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can i speak to your manager
Redditor ghostofgenerayburn asked:
"What is the most Karen thing a Karen has ever done to you, personally?"
Here were some of those answers.
When There's No Veil To Your Racism
"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."
– Trompdoy
GiphyThe End Of The World
"Left her card in the eftpos machine at the McDonalds I was managing as a teenager, rang me to say I needed to drive it out to her, that I ruined her night, ruined her family's night, owed her free food and that she'll be laying a formal complaint when I refused all of the above. She showed up 3/4 of an hour later with steam blowing out her ears asking for her card back. Last we heard from her."
– deadlysyntax
Karens Love Racism
"Blew up at me for ignoring her son, who was trying to hit on me by saying ~konnichiwa~ and calling me ~kawaii~. I had never met him before and I am not Japanese. She called me a stuck-up racist and insinuated that I should be glad he was worldly enough to 'speak Asian' to me."
"I just responded 'Sorry, no English' (they had previously heard me speaking English with my friend, I'm pretty sure) and walked away."
– hauteburrrito
Pre-Digested Bakery
"When I worked at a bakery, Karen bought a chocolate cupcake and ate half of it. Karen then asked if she could return her half-eaten chocolate cupcake...not because she didn't like it, but because she wanted to exchange it for half of a vanilla cupcake, 'something less decadent.'"
"Like most bakeries, we did not sell cupcakes 'by the half.' She became offended when I asked if she wanted to purchase a vanilla cupcake."
- cabernetcat
Karens In Medicine
"Doctor here."
"I used to work in a public night shift service, kinda like an emergency room but for non-emergencies, to keep the hospitals clear of white codes (so anything from a fever to a sore throat, to prescriptions for urgent treatments), and a Karen walks in at 3am asking for a prescription for hypertension drugs, which isn't unusual, as people (old people, more often than not, but she looked 55~) sometimes don't notice they're running low. Anyway, the law (not a rule, not my decision, the law) states that this service can only write prescriptions for potentially life threatening conditions' drugs for a maximum of 72 hours coverage (so if you take one pill a day, I can only prescribe you a single blister. Here we don't have bottles, but blisters), and while I'm writing the prescription Karen casually mention that she was insomniac, and while cleaning the medicine cabinet she realise she was down to her last full blister."
"My pen stops, I ask her to repeat, 'full blister?' 'Yeah', so I take the prescription, tear it in half, then again, then I throw it in the bin, explaining her the law. She gets mad, starts yelling and threaten to call the cops. 'Go ahead.' Cops came, and she triumphally announce that I'm refusing to treat her. I explain the situation, and they ask her if it's true that she has a full blister, and she of course (being a Karen who is always right no matter what) confirms it. The cops look at her (still with a look of triumph, waiting for them to arrest me), then at me, then ask her politely to leave, as I'm in the right. She's livid."
"The day after my boss called me and cracked up cause she went there during the day to talk to 'the manager', and she (my boss) told her the exact same thing. Never saw her again in there, weirdly enough..."
– andrewfoxs
All For 99 Cents
"Worked at a grocery store and a coworker put a 99¢ sticker on my shirt. We were 2 of maybe 5 employees so we were all good friends and everything is funny when you gotta pass time on a shift so I just left it there. Some woman came through my line and asked me why I had a sticker on my shirt and I just kinda laughed it off. She asked if I thought it was funny and I was like 'not really but sorta'. She asked if my coworker put it there to which I responded yes. She told me she was going to speak to the store owner cause it was 'disrespectful' to behave that way at work. She told me to call my manager and I did but he was a super cool guy and knew this lady was an idiot. She talked to the store owner and my manager about firing me to no avail."
"She accomplished nothing and was a jerk, the end."
– gotteemboi
Karents
"Was at the park with my daughter (she was 3 at the time). Her and a couple other kids started to play together. Then she attempted to use the monkey bars (she's a very adventurous child). About mid way through, she fell. I didn't do anything because she's fallen before and I want her to learn to get back up on her own and not be scared to try again. Anyway, one of the boys was about to get on the monkey bars too, until I heard a woman run toward him screaming to stop. She picked him up and looked at my daughter."
"Told her it wasn't 'smart' of her to go on the monkey bars if she wasn't fully ready because then others might get that same idea. That's when I got up and went to my daughter's defense. Sternly told the woman to not speak to her that way and it's no fault of hers that she wasn't scared to try something new. She took her kid and left."
Revenge Of The Karen
"Asked for my manager's personal cell phone number to complain that I (seven months pregnant at the time) would not carry a refrigerator (that she had not paid for in the cost of her room) up to her second story room (we did not have an elevator), rather than just accept an upgrade for free because she didn't want to unpack her stuff. She refused to believe we had rooms without fridges and I was just being fat and lazy."
"When I refused to give her the cell phone number, she asked for corporate's number. I wrote it down on a sticky note with a smiley face. She came down later and asked to move rooms. I made her pay the difference."
– MadameMothman
??????????
"I used to work retail, so I have come across my fair share of Karens. They were a huge reason why I went back to school and no longer work as a cashier."
"Anyways, one day while I was manning the registers with a few other coworkers of mine, I had a massive nosebleed right as I was finishing a transaction. I grabbed a tissue and quickly excused myself to run to the restroom so I could try to get it to stop bleeding; this meant that I couldn't say goodbye to Karen and give the little spiel about how I was oh so grateful for her shopping with us."
"Anyways, after about 10 minutes, I was finally able to get my nose back under control and headed back to the registers. I saw her waiting to the side with a scowl on her face, arms crossed over her chest, the whole nine yards. She proceeded to scold me about how rude I was for not saying goodbye. After I apologized and explained that I had an unexpected nosebleed, she told me I should have tried holding it in and that the customer comes first."
"My brain was literally '?????' after that."
lamenite
Calming The Karendragon
"I worked at McDonalds during the time they switched to child's fries and discontinued the caramel dip in Happy Meals."
"Everyone was pretty cool with it but one country club looking Karen came in with her daughter and ordered a nugget Happy Meal with three cups of caramel dip, because Braelynn likes to dip her nuggets in it. I apologized and let her know we discontinued to caramel dip, which resulted in an instant melt down. Kid threw herself down on the floor in an absolute screaming tantrum, and Karen was screaming at me that we do have caramel dip and I'm obviously keeping it from her. Then the accusations of me, a 17 year old, purposely trying to starve her daughter. I've ruined her day, she's a regular customer but she's never coming back, where's my manager, typical Karen stuff."
"Manager eventually came out and just grabbed a sundae cup and filled it with a couple pumps of caramel, and Karen gave me a smug look and flipped me off."
– abortionlasagna
Unwanted Opinions
"High school. Winter in Canada. The Squad and I are going out to lunch and our one friend slips on some ice in a parking lot and lands on her butt. We all laugh about it, even the girl that fell. Karen, who is just pulling out of the drive-thru, parks, gets out of her car, and yells at all of us about how that is not funny and we should be ashamed of ourselves for treating a friend that way. Her sudden passionate and unwarranted anger makes us laugh even harder, which makes her even angrier. Eventually we ignore her and go get burgers."
– VinnyinJP
Reactive Karens
"I think I posted this before in a fast food stories thread, but it works here too:"
"When I worked at Subway, a Karen came in and ordered a foot-long meatball sub. Problem was we were currently in the middle of a crazy and unexpected rush, and didn't quite have enough meatballs left for a foot-long (we were only short like one or two meatballs). I let her know this, and said I could put what was left on there and charge her for a six inch. At the time she was fine with this."
"About fifteen minutes after I should've left, I was still dealing with the aftermath of the rush when this Karen comes back in. She starts complaining that her foot-long meatball sub didn't have enough meatballs on it."
"Here's the thing, she didn't have the receipt so I could show her that she was only charged for a six inch, and she had already eaten the sub. It's not like she came right back in and said 'This sub here in my hands doesn't have enough meatballs.' It was like 30-45 minutes later and the sub was already eaten."
"After trying to explain all this to her, she's now screaming in my face. Admittedly I may have started yelling back at her at this point. Eventually she threatens to sue the store and leaves."
"At least there was a fun ending. The next day I get a call from the area manager who had heard from this Karen. At first I was a little worried, but then she goes 'I reviewed the footage from the cameras. ... I think you handled it pretty well. If I were there I would've jumped the counter and decked her.'"
A Lie Is A Lie
"I used to manage a restaurant. I had a lady complain about an issue with a previous order and she wanted something replaced. She didn't have what she wanted to return. She had a receipt dated October of last year. She came in to complain about it in January of this year. She went on to say the manager was a tall white guy that told her that she can replace it. I was the only manager at that time. I'm black. So she threw a tantrum, saying how she was never coming back and was talking about complaining on Yelp. I'm glad I don't have to see her again."
GiphyEntitlement Strikes Back
"My grandparents live on a lake, and the first 20 feet from the lake is communal property. I was about ten years old and feeding the geese corn on the lake across from my grandparents' house, and Karen walked halfway around the lake just to tell me that I wasn't allowed to "encourage" them to poop on her lawn and that I had to stop feeding them immediately. When I told her that my grandfather said I was allowed she marched me up to his house, rang the doorbell, and only deflated when she realized my grandfather was the president of the HOA and pissed at her for grabbing his granddaughter. From that point on I made it a point to scatter corn on the 20 feet directly in front of her lawn."
– SaltySolicitor
Job Threat
"I was working a backdrive at a fast food joint years ago, and older Karen comes driving in to give her order. Now, this location doesn't have a speaker due to a neighborhood ordnance, so all the orders in drive thru are taken face to face. She orders a double cheeseburger without onions, and I ring it in, complete her order, and send her on her way. About five minutes after she's picked up her food she comes back through drive-thru and says 'they put onions on my burger". I apologize, print her up a duplicate receipt to confirm to her and myself that I rang it in without onions. I then tell her that if she goes up to the front window and tells the manager who's working up front that they'll replace the burger for free made correctly, but that I can't do anything about it back here. She does so and they give her a brand new burger and an apology. I thought that was the end of the situation, but boy was I wrong."
"Karen called the state government on me, by name, demanding I be fired. If I recall correctly I was told that she called the food safety department, the Chamber of Commerce and the governor's office. The franchise owner called to say that it turned out that Karen is allergic to onions, and she straight up accused me of deliberately ringing her sandwich in wrong and trying to poison her, then printing up a false duplicate receipt of her order to make her look like a liar (keep in mind that I read the receipt back to her and she confirmed it was her order). I didn't get along with the manager who was working at the time, but even he was like 'that's complete bullsh!t, it wasn't even his mistake it was the kitchens and we fixed it for her'. The franchise owner was told by whichever branch of the state government called them that Karen had demanded that I be fired. I wasn't, I wasn't even written up, but I did stop wearing my name tag at work when I could get away with it."
– Telcontar86
"This feeling was ruined..."
"This happened near the end of last year. For background info, I'm a very secluded person. I enjoy company but I like to spend my trips home by myself listening to music, so I put my bag in the seat next to me so I don't feel crammed in. Of course if the train is too full and people need a seat I move the bag so they can sit."
"So anyway, I'm running late because my work couldn't find the key to the changing room and I board a busy second train. A dolled up middle aged woman walks towards me, her make up outlining her wrinkles, so I begin to move my bag to give her the seat. But then she says 'Did you buy an extra ticket for your bag?' Already I'm a tad irritated and make a failed comeback line that goes over her head. I still let her sit, you know to be the bigger man. Big mistake."
"It becomes quickly apparent that she's already had a few drinks, not enough to have slurred words, but enough to make her very loud and VERY annoying. She spends most of the first few stops commenting on 'how rude' another passenger is for having a window seat next to his seat when there's a man standing next to him, and how he should move over or offer him the seat. Not once does she realise that if the man wanted to sit down he would have asked the "rude" man for the seat himself, and seemed rather happy talking to another standing passenger. As more seats became available one of the passengers she was talking to asked the standing man if he wanted a seat but he said no, as he was enjoying the company of the guy he was talking to, which shut her up on that topic."
"She then went on a weird argument with me and the other passengers around her on how we how it's a waste of time worrying about stuff, like dying and who your kids go to when you die. She talks about how she's going to a night club, and then it comes apparent that she's on the train for the whole trip, same as me. (I don't think there's even a nightclub in my town...)"
"Cut to the last few stops, it's just me and her sitting next to each other. She could have moved, but she didn't. She tried to bin my bottle of Pepsi but I refused as I wanted to recycle it. She then said 'You could thank me for the offer.' which I did, rather half heartedly."
"So at this point I wanted to get away from this woman, so as the last stopped approached I got up to get to the door. 'Excuse me' 'Excuse me what?' 'Excuse me, can I get passed?' 'What's the magic word?' I was confused, I was raised to believe that excuse me was polite enough, but I added '...Please?' She let me out and I tried to leave, 'You could thank me.' I was having none of it. She then ranted on how rude I was, and how 'Your parents must be very proud of you.' I sarcastically commented on how nice she was, but she didn't seem to think it was sarcastic, saying that she was nice and I was horrible."
"As I waited on the doors she dragged a poor bystander into this, saying how far a thank you goes. When the doors finally opened I explained to her that 'I only thank those who deserve it,' and left as the Dropkick Murphy's blasted in my earphones. I felt like a bada**."
"This feeling was ruined when I realised I left my iPod charger on the train..."
– TheBlackDemon1996
"Used to be a lifeguard..."
"Used to be a lifeguard and my pool used to host a big, regional swim meet. The swim meet overlapped with our recreational swim and we used a hand-stamp system to figure out who had paid for rec swim and who had entered for free as part of the swim meet. The hand stamps washed off easily, so when that happened we'd just send the kids back to our cashier to get a new one."
"I'm stationed at our water-slide and Karen shows up with a little girl in a suit and cap from one of the attending swim teams. I ask the little girl if she has a hand stamp and she doesn't even have a trace of a shade of one. I apologize and tell her that I can't let her down the slide without a hand stamp but that they can go get one from our cashier. Karen flips out and starts yelling at me about how they got one but it washed off."
"i tell Karen that it's not a problem and our cashier won't charge them again. Karen's husband Kyle shows up and they start yelling at me, demand to see the manager and, after getting my name, they burst into the office, start screaming and swearing at everybody and then storm off with that poor little girl."
"Another time Karen left us a scathing letter about how we wouldn't let her into our front office to plug her hair-dryer into one of their outlets. Apparently there were no outlets in the women's locker room which were near a mirror. Life ain't easy when you're Karen, I guess."
– mursilisslisrum
"Manager appears..."
"Was working as retail/community pharmacist."
"I'm lucky enough to look fairly young, I often get IDed and people frequently assume I'm the trainee student."
"Shift is very quiet with not much to do so I'm stood around in the shop front talking to other pharmacy staff. I am also not an employed at this pharmacy, so no name badge/uniform. See middle aged woman approach counter.
I'm not doing anything else so I decide il go over and serve her, something I very rarely do."
"Instantly know I'm dealing with a Karen, no hello, no chat, just straight into 'get me x item' In this case x item' is a very large quantity of opiate painkillers. I act all polite even though I already know I'm not going to sell her this, start talking to her about her pain, why see needs so many, that type of thing."
"She is not engaging at all, 'oh will you stop asking stupid questions and get me what I asked you for'. Say I'm sorry and I can't sell her that, she would be better going and seeing her doctor. 'This is rediculous, you won't sell me what I want. Get me your manager, i'm sure they will and il tell them how difficult you've been.'"
"Note: in my country the manager of a pharmacy isn't always the pharmacist, but unless they are, the manager has zero say over anything health/medication related."
"Manager appears, begins speaking to Karen. Karen continues about how bad an employee I am (note: not an employee). How I won't sell her what she wants and how I kept taking up her time with stupid questions, asks again for the manager to sell the opiates. Manager eventually gets a word in, says he can only sell these if the pharmacist says I am allowed to. 'Fine then, go and get the pharmacist and then finally I can get what I want and go.'"
"Look on Karen's face as manager walks approximately 6 steps back to me to ask for approval. I go back over, at this point Karen has visibly accepted defeat in her quest for opiates. 'Now, as I said to you 10 minutes ago, I cannot sell you these.' Karen leaves, muttering something about reporting me and never coming back."
– centricical
"When I worked at a retail outlet store..."
"When I worked in a retail outlet store, I was asked to size order the shoes when Karen used me as her personal shop assistant to grab shoes for her out the back in multiple sizes. She got mad that we didn't sell half sizes so she threw the shoes at me and stormed out of the shop."
"One night before a soccer game..."
"I work at a Sonic drive in. One night before a soccer game Karen rolled into one of the stalls and orders a 12 count of Boneless Buffalo Wings. These take around 7-8 minutes to make so we warned her. But she wanted them anyways. When she got them she complained about the wait."
"Five minutes later she called back in claiming we gave her the wrong food because the wings were 'way too spicy' and demanded we bring her an order of Barbecue Wings. We got tired of arguing and a carhop went to get her order from her. That's when we noticed she ate 9 of them yet demanded a free order of BBQ wings. Freaking Karen."
"She gets to the register..."
"I was working at a place that is kind of like Subway but with pizza. Anyway, a family of four came in. Husband, wife, two kids. The wife is immediately mean spirited and insulting. I put the company recommended amount of sausage (about half a handful) on her pizza. Instead of saying, 'Oh, can I please get some more sausage?' like a normal adult, she says, 'What are you, dumb? That's barely anything! Put more!' I do it with as genuine a smile I can and pretend she didn't just talk to me in that way. She then acts like a b!tch to every single person on the line. The manager saw her the entire time and overheard what she said. Her husband and kids don't say anything (probably scared to say anything to her)."
"She gets to the register and then complains about me and the other two people on the line. Manager defends us and asks her to leave the store and not come back. That, of course, wasn't the end of it. She calls corporate to complain about being banned from the store. The district and regional managers are sent in. The situation is explained. They say we're all clear. That lady was insane."
"I felt most bad for her kids. Do they think that's normal behavior? Also the husband didn't say a word or make eye contact with us, but I got the vibe from him that he was embarrassed. Poor guy."
"It's a pretty stressful job as it is..."
"I'm a trainer at my current job right now. It's a pretty stressful job as it is, but there is one woman in my class that is just making the experience miserable. We have to give our learners our bosses number. Mostly so they can report harassment, or things like that. This woman has seemed to have made it her mission to get in contact with my boss every day, and report ever perceived infraction she seems to think I've committed."
"Karen then raised hell..."
"I worked at a store where our $6.50 soaps were on sale 75% off. Karen was buying two of them. One rang up $1.63, the other $1.62. I gave her her total and she questioned why one was more expensive. I explained that it was because the original price did not divide evenly, and went so far as to show her on a calculator that 6.50/4 was 1.625. Sorry Karen, until the government makes hundredths of cents then the computer will round up."
"Karen then raised hell at me yelling that she was being ripped off and what a terrible company we were and she would be speaking with customer service about me stealing her money but what would happen if she paid for each soap in individual transactions? One was $1.62. So she had me ring them up separately. Over a penny."
– midnighteyesx
"She sat down..."
"Preparing to return a rental car at Gatwick Airport. It's the type you have to queue to check in and there's no drop off. I'd been standing in the exact same spot for about half an hour. A lady came in, said out loud, 'I'm not standing in line,' and then sat on a couch off to the side. Fine."
"My turn was up next, and the lady said, 'Excuse me, I was ahead of you. I came in first.' I told her she didn't, and I'd literally been standing in the same spot for 45 minutes, including half an hour before she came in. I suspect that because I'm sort of brown (half-Filipino) she thought my English would be subpar, because she seemed surprised when I started speaking in my fluent American English."
"She said that I wasn't there when she came in. So I told the people in front of me, who I made polite conversation with when I first arrived, 'I'm sorry, but I've got a funny question: I was here right after you, wasn't I?' They confirmed it."
"She sat down with an harumph, saying, 'I don't think that's very funny.'"
"Then she got up 5 minutes later and literally tried to skip over the entire line to get her car, but the man at the desk wasn't having it, saying, 'let me help this gentleman first,' while pointing at me."
– sadwer
"After getting off of the phone..."
"Another retail story here. Karen was being rung up for her clothes and handed me a $100 gift card. She was on the phone and unresponsive as I was trying to tell her there was only three dollars left on the card. I told her a second time and Karen angrily takes the card back and continues talking as she hands me her credit card."
"After getting off of the phone Karen forgets where she put her gift card and accuses me of stealing her $100 gift card very publicly and asks for my manager to fire me. I told my manager the gift card was probably in her purse because I HANDED IT BACK TO HER. She found it in her purse and stormed off. The last thing she said to me was 'You should've told me it was in my purse.'"
– Has_Tacos
"I stopped at the grocery store after work..."
"I stopped at the grocery store after work one day recently. I pulled into the parking space as I usually do, and the vehicle behind me does the same, pulling into a space in a pretty sloppy, too fast and haphazard manner. I remember thinking 'welp, somebody doesn't know how to park.'"
"Next thing you know, this lady is coming up and banging on my car window. I lower it a little and she starts scolding me for not looking where I was going and almost causing an accident. I couldn't really engage her, because I was wearing a work shirt and since this is a good job that pays me well, I don't want the company to be associated with the kind of carnage I really wanted to rain down on this heinous b!ch."
"What I thought of saying three hours later, because that's just how these things go:"
"'Did you not see my turn signal indicating that I was going to pull into a parking space? Did you not see my brake lights, indicating that I was slowing down? If you didn't, that means you weren't paying attention to the driver in front of you. If you did and chose to ignore them, that's just as bad. If an accident would have happened, it would not have been my fault. Maybe keep that in mind the next time your shitty driving skills almost cause an accident and you are searching for anyone other than yourself to blame.'"
"What I actually did:"
"(insert Homer Simpson backing into a bush GIF)"
– ghostofgernerayburn
"Karen comes in and asks for one..."
"I used to do a lot of front of house stuff for my old high school drama club. On occasion I'd end up on ticket sales, and at this school if students paid like $50 they'd get a special sticker on their student ID, which would get them discounts to school events, and you were required to have one to be on a sports team or join a club (which I'd like to add is harmful to low income students, the GSA refused to card people bc of this so the school refused to give them any funding). Those people could get tickets that were $2 off regular priced student tickets."
"Karen comes in and asks for one, and we ask to see her kid's ID. Her kid didn't bring it, so we can only give her the regular priced student ticket. She goes on an on about how her kid is a star athlete and that we should be grateful that she paid the $50 because it funds us (even tho it funds so much sh!t at that school and we'd probably gotten like 50 cents of it, /maybe/, and paying the $2 probably would've amounted to more). She eventually asked for a 'manager', i.e. the drama teacher, saying that she wants it out of principle."
"Turns out the drama teacher can look up who has one. Her kid didn't even go to that school."
– SweatyButterfly
"I paged the manager in the back..."
"I used to work at a beauty store that gave free gifts if you purchased certain products. Karen is the first customer in the store one morning and at my register. She was buying some nail polish that came with some cheap looking cheetah print scarf as a gift. I was not aware we had gotten it in yet because it wasn't with the rest of the free gifts near the registers. When I told her this she snapped at me, 'Well, there better be one in the back or we're gonna have a real problem.' I paged the manager in the back and asked if we had any. Karen's just got a nasty look on her face as if this scarf was life or death. Thankfully we did have them, they just weren't brought up front yet (because, you know, we'd only been open for five minutes). Karen didn't say anything else to me after that."
"This was all said loudly..."
"Very late to this party. My mum is a Karen, it's her real name, hair cut and all. She is a very no nonsense, no patience kind of person. The only good thing is she won't treat retail workers terribly. Me on the other hand... I mentioned one day my knuckles hurt a bit and asked when she developed arthritis in hers since it's hereditary from mother to daughter. I also need to add that I'm a bit on the heavier side of life (not obese) and have anxiety based depression."
"According to her all I need to do is go for a walk every day and my knuckles will feel better, this also spurred on a tangent of how I need to stop taking anti depressants and eat wormwood because the bible mentions wormwood is good and I have a great partner and why am I even depressed and I just need to eat veggies and walk and all my ailments will disappear."
"This was all said loudly at me in a small cafe where the employees were very much hiding in the back after this conversation started."
"I just got up and walked out with her following me spurting her Karen crap all the way to our cars."
"She went off..."
"Worked in a small clothing store (this was in the mid 90s, when people still wrote checks), and the owner made a huge point of telling us to never accept a post-dated check from a customer. If you accepted a post-dated check and it bounced, the bank wouldn't cover it. She made it clear we'd hear about it if she found any post-dated checks in the till in the evenings, etc. We had to initial all checks we accepted so she'd know who took them."
"So, on my next shift, a perfectly reasonble-looking woman came in with her teenage daughter. Daughter picked out some clothes, her mom was writing a check. I noticed she put the next day's date by mistake. No big deal, I'm sure it was innocent. I said as nicely as I could 'Oh, it's actually the 8th, not the 9th.' 'So?' 'Oh, well if you could put the correct date I'd appreciate it.' She got super testy right away and started arguing with me. 'Why should I change it?' 'Well, we can't accept any post dated checks' and I explained why, emphasizing I knew she just made an honest mistake, but this was the store's policy, and that I'd get in trouble with my manager because I had to approve the check personally.
"Jesus. She went off. 'Well, you need to start thinking for yourself! Make your own decisions!' 'I am, ma'am. I'm asking you to correct the date.' Her daughter was mortified. 'I want to talk to your manager!' 'She's not here now, but she'll be happy to explain the policy to you.' 'I'm going to call her tomorrow!' And she left the store yelling at me the whole way out the door and I yelled back 'She'll be happy to tell you the same thing I just did!' Ugh. It was the most totally unnecessary, unreasonable response. I never forgot it because it was SO petty and dumb.
"She turns around..."
"Work at a local bottleshop and I've gone over and started the whole greeting thing asking if I can help or etc etc and she agrees she needs some help as she is buying for her son in law when another customer walks past and asks if I could just grab a bottle off the shelf because we was standing in front of it, I happily agree because it is only going to take a second to grab said bottle and hand it to her, then this Karen completely losses her shit, complaining that I'm not helping her and more focused on the younger more attractive customers, I tried to explain that I'm still happy to help her and this other customer even apologized for 'interrupting.'"
"Go back to the counter to serve this lady and she instantly asked to see the store manager and I'd regret not helping her, so manager comes out of his office and asks how he could help and what the problem was, she explains what happened and the manager said "I honestly don't see the problem but we can knock 5% off for the inconvenience, she agrees until after she is about to pay her card got declined and asked for another 5% off even though it was her fault, has she got the pin number wrong."
"She turns around and tells the manager that I must of cancelled the transaction and she wants to write a formal complaint."
"My manger straight up said no and that know he has seen what she is like she no longer will be receiving a discount. She asks for head offices number because she believes she will get a warning and I'll be fired as an incompetent worker and easily replaceable."
"Three days later we get an email from head office saying that they had a phone call from Karen and from what they gathered she was just someone that loved to complain because she asked them so a 15% discount card for all future purchases. Which they declined."
"Next time she came into the shop, she said she was waiting for her 15% off card and expected to be granted to her, my manager calmly told her never to return to shop and us losing her custom was going to be beneficial to the company and the workers."
– TheRealTexan94
"Now that I was aware of her craziness..."
"We have a crazy neighbor Karen. Our complex is basically 8 plexes with attached garages. Her unit has the front door/patio/walk way facing the street. My husband drives a large company truck to do mobile repairs. He often takes it home and parks on the street just in case there are emergency calls. So one day, he parks on the street in front of Karen's' unit. Which by the way is totally legal. He tells me later that one of our neighbors was bothering him about parking there but he's a really light hearted guy (at first) and usually doesn't make things a big deal. A few weeks of this goes on (the complex next to us was being repaved so its not really like he can park anywhere else). Then finally comes home and is really upset. He told me that she had just gone ballistic and was screaming at him and could I help him move his truck so I could spot him (I think he also didn't want to deal with her alone at this point too)."
"We walk over there and this total KAREN (I'm talking she had the hair cut and everything), opens her door and screams at me 'OH GOOD MAYBE YOU WILL BE MORE REASONABLE THAN YOUR HUSBAND!!!'. I hate confrontation but its not like I could ignore her screaming at me right? I said 'Ma'am its the street he is legally allowed -'. 'DON'T YOU WANT TO BE NEIGHBORLY???' I have no idea what the hell shes talking about so I just let her pop off. 'IF WE NEED AN AMBULANCE THEY CANT GET IN HERE BECAUSE YOU ARE BLOCKING THE WALKWAY.'"
"She is like 30, married no kids, don't know why she's so paranoid but oooookay. There is 5 feet in between the fence and the street with driveways on either side. You really think emergency service people really can't traverse that Karen? I said 'He's allowed to park here, he's moving the truck anyway, what else can I do?' 'YOU CAN SPEAK WITH YOUR HUSBAND AND CONTROL HIM!!!' Now, I'm no feminazi or nothing but if you think that I can 'control' my husband and apparently that's my job, I'm done talking to you. I reiterated that its the street, he can park here if he wants. 'WELL THATS NOT VERY NEIGHBORLY OF YOU!!!'"
"Yeah because you screaming at people is super neighborly... I offered to put her in touch with the people who can put up no parking zones for disabilities as I have a friend who's disabled and he had to get special signs for his street so no one parks there. I barely get the words out of my mouth then 'YOU HAVE A FRIEND WHO'S DISABLED YET YOU STILL LET YOUR HUSBAND DO THIS? PUTTING PEOPLE IN DANGER!!!' Should've kept my mouth shut."
"Meanwhile, my husband came back over after moving the truck, and is making friends with her husband who was working in the garage - broing it out. She still screaming about 'NEIGHBORLY' this and 'I'VE COMPLAINED SO MANY TIME TO THE CONDO BOARD' that. Its the street, they can't do anything Karen. I offered again to put her in touch with the people who get no parking signs and she's still screaming so I raise my voice for the first time and say 'I'M GOING TO GO AS THIS IS NO LONGER PRODUCTIVE.' 'SO YOU'RE NOT GONNA TALK TO YOUR HUSBAND? YOU REALLY ARE A BAD PERSON!!!.' I said 'Yes, ma'am I am. Have a great night.' She storms off into her house as I walk away. Husbands hugged it out lol."
"BUT IT DOESN'T STOP THERE!!! Now that I was aware of her craziness, I started paying attention. The harassment was constant - she would take pictures of him parking on the street even if it wasn't in front of her place. She would scream at him whenever she saw him. And now, Karen has decided my husband deserves to be FIRED for legally parking on the street. My husband's truck is branded so she called 3 separate times to complain about him parking there and how its been there for days and she knows its an employee etc..."
"The first time: My husband was in the office grabbing his daily work orders. The second time, he was not even in the country. So obviously his bosses knew Karen was lying. And the third, well, my husband may or may not have ALLEGEDLY maybe said some not nice things and since he's 6' 3", 230 lbs with a viking beard, he can be very intimidating. Which I'm sure could perhaps come off as threatening. ALLEGEDLY. But since the other calls were 'fake', they dismissed that one too. :)"
"Well Karen, we won't be your problem anymore very shortly. Possession on new house is Sept 16! I hope you enjoy your hateful, Karen-filled life and I hope some really bad neighbors move in soon!"
Oof... so many service industry flashbacks.
Don't be this person folks!