'AITA for being Karen-ish with retail workers?': Customer flips out on retail workers after they ignore him for a half hour

Author image for Remy Millisky
Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Mar 22, 2023 5:00 PM EDT

After being ignored for over a half hour while shopping, this dude had a complete meltdown! 

While sharing his story to r/AmItheA**hole, this dude made sure to preface his story. He wrote that he's been around service workers his whole life, and worked service industry roles before, so he apparently knows what it's like to be in that line of work. However, he clearly forgot that when he went to a store and got ignored. 

The first red flag is that the OP thought he'd get great service inside a dead mall. He and his wife waited around in a  store without seeing a single employee. When they finally found a cashier, they said they'd send an employee over to help them find what they needed. But after another 25 minutes, there were still no employees around to help the OP and his wife. 

Scroll down to read about the wild overreaction that happened next. Then, this mom got called a "Karen," but she insists she was just trying to keep her child's face off the internet. 

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  • 01
    Font - r/AmItheA ole Posted by u/Saino_Moore AITA for being karen-ish with retail workers? A ole I've worked my whole life, mostly in service industries dealing with customers. I was raised by people who worked in service industries.
    via u/Saino_Moore
  • 02
    Font - So I ask this because I don't want to be the as ole. I have worn the other shoes. My side. was in a store in what locals call the mall of the dead because it's mostly barren, the store was not an exception.
    via u/Saino_Moore
  • 03
    Font - After finding the department we needed the wife and I waited looking around for employees. The only one we had seen was the cashier out front. After 10 minutes of waiting and seeing no employees my wife went and asked the cashier to send someone over. She paged and my wife came back.
    via u/Saino_Moore
  • 04
    Font - 15 minutes later I went and asked the cashier the same thing, just send someone to help us, she got on the walkie and asked for help in the department. I heard someone respond with an affirmative response so I went back.
    via u/Saino_Moore
  • 05
    Font - There was always someone waiting, my wife or I, and after another 10 minutes I went in search of any other employee. Finding a different one I repeated the request, out of breath from walking the store so much I have back issues and a bum knee, only to be told someone was there. I went back and again nobody.
    via u/Saino_Moore
  • 06
    Font - By now I am getting pretty pi ed off, walked back to the cashier to find the other employee there as well, when I repeated myself again only to be told rudely that someone was there it took all I had not to scream.
    via u/Saino_Moore
  • 07
    Font - The pain in my back and knee was blasting me and I was angry. I went back and finally a different employee. I showed them what I needed, their website on my phone, I was out of breath and didn't trust myself to talk at the moment.
    via u/Saino_Moore
  • 08
    Font - I would have been fine and finished my business and left at this point, I was being quite waiting for the clerk to find my item, but the other employee came over and started making BS excuses, saying they were there the whole time and never got asked for help.
    via u/Saino_Moore
  • 09
    Font - I, loudly and probably using profanity, detailed the last hour I had spent in the store as I was asked to leave and threatened with police.
    via u/Saino_Moore
  • 10
    Font - The whole thing could have been avoided by a little responsibility and common courtesy. If, instead of calling my wife and I liars, they had said, sorry we didn't see you, or any even half believable reason, I would have been fine. I understand shappens, but don't blame me when I have been cool. TLDR: I got loud after employees told me lies that implied my wife and I were liars.
    via u/Saino_Moore
  • 11
    Font - 14ccet1 A ole Enthusiast [5] If you were swearing and screaming loud enough the employees had to threaten you with police action, then YTA.
    via u/14ccet1
  • 12
    Font - Some_kunst Parta ant [1] YTA. "Probably using profanity" - well, did you? You seem to recall every other detail of the incident. In any case, you went off at the staff to the point where you were asked to leave. At no point did you think to maybe get your breath and consider phoning the store, even, or just leaving. An hour is a long time to wait for service without considering taking alternative action. Then you put all the blame on the employees, like your outburst was just an inevitabi
    via u/Some_kunst
  • 13
    Font - R kokoronokawari There is never a time for this kind of behavior YTA
    via u/kokoronokawari
  • 14
    Human body - Scottsdale Blondie "... loudly and probably using profanity"? Yeah, YTA.
    via u/ScottsdaleBlondie
  • 15
    Font - Temporary-Deer-6942 Partas ipant [1] Soft YTA Yes you could have handled it better by staying calm and not using profanities. But by the way those retail workers treated you and your wife, they had it coming.
    via u/Temporary-Deer-6942
  • 16
    Font - headdeskreact Partas pant [3] There is behavior that warrants yelling and profanity, and if your account is accurate, this certainly seems to be one of those times. Based on that, I vote NTA. That said, you will probably be a happier person once you accept the crappy but inescapable fact that customer service in retail stores is basically a thing of the past, and adjust your life accordingly. This will be doubly so in any place that has a nickname like "the mall of the dead."
    via u/headdeskreact
  • 17
    Font - rjhancock Colo-rectal Surgeon [40] NTA. They weren't doing their job after multiple requests. That's not being a Karen, that's just being annoyed because those employees didn't want to help customers.
    via u/rihancock
  • 18
    Font - Urghhhlife Partabant [3] You think screaming and swearing at someone to the point they threaten to call police is acceptable?
    via u/Urghhhlife
  • 19
    Font - rjhancock Colo-rectal Surgeon [40] I think it's reasonable to expect a paying customer to be quite irate when they are asking for help repeatedly and the employees appear to willfully be doing nothing. I've done retail. I know what it is like. This behavior by the employees is unacceptable and the events would not have happened had they bothered to actually work.
    via u/rjhancock
  • 20
    Font - Urghhhlife Parta: ipant [3] If you think that aggression is ok you have problems.
    via u/Urghhhlife

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aita employee retail customers cashier business karen
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