No matter how kind or polite you are, every once in a while you’re bound to run into someone who, for no reason at all, goes out of their way to be rude. Whether it’s a minor inconvenience or full-on drama, one thing’s certain, they’ll ruin your day. Online, these people have earned a name: Karens.
And of course, Redditors have no shortage of stories about their run-ins with them. Below, we’ve gathered some of the most patience-testing encounters people have shared. Scroll down to read them all—and maybe vent a little, too.
Best Karen story: I used to be a butcher and was having a really stressful day at work last year around Thanksgiving time,when my mom stopped into my store because she was in the neighborhood and on a whim decided to bring me my favorite food: Lamb Rogan Josh and a Mango Lassi. It made my day
My mom’s name is Karen
She is not a Karen
She told me off for bringing my daughter to the playground while we were eating ice cream, because her “little son is allergic to dairy, and he’ll be sad if he sees the ice cream and can’t have any”.
Once upon a time, on the train, a young man tried to travel from A to B without a ticket. I politely informed him that this wouldn’t work, he needed to buy a ticket with a surcharge or we’d be saying a sensitive goodbye at the next station. The young man immediately went into attack mode and started telling me who he was, that he was somebody important, his mother worked for the railway, and that I wouldn’t have to come to work tomorrow. I told him that was fine, but to give me enough notice that I didn’t need to come to work, because I’d be really pissed off if I got up early for nothing the next day. The gentleman was put off the train at the next station and, as I later found out, his mother really does work for the railway, she’s a waitress at a restaurant.
When I worked at the Home Depot a Karen told me that she didn’t want any black men to install her flooring. I was in charge of arranging her order and told her that we don’t select which individuals exactly will install her floor and that she’ll get who she gets. She proceeds to have a fit about it, demands white installers, asks to speak to my manager.
I’m so glad she did, because my manager’s name was Dwayne and he was a real big black dude.
Turns out she didn’t want to speak to the manager
My aunt used to do some embarrassing stuff at restaurants. Her favorite was order something, eat ninety percent of it then insist that it was inedible and absolutely awful and she shouldn’t have to pay for it. Apparently back in the day this worked and she would frequently receive free meals. Until one time when it didn’t. The waitress looked her dead in the eye and said something along the lines of “you ate it, therefor you will pay for it and I hoped you enjoyed it because this will be the last time you are allowed here.”
According to my dad she got super embarrassed, paid and rushed out of there. After tucking her tail and running, her Karen core recharged and she called the restaurant to complain. Not sure if she got the manager or the owner but they essentially told her the same thing as the waitress. Her husband, who had no issues with her scamming places, got mad and wanted to pursue some sort of legal action. Nothing came of it.
He was a man, but such a Karen…
I was a manager, and they wanted to disconnect the client. Totally justified. He hadn’t paid in almost 4 years… He wanted to pay in installments, but the internal rules were that after a certain level of warnings, it wasn’t possible anymore.
The point is, the guy first wanted to see a manager. That’s where I came in. After the information, he stood up and started yelling. Police… we’ll be reported. I tried to calm him down, where he could go, there are state agencies here that provide support, protection, etc…
It was during Covid, by the way.
Then the guy grabbed, recoiled to spit. He needed momentum. Then he realized he was wearing a mask… pulled it down. Spat again, like a cobra. It landed on the plexiglass.
That’s when I asked him if he wanted me to go to the other side of the plexiglass so he could spit on me.
He couldn’t answer because the security guard had had enough and dragged him out of the office in a chokehold.
He didn’t come back to complain!
Man Karen: bought a PC Star Wars Battlefront, in 2015 and comes back the next day to get his money back immediately, saying this doesn’t work. Did he activate the code? Don’t take me for a fool? I said we can’t take back PC games if the code’s been activated. Well, he’d already tried activating it with his IT expert friend, the code’s no good, it won’t download, it won’t run, and besides, he’s got a law degree and he’s gonna sue us. This went on for five minutes. I said thanks, but we still can’t take it back, but let’s have a look, show me what you activated?
He takes one of the two papers from the box and shows me: this. I look at it: I said, this is the pre-order DLC code. Look, here’s the PC activation code, it even says so right here, this is what you need to activate.