Reddit user ilostmygender_ asked:
"What’s the most ridiculous complaint you’ve ever heard in the service industry?"
Because if there is anything that will ensure we have fewer entitled people being ridiculous, it's making sure everyone gets to deal with those types of people face-to-face.
Check out the ridiculousness Reddit has had to put up with.
Deserve To Party
"Every year, couple of weeks before Christmas, my restaurant closes a couple of hours early (7 instead of 10, and it's usually on a Wednesday, so it's not nearly as busy) so all the employees can get together and have a small holiday party."
"We had a sign up on our door two weeks before the party, letting everyone know we were closing early. As this was the year after covid, and we didn't get to have a party the previous year, we were really excited and ready for it."
"At about 8'oclock, a woman comes to the door, sees it's locked, and goes ballistic. She man-handles the door and starts slamming her fist against it. She ignored all my co-workers who were shaking their heads."
"Finally I go over and unlock the door to talk to her. She just starts screaming about how we're not supposed to be closed, etc, etc and I'm just shaking my head pointing at the sign."
"She finishes with 'you people don't even deserve to have a party'. And with that I just smiled and said 'well now we're definitely not helping you, goodnight.' And closed the door."
"2 days later I get a call from the owner of the restaurant, saying she actually filed a real complaint about it. We had a great laugh"
- Hellvillain
Resturant Manager Or Traffic Officer
"I worked with a manager at a fast food place that got a complaint filed against him with corporate. Lady said she was second in line in the drive thru, the car in front of her gets their food, and goes to drive away, but accidentally put his car in reverse. He stops quickly, goes into the correct gear and leaves."
"Lady comes up and complains that the other customer ALMOST hit her car. Then she later complains that the manager was 'very unhelpful.' Still have no idea what either she or corporate expected him to do."
"Then, we had a customer drive his car up over a curb onto the grass, drive for another 6-8 feet, and hit a large rock in the grass, breaking his radiator."
"Dude wasnt under the influence, absolutely no clue how he didnt see a 3 foot tall rock in front of him, or why he was suddenly compelled to do some offroading in a Lincoln Towncar."
"He immediately comes in and starts yelling about how he's gonna sue the company for damages to his car. Despite the fact that he drove straight into it, over a curb, in broad daylight."
"Like, his car went to that rock like a soldier returning from war runs to the arms of his lover. Without missing a beat, my shift lead tells him that corporate will have much better lawyers than he does, and they'll 'counter sue you for damages to our rock'."
- DisabledBiscuit
"damages to our rock lol"
- rdummy_soup
"Your manager should have offered to ALMOST give her some money to compensate for him ALMOST hitting her car."
- magpac
traffic GIFGiphyDidn't Ask The Exact Question
"I was serving a couple their meal. I had stopped by after their first few bites and asked them how they were doing. They said great and I moved on to the next table. At the end of the meal, they asked for the manager and complained about my service, that I didn’t check in. When I told my manager that I had checked in on them, she said they said 'Well, they came and asked how WE were doing, but not how the food was. WE were doing fine, but we didn’t like the food…'."
- Matchmaker4180
"Seems a little petty. To be honest, I've only had waiters ask me some variant of "so how are you enjoying your food? Good?" And then I tell them it's good and they move on to the next table."
"If you don't like the food...you can just tell the waiter. You don't need a prompt."
- geico_fire
Hand-ing Some Drinks
"I was using my hands to hand people their drinks"
"I quit that same day"
- goldenbrushes
"Your bad man. You’re supposed to use your feet like that alien pod racer guy in Star Wars the phantom menace"
- nhbd
"Not even using your mind powers, how lazy smh"
- Yab0iFiddlesticks
"I would get mittens, spill half of every drink, charge full price and then tell any angry manager...I just fulfill customers' wishes...."
"Some people should get LITERALY what they wanted....after a short time, they would be cured of their entitlement...."
- applesandoranges990
Changed The Building Layout
"A woman swore up and down that we had an upstairs (we didn't) and then, after twenty minutes of searching, accused us of hiding it from her."
"A whole second story."
- PickanickBasket
"We actually had a similar moment!"
"Customer paid for their washing machine in the till, and was told to go around the corner (of the wall, still in the same building, pointed with the whole hand) to pickup the machine."
"Customer came back 10 minutes later fuming that they couldn't find the second floor to pick up said washing machine."
"Entire building is on ground level. Opening from the tills to the room where they were supposed to pick up the product is as big as the broadside of an elephant. But it's our fault and we scammed him off his money because we didn't want to give him that washing machine."
- Brevlada-00
Severely Allergic
"Someone came back with a breakfast sandwich I made for them saying they wanted to get whoever made it fired because it has bacon instead of sausage."
"They said they're severely allergic to bacon and would end up in the hospital and that the person who made it (me) shouldn't work here if they can't read screens (for what the order says). A trainee was on speaker and punched in a BELT (which is made with bacon) instead of the sausage version which admittedly isn't an easy thing to punch in for a new person on our POS system. So I read the screen correctly."
"HOW can someone be severely allergic to bacon and not sausage which is the same animal and everything ?!? We also use the same tongs for bacon and sausage too, there is definitely tons of cross contamination between them anyways"
"My manager spoke to me privately about it and I said I was prepared for her to fake fire me to humor him lol"
- koopkop
"Reminds me when I worked in a Chinese place and people would be deathly allergic to MSG. When I explained it came in the fried rice we'd make in advance they'd reply 'oh a little won't hurt'."
- Matookie
Season 8 Nbc GIF by The OfficeGiphyThe People Want Adult Films
"I worked at Blockbuster and some guy got angry at me because we 'no longer' carried adult films. I explained that we had never carried porn but he said 'You have Red Shoes Diaries!' - which isn't porn."
"Then he threw the Rugrats movie on the counter and opened his wallet to get his membership card. After he paid, he shook the Rugrats movie at me and said 'People want PORN! Goddamn you.'"
- BarracudaImpossible4
"I worked at a Blockbuster and we had an older guy throw a tantrum because I wouldn't let him in the 'backroom' to look at the 'adult films' which we 100% didn't have. The manager ended up finding out he was confusing us with Family Video."
- Albino_Wendigo
Stephen Colbert Blockbuster GIF by The Late Show With Stephen ColbertGiphyCold Cuts Too Cold
"I worked at Arbys as a teen. At the time we had a new angus cold cut sandwich. This woman came in and ordered it. It was like a $12 meal."
"Gave her her drink cup, a min later she comes back and throws the cup at me because we didnt have any drinks she liked. We had like 10 different sodas, coffee, iced tea, lemonade, water, fruit punch, etc. Not sure what exactly she wanted."
"Anyways, I give her her sandwich and fries, she takes them to the table, takes one bite, comes back and slams the tray on the counter complaining that the sandwich was cold. I informed her that its supposed to be made that way. "Where? Where does it say that its a cold sandwich?" I pointed to the menu and said "in the name. COLD CUT sandwich""
"I ask her if she wants me to heat up her sandwich for her. No she doesnt. Does she want me to make her another one that is hot? No. Does she want something else to eat? Nope. Does she wanted a refund then? No! She just walks out! She spent $12 to take 1 bite of a sandwich and didnt even take the refund."
- stitchmidda2
"Sounds like she got buyer’s remorse and expressed it in the most childish way possible. Many such cases"
- akaTim
No Plastic, No Logic
"I worked at a Target at a town in CA that independently enacted a plastic bag ban a year or so before it was a statewide thing, so I got the joy of explaining that new rule to everyone. No plastic bags, paper bags are 10 cents, you can bring your own reusables or buy them for a buck."
"I could sometimes turn the mood by suggesting that they save the dime and carry out their stuff in whatever laundry hamper/bucket/storage tub they also happened to be buying."
"So a lady comes through and buys a cat litter box and a bunch of grocery items, gets in a snit about the bag thing, and when I point to the litter box (basically just a plastic bin) and say she can just take her stuff out in that, she gives me the most DISGUSTED look and declares 'I will NOT put my FOOD in a LITTERBOX'."
"Then she stomped off carrying a wobbly loose pile of groceries in one arm and the box that has never yet seen a cat dangling in her other hand. Good luck in life, girl"
- WankSpanksoff
"Oh god I worked at Macy's in Seattle for two holidays in a row, and Seattle had the plastic bag ban before the rest of the state, so I completely understand what you went through with people just being b**ch about the bag tax. Ours was 5 cents, though. And it has already been a thing for a while before my first season working there, and obviously by the second season working there... I excused the few customers who weren't from the state - in a few cases, they weren't even from the country - from being stupid, but SHEESH."
"Also to be honest when it got busy I'd just give people bags for free. Not worth explaining the whole thing and people going "Well that's OUTRAGEOUS" to me like I have any control over bag-related mandates."
"It was especially stupid when people would be OUTRAGED over the bag thing when they had already come from another store in the mall. Like, okay, even if they didn't charge you for the bag THERE the fact is that you have a bag with you right now from that store that you can just put your purchase in."
- OneGoodRib
Should Smile more
"I was a server at a local Italian/pizza place. I was a waitress and this was a busy Saturday. One table (that seemingly had no issues) asked to talk to my manager. I ask if anything was wrong, they say no, they just want to talk to him. After they leave, i ask what was going on with them. He said they complained that I wasnt friendly enough/smiled enough."
"He asked if the service was poor. No, they said I was very attentive and always had full drinks and everything they needed."
"Was their order messed up? Nope. Food was amazing!"
"What was wrong? She didnt seem happy/friendly/didnt smile"
"Manager tells them that my dad had just died a week ago. Guests suggest that maybe I should take time off of work if I cant smile for customers."
"What. The. F*ck!? Cause like, server dont get paid time off, i HAD to work or I would have lost my apartment etc"
- yosarianmarx
Sarcastic Yeah Right GIF by BounceGiphyWe're betting pretty much every one of those people is, at the very least, a polite dining guest and solid tipper when they're at restaurants, not going to tell people they don't deserve celebrations, and doesn't tell servers they shouldn't be allowed to work if they can't smile and be chipper right after their dad died.
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!
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Huff Away....
Giphy"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
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
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
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
Price Quote.
Giphy"Best 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
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 poop eating 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
Parents Explain Which Things Surprised Them Most When Their Child Moved Out | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
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
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
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
No YOU'RE Unprofessional!
Giphy"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
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
You're all Fired!
Giphy"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
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
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
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
Not too Doughy!
"Not a manager, but 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
The Lineage.
Giphy"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
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
Karen in Charge!
GiphyI" 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
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
Clearly not everyone got enough lessons in manners!
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