These Karens are out for vengeance, and nothing is going to stop them from speaking to the manager! Seriously, the people who encountered this vicious Karens barely survived. Buckle up, because these stories are gonna get way too intense! Content has been edited for clarity!
The Biggest Karen Fail Imaginable
“As the new guy, I was given the task of opening up the restaurant. This meant arranging tables and setting them up, stocking the bar and waiters station, counting the register, and confirming reservations for the day. Before anyone else on staff showed up to work, a loud knock comes from our locked front door. I go to see who’s there, and two elderly women want to come in and be seated for service. I tell them we open for service at 11:30, and they weren’t having it. They wanted to be seated NOW. They have a Groupon which was set to expire, and they demanded service. They insisted our website stated we open at 10:30. I told them we couldn’t have people in the restaurant while we were setting up, but we’d be happy to take care of them when we open. They asked me if I was a manger, I said no, and they replied with how I look too stupid to be a manager. They then proceeded to seat themselves in our outdoor patio area. Fine. They were out of my way, so I could proceed with my tasks. Except they decided to start calling the restaurant. The phone would ring, I would go over to pick it up, they would swear at me, I would hang up, and they would do it again. After the third or fourth time, I just let the phone ring. The other old lady got up and just started pounding on the door to be let in while the other was on the phone, letting it ring.
At this point, the other waiter on schedule shows up and asks what’s going on. I explain, he goes out to tell them the same things I did, and they gave him the same treatment. 11:30 rolls around, the kitchen is up and ready for service, and we’re up and ready for service. The two old ladies barge in and shove their Groupon coupon in my coworker’s face, to which he replies, ‘Ma’am, our establishment does not accept Groupons. If you had read the name and address of the restaurant the Groupon is attached to, and compared it to the name of our restaurant on the front door you’ve been pounding on for the past hour, you would have discovered you are at the wrong restaurant.’
They slink off, but it doesn’t end there. They went online and posted a review about what a horrible restaurant experience they had, how we were infested with rats, and how we should all be fired.”
Masking A Nasty Attitude
“With everything going on right now, masks are mandatory in our stores unless the person has a severe medical condition. With Corona active, the law is that Masks are mandatory in all stores unless of course, the person has a severe medical condition. We have a fair share of people that come in just covering their mouth, with their noses fully exposed. When I see them, I say, ‘Hi, how are you, please make sure your mask is covering your nose!’
This male Karen (who I’ll call Ken) comes to my register with his nose exposed, and I kindly remind him about covering his nose. He proceeds to tell me he had asthma. I told him that it would be a common courtesy to use the self-check out lane. While I am cashing him out, he is yelling about how he cannot breathe properly under his mask, and he will not stop. Finally, I’ve had enough, and I have a long line with customers is wearing a mask properly. I tell him, ‘Do you see all these people? You think they are wearing a mask for enjoyment? They are being considerate of your health, the least you can do is show them the same consideration instead of behaving so entitled!’
He then changes the subject and says, ‘I’ve seen employees many times without any masks, I’ve even seen you without a mask, and I have proof! You’re lucky I haven’t posted this on social media!’
I tell Ken, ‘Clearly this is so important to you, even though you can’t seem to comprehend how to wear a mask properly, so post away, no one is stopping you.’
Then he is left speechless and he’s like, ‘Well, you have yourself a great day!’ and he leaves and I hear him muttering some curse words on his way out. I’ve had enough of these fraudsters that try to pretend they have a medical condition that exempts them from a mask. I know he was lying because people who truly have these medical conditions don’t act defensive, they let us know. This Ken kept going on and on about how he has difficulty breathing, repeating the same thing so many times. With the guy I had, he was acting very defensive just for being advised that he should be using self-checkout. It’s that entitled attitude it’s saying that he doesn’t give care that he’s exposing himself. We have customers who have medical conditions, but they are very aware of their surroundings and use the self-checkout so they don’t get too close to others.”
One Sentence Changed Their Lives
“My mom used to run restaurants. My stepfather used to be a chef in high-end restaurants, and he is the kind of guy who expects to be treated better than he is currently being treated, regardless of whatever that treatment is. They are not fun to go out to eat with. My wife and I pride ourselves on being a ‘relief’ table when we go out to eat. Both of us have been servers, and there’s always the counterpoint to the difficult table, which is us. Barring horrible service or bad food, we are super easy customers, tip well, and try to have a good time with our server. Furthermore, we just treat people nicely. So you can imagine our disdain when my parents act like they’re royalty at a dinner service.
My wife and I went out to dinner with them. They were being particularly tough. My mom was acting like she was Gordon Ramsey analyzing the business, critiquing everything down to the amount of bubbles in her seltzer. She said, ‘It looks like it’s time to change the CO2!’ My stepdad was getting more and more heated over stupid things, like the amount of ice in his drink and how the waitress didn’t top off his water fast enough. He was barely sipping on it. It came to a head when my stepfather ordered a steak medium well, and it came back medium well. For some reason, he changed his mind that he wanted it medium rare while it was cooking, and they didn’t read his mind, so he gave attitude, as did my mom. They jumped really quickly to demanding free stuff. I’m an adult, and this may be the first time they realized this. I interrupted them in front of the server and said something like, ‘Really? This is what you’re doing. That’s what you ordered!’
I turned to the server and said, ‘We do not need anything comped.’
I then pulled out my wallet and handed her my card and said, ‘This is for the bill. We’ll happily wrap up with what we have here. I’m very sorry for their behavior, you’re doing great.’
Then I uttered the line that stung them so deep they still bring it up years later. I said, ‘I was taught to treat people nicely, a lesson that seems to be forgotten. Thank you.’
My parents turned red, the server walked away, I looked down and cut my steak, and I didn’t say a word. They were so flabbergasted that the meal was virtually silent, except me asking my step-father how his steak was a few minutes later. I signed the check, gave a big tip, and we walked out and said goodbyes. They’ve been nicer to servers each time that we’ve gone out since.”
“You Don’t Mind, Do You?”
“This happened to me last night. I got in my car to pick up my girlfriend and my tire pressure light came on. I have a 12v air compressor in my backseat but it’s loud and fills sort of slowly, so I opted to drive to the local Wawa. (For those who don’t have Wawa, it’s like if 7/11 got sober and went to college.) Wawa’s air pumps are free to use which usually means there are at least a few cars lined up, but when I pulled in there was only one other car. Score. I pulled behind the guy filling his tires and an older gentleman in a BMW pulled in behind me.
After about 3 minutes a woman in a brand new Lexus pulls up directly next to me and puts her window down. ‘I only have to fill one tire, do you mind if I go in front of you?’, she asked.
I said, ‘Actually I do, we’ve been waiting here for a little bit, sorry.’ She muttered something while rolling her window up and I put up mine.
About a minute later the guy at the pump was done. He backs up and before I can even put my car in gear Lexus woman pulls her car in front of mine diagonally, blocking me from pulling into the spot, and then pulls straight in after the first guy has moved. She climbs out of her car and gives me the MOST INFURIATING little wave.
At this point my anger gives way to a ninja-like calm, and I know exactly what must be done. I pull my car forward and stop ~6 inches from her rear bumper. The air pump is in the corner of the lot, so Lexus woman has a curb in front of her, a curb to her right (where the pump is), an open spot to her left, and now my dirty car right behind her brand new one. She is busy filling her tire and doesn’t notice that I’ve pulled right up to her car. I step out of my car, grab my air compressor from the back seat and start setting it up to fill my tire. Mr. BMW, who has remained completely still and silent, sees what I’m doing and asks if I can fill his tires too. I say, ‘Of course’ and motion for him to park in the empty spot to Lexuslady’s left. As soon as he pulls in she notices what’s happening and starts yelling. I flip on my air compressor and begin filling my tire, her cries drowned out by the sound of 250psi of justice. She comes and stands in front of me, face beet red and little flecks of spittle popping out from between her yellow teeth as she calls me all sorts of names.
I calmly say, ‘Ma’am, I only have one tire to fill. You don’t mind, do you?’. Mr. BMW is absolutely loving this, and as I finish my tire and move to fill his she starts up again. ‘You stupid, freaking piece of trash’. I finish Mr. BMW’s tire and he thanks me for my help, climbs in his car and pulls away grinning. I wrap my compressor up nicely, pick a good song, and set my climate control to a balmy 82 degrees, all while Lexus lady is trapped in front of me. I calmly back up, give her a little wave, and drive off into the night.”
You Can’t Propose Here And You Certainly Can’t Do THAT
“My boyfriend and I drove from our apartment early one morning to catch a cruise. It takes about 3-4 hours to get there. I am totally not a morning person, but my boyfriend was completely exhausted that morning from work, so I decided to drive so he could sleep some more. We got there about 30 min before departure so we parked the car and went to check in.
Enter the entitled witch and her little terror of a child:
Entitled Mom: ‘move over, my son and I NEED to check in right now.’
We moved over since it wasn’t our first encounter with an entitled mom. She finished checking in her son and herself so we got back to the counter and finished up as well. All the while, we talked with the woman behind the counter about entitled parents. We got aboard and went looking for our cabin. It had a nice double bed, big TV on the wall, a nice view etc. We packed out our luggage and settled in. We turned on the TV and watched Smokey and the Bandit while waiting for the announcement that we were departing. When it came, we went up to the adult zone (one of the upper deck next to the bar) and who do we see, yup entitled mom and her kid. The kid can’t have been older than 9, and this zone was only allowed for people 18 and older. As a backstory, my partner and I are gay, and I’m a man that acts more feminine, and in most occasions wear women’s clothing. Anyway, there we were on the upper deck. We stood there remaking our own Jack and Rose from Titanic. That’s when entitled mom comes over.
Mom: ‘You shouldn’t act like that here, my son is here watching the two of you. But you did well kid, having a cute girlfriend like that (to my boyfriend). And Nice dress, by the way (to me).’
We just thanked her and went back inside to rest a bit. In the evening we had a reservation at the more finer restaurant onboard. We got there, and since we had a reservation, we could skip the huge line. Some people didn’t like it but stayed quiet, but not her.
Mom: ‘Why do they get to skip the line while the rest of us has to stay behind? Let me trade with you, my son is very hungry.’
I got tired of meeting her everywhere but hey, it’s a ship, surrounded by water, we can’t avoid her for long. We got our table, still hearing the mother yelling at the workers. We ordered some expensive bottles and food. We actually ordered some fine food that I can’t even spell the name of. My boyfriend told me that he had something to ask me. He took his chair and pushed it out so he could stand, eyed the waiter and the waiter came over with a little black box. I knew what was happening and started getting tears in my eyes. I had been waiting for some time for this to happen. He got on one knee and asked, ‘Will you make me the happiest man on earth?’ He barely finished the sentence when I said yes! Everyone started clapping and I gave him a long kiss. The entitled mother finally got through the line and saw us kissing.
Mom: ‘Can’t you kiss your girlfriend somewhere else? My son is with me!’
My boyfriend: ‘First of all, I just proposed and kissed to make it official. Second, that is not my girlfriend, that’s my boyfriend’.
You could see all color disappear from her face.
Mom: ‘How could you do that with children present? You (homophobic slur) should not do something like that at all.’ Blah, Blah, Blah.
While she kept yelling I noticed that something smelled like feces and I couldn’t see the woman’s kid anywhere, until…. I looked down and there he was, trying to pull down my skirt. I quickly grabbed his hands and yanked him away from me. Remember how I said it smelled like feces? Well… It really hit the fan.
Mom: ‘HOWDAREYOUTOUCHMYBABY????’
Like that, yes. I don’t think she breathed at all during that sentence. And here we go…
Mom: ‘I will sue you for this you (homophobic slur). And stop wearing girls’ clothing, it is not ok to walk like that.’
And all the usual homophobic stuff. My boyfriend was furious. He normally never lays a hand on anyone, but had I not seen it and stopped him, he would have slapped her into the next century. The woman saw what he was about to do and acted like he actually did it, with the employees and the other guests looking at her. She got walked out and we got our meal on the house.
After resting in our cabin, we set out to find the bar. We heard there was live music and good drinks so we had to try it. After wandering around for a while, we made it to the bar. We entered, ordered some adult beverages and sat down. We drank quite a bit and decided to dance as fiancées. And who brought the storm during my waltz? You guessed it.
Mom: ‘STOOOOOP THE Music.’
It got quiet.
Mom: ‘Don’t start the music until these two (homophobic slur) leave.’
She starts to sound like that typical homophobic priest while pointing at us all angry. The other guests looks at us and start debating what kind of awful person she was. Enter the bartender.
Bartender: ‘Miss, I have to ask you to leave the bar.’
Mom: ‘Why do we have to leave while these two get to stay?’
Bartender: ‘First of all, you brought a kid that most certainly is not 18 years or older. Second, we do not tolerate homophobic abuse. And last, you’re just a nasty person.’
You could almost hear her jaw drop to the floor as she looked for a response. She ended up leaving, music started playing again and we gave an extra big tip before leaving to our cabin for some cozy time.
The rest of our vacation went pretty much without meeting her and her devil spawn again.
We are getting married in August.”
“Do I Look Like I Work For McDonalds?”
“I used to work at McDonald’s when I was a teenager. I’m also deaf, but I read lips. I developed bacterial meningitis and became fully deaf at the age of 12. I can still speak since I learned to speak before I became deaf and most of the customers I got there were very understanding, except one.
I was working front counter that day as I usually did so I was basically in charge of inside customers. This was the easiest position for me as I could see the customers and read their lips. A middle-aged lady (Entitled Mom) and her 9 or 10-year-old son walk in and I say…
Me: ‘Hi, welcome to McDonald’s.’
I say this while signing it at the same time. She doesn’t look up and is looking down at her phone, so I can’t see her lips and I can’t understand what she’s saying. So I explain…
Me: ‘Excuse me ma’am I’m deaf, but I read lips! Can you look up for me please?’
She rolls her eyes and I clearly see she says.
Entitled Mom: ‘Why would they let a dummy work the front counter?’
I am appalled by her behavior but just try to pretend like I didn’t see it. I smile and say…
Me: ‘What can I get started for you today?’
She starts to patronize me by speaking very, very slowly, which fun fact actually makes it 1000x harder to understand what you’re saying.
Entitled Mom: ‘I pause want pause a pause DIET pause COKE.’
Me: ‘Okay is that all?’
Entitled Mom: ‘And a Happy Meal toy’
Now all of our drinks are a dollar no matter the size, but you have to PAY for a happy meal toy. We don’t just give them out for free. I ring her up and she’s shocked. She demands to know why I’m discriminating against her son and forcing them to pay for a happy meal toy. I really don’t want to cause any trouble and I wish I could say I told her where she could shove it, but I ended up just giving her the toy for free.
I thought I had avoided conflict, BUT OH BOY WAS I WRONG.
I told her the total was $1.06 and after she paid I handed her a large cup and motioned for the guy behind her to move forward. She waves a hand in my face and points to the drink cup
Me: ‘Yes ma’am?’
Entitled Mom: ‘You never gave me my drink!’
I just thought she didn’t see the machines behind her, so I pointed to drink machine and said…
Me: ‘Oh there’s a drink station behind you where you can fill up your drink.’
I kid you not, word for word, she said, ‘That’s your job, do I look like I work for McDonald’s?’
My jaw hit the floor. I had never had someone be so rude in my entire life. I ended up telling her that when you come inside you fill up your own drinks because of sanitary reasons, but when she kept on pushing at me I ended up just using our drive thru drink machine to give her the DIET coke. While I’m making the drink, my coworker taps me on the shoulder. I see her son making fun of me to his mom by pretending to sign and just in general being a bully. His mom didn’t punish him or tell him off, instead she encouraged him and started to make fun of me with him. I went to the back and ended up bawling my eyes out. I felt incredibly embarrassed and like I had made a fool of myself by having a disability. I turned in my two weeks notice about a week later and haven’t worked in fast food since.
To everyone reading this, please be kind to people especially your fast food workers. It’s a tough job, even if you don’t have any disability. And if you see people who have disabilities working and trying to make a living, please be patient and help us out by just letting us do our thing and make us feel welcome. Thank you.”
Mask Girl Has Some Tricks Up Her Sleeve
“We were at the dreaded big box store picking up potting soil because we are going to DIY ourselves through the isolation. Things aren’t crazy here yet, but there is a two per customer limit on a majority of items. I assume this means everything, so we’re getting two bags each of a few different types of soil. My husband is loading the last of 8 bags on our cart when I hear her. I know it’s a Karen just by the level of unnecessary outrage in her voice.
Karen: ‘Are you KIDDING me?!’
Not a lot of people out here in the garden center, but we all look to her. I was almost disappointed to see she didn’t come with the requisite haircut. She actually looked like a frazzled mom. Her kid was tugging on her hand with an overfull hand-basket of groceries, and I had a moment of, ‘Girl, I feel you’, But she was pointing at us.
Karen: ‘You can’t buy THAT many! You. Are. HOARDING!’
My husband: ‘Yeah we can, we’re getting two each.’
Karen: ‘Oh you don’t fool me. I know what you’re doing!’
My husband: ‘So do I. Get Lost.’
Well Karen huffed at that, spun around, and yanked her kid back inside to go complain to the employee working the register nearby. Now, we already paid for our items. The employee had come out and scanned the bags earlier and he could easily see our cart from inside. So, being finished, we pushed the cart out of the garden center into the parking lot. And then the automatic doors open behind us and I hear, ‘Now they’re stealing!’
We load the soil in the car and turn around to bring the cart back and look at plants. By the time we get back, Karen has given up on trying to convince the employee we’re the Bonnie and Clyde of Dirt and is now trying to negotiate skipping somebody in line. She has a child, you see, and her hand-basket, well it’s just so full and heavy. The woman Karen is trying to skip is young, maybe college age, and wearing a mask. Not a medical mask, but the stretchy kind you’d wear while riding a motorcycle or when you’re skiing. The mask is black and has like scary wolf teeth on it that honestly made the girl look like somebody you should not mess with, even though she was wearing a GAP t-shirt and flip-flops. Mask Girl is just shaking her head no, and that’s all I got as we dropped off the cart.
I browse, pick up a couple plants, and we head inside to wait in line. Now it’s showtime.
Karen and Mask Girl are near the register facing off, no pun intended. From the looks of things, Mask Girl finished her purchase and Karen stopped her before she could leave. I don’t know if she grabbed her or anything, but Karen was still holding her full hand-basket so she hadn’t checked out yet. Well, she hadn’t paid for her groceries yet, because clearly this woman had checked out.
Karen: ‘But you don’t even need it now, you’re leaving. My son could get sick because you won’t give it to him and he needs it!’
Mask Girl: ‘No, you can’t have it. Back off, lady.’
Karen: ‘But my son really likes it and it’s obviously made for boys anyway, why would you even want to wear something so scary?’
Mask Girl: ‘Because I like it. And it has my germs on it, why would you put a stranger’s mask on your kid?’
Karen: ‘Ugh, why are you being so rude? You wouldn’t let us go through the check out first and now you’re making my son very upset!’
Mask Girl: ‘Your problem, not mine.’
And then Mask Girl turns to leave while Karen suddenly grabs Mask Girl by the back of her mask. Karen reaches out, people on both sides of me inhale loudly, Karen grabs the mask and yanks, a lady on my right yells, and my husband steps forward. Mask Girl tucks her head down and she turns to Karen like an upset bull with a bright and shiny new target. I think Karen was going to say something like, ‘Don’t walk away from me!’ or something, but all she got out was ‘Don’t-‘ CRACK!
I looked around because the noise was so loud, I figured the roof was about to cave in, but out of the corner of my eye I see Karen spasm and drop to the floor writhing. Little Miss Mask Girl had a taser! I don’t know when she pulled it out, but she laid Karen out with it. And not one of us moved for what felt like forever, like we were frozen. And then it was complete bedlam. Security guard shows up, more employees show up, Mask Girl is chilling like she’s been through this before and knows what comes next. The kid is screaming that the wolf girl killed his mom even though she’s groaning and sobbing on the floor and clearly not dead but maybe wishing she was, the people that had been in line with us were all talking at once trying to tell the security guard what happened.
We hung around just witnessing the insanity for maybe two minutes before Karen started choking out demands for an ambulance, the police, a lawyer, the mayor, restitution, and reparations. My husband made eye contact with an employee and got a thumbs up when he put the plants on a shelf and pointed towards the door. We got out of there superfast.
We drove home in silence until my husband parked the car in our driveway, and then we just burst out laughing. Neither of us have ever seen anything like that before. We live in a small beach town, where people are super laid back and mellow. Karen was anything but, and I hope to never see her again. Take care of yourselves and stay safe!”
Heavy Turbulence
“I am a wide person, but I’m not fat. Actually, I have a quite muscular build. My shoulders are absolutely massive though. There is no way that I can give out any of my space on an airplane, not even the space for my arms. My bones just make it impossible.
I remember that one time I had to sit next to an obese mother with her equally obese son. They took the seats on the sides, leaving only the middle one. Their hands literally had to rest on my seat so that they will be comfortable. I just placed my bag above and sat there. The kid started to scream at me and the Entitled Mom almost slushed out of her seat (there is no other way to call it). The Entitled Mom had to be almost forced to change seats by the flight attendant and the Brat next to me (who was like 12) screamed and whined for her to come back the entire flight.
5 hours later we arrived at the destination, the Entitled Mom came to me, yanked me by my hand and demanded to refund her and her son’s tickets for ‘ruining their flight and their vacation.’ Needless to say, I just took my bag and walked away. It’s not like they would be able to catch up with me anyway.”
“I Had To Pay For My Tickets”
“Christmas Day 2010 I’d been flying from Afghanistan to Seattle for my mid-tour leave. The entire 36 hour trip from Khandahar to Seattle was a comedy of errors most of which only those in the Military would understand. The relevant part of this story goes like this:
DFW to Seattle myself and 2 privates are upgraded to 1st Class. The plane is almost empty and there were seats available. I’m in seat 1B (1st row aisle). As we’re getting settled, this corpulent neck beard of a dude sitting behind the privates says, ‘This is messed up, I had to pay for my tickets,’ implying that us plebes should sit in the back, I guess.
The filter between my brain and mouth has huge holes in it at the best of times. Catch me after fighting season and literally flying from the opposite side of the world and that filter is gone. I told him to close his garage and enjoy the flight. Needless to say the flight crew heard the exchange and decided fat boy wasn’t going to get served…anything, for the whole flight. He was told to stop hitting the call button after the 3rd or 4th time.
We landed at SEA and I was droning (asleep with my eyes open) as we taxied. I woke up standing behind the idiot, he’d charged up to the cockpit to speak to the pilots. When the pilot came out of the cockpit, he said, ‘This is AMERICAN Airlines,’ then he pointed to himself and his co-pilot ‘Airforce Academy ’89, Annapolis ’93. Get off my bird.’ Fat boy started spluttering about talking to the CEO and his status etc. Then the pilot threatened to put him on the ‘No Fly’ list and he finally shut up.”
