Managers Reveal Their Most Difficult Karen-esque Customer Experience

50. Huff Away....

I loved Karens when I was managing. Being able to say "I am the manager" followed soon by "Sorry, that's company policy" always results in a flustered Karen leaving in a huff and a much relieved crew. netrunui

49. Gimme the Cheese! 

Happened before I became a manager, but once while I was serving at Steak 'n Shake, customer had a coupon for a burger, fries and a shake for $x.xx, can't remember the price anymore. Anyway, on the coupon it specifically stated that cheese on the burger was $0.39 up charge, although it did have a picture of a burger with cheese on it. Lady THREW A FIT in the dining room that I was treating her unfairly, it was false advertising, etc. etc. I told her I agree it's false advertising with the picture, but the text specifically states the up charge and unfortunately I can't do anything about it.

The lady at the next table over heard everything and literally got up and put $0.50 on the table to cover it and said something to the effect of "I'll pay for your damn cheese if you just shut up." This pissed the cheese lady off even more. My manager obviously sensed the issue and came out. Took the cheese up charge of the bill. Like WTH Karen.woahhhmom8

48. In the Vacuum. 

Work at a vacuum repair shop. People don't pay attention to their vacuum cleaners as much as you'd think lol

I cant tell you how many times someone comes to pick up their vacuum and says "oh this one isn't mine" or "mine didn't have scratches down the side."

I can tell you it is, and it came in with all those scratches on the side.

After the first 2 times it happened to me we started taking pictures of the unit with serial numbers and customer info, send them home with the serial number and require them to bring it back for pick up. Despite the evidence, I've had a lady close to tears because we didn't have her vacuum. Even with the pictures we had of it at drop off, her information, the matching serial numbers.

Sure it's a big conspiracy we just love taking in vacuums and switching all the information around because its fun. People need to pay more attention. myacheivement

47. Bye Bye Birdie. 

I was the only person on shift, which made me the de facto manager.

Five minutes before closing, a woman comes in and is sooo angry that we don't have any decaf. She demands to speak to the manager. I tell her that's me because I'm the only one here, and the coffee pots are cleaned for the night because it's five minutes to close. No, I'm sorry, I can't make another pot just for her. There's another place around the corner.

She screams at me, tells me she's going to "find a real manager and get my fool butt fired," throws half a cup of cappuccino machine sludge at me, and starts to look like she's gonna jump the counter. I'm holding a hammer under the counter thinking "don't do it, don't do it."

I pick up the phone like I'm going to call the cops. She leaves. I lock the door.

She COMES BACK AND RUNS FACE FIRST INTO THE GLASS DOOR. LIKE A BIRD. wrrrdgrrrl

46. Price Quote.

Bestest of the best interactions I ever had.

Karen griped about not wanting to pay the price for the services performed on her computer, which was exactly the price quoted when she dropped it off and which she had signed for. She demanded to speak to the service manager. I called him from the back.

Service manager listened to her spiel as to how she should get a lower price because [irrelevant, pea-brained reason]. Service manager made eye contact with me over her shoulder; I did not react, he said no, price quoted was the price that would be charged.

She said that was unacceptable, and she would be complaining to the owner, who was a good friend.

Service manager observed that he was evidently not that good a friend, since that he (me) was the person she was originally speaking with when she asked for the service manager.

Her face was glorious, and made the whole thing worthwhile! garycarroll

45. That's Just Policy.

I'm not in retail anymore, but I was managing a popular mid range handbag store. Think "typical Karen bag," about $200-400. Anyway, most customers were fantastic. This one woman was this Shrek-looking large redheaded lady who stomped in and demanded that we repair her 20 year old bag for FREE... and if we couldn't do that, she demanded that we exchange this old ratty smelly 20 year old bag for a brand new one for her. Recently policy changes had resulted in new prices for this service, but free repairs had about a 1 year warranty on a new bag... not a 20 year old one.

I tell her as such. I was pretty young to have had the role I did so she, dissatisfied with my answer, asked to speak to a manager. I told her I'm the manager and she began turning as red as her hair. She screamed and yelled about how she'll call corporate and never shop here again!! Well, that sounds like a real loss, losing a customer that is too cheap to repair a 20 year old bag and hasn't bought new from us in just as long.

I give her my best grin and say "Im so sorry, thats just the policy." She demands corporates number. I give her the customer service line that you can find on Google, unbeknownst to her. She huffs away, forgetting her keys on the counter. She's halfway out and she remembers, turns around, red as a beet, huffs in my smiling face and snatches the keys off the counter. It was hilarious. She came back months later, worked with a different person on the team, and didn't even look my way. arinyblack

44. Karen -vs- The Marine. 

Wasn't the manager but worked at an REI for a while. One incident comes to mind though, involving an ex marine who worked at our store fixing bikes. He had to run to the back to grab a part and as he was going back to the bike shop on the other side of the store a customer who was already being pretty loud and aggressive with everyone decided to grab my coworker by the arm very aggressively and try spin him around to face him. Marine training kicked in and the next thing I know angry customer man is laying in the remains of a display about 8 feet away.

Of course he jumps up screaming and yelling that he's going sue us and get my coworker fired, and we're all going to jail yada yada yada. Manager comes out, heard the story, looks at the security footage, and tells the customer he is never allowed to grab employees like that, he's welcome to call the cops if he would like because she's willing to press charges against him for assault, and he was banned from our store.

No one at the store was upset about losing that customer, he was kind of notorious for being a jerk and constantly trying to abuse our return policy. Zoomwafflez

43. Extra Ain't Free! 

I love the ones who seem to think extra food is free. Your not going to go anywhere and get extra meat/queso/ guacamole etc for free.

I had a couple come in got a salad. They asked for extra meat, then queso then even more queso. I told them they would be charged for each scoop. She flipped out, she started cussing at me about how it's wrong she shouldn't have to pay for more then one, why must we be so expensive the other location does not do this. I gave her a big smile and let her know I am the general manager of that said store and help here when needed.

So no you do not get that treatment there sorry extra food is not free. She then started screaming for corporate number and the store owner. I told her I couldn't give out people's private numbers and told her to leave and she is now banned from both stores. She did put in a compliant and guess who sees them and makes return calls? Me, she hung up on me when I called. AnxiousMom4

42. Starbucks Karen! 

I was working at a public pool in my town, and the rules are that you can't bring outside food or drinks into the pool. This rule didn't please Karen, who was very eager to let me know that she had just spent 12 DOLLARS on this coffee from STARBUCKS. She argues with me by saying that the public pool in the next town over allows it. I keep saying the same rehearsed response, that its our policy that outside food and drinks can't come in the pool. Anyways she dumped the coffee onto our computer and I called the police. PmMeFemdomHentai

41. No YOU'RE Unprofessional!

After going back and forth on an issue we couldn't help with the customer on the phone said something to the effect of, "Well that's not good enough."

And after being fed-up I simply said, "Well you not liking the answer doesn't mean the answer changes."

And she said, "That's really unprofessional. "And I said, "You thinking it's unprofessional also doesn't change the answer."

And then she said, "Let me talk with your manager."

To which I got to say, "I am the manager, we're going in circles, if you'd like you can email me at "manager@companyemail" in which case I'll review your complaint to determine if it needs to be escalated."

She was not happy when she hung up, my manager was laughing though. TacoMagic

40. The Call Center. 

Not a manager, but I used to work in a call center and had plenty of Karens who wanted to talk to someone above me because they thought the world existed to cater to them.

I always went back into their account to review the notes to see what was done. 9 out of 10 times they were given whatever they wanted even if it wasn't justified.

Which is so stupid—enabling these people's behavior is what's got them feeling so entitled in the first place.

I once told a woman if she didn't pay for her services, after 60 days they'd be interrupted. She responded with "Excuse me? I'm a valued customer and that is not how I will be treated." or something to that effect.

Ridiculous. midnight_rebirth

39. You're all Fired!

I think the one standout I remember was a few years ago when my company (cell phone provider) gave everyone unlimited data for like 3 months for no charge. It was essentially a stress test on our network, but everyone was getting free data so it wasn't like anyone could complain.

Or so I thought.

I talked to one lady who had demanded a manager because unlimited phone data wasn't enough, they wanted unlimited data on their hotspot as well. She then threatened to "get us all fired" because we wouldn't give her unlimited data through her hotspot, which was actually a feature we didn't even offer paying customers at the time.

She ranted and raved for a while and we ended up passing her between like 5 levels of supervisors before she gave up. SayNoToStim

38. Poor Karen. 

One time a Karen tried to return an expensive handbag that had obviously been used. She proceeded to say I was calling her a liar and her anger escalated as she paced back and forth at the till point.

The Karen then proceeded to tell me that she was going to call in some guys to come after me after I finish work. Throughout this I am politely repeating my request that Karen leave but in hindsight I think this must have been rather annoying... as Karen proceeded to grab the bag and launch herself over the till at me in an attempt to hit me with it.

At this point in time, a colleague who was yet to start their shift (therefore appeared as a customer) was on the shop floor and had witnessed it all. They tackled Karen into the wall, knocking down glass shelves which had been displaying around 30 bags. Karen is a crumpled mess on the floor, appears shocked, stumbles upright and runs away. yayaya21212

37. The Male Karen. 

Former fast food worker reporting about a male Karen.

He came through the drive through and handed me what I knew to be a fake $100 bill. I knew it was fake, but the process was to make sure the deposit box bill feeder didn't accept it. Well of course it didn't because that crap was fake.

So he pulls around and comes inside yelling and calling me racist (dude was black) because I wouldn't take his fake 100.

He called for the manager and I bailed to the back because I wanted to leave the twilight zone. TheMortarGuy

36. Not my Dog!

This was 30 years ago and there was literally no way I could help this woman. She left while yelling that she hoped my dog died. gutterpeach

35. Not too Doughy!

I was a kitchen chef in a pizzeria. We occasionally get this lady that orders a pizza then tries to complain about it in order to get it for free. We always deny her and she always with threatens to give us a bad review on Yelp or to whoever is unfortunate enough to be on the phone with her. One time, she ordered a pizza with gluten free crust and complained that the crust was "too doughy," so she demanded it to be free.

Gluten free crusts are as crispy as a cracker when they come out of the oven and are almost the same while we make it. Even if someone didn't bake it in the oven beforehand for whatever reason, it's virtually impossible for it to be doughy.

For about a week, all of us would tell each other, "Make sure that it isn't too doughy" as a joke when we had to make gluten free pizzas. MetaGigaZ

34. The Lineage.

I managed a restaurant a few years back that was vegan and gluten free. Do you know whose children are more entitled than any to cause destruction in your restaurant? Karen's vegan kids that have a gluten allergy. MurrayVonCurry

33. Terminated.... PERMANENTLY!!

I saw an account terminated and their address PERMANENTLY banned from service by a senior VP. The lady called in to try to restart her service, then proceeded to complain and ask for management when she was told she couldn't. I can't even imagine the amount of complaining she had to have done to get to the senior VP level, since even major escalations only get to a level that's like 3 levels below that.

I read the notes and looked at the account, and she had 6+ service calls every month for 3+ years. This lady apparently called in almost every day to complain and ask for credits due to her service not working.

The address was blocked, and the notes basically said, "This address will never get service again. If this lady somehow gets service from this company again, everybody involved will be fired." Meta2048

32. Karen in Charge!

I had an actual Karen as a manager. Two faced, played favorites and had this annoying nervous laugh she would use at the end of everything she said. As if to punctuate the idiocy of her statement. I think, ha ha, that we should try it this way, ha ha. Because it, ha ha, might, ha ha, work better.

YES!!! She talked just like that. OhioTARDIS

31. Karen and the Law. 

Try dealing with Karen when you're a cop. "Do you know who my husband is?" "You better not touch me. My husband is so and so" Yea ok well tell me who your husband is on your way to jail. Karen is always racist too. "Don't you have some black people to arrest? I actually obey the law" Well Karen assaulting your husband is illegal, so my black partner is going to take you jail now.

Or Karen the military officer's wife "My husband is a captain. Where's my salute?" Kimbersdad26

30. 'ARE YOU REALLY ARGUING WITH A CUSTOMER RIGHT NOW?!'

I worked at a grocery store in high school, and last summer I came back as my summer job. we did this ten for $10 deal wherein we'd have a bunch of crap on sale for a buck a piece, and then the 11th was free.

We were open 24 hours, but all of our sales kicked in at 6am, and we weren't allowed to change it early in the register, as it's clearly stated in the first page of the flier and in the app (this is important.) I'd sometimes work 3rd shift if they needed someone to fill in.

Had this morbidly obese woman come in with literally a cart full of tuna at 4am. easily 300-400 of them, as she had just taken the standup display boxes off the shelf. Of course, none of them ring up as on sale, and she starts screaming at the girl in front. the girl is explaining that this is how are policy works, and she's yelling about false advertising in our app and how she deserves the price change. I go up and tried to placate her, as I've been here long enough, and she starts fuming about how the app is lying Because it says this date and it's already midnight.

I zoom in on the bit where it says are prices are only good at 6am and she goes purple.

'ARE YOU REALLY ARGUING WITH A CUSTOMER RIGHT NOW?!'

I tell her I'm not, just pointing out what the ad says and she insists on seeing the manager.

He tells her the same thing the two of us had, and she screamed about not knowing 'why she even bothered to shop here,' and stormed off.

I didn't go back to that job this summer. 145679RK1

29. Loss Prevention. 

Loss prevention manager at a retail store. So part of my job was to be the no guy. If there was a customer we were not able to help and they started becoming hostile I was the one who went to defuse the situation because if it escalated I was the only one certified to touch a customer if it came down to safety and security issues.

On this particular time my Karen was at guest service with her small child in a shopping cart maybe 2 years old or so? Karen was super frustrated with my employee who was trying to tell her that she could not return her dvd she had purchased for multiple reasons. She didn't have a receipt which she could have used an ID to return it however the dvd was also opened and the dvd had a scratch as well.

I can already hear her screaming as I approach so have an idea of what's going on already and she immediately begins yelling at me about how my employee doesn't know the store policy's and she just wants to return the dvd. I explained to her that it's not only store policy but also a copyright law was involved since it was an unwrapped open and apparently used dvd. She said ok well I got home opened it and there was a scratch on it so now what.

I told her well in that case within our policy and the law I can of course exchange that for the same item however I would have to open it before she leaves so that no laws are broken and she doesn't try to return it elsewhere. After more screaming and cursing in front of her child she finally says fine I don't want to return it anymore you can just have it! Then she winds up and frisbees the dvd past my head!

Here's the best part now she leaves kicking and screaming and about 30 mins later I get a call to guest service and it's the same lady this time she says she talked to her husband and there was a misunderstanding and she would like her dvd back. Which I sadly had to tell her I'm sorry ma'am we have already added that to the trash compactor.

I may have escalated the situation a bit too as it was only I think a $10 dvd and if I really wanted to I could have done something to help her for only $10 but with the way she was acting there was no way I was doing anything to encourage that behavior. MrCrispy38

28. The Normal Family.

About a month ago I had a table consisting of a mother, a father, and their son (around 10). They seemed like a normal family at first, but the whole experience turned sour very quickly.

After I put their order in and got them drinks I had to visit my three other tables that were sat a couple minutes before. I take about 5 minutes introducing myself to a party of 10 and getting their orders and walk over to "Karen" because she was waving at me. She told me that they needed more water, the cup was still halfway full, but I told her I would bring it as soon as I could. I then go to my other two tables and get their orders.

All of a sudden I hear Karen screaming at a boy who works in carry out so I go over and see what's wrong. She was upset because I didn't get her the water immediately and starts screaming at me. I then run back and get her a whole pitcher of water, because she's clearly a thirst trap. She proceeds to scream at me because I didn't get her a son a refill of sprite, when they didn't ask and his cup was 3/4 of the way full. I apologized and went to get the sprite while alerting my manager of the issue.

While I was getting another sprite her husband gets up and starts screaming and cursing in my manager's face, about 3 inches from her. They didn't stop yelling and complaining, so my other manager gave them their meal for free and a gift card. Mind you, this was all over WATER. It took about 3 minutes after I told them I'd get them water for them to start going insane.

I ended up apologizing to my other tables for the disturbance, but they were very understanding and apologized of behalf of the psychotic family.

I couldn't help but wonder what happens to their son when he doesn't do exactly what they want. mvdsoj

27. This is Alabama.

Work at a Barnes and Noble cafe. About an hour before closing, a Karen comes in and I proceed to take her order. Karen wasn't a regular, yet she was getting snooty just because I asked her what she'd like and if she wanted it hot or cold. She tells me in the most condescending way she wants an iced mocha. I go to make the drink. I hand it to her, tell her to have a nice night and turn around to talk to the two other people at the counter.

As we're talking she shouts at us that it's wrong, and demands we make another drink. Her complaint was it's cold and she wants it warm. Whatever, I apologize and make another one even though the first time I asked her, held up the clear cup and wrote everything in front of her to verify it was right. I grab the paper cup and start to make another one. All the while, she's talking about how young people don't respect anyone, berating us for talking while working, making fun of real personal stuff like the movie we were discussing, how we dressed, our accents (this is in Alabama and she's obviously not), and even starts to make borderline racial slurs towards the black barista I was working with.

After about 2 minutes of this, I'm fed up, so I finish the drink, and go to hand it to her but as she's taking it she says "I bet you stupid disrespectful kids don't even know how to spell mocha, especially him," points at black barista. I'd had enough. A yank the drink back out of her hand, throw it in the garbage can like it's a baseball, rip my apron off, come out from behind the counter, get right in her face and I really lay into her. And I mean I unleashed on her. I inform her that racial slurs and verbal abuse aren't something we tolerate, tell her there's a camera above us with sound recording everything, tell her that because she bought a 5 dollar drink doesn't give her the right to talk to anyone let alone us that way and ask her who in the hell she thinks she is. I get even closer and tell her that the store might want her business, but I sure as hell don't, and she can take her refund, and get out.

I don't even go to the register, I take 5 dollars out of my wallet, some odd cents out of my pocket, back up, and throw it at her feet, point at the door, and tell her to get the heck out of my cafe... it felt right at the time. The whole time Karen's eyes are as wide as dinner plates in shock. She sheepishly picks the money off the floor, every cent, gains her voice, and starts screaming at the top of her lungs that we're not getting away with this, she's gonna call corporate and get our useless piece of crap fired, and then she'd find out where we lived, burn our houses down, and kill every last one of our pets and family members, so i start to walk towards her like I'm going to throw her out. She stumbles a little, breaks off what she's saying, and scrambles towards the door, and once in the doorway, throws her shoes at us hitting a display stand of chips, leaves, and peels out nearly hitting 2 people in the parking lot.

I pick up the shoes, throw them in the nearest trash can, pick up the chips, calmly put my apron back on, go back behind the counter, and finish what I was saying about the new lupin the third trailer. The other two baristas didn't know what to say and kept warning me about how I'm gonna get fired. Nothing ever came of it, no real manager ever talked to me about it, and I never heard from her again. I felt bad about it, I'd never been that angry and have never gotten that angry since. It wasn't even what she said to me that set me off, but how she talked to the two that did literally nothing wrong. I realize now I'm not sorry for it and she really deserved to be thrown out of the store. Most of the time it's not worth it to react that way, but man sometimes you just have to stand up to Karens. beerbrewer1995

26. "sir, your drink is ready"

Not a manager but I have a few. The worst incident happened at a cafe I used to work at. We had a women with Down Syndrome that worked 3 days a week. She is very sweet and helpful and one of our family friends. The town I worked in has a huge influx of tourists in the summer so I'm used to all kinds of people. A man and his wife came in and ordered a smoothie and an iced americano. Because I was trained as a barista I'm aware of the difference between an americano and coffee but usually I use the term "coffee" because I found that a lot of customers didn't know the difference or really care as long as they got their caffeine.

So when I read back the order I said coffee instead of americano. He clarified that it was an americano and not a brew coffee. I told him that we only had an espresso machine so it would definitely be an americano. I made his wife's smoothie and handed it to the woman with Down Syndrome and told her which woman to give it to. A minute or so later she came back with the smoothie. I asked her what was wrong with it because the woman didn't take it. She said she didn't know but the woman refused to take it. I took it out to her and asked what was wrong with it. She said straight up that she didn't feel comfortable with my coworker taking it out (implying it was because she had special needs). I firmly told her that she was an employee there and was very competent.

I then went to make her husband's drink. I made the iced americano and called his name and said "iced coffee" out of habit. He sat and looked at me so I said "sir, your drink is ready," already irritated by his wife. He came up and said to me "I ordered an iced americano, not an iced coffee." Kind of exhausted by the two, I told him that it was indeed an iced americano. He proceeded to explain to me, the trained barista, the difference between a brew coffee and an espresso drink... after I had already clarified previously that we only had espresso.

I looked him dead in the eyes and said firmly "there are two shots of espresso, water, and ice in this cup." He then replied with "uh huh" and then had the nerve to ask me if my coworker with special needs had made it. So I told him (not so nicely) that he could take the drink or not and he could also leave my place of work if he would not treat people with respect. My manager only reprimanded me for swearing. thecoloroftheskies

25. Book of Mormon....

I was a House Manager (HM) at a big performing arts venue, & I encountered my worst Karen at a Saturday night showing for the Book of Mormon.

I still feel rage when I think about it.

Karen's problem? Just a young man seated in front of her in his standard size wheelchair (a veteran no less! as I later discovered) and his older parents, who were seated next to him in banquet style seats.

A bit of background: the banquet seats are what we used when we had mobility requests. We would remove a small, strategically located section of seats to make an empty place for the mobility device, then place the banquet seats for the other ticketed spots.

The venue used those specific seats precisely because they were the exact same height as the theatre seats.

Karen didn't care though! Those people were ruining her view and they needed to go. And no, she wouldn't move to a no-show seat! Didn't I know how much money she spent on these tickets??

But when I said I wouldn't move the other patrons, who had also bought the expensive tickets, well then how dare I bring up money!! That's hardly the point!

And on, AND ON she ranted—gesturing wildly, with her designer purse & gold-ringed fingers.

She ranted through the entire 18 minute intermission while I tried to quietly shut her up somehow. It was excruciating. I even had security on standby. The shrill voice that emanated from her white, toothy-maw was a weapon in it's own right—enough to make a whistle jealous.

The worst part though, is she was so extremely rude that the family of the man with the wheelchair decided to leave anyway!

I tried SO hard to make other arrangements for them, for free—tickets on another day, or to another show, or a even just a refund for that night. They were very kind to me, but just wanted to go home :( Meanwhile, Karen got to go back in & watch the rest of the show!

Man, forget that entitled witch Karen. I hope she has to leave halfway through every show she ever goes to, for the rest of her miserable, unsatisfied life. WateryTart_ndSword

24. Hoo Boy....

Hoo boy. This brings me back.

So, when I was a younger man I was an assistant manager at Blockbuster Video. For you young'ins out there, before Netflix you would have to go this place called a video rental store and actually pay money to rent a movie. Once upon a time they even came on these boxy things called VHS tapes. So, one day I'm working an evening shift and the phone rings. This woman I'll call Karen is on the other end. She says she got a call earlier in the day about some videos being overdue. She was absolutely livid, as if we had urinated on her ancestor's grave by letting her know some movies were overdue. I brought up her account on our computer and sure enough, three movies were still out and were due back a week before. She goes ballistic. Absolutely screeching at me over the phone that her daughter rented those movies for a sleepover and had returned them.

I check the return bin, nothing. I even walk out to the floor and check the copies on the shelf to see if maybe it's them. (For those not in the know, every movie had its own code.) No dice. Finally, she just screams at me that we're trying to rip her off and she's going to tell her husband whose an attorney and he'll sue us all out of existence. I go about the rest of my shift and lo and behold, about an hour later this woman comes marching in, comes right up to the counter and slams a stack of three VHS tapes on the counter before yelling some profanity at the poor clerk. I had witnessed this from the other end where I was checking in returned movies. I looked at the stack of movies and sure enough, they were the ones her daughter had rented and "returned."

Bonus: The next day I was also working there and this man in a suit comes in. Real friendly guy who asks to speak to management. I walk over to chat with him and he tells me that he's the lawyer and he wants to apologize for his wife's behavior. I kid you not he actually said, "We're trying to get her under control. The doctor just prescribed her Xanax." RetroGameGuy8876

23. Manager to the rescue...

I'm not a manager but I used to work at a cafe/bakery and was there when our manager ripped a Karen a new one. One of my co-workers was about 18, and had a really crappy home life. He had cigarette burns and scars on his arms from self harm.

So this lady (about 50) comes in and orders with what I presume was her friend. My coworker takes the orders to them. Overall she was being snippy and demanding with him, but the 'worst experience' part comes when she picks up her pizza and rips it apart, and says to him, "This isn't even sliced all the way through, you'd think you'd be able to figure that out by now." I swear my manager almost came unglued. I've never seen veins bulge so far out of someone's head before or since. You could tell he was summoning every ounce of his strength not to choke her out right in the middle of the bakery.

Donny, the manager, immediately kicked both women out and told them they weren't welcome back. They asked for the owner when he informed them he was the manager, but when the owner finally arrived he concluded that the women were barred. They threatened to call the cops, but didn't since we gave them their money back.

I still can't fathom how anyone could be so insensitive. PaperPonies

22. Soggy & Cold.

I used to work as a manager at a sandwich shop. Our policy for any pick up orders was to not cook their fries until the customer came in so that they have fresh fries. This is always told to the customer on the phone. I had this one witch call in her order and ask me if I could cook the fries immediately so that she didn't have to wait them. I told her I couldn't do that because if she doesn't come in to pick her order up within about 5 min, those fries will be soggy and cold. She seemed to understand this.

She ends up showing up about 45 min after she placed the order and proceeded to yell at me because her fries weren't ready. I explained to her that if I had cooked her fries when she placed the order that they would be very cold and soggy because she took 45 min to come pick her order up. She didn't care. She continued to yell at me about how she's a nurse and has no time to wait for the fries. I told her oh well, you either need to wait for them to cook (which takes literally 2 mins to cook) or leave. She waited. What a witch. bakedgoods33

21. "you're not the manager!"

My worst Karen was a middle aged woman who I caught trying to switch price labels around on some blocks of cheese. She found a £5 label for a multipack of chicken breasts (it said chicken breasts on the label) and tried to pull the plastic strip off the shelf to put the new label in place. When I caught her and asked if she needed any help (pro tip, never outright ask a Karen what they're doing) she pointed at the blocks of cheese which were £6 and said "these were £5 the other week." I politely explained that they were not, it was a different brand of cheese and she said "well why are they in the sale bit then?"

(They were not) I again explained that the cheese was not £5 and she walked away muttering to herself. I thought that was that and carried on with my tasks when I heard shouting coming from the till and my staff member rang the management bell and I headed over, knowing it was her. It was, she was facing him and yelling that "the manager said I could have them for £5!" And he was trying to explain that he needed manager authorization so I approached and asked what the problem was and she immediately said "you're not the manager!" I said I was and I had said no such thing about letting her have the cheese for £5 and she then said "Listen! I'm a close personal friend of the managers and I..."

And I immediately cut in with "Yeah I'm going to stop you right there, I'm the manager and I've never seen you before in my life!" Because at that point she had pissed me off. She left the store screeching that she was going to head office about my "incompetence" followed by our security guard.

The next morning there was a round robin email from other branches in the area about a middle aged woman trying to sneak a discount on blocks of cheese. She'd gone to every store in the area just to try to get £1 off some cheese! Glitch_in_the_pink

20. Rude Kid. 

Years ago I was managing a store in a local pet store chain. I was young and often dismissed as a manager. One night a woman walks up to me holding a normal parakeet cage, about $30, and asks me if she buys the cage can we "throw in" extra perches, food, and other accessories. I politely tell her I can't do that but I can get her a discount if she's buying all those items. She instantly flips her mind and starts reading me the riot act.

Telling me she works retail and she knows I am supposed to do whatever makes the customer happy. This goes on for a short while, never giving me a chance to get a word in. She then sets the cage down and storms out of the store. We all sort of laughed it off, even a few customers who saw it go down saying things like "I don't know how you deal with people like that."

About a half an hour later my cashier tells me there is an angry woman on the phone, obviously the same woman, wanting to speak to the manager. I pick up the phone and introduce myself. She immediately starts telling me about her awful experience with the "rude kid" I have working for me. She rehashes the entire situation with all sorts of embellishments mixed in. She says that when she approached the "rude kid" he was throwing ferrets into the ferret pen from 10 feet away saying I was playing "ferret basketball."

(Never happened). She told me that she simply asked if there was a discount for large purchases because she was buying an "expensive parrot cage" and all the necessary supplies for her "expensive parrot" and would be spending well over $500. Again, literally not a single part of that was true. But the "rude kid" told her that cheap people don't get discounts and if she can afford a $500 cage and a $2k parrot she can pay full price.

The entire time I just let her rant on, trying not to laugh. So I finally tell her I can give her corporate's number. She says no she just wants me to know what type of people I have working for me and how I (he) should be fired.

So I asked who it was and started describing myself. She confirms and I said "Well ma'am, you might want to take the number for corporate and tell them because I the 'rude kid's you talked to, none of what you just told me actually happened, and we have 24 hour surveillance cameras in the store and I can pull up the entire ordeal in case my DM would like to see what really happened."

She screamed at the top of her lungs "Screw you punk!" And slammed down the phone. We didn't actually have cameras but I knew the bluff was enough. It was quite the satisfying moment. I had many "You are speaking to him" moments in my old career, but that was the best because she was so crazy. sebrebc

19. McDonald's....

I was working at McDonald's. This old lady would come every day and ask for a small coffee with ten creamers on the side. Ten. Then she would come back after a few minutes and complain that the coffee was cold and demand another one. With ten more creamers. We would oblige because she was a regular costumer and looked lonely. One day she came back three times complaining about her coffee.

I told her to maybe not put 10 creamers in it if she liked it hot. She started screaming at me and insulting me (stupid brat, can't make a damn coffee, rude, etc) And asked for the manager. I don't really know what he told her but from that moment on she was very nice and polite and would only ask for 5 creamers. Crazy witch. Nulaya

18. No Pan Pizza for You! 

Honestly, I've only really had one experience so far. I am new to retail and got the job because I ran out of cares to give.

One day, a lady came in the store and went to the Pizza Hut express. They were out of pan pizzas (and closing within a minute of her arriving). She wasn't convinced and came up to me at self checkout and asked for a manager. I just shouted "manager" without stopping what I was doing and someone came. She explained that she wasn't convinced that the Pizza Hut was out of pan pizzas.

The manager explained that they were. She said she didn't believe her. I casually mention that they're closed now anyway, so it doesn't matter. She expresses how much she craves a pan pizza, so a co-worker and I explain that there are at least three pizza places nearby, one of which was a full Pizza Hut, that were still open and served pan pizzas.

She REALLY wanted a Target Pizza Hut Express Pan Pizza, though. But, she stormed off saying she needed to pick up a prescription. None of us had the heart to tell her that the pharmacy closed two hours ago. The_Rhine

17. Darens and Karens....

It was a 'Daren' experience; dude threw a toddler like temper tantrum that we didn't serve alcohol before 11 AM.

When I told him about the open liquor/beer store a block away, he cut me off and got even angrier "They're selling beer right now, why aren't you!!!"

(the truth is I could start selling alcohol earlier, it just tends to attract a lot of Darens and Karens.) mckinley72

16. Get the meds.

Story time! Years and years ago when I was a poor college kid, I worked at a call center. We worked for an insurance company that had royally screwed up thousands of people's insurance (honestly can't remember the name of the company) but our job was to take inbound calls for people and basically say that we apologize for the inconvenience but said company was working to fix the issue, and then do whatever we could for them. Not a fun job, especially since the majority of customers were senior citizens calling in because they were having issues getting medication due to the insurance screw up. Okay, so now onto Mr. Karen.

Mr. Karen calls, automatically screaming about how his medication hasn't been approved and he cannot afford the cost out of pocket (Don't feel right calling him Mr. Karen because he had a right to be mad...) but anywho, I go through my lines of apologizing and trying to rectify the situation for him. None of my offers appeal to him. He is IRATE. After about fifteen minutes of back and forth with him he demands my name and ID number. He is going to have me fired. I have personally ruined his life, etc. I give him my name. He demands to know my last name as well. I give him my last name (very unique last name). He stops. Silence. This old man then stutters, "Are you any relation to *insert very old, famous, yet overshadowed* baseball player?

I tell him that yes, I am, he was my great, great, great uncle. (He played in the 20s.) This grouchy old man suddenly becomes the sweetest man in the world; completely awestruck to be talking to me. Apparently he had seen him play when he was a kid (the man was late 80s, early 90s in age) and somehow talking to me, a very late relative, put him over the moon. He went from raging Karen to kid in a candy store in two seconds flat, asking me everything I knew about my great uncle (who sadly, passed away about ten years before I was born). Totally made his day (and mine too).

Of course after that, he was no longer Mr. Karen, so I guess this story doesn't fit too well within this question, but I thought it would be a nice little story to tell within all the raging lunatic Karen stories... so, there you go... have a nice day.

TLDR: Old man calls me, I can't fix his problem, I've ruined his life, he is going to have me fired. Hears my last name, finds out I'm related to one of his idols from childhood, and instantly becomes giddy as a clam. squirrelnextdoor

15. Madness Ensues...

I was the assistant manager at a large women's clothing store and we had a woman come in with some items and a gift receipt. Store policy is that item returns with a gift receipt are not given back cash, they are given gift cards. Madness ensues. Karen gets so upset that she is forced to leave and on her way out she slams the glass door and it shatters. Since we had her information because she left her receipt, she was sent a bill for the door. availablepoet

14. Karen & Boss.

When I managed a movie theater we had a couple who always came in - Karen and Boss. Boss was called that because he would always say like "how you doing today, boss?" Etc. It got to the point where we would see them purchase their tickets at box office and we would begin to get their concession order ready. They would walk to and their food items would be ready just the way they liked them. I'd say that's good service for a regular customer.

But Karen always found a reason to complain. Instead of coming to talk to a manager, she would email corporate. We'd get the forwarded complaint and always have to give them free tickets and concession items.

We had another regular customer named Bob. Bob would cook for us and I mean cook. He'd make full course fresh Italian meals. We all loved Bob and he was great to us. He actually became a really good friend to the general manager and would have him over to his home for dinner too.

One day, Karen and Boss walk in and Bob was standing with the general manager talking. The GM rolled his eyes and Bob asked him what happened. GM told him he's just tired of Karen complaining all the time when we provide them with great customer service. Bob looks to see who it is and tells us it's his freaking cousin. GM printed the email to show Bob and Bob ran over and asked her "what the heck is this?"

Karen never complained to corporate again. GentleSea

13. Keepin' the Onions Karen. 

One of my managers had to explain to a Karen, during a lunch rush, why she couldn't take the onion out of the French onion soup. Chozlit

12. Help Out in the Bakery. 

I'm not a manager, but my department doesn't have one so I guess I currently have the same authority as everyone else. I was there alone at the time, so I got to tell a lady that, no, her four year old cannot "help out" in the bakery while she shops. and no, the manager does not "always let her do that" because we don't have a manager and we haven't for several months. over the course of about an hour, she kept sending her crotch goblin back behind the counter. man, I shooed this kid out of the oven, the damn freezer, the bread slicer, you name it. this kid was finding the most creative ways I've ever seen to try to get hurt, I swear.

Eventually my coworker showed up, thank God, and informed this woman that if she didn't stop trying to pawn her kid off on us she'd be calling the police on her for child endangerment. That shut her down pretty quickly. she came back a couple times, probably to do the same thing, but lucky me, she recognized me and didn't try that again. Reddit

11. Getting Karened!! 

AHHH not my worst but actually my favorite.

Once I got Karen'd while working solo in the front of a small wing restaurant on a busy Sunday (owner's day off) so when she asked to speak to MY manager (the owner) I momentarily forgot he wasn't there so I went into the back, had a "oh!!" moment, and then reentered with a huge smile and said, "Actually, I'm acting manager. Anything else I can help you with?" I ended up refunding her only three dollars out of the 20 she wanted back because the fries with her meal were the only thing she hadn't eaten out of before deciding it was the wrong order. BeePoNo

10. She Shucked it!

I worked at a produce store in an upper class neighborhood, and had a woman want to return two ears of corn because she shucked it, the kernels were not in even lines. Still plump, still awesome, just not in perfectly even lines. She had no receipt or record of purchase,and she wanted our cashier to go through the trash to find the receipt because "[the cashier] threw it away on purpose."

She did not understand why we couldn't just hand her cash. She made a huge scene, screamed at the cashier, screamed at the produce kid, screamed at me, and demanded to talk to the "real" manager (I don't know if it was the ovaries or what, but I didn't count).

I said I couldn't give her cash without a receipt. I offered to shuck ears of corn until she found two that she approved of and we would exchange them, but nope. She was having a family cookout (with two ears?) and was UTTERLY HUMILIATED by our uneven corn.

I should have just given her the $1 or whatever to get her out of the store, but honestly, I was kind of enjoying her tantrum. I figured she'd have shamed herself enough not to return, but apparently, she was back the next day and the cashier gave her the change in the "take a penny" jar to shut her up.

Again, this was a very well-off neighborhood. No one was starving for corn. stopcounting

9. Strawberry X. 

The most obnoxious part for me was how they're tirelessly argumentative, but always about crap where they're either totally wrong or it just plain does not matter.

"X is supposed to come with strawberries!" X doesn't; Z does though. I can make you Z instead, or add strawberries to X for $8. "No, X is supposed to come with them already."

(Shows them a menu to verify) "I don't know why that says that because X is supposed to come with strawberries." So do you want me to make X with strawberries then? "X already is supposed to come with strawberries!"

Like lady, I don't know what else to say. You aren't gonna argue your way into being correct. Your options are to say "add strawberries to X" or "make me Z" just pick one I do not care, and please move to the side while you ponder your options. Much_Difference

8. The Frame. 

Our company sold a recliner that had a lifetime warranty on the frame but a 3 year warranty on the fabric. The woman argued with me about her 10 year old worn down recliner with cigarette holes and pet stains that the "frame" of the couch included the fabric.

She tried to redefine the term "frame" like some sitcom lawyer. And she was trying to wear me down with her dogged persistence. She wouldn't leave the store, and just stared at me. For hours. I ignored her. She'd clear her throat, hum, sigh, and make verbal blips that weren't outright things I could toss her out for, but "I'm still here."

She left the store for a bit, I guess to go to the bathroom, so I called mall security to see what they suggested. They said if it's been over 4 hours they could get her for loitering. So they came by to chat with me, more because we got to know one another over the years. While they were there, the woman came back. They spoke to her quietly, and she started to protest, but she gave up and left because there were two mall security people versus her.

She complained to corporate I called the cops on her, but they didn't take it seriously. punkwalrus

7. Counting her greys....

I'm a hairstylist and I manage the salon I work at. One day I was tasked with covering this kooky woman's grays. I get her to the sink and rinse her color out. When I'm done shampooing her she sits up, looks in the mirror from at least 7 feet away and starts totally flipping out. Won't even let me dry it or brush it out. I've apparently "ruined" her hair. (Her greys were 100% covered and the exact color as the rest of her hair. So in other words, it was perfect...)

After a few minutes of her nonsensical bullshit I politely tell her that her service is on the house and that she needed to leave. "WHERE IS YOUR MANAGER?!" She yells. "You're yelling at her, actually" I responded. She was LIVID. Then she asked if my boss (the owner and a pretty well known artist in the hair world) would think that what I did to her hair was acceptable if she were to show up when he was there and show it to him.

I told her that considering he was the one who taught me how to do hair and that he and I take clients as a duo together that it was a pretty safe bet that he'd be cool with it. He'd be in on Tuesday and I would even set a time for her to come in and show him. Never saw her again, thank God. macsmomscigarette

6. Karen doesn't do Soccer....

I was working at a sports facility and Karen came in to sign up a team for one of our soccer leagues. Karen and her team had been participating in our leagues for years so most of her paperwork would just carry over from one season to another. Any time someone signs up for an activity at our facility a 1/2 page activity form needs to be filled out. This form asks for basic information like name, address and birthday. Doesn't matter if its your first time signing up for your 100th, this form needs to be filled out.

So Karen walks in and wants to sign up for a league. I ask her to begin filling out this activity form while I pull her her information in the computer. Karen begins to throw a fit. "I have been in this league for years and I have never had to fill out this form. This is ridiculous." I ask her if she usually calls and signs up over the phone which she says yes. I say "Oh well any time someone calls, We fill out this form for you but since you're here today you can fill it out while I finish your registration" Karen doesn't like this response and asks for my name because she knows my manager and she is going to complain before she signs up.

I says she is more than welcome to call my manager which she does right in front of me. I can hear my manager tell her we usually fill the form out for her but she can do it today. Karen gets off the phone and changes her attitude but at that point I don't want to talk to Karen no matter how nice she's being.

Karen and her husband own 2 bars in town. I told myself I would never go to her bars after this encounter. One of her bars went out of business and the other isn't doing well. adelgado4

5. As per my email...

I'm the head of a complaints department for an international chain and Karen's are basically my bread and butter.

To speak to me they have to have escalated their concerns through agents, supervisors and managers, all of whom are empowered to resolve complaints.

Many a time the conversation has gone:

"Unfortunately Karen, we're not able to meet your expectations. I do hope you find your next visit to be more to your liking"

"That's ridiculous, I only want a holiday to the moon and the keys to Atlantis! I want to speak to your manager"

"I'm the highest level of escalation Karen, that's our final answer"

"You're not the owner of the company, I want to speak to them."

"No Karen, I'm the highest point of escalation"

-Karen hangs up and emails the CEO about me and my terrible attitude-

-CEO forwards email to me-

"Hi Karen,

As per my previous email..." Wrathful_Man

4. The New Chef....

General Manager here. I give so little. I was a chef for a long time for the place I work for, super loved by owners, asked to become a GM over and over but never wanted to. Had a little turnover and I decided to do the right thing and step up, became the GM. Trained a new chef, became GM, but here are my hard "heck you" moments.

If you curse at the waitstaff, heck you.

If you are drunk and can't keep it together, heck you.

If you forgot a belonging, no matter how expensive, and you want it paid for, heck you.

If you ever say you're a friend of one of the owners and try to get free stuff or special treatment I will call them on the spot on speakerphone, heck you.

If you ask for a donation to x or y charity and I don't have it in the budget, but you threaten me with calling an owner, I will call everyone above you with such and such charity and let them know that a local business does not appreciate the strong arm tactics, heck you.

If you tell one of my staff or managers that I said you could do something wildly outside of our standards I will throw you out, heck you. rmgonzal

3. Karen the Dude. 

Karen was a dude. He brought in outside food and drink to the family Fun Center I worked at. When I tried talking to him about it nicely he said he knew the manager personally. I was the head manager and pointed it out. He called me racist because I wasn't bothering another table for having outside food. They had a birthday cake, he had dairy queen. Then he tried the "my kid can't eat the food here thing." When that didn't work he called me a racist and left.

A week or two later he came in and made a big scene to point out that he was entering the building. Like yelling my name from 40 feet away. I ignored him. The last time I saw him in there his kid was sitting down to eat food from our facility and I walked up and said something to the effect of "oh glad you picked our food over DQ this time." He left shortly after eating. That was the last time I saw him.

Second Karen - No one was using the laser tag facility. She wanted to use it for her party because "someone" told her it was included with the party. It was not. Then she got insistent that we give it to her for free since no one was using it anyway and if its not in use its a waste. Thats not how it works. There was no getting through to her that she was getting it for free. NickeKass

2. Mama Karen. 

My mother is a Karen. I'm admitting it. She is never said at restaurants.

She will order lobster and steak, and then complain it's not enough lobster. Nothing's every good enough for her, but the silver lining is she doesn't scream.

Whenever the wait staff all how her meal is, it's too cold, or not proportioned right, it to salty, or not enough, etc. Wait staff always apologize and say "let me see what I can do." Half the time a manager comes by to discount her meal, or a kitchen staff comes out with extra or replacement.

It's to the point my family just accepts it, albeit with some frustration, and chide her for it. We warn the staff when they introduce themselves, which seems to help them not take it too personally. My mom blushes and laughs with everyone else. I think the waiters think we are joking. And then, inevitably, invariably, they ask how we're enjoying the meal. We all say it's great (it usually is!) and my mom does her thing.

To the world, I am sorry! I worked in restaurants and client facing positions for the last decade and some, so I've paid the price for her. plzacceptmyusername

1. Powerless....

Karen's literally have no power over me and it brings me join to deny their every request. leftyourfridgeopen

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