'I said I’ll be with you in a moment, ma’am': Honking Karen at the local drive thru refuses to wait in line, barista loses it

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Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor
Aug 28, 2023 2:00 PM EDT

Nothing will stop a Karen who's in need of her caffeine! The concept of a line? Not on her radar. How about being polite to the barista who's taking her order? Nope. What about patience? Forget about it. We don't expect patience from the Karens of the world. How foolish are we at this point? This is 2023, after all!

 

This thread was posted to Reddit's r/EntitledPeople subreddit by u/HotSeaworthiness8479, who was working at an understaffed coffee shop at the time that was also the most popular one in the area. Isn't that dichotomy just classic? One day at around 6 p.m., they needed to shut down part of the coffee shop and just keep the drive-thru portion open. That meant that the line was long and orders were pretty backed up. Anyone who has worked in the service industry will understand this kind of stressful environment. So what happened when an impatient Karen kept honking her horn, which subsequently caused a blaring sound in the barista's headphones? Well, let's just say that the barista's bandwidth got more and more narrow, and his ability to tolerate this Karen quickly became nonexistent. 

 

Keep scrolling below to see what happened when the two finally had their confrontation. Let's just say that at the very least, OP managed to get an extra tip out of the whole exchange, albeit from an onlooker. For more stories like this, check out these top Karens of the week!

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  • 01
    Motor vehicle - drive-by ORDER
    via Michelle Henderson
  • 02
    Font - Entitled Karen in the drive through M Obligatory on mobile disclaimer. English is my first language but I still: at it. I work as a barista at a very popular coffee franchise, and my store is the busiest in the district (yay /s). So we do get fairly backed up sometimes, especially since our manager has been consistently understaffing us and cutting hours. So quite often (especially recently) we've been taking longer to get things done, especially when we're busy.
    via u/HotSeaworthiness8479
  • 03
    Font - Yesterday, we were severely understaffed so we had to close the cafe and do drive through only. It was me, the shift supervisor (John) and one other barista (Mike). There was a decently long line in the drive through, and I was doubling as drive through order (taking the orders) and window (taking payment and handing out drinks). Mike was working double bar (mobile orders and drive through bar) while John was working warming and whatever else needed to be done.
    via u/HotSeaworthiness8479
  • 04
    Font - Context over, now for the story. I take someone's order and they pull forward. However, there were a few cars ahead of them so the lady behind them couldn't fully pull in front of the speaker. The speaker has a sensor so it will detect if a car has pulled up, and once a car has pulled up, the audio turns on. So this lady was pulled up enough that the audio was on, but not far enough forward to hear her well enough to take her order. I don't think anything of it. Until she honks her horn.
    via u/HotSeaworthiness8479
  • 05
    Font - The speaker can , and people sometimes mumble/whisper orders so I have my headset turned all the way up. So the honk? Deafening. I'm annoyed and share a look with John who also had a headset, but otherwise ignore it. Then she honks again. So I turn on the headset.
    via u/HotSeaworthiness8479
  • 06
    Font - I was polite because customer service, even though I was fuming. I said, "Please don't honk. You're right in range of the speaker and it's hurting my ears." Karen yelled "the idiot in front of me isn't pulling forward!"
    via u/HotSeaworthiness8479
  • 07
    Font - I tried to explain that there was a line and the person in front of her wasn't able to pull up. She ignored me. Continuing to honk. Finally, when the person in front of her pulled up, I was helping the guy at the window pay. Karen had fully pulled up to the box. I turned on my headset briefly to say I'd be with her in a moment so I could finish ringing the man at the window up.
    via u/HotSeaworthiness8479
  • 08
    Font - Of course Karen ignores me. With a shout of "finally!" she starts snapping her order at me. I now lose my temper a bit and go back on the headset, my tone a little bit harsh which I do take accountability for. "I said I'll be with you in a moment, ma'am."
    via u/HotSeaworthiness8479
  • 09
    Font - She started huffing and puffing but I ignored her. John (who was on one of his last few shifts before leaving) says "if she asks for a manager, I'm not here." Luckily for John, she didn't even wait for me to finish with the customer at the window before rage quitting and peeling out of the parking lot.
    via u/HotSeaworthiness8479
  • 10
    Font - Side note, the woman she was honking at thought it was hilarious and tipped $5 for the trouble. TLDR: Karen doesn't understand what a line is and refuses to learn the value of patience
    via u/HotSeaworthiness8479
  • 11
    Font - neophenx 13 hr. ago . I understand that people NEED their caffein to function in today's society, but it sounds like she'd already downed a gallon of espresso.
    via u/HotSeaworthiness8479
  • 12
    Font - HotSeaworthiness8479 OP 12 hr. ago . It was also like 6 or 7 pm so I really don't think people should need caffeine that late. Maybe I'm wrong though
    via u/HotSeaworthiness8479
  • 13
    Gesture - entropy_symphony. 13 hr. ago How dare you work to the best of your ability, in a busy time, and have a moment of humanity.
    via u/HotSeaworthiness8479
  • 14
    Font - ImTheCraftyOne. 12 hr. ago Yes, she sure sounds lazy and slow. Why do these stores allow such people to work there? Stupid entitled people.
    via u/HotSeaworthiness8479
  • 15
    Font - Intelligent Lake · 12 hr. ago I think she understands what a line is, to her its the shortest distance between her and the servant-slaves and anybody who is anywhere near that line needs to go away.
    via u/HotSeaworthiness8479
  • 16
    Font - Unicorn 71 9 hr. ago I can sympathise I work in a call center taking calls for a well known UK mobile phone network, that requires me to wear a headset. Inevitably we get customers who think it's OK to scream down the phone at me when they don't get their way. It really does hurt your ears it also distorts their voice so I can't tell what they are saying. I tell them as politely as I can to stop or the call ends due to these reasons I don't get paid enough to put up with that
    via u/HotSeaworthiness8479
  • 17
    Font - JustanOldBabyBoomer. 6 hr. ago The trash took itself out!
    via u/HotSeaworthiness8479
  • 18
    Font - sulpiciaa 3 hr. ago i was a shift supervisor at sbux for a while... when i was leaving, you i would bet your have called someone out for something like that LOL but... it's also sad just how relatable this is. why does no one listen when you tell them you'll be with them in a moment????????
    via u/HotSeaworthiness8479

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karens barista drive thru coffee karens in the wild entitled reddit thread Reddit funny karen entitled people
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