, and that he had a case.
The two traded words, my supervisor keeping his cool and just repeating that he never said anything and that he didn’t see it happen, while the guy repeated he was going to get him fired and how “I was just going to file a complaint but now I’m going to sue you.”
He made it clear, he was going to sue both the company and my supervisor for his attitude.
It was clear that the guy was just trying to goad my supervisor into a fight so he could claim we were being hostile, luckily my manager got my supervisor to leave and pretty much separated the two.
I stuck around though because he wasn’t calming down and I wasn’t going to leave him alone with my manager.
Eventually, my manager gets on the phone to file a complaint for him, refused to do so himself, and she asks for his name which was required for filing a complaint and you know, because he just threatened legal action against us.
He refused to give her his name, she asked for his phone number so they can call him regarding questions, he refused to tell her. She asked for a detailed account either through email or letter so our HR knows what happened, he refused that too.
He pretty much just refused to give us anything that could be tied to him.
My manager just hands him a list of corporate contacts and he leaves after once again shouting he was going to sue and get all three of us fired. I get fairly written up and now we’re having a store meeting, I don’t know if it’s tied to this incident or not.
My manager did later admit there was nothing on the camera, my supervisor and I chatted about it and I made it very clear that he came in looking for a fight and a lot of his story didn’t make a whole lot of sense.
He marched in, cussed at me, and ended up shouting so loud that he actually scared off a customer. That guy can just get lost.”
Another User Comments:
“My absolute favorite thing to do, when people get uppity and threaten lawsuits, is to shut down.
“I’m going to sue you.” “Well, sir, since you have now threatened legal action, my hands are tied. Corporate will not allow me to help a customer who is threatening legal action due to the risks it runs. Unfortunately, we have to cease all communication and business partnerships.” The response back is always “well, I don’t want to get them involved..
but if you don’t…” and there’s the “threat” of legal action. My hands are tied, I’m not losing my job or career over your temper tantrum.” Cinemaslap1
10. Surviving A Wild Karen Attack While Working At A Major Appliance Store
“I work at a mysterious and unknown major appliance and home supply shop, in charge of online order fulfillment… And today’s adventure happens while I’m in our building materials area.
I’m minding my own business, pulling a rather large order for sheet metal and screws.
Problem is? The sheet metal size I need isn’t where it’s meant to be, I’m having to scan pretty much everything to figure out what’s what. This lingering in the wild sadly put me in range of… A WILD KAREN ATTACK!
Wild Karen: (raging harpy voice) Are you gonna help me or not?!
Yours Truly: suddenly very confused, looking at her
Wild Karen increasingly annoyed seeming: Well?! I’ve been standing over there FOR-EV-ER and you haven’t offered to help me!
Yours Truly: Ummm… My bad. I can try? I don’t work in this department, so it depends if…
Wild Karen: (suddenly hostile) Try? UGH! No, you WILL. It doesn’t matter if you work in this department or not!
Yours Truly: (taking calming breaths so I don’t lash back, wondering what this woman’s problem is) Okay, what do you need? (definitely unable to control annoyance in my tone)
Wild Karen: THIS!!
Not joking when I say she proceeds to suddenly pull out a screw and nearly stab me in the eye shoving it towards me.
Yours Truly: (pushes her hand away, feeling much less calm as I have a PTSD reaction to people putting hands in my face, much less a screw… now visibly shaking) Okay, ma’am, screws are at the end of this aisle on the left…
What…
Wild Karen: I ALREADY KNOW THAT.
Yours Angrily: Okay, what size is that? What size do you need?
Wild Karen: (even angrier for some reason) YOU TELL ME!!! (takes a step closer as if trying to seem threatening)
Yours Angrily: (unable to hold back) I have NO clue, ma’am.
There’s an entire wall of screws. It’s impossible for me to tell its size by just… Looking at it.
Wild Karen: You will NOT come at me like that! (says me like she’s royal and I should feel afraid) Your manager would NOT like that!
Yours NoLongerGivingAFudge-ly: Ya think? Well, I can get a manager if you’d like. Maybe one of them can identify the screw by sight!
Wild Karen: DON’T MAKE ME MAD TODAY. JUST… DO… YOUR… JOB!
(cue what could possibly count as Malicious Compliance)
Yours FeckingOverThisJerk-ly: Yes, ma’am.
I walked away from her to my trolley and proceeded to continue looking for the items on my order.
Wild Karen: WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!
Yours Freely: My job.
What ended up being funny was, one aisle over, one of our assistant managers actually WAS nearby.
With Karen ranting and stomping like an angry toddler, I walked over when I noticed him and told him I have two issues: One, I can’t find the items. Two, (proceeds to explain Karen he may want to talk to).
He proceeded to show me where it was, and ignored her the same as I was until she huffed loudly and stormed away.
I don’t think she liked that my manager DID like how I handled the situation…”
Another User Comments:
“Darn man, very polite and controlled of you. I wouldn’t take any form of aggression from a customer, that’s not the job. I would have ignored her way sooner.
I would have pretended and said, “I’ll go look.” Then disappear like your manager and not come back till she left. But indeed, how ‘professional’ of you, which really should be a ridiculous thing to say with these people lol just leave. And props to your manager.” rush2me
Another User Comments:
“People just…don’t care. They see an employee and assume you know everything about everything and expect help. This last Saturday I was using our self-checkout, and the guy next to me was complaining that his stuff isn’t ringing up correctly. Instead of getting the self-checkout clerk, he keeps pestering me, while still ringing myself up.
I ask if he used his loyalty card, he said he asked, “Well how do I get one?!” I pointed to the clerk and walked away.” Purpleflower0521
9. I Was Going To Help You Out Until Your Angry Husband Came At Me
“I used to work at Panera. This one time a woman came in and ordered something on our kiosk (little computer screen where people can just search what they want to eat and insert their card). The restaurant was empty at this time. She was the only one there and I asked her a few times if she needed help with anything but she said no each time.
After a while, she walks up to me and asks where her food is, and that it usually doesn’t take this long for just a cup of soup. So I go to the computer in the back and see that there are no new orders.
I go to the kitchen and ask. They tell me there hasn’t been an order in a while. Her card has been declined and that’s why she didn’t get her food. I go back and tell her this.
She gets mad at me.
I ask her if when she ordered did the screen say approved. She goes “No it didn’t say approved but I know I was charged.” How? I tell her I can ring her up for the soup and that I’ll make sure it’s top priority in the kitchen.
Even offered her a free pastry for the trouble.
She declines, tells me off, and leaves. Not even two minutes later her husband comes in yelling at me that the card was not declined. He told me I made his wife feel like a jerk and that she was crying in the car because of how I treated her (???) and this man walks into the kitchen yelling at my coworkers to give him his cup of soup.
I didn’t know what to do so I tapped on his shoulder and told him he wasn’t allowed back there, to which he told me that if I try to hit him again he’d call the cops (?????) mind you, he was a 5’11 ish grown man and I was 20 at the time.
I’ve always been a pretty small-looking girl for my age so it’s funny that he took the tap on the shoulder as a threat, but I know that was my fault for touching him.
At this point, my manager notices what’s going on.
The man was grabbing me by the shoulders and yelling, and my manager escorted him out, and let me leave early. All that for a cup of soup that I was willing to give them for free and call it my mistake if they had just not been complete jerks.”
Another User Comments:
“Reminds me of a time I was a waiter. Karen and Ken show up during the lunch rush. We get mostly the business crowd so they are regulars. They demanded to be seated because they only got 30 minutes for lunch. We told them we are full and if they wanted to come back in 45 minutes the regulars would be leaving.
Then they started to say do you know who we are. I said no but then they demanded the manager. Manager told them the same thing and they started to curse at the manager and me. We saw them walking towards a 9-year-old Honda Accord.
The way they acted you thought their Bentley was parked there.” Ontario0000
8. Entitled Speeder Tries To Blame Her Husband For Her Actions
“A couple of years ago, while sitting on a county road running stationary radar, I saw a couple of cars coming towards me.
In front was a pickup truck that was going 59 MPH in the posted 55. Well next thing I know, the SUV behind it pulls into the other lane and flies around it. I locked the SUV’s speed in at 79 MPH and proceeded to stop the vehicle.
Upon approach, I recognized one of our town Karens. This was an entitled and snobby lady; ironically named Karen. Well, I tell her I’m stopping her for speeding 79 in a 55, and she tells me she wasn’t speeding, but instead passing a slow-moving vehicle.
My response was this.
“Ma’am, the vehicle you passed was not driving slow, but in fact was already driving above the posted of 55, as I had it on radar at 59. Also, state code 321.285, prohibits you from exceeding the posted speed limit even when passing another vehicle.”
Well, Karen then looks over at her husband, and back at me and says, “Well my husband told me to speed to pass the truck.” I responded by telling her that her husband wasn’t the one in operation of the vehicle, she was, and that makes her responsible for all the decisions she makes.
I explained to Karen that had she gone one mile per hour faster, that she would lose her license, as the state suspends licenses for excessive speeding over 25 over the posted speed limit. Karen looked right at me and again said, “But I was passing.”
I grabbed her information and went back to my patrol car. Upon looking at her driving record, I noticed that she didn’t have much aside from some tickets from years ago. I ended up writing Karen a traffic citation for speeding 70 in a 55, instead of the full ticket.
Upon returning to Karen she didn’t say a word to me nor look at me. I explained the citation to her and asked if she had any questions. As she stared straight ahead, she shook her head. I asked for her signature on the promise to appear line where she scribbled her signature.
As I handed her a copy of the citation to her, she yanked it out of my hands. Learned a few days later from the Clerk of Court that she paid the ticket two days later. Thought for sure I’d see her in court but I guess she knew she was in the wrong.”
Another User Comments:
“Your story reminds me of those I used to hear from my dad. He was a court clerk for a suburb just off the bridge into a major city. Traffic tickets for bridge drivers and stuff in town all ended up at night court.
He’d get people coming to the window arguing against their ticket, convinced he could throw it out. He’s like, you can pay, or you can tell it to the judge. “I’m not coming to court this is nonsense.” Sigh, if you don’t the judge will issue a bench warrant for failure to appear and you will be arrested. Crap like that.
It was really funny when one person was yelling, cursing, and threatening him through a bullet port of glass. “Sir, you need to calm down and act like an adult.” F this f that what if I don’t? “Then I push this button and you can deal with the boys in blue.” Verbal abuse continues button pushed. Door opens and 5 cops rush out and tackle the Karen.” KilroyLeges
7. Ex Crashes Into My Car, Her Husband Tries To Blame Me
“Going back to my late 20s I was driving home from work in my old but reliable Toyota Carina.
As I went round a bend in my street, I heard a screech of rubber then bam!
An ex-partner from school (we were still friends, we just were not working out as a couple), pulling out of her driveway got distracted by her two crotch goblins throwing stuff around, etc turned to shut them up, and accidentally caught the accelerator.
No one was hurt thank goodness as she was pregnant with her third.
When she hit me she t-boned my car on the passenger side, somehow spinning with the impact, and also scraped down the rear panel.
Loads of witnesses to it (middle of summer holidays for schools) and she admitted fault straight away.
We exchanged insurance and I knew it would be awkward as we were both with the same company.
Insurance company sent me out a substandard courtesy car and took mine away, it was drivable still but the passenger side doors were crushed and not opening.
Two days later I got told that both cars were write-offs and that her husband was contesting fault saying I sideswiped her.
The crash investigator told me that he knew it was nonsense. She had hit me hard enough to shear an engine mount and all the damage was her front and my side.
Kevin was contesting it purely because he only had minimum fire, theft, and third-party cover on his wife’s BMW (an old 318 irc) and had not gotten any claims protection on the policy so he knew it was going to cost him. He even turned up at my door demanding I agree to take the blame for the crash.
I just told him he had less chance than a one-legged man in a butt-kicking contest and to get off my property.
All his nonsense managed was to delay my payout and annoy the insurance company to the point they refused to insure the replacement car he bought her.
I ended up buying another Toyota which I drove until my Gran died and I used the inheritance to buy a Focus.
His wife, however, proceeded to crash his Merc, then her replacement car, and the resulting drama led to their divorce and her moving to Canada to live with her parents, who it turned out still owned the house Kevin and his now ex had been living in.”
Another User Comments:
“17YO me stopped, as the car in front of me was going to back up to parallel park. After the woman tried a couple of times, she decided there was enough space to just drive into the spot, so she backed up…right into me, as I laid on the horn.
She got out, was super-apologetic, and admitted fault. Both cars were ok so we exchanged info and drove off. Older me would know to call the cops for a police report – young me didn’t. When I got home my dad told me to call the cops, turns out her husband already had and blamed it all on me (saying I rear-ended her).
Now his insurance had a police report to lean on when contesting blame. Cops accepted my report, but weight is almost always given to whoever reports first. When it came time for the insurance companies to fight it out…theirs folded like a cheap suit and paid for my damage.
It may cost a little more, but there’s no replacement for USAA – they go to the mat for their clients. Ended up throwing a couple of wet paper bags full of dog crap at their house over the next few months.” Muggi
6. Handling A Difficult Customer's Return Request Minutes Before Store Closing On New Year's Eve
“It’s New Year’s Eve, store is closing up early.
I’m getting some cleaning in early, when the phone rings. I don’t know why I answered it, should’ve just let it ring and got out of there, but I’d forgotten for a second that the store was closing in just a few moments.
I give my corporate speak, thanking him for calling, he says “Sorry for calling so late, I know you guys are closing in a few minutes, but I just had a quick question.” Side note, I work at a parts store, it always annoys me when people just call to ask questions, like call a mechanic or Google it.
Anyway, his question isn’t about what I expect, that being cars. He’s upset because he went to another one of our stores, with no receipt, asking for a return. Now store policy is that if you don’t have a receipt, you must provide a form of ID.
There’s no way to bypass this, if the register system asks to see ID, you must provide it, or no return. I explain this to him as gently as I can, because he is accusing the woman at the store he’s at of not giving him his return.
But let’s be real, it’s because he probably doesn’t have a driver’s license and drove there anyway, you wouldn’t believe how many people come in and we’re unable to give them returns because they don’t have a driver’s license or form of ID… Even though they’re at a car parts store.
Now this guy is getting mad at me, asking me to look up if his return is in the system, I’m trying to explain that it most likely is, but you do need to provide ID if you don’t have the receipt. It’s 5 minutes after close, and I just wanna go home.
He keeps trying to ask questions, ask the same questions, trying to twist my words about “but you just said the purchase is in the system.” Finally, I’m done, and I say “look man, I can’t help you with this anymore, the store is closing, will that be all or do you need anything else?” To which he responds “yeah, what was your name again?” This makes my blood boil and I say “It’s (obviously fake name), thank you for calling and have a happy new year.” Before hanging up on him.
He called again, but this time I just pressed “Silent” and got myself out of there.”
Another User Comments:
“People LOVE to call corporate, which I assume is why he asked for your name. I worked for a few big companies in fast food and retail, that was always an angry customer’s #1 threat.
Well first, it’s “let me talk to your supervisor”. Supervisor repeats the same policy. “I want to talk to the store manager (me)”. I walk out, explain the same policy. “Well give me your name I’m calling corporate”. And you know what corporate did? Nothing.
I say all this to say, stop threatening to call corporate. Corporate doesn’t care. Even if they follow up on it, we’ll just say you were a psycho and they’ll go “okay.”” [deleted]
5. Dealing With A Difficult Customer At A Cell Phone Repair Shop
“A while ago, I was working for a cell phone tech giant. It was a support center within a shopping center/mall specifically, dealing with repairs and such. I was concierge on this day.
A Karen walks in and needs to repair her phone. She tells me what she needs done, and I tell her that she would have to make sure all the data is backed up as it is wiped during repair.
It’s the law and for the phone to pass outgoing quality control tests, it needs to be wiped and have the latest firmware on it.
She starts losing her temper. I asked her “is your phone currently being repaired?” She replied that it was in her hand so “obviously not”.
I replied with, “right, so your data is still safe. To keep it safe, you will have to back it up”.
I explained to her that we don’t touch customers’ data because of the many things that can go wrong, and how we will be held liable for missing data.
She pleaded for assistance.
I know what I’m doing since I worked here for a while, so I explained to her in detail how to backup. In particular, the most significant of all was WhatsApp voice notes from her late father to her grandchildren – showing her the steps and what to tap to back it up.
Because she lacked knowledge I was willing to help just to get it out of the way while keeping in consideration that the backup location would then be my responsibility.
When the app said “backing up” she started losing her temper again – “NO! It’s deleting them.” “How have you figured that out?” I replied. She says “just do your job and back it up”.
Sharp nasal inhale
“As I mentioned before, we don’t deal with backups here by law. Here are the instructions to back up your data. You can back up while you wait to be served” is what I replied with as I handed her the sheet of instructions that I made because all of these ignorant people have these issues.
The attitude I will not tolerate.
She storms out of the shop saying “you have lost a customer”.
– 2 hours pass. –
I’m helping someone set up their phone after their repair while still on concierge and see her return. From the corner of my eye, I see she waits patiently for me.
I deliberately prolong my time with the person I’m helping. My manager (a very good friend/like family to me) attends to her and she walks past me (the front of the store) to later see, she is sitting at a deactivated desk, unattended, with my manager’s work laptop.
I ask him after I finished helping the customer set up their phone “bro, why is she using your laptop?”
He responds with “Fam, she went to UniQlo (clothing store) and put her phone down while trying on clothes on the shop floor. Her phone was stolen and she is using Google Find My Device to see where it is.”
When I was assisting this Karen with her phone, she didn’t have mobile cellular data or location services active. That phone, as well as those voice notes from her father, are gone.
EDIT: I forgot that when I refused to deal with her data for her after her aggression, she responded with “so you’re upset because you won’t do as you’re told.””
Another User Comments:
“I don’t really know if this qualifies as a Karen for me. I’m assuming she was an older lady and some of my much older, not-tech-savvy relatives don’t really get a lot of these tech terms. It could’ve been she wasn’t understanding how you were explaining it, even if you thought you explained it sufficiently, and she was (I think understandably) panicking about losing some important mementos of passed family members.
This panic may have made her snap (human response, though she could’ve apologized for it), but you even said initially that she begged for assistance and Karens don’t beg for assistance. Nor do they wait patiently, as she did when she came back, by your own words.
I think it’s just mean to say it’s karma that she lost her whole phone, with all of the data in it, just because she snapped at you a little. Even with your description of her, I feel bad for her.” MotoFaleQueen
4. Mad At The Cable Guy? I'll Just Sit Back And Laugh
“In my adventures as a cable guy, I learned a lot about Karens and a big lesson is this. As bad as they seem in a store or restaurant, they’re much worse when you’re literally on their home turf.
This story takes place way back in 2015, the company was Time Warner Cable, the area with Pulaski County Kentucky, and one of the stars ends up arrested in serious but noncable-related charges.
My day starts with an install, the notes are transfer triple play, (phone, TV, and internet) bring new equipment.
A quick note for the uninitiated is cable guys only get so much equipment to last the week. We can’t give everyone a “new box” and the equipment is almost always refurbished. But it’s Friday, I work Saturday then I’m off till Tuesday when I’ll have more equipment.
So I can fulfill this request.
This install is at a more run-down trailer park, our nonpay guy gets a lot of work in this area as do our cops. I pull in and the first trailer is a burnt-down frame. I get to the place I’m looking for, knock, introduce myself, and start talking to the husband.
He’s a pretty cool guy. I start outside and he’s with me and we’re having a running conversation, he’s curious about my job and I’m happy to talk about it. I hook up cable for TVs in the kid’s room and his bedroom. His wife is passed out snoring while I’m running a drill in there.
I ask if he has his equipment from the old address, he says he thought I was bringing new stuff. I tell him I am but I still need to transfer the old equipment to the new address, then I can replace it.
Now I find out they had moved from the first trailer that had burnt down and lost a lot.
Including their DVRs and modem. I’m still newish and don’t know what to do in an odd situation like this so I call my dispatch.
They pull up the account and tell me that the husband needs to go physically to our local office (about twenty minutes south) with a copy of the fire marshal’s report.
From there TWC can write off the equipment but for now, I have to stop what I’m doing until this stuff happens. I have him note the account with this, the job is pulled off of me.
I tell the husband this and explain that my afternoon is pretty light.
If he can take care of this today when he’s at the office have them put the job back on me as an all-day time frame and I’ll be happy to come back out and take care of them.
He asks what I’m going to do about the TVs that I’ve already hooked up to basic cable, I say leave them as his kids could probably use some cartoons right now.
He thanks me and I depart.
So you’re probably wondering, where is Karen??
The next week my boss is on vacation and this job pops back up. Now the notes say “Xfer triple, bring new equipment. Last tech just left”. So my cable honor has been insulted but I can deal. I stop by the office that morning and I ask what to do if someone’s house catches on fire.
They reiterate the fire marshal’s report. I have them pull up the account and no new action has taken place. They confirm I can’t do anything. On my way there I call dispatch and they double check and note the account. I tell them I’ll swing by and explain it to them again.
I knock and this time the wife answers. “SO are you actually going to do anything this time?” I explain that they still need to provide a copy of the fire marshal’s report and I can’t until then. “THAT’S NOT WHAT THEY TOLD ME OVER THE PHONE!” she shouts.
Staying calm I tell her that whoever she spoke to was incorrect, I’ve checked with our front counter people this morning and my dispatch, again more shouting. “THEN YOU’RE GOING TO HOOK UP TVS IN EVERY ROOM OF MY HOUSE BEFORE YOU LEAVE THIS TIME!”
I respond with a simple complete sentence. “No.” She then replies with a line that became very popular at my office for a while. “I have freaking kids with freaking ADD and they need their freaking TV!” I’m actually slightly stunned someone would say this but I quickly recover and say “You need to take a copy of the fire marshal’s report to our local office.
Once that’s done we can come back out. Have a nice day.”
I leave and go about my day. While I’m at home eating lunch my afternoon route changes. My trouble calls vanish and the same address pops in. I’m looking at the work order and noticed they transferred the equipment office only and added new blank occurrence for the new equipment.
What this means is for equipment to function it needs to be on an account (you can’t just take something off a truck, plug it in, and have it work) and the account has to have an occurrence which is pretty much a spot for it to be in.
They have three DVRs and a modem on their account plus occurrences to add four more DVRs and another modem. They would also be billed for all of this equipment monthly. The notes were the same but they added “DO NOT send tech #### (me)”. I message my dispatch about this and after some back and forth he removes it and gives me some work from someone else.
I call the guy that gets it (we went through training together) and give him a heads-up. He does the install and calls me after. “Dude she’s so mad at you!” were his first words. We laugh and he says they’ll be in non-pay status in a month.
He played the game while he was there where he agreed with what she said about me and that when he was done there he was going to go straight to our boss’s office and talk to him about me.
In the end, I got curious and checked their account about a month later and the notes were some great reading.
Her bill was about $500 and the CSR explained that it was because of all the equipment (each DVR also had premium channels) and that she needed to go to the office. She apparently hung up according to the notes, then called back a couple more times over the next few days.
The next month her cable boxes and modem get shut off for non-pay and she calls back to complain. Soon after I see a write-off amount of over $1,800 and notes from our nonpay guy where he stopped by, cars parked, kids looking at the window but no answer.
Eventually, the write-off amount went up to $12,000 when the equipment was included.
It becomes a joke among us techs after we both talk about our experience there. One of us would be talking about not being able to do a job and someone would chime in “But they have freaking kids with freaking ADD and need their freaking TV!”
It gets really crazy when a few years later I’m watching local news and they mentioned the husband’s name. He was arrested in Cincinnati on some nasty charges.”
3. Karen Demands No Salt On Her Burger
“I was in a local Burger King today, waiting to give my order. I noticed the employee at the register was disabled, so he was a little slower taking everyone’s order, which was totally fine.
But he was very thorough, & very sweet. (My son is on the spectrum, & he reminded me of my boy). He also made sure he repeated everything back to the person who ordered, so he knew he got it correct.
I was about to step closer to order, when Karen came flying over, & cut in front of me, waving her wrapped Whopper.
“EXCUUUUUUSE MEEEEE…I NEEEEED to know if there is any salt on my Whopper. I ordered it with no pickles & no salt, and I see that the little picture of pickles is crossed out, but I don’t see any picture of salt that is crossed out.
I NEEEEED to know if you added salt to my Whopper!!!”
The employee says, “Ma’am, I made sure I pushed the ‘no seasonings’ button on the register when you ordered. I also turned around and told them ‘special order, no seasonings’ on your burger.
And then I asked them when they handed it to me just to make sure. And it’s on the receipt. It says, ‘No seasonings.”
She then starts yelling at the poor employee, “But, I NEEEEED to know it doesn’t have salt. See? The pickle thing is crossed out.
But I really don’t like salt, so I NEEEED to know there is no salt on it.”
He explains again what care he took to make sure that there was no salt on Karen’s burger. By then, the manager wandered over. Manager says, “Ma’am, he made sure they made your burger with the utmost care.
I can assure you, there is no added salt. There may be a small amount already in the Mayo, and the bread, but there’s none in the tomatoes, onions, or lettuce, and he already said there are no pickles on your burger.”
Karen goes up an entire octave I didn’t know was possible, “I SEE the pickle picture is crossed out on the wrapper.
I NEEEEED to know there is no salt added.”
Finally, the manager takes the wrapped Whopper from her, pulls a black marker out of his pocket, & proceeds to draw a little salt shaker on the wrapper. Then he points to it, crosses it out, & then says, “See?
No salt,” & hands it back to her.
Well, I couldn’t help but bust out laughing so loud!!
Karen grabs the Whopper out of his hands, turns around & gives me her best Karen look, & storms off to eat her “Salt-free, no pickles Whopper.”
I ordered, told them both that they were my heroes, & enjoyed my whopper with cheese. The cheese was circled on my Whopper. They are very thorough!”
2. Rude Neighbor Thinks She Can Go Trick Or Treating Past Midnight
“So the last few years Halloween candy has been a waste here in the UK at least for us.
I’m trying to lose weight and get healthier so I can get on the kidney transplant list.
My sister still insists we buy it though just in case.
Well last night we had no one once again, I go to bed as I have to be up early to get to dialysis.
12:30 am doorbell goes off, doors getting thumped. My sis and I both wake up. I tell her I’ll deal with it. Thinking it’s a neighbor’s emergency.
Karen’s there with her embarrassed-looking husband and dog-tired-looking kids at maybe 6 years old max.
“At last! Trick or treat!”
I grunt, irritated. “Lady it’s past midnight, we were asleep!”
“Well you’re up now give my little angels some sweets!”
Now thoroughly annoyed. I just look at her. “It’s cold, dark, wet and your kids look exhausted, we may have something left but I can’t guarantee it”.
(Mainly because my sister sat there eating it all night herself).
“I couldn’t let my kids go without me, so now I’m off work we go trick or treating!”
Sighing but feeling bad for the kids I found what was left and gave it to the kids, who to be fair were in costume and polite but clearly wanted to go home.
Her husband told her to move off and then apologized for it but I moved past him and said to Karen as she’s about to thump on my neighbor’s door of our semi-detached house. “Don’t even think of knocking on that door! She’s 88 let her sleep!”
Karen flipped me off but stormed away from that house and down the other driveway. “Is this one ok to wake up?” Sarcastic and rude even her husband was getting annoyed. And just grabbed her arm.
“We are going home now!” He looked at me again and apologized again.
Thanks to Karen I struggled to get back to sleep, slept through my alarm, and was late to dialysis, which makes my day longer, messes with the clinic timing, and has left me annoyed.”
Another User Comments:
“This reminds me of how my sister saw a post from a Karen on her NextDoor app, where Karen was complaining about kids trick or treating too early and trick or treating ending too early as a result.
She said it’s not trick or treating if they’re doing it in the daylight and she wants to see more kids in the later hours of the night, even the little ones. We thought that was weird. Is she looking for more kids to put in her witch oven to eat?
Being out in the daylight is safer.” unikkorns_
1. Confronting Judgmental Woman Over Handicap Parking Spot Misunderstanding
“I was with my mom the other day, headed to the grocery store. She has a handicap placard she carries with her, as she is in a wheelchair much of the time, and can only walk short distances.
I was cruising through the parking lot in search of a handicapped spot that was wheelchair accessible on the passenger side.
I spotted 2 spots to my right, one at the beginning of the row and one right next to it, with accessibility in between. A woman was coming towards me in her vehicle, opposite me in the parking lot. I signaled my intention to turn right and moved to take the second spot, leaving the first one available.
I had to swing wide and cut the wheel in order to navigate the car and park properly.
The woman immediately turned after me, and I watched as she almost slammed into the back of my car. She backed up, straightened the car, and shot into the first spot.
I looked over to make sure she was done parking. I didn’t want to go to my mom’s side of the car if this woman wasn’t done. It was then I noticed she was shooting daggers at me, mouth all tight like she just sucked a lemon.
Now I know what she was thinking. I am sure she felt I had no right to a handicapped parking spot. I stared at her the entire time I exited my vehicle, making eye contact. I was ready to exchange words with her at the first sign of her getting mouthy with me.
I opened my trunk and withdrew my mother’s wheelchair, and smiled real big, right at her. The look on her face was priceless! I hollered “Mama, be sure to hang up your handicap placard!”
She didn’t even look my way as she exited her vehicle and went into the store.
We passed her a few times in the aisles and she avoided my gaze each time.
A handicap is not always visible. Some are obvious. Some are not. If someone has a placard, it is no one’s place to judge the WHY of it. I have Fibromyalgia and I fractured my back.
Those are not visible handicaps. I do not have a placard of my own, even though I qualify. There are days I wish I did. Some days, walking can be really challenging.
In a way, I am relieved the lady did not engage me in any type of confrontation.
I was just salty enough that day to have given her a piece of my mind. There were two spaces. She didn’t need to drive like a crazy Karen in that parking lot.”
Another User Comments:
“Similar incident. I walk with a cane to support the left side of my body.
I’m fairly young, so when I went to a fall apple festival with my friends, we parked in the handicapped area. It took me longer than the others to get out of the vehicle, for obvious reasons. Old guy parked in the handicapped spot next to us was standing at the back of his car waiting for his adult daughter who was still in their car getting things.
He starts berating my friends, saying they’re all young and perfectly healthy and have no business parking there and they’re taking from people who actually need the spot etc, etc. Meanwhile, his daughter notices me struggling to get out of the car. “Dad!
Dad!! Shut up!! Dad!!” I finally hobbled towards my friends, who had chosen not to engage the man. The moment he saw my cane and my obvious handicap, he shut his mouth and refused to make eye contact. The floor was suddenly very fascinating. His daughter was so embarrassed and apologized.” Tiny-Attitude7316
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