'You, sir, are a Karen': Guy wants to speak to grocery story manager for food bank partnership, employees assume he is a Karen, gets thrown out of the store

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Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor
Oct 20, 2023 2:00 PM EDT

This seems to be a tale of the boy who cried Karen. Of course, the real culprits in this situation are the actual Karens of the world who have made it nearly impossible for most employees out there who have been so disturbed by entitled behavior to distinguish the real Karens from the rare well-intentioned and kind-hearted customer who just has a question.

In this case, the customer who requested to speak with the manager simply wanted to know if food donation boxes had been set up for an upcoming Thanksgiving food drive. It turns out the customer worked for a community outreach program and was tasked with collaborating with local grocery store chains. He shared his story via this thread on Reddit's r/EntitledPeople subreddit. 

Unfortunately for the Redditor, the employee he spoke to had been so affected by prior Karens that he made a ridiculous assumption and attempted to throw OP out of the store. The worst part is that other folks in the store made the same assumption and cheered on the employee. Yikes! What have we come to as a society if we can no longer separate Karens from philanthropists?

For more stories like this, check out this post about an influencer who got owned by a video game store employee.

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  • 01
    Shelf - Oraliqu MM Tea BLOND A Breakfast Skin & Sun Core Coffee & Tea Biscuits 1 Cereal PRICES DROPPED "Everyone thought I was the Karen." Mind Flour SE DE Breakfast PRICES DROPP
    via Franki Chamaki
  • 02
    Font - Everyone thought I was the Karen. S SO at my work, we do charitable community outreach projects and I'm on the committee. MY task for the Thanksgiving Food Drive was to ask at Food Lion (local grocery store chain) when they were putting out their food donation boxes.
    via u/Mongo_Skruddgemire
  • 03
    Font - The boxes are filled with non- perishable food items and were around $5 the last time I looked into them. As we are getting near to the one month away point, I was expecting them to have put them out, but they hadn't. So I was wondering if they were doing it this year or not.
    via u/Mongo_Skruddgemire
  • 04
    Font - So in my infinite stupidity given this day and age, I found an employee near the registers and asked if I could speak to a manager. Now I wasn't snotty about it, wasn't scowling or otherwise looking mean when I asked. I went up to the woman at the self check and with a smile I said "Excuse me, is there a manager I can talk to? I have a question about the food donation boxes." Someone only heard "Is there a manager I can talk to" and started yelling "Oh shut the Karen!" up
    via u/Mongo_Skruddgemire
  • 05
    Font - And every time I opened my mouth to try and defend myself and explain that I'm not being a Karen...this guy would berate me even more for being a Karen. "For sake, leave the poor girl alone. It's not her fault for whatever got your in a twist." or "Hey everyone? What do you call a guy who's acting like a Karen?". Some people were even cheering this guy on.
    via u/Mongo_Skruddgemire
  • 06
    Font - I left and went home, deciding that perhaps a phone call to the local store would be a better option. I did call and got a manager. I apologized for the commotion I caused and explained that I only had a question and was not complaining about anything. They said it was alright and that they weren't putting out the boxes until after Thanksgiving since making sure people have food over the Christmas Holidays is more their focus. I thanked them and that was that. SMH
    via u/Mongo_Skruddgemire
  • 07
    Font - mzrushen 4 hr. ago Wow. Sorry you got run over by that other person. Totally not cool.
    via u/Mongo_Skruddgemire
  • 08
    Font - SuperbPotential2610. 3 hr. ago People are getting crazier (and entitled) every day. It's getting out of hand at this point.
    via u/Mongo_Skruddgemire
  • 09
    Font - QuickUnpick 3 hr. ago I have a friend who works at the food bank. One of her jobs is to open the Food Lion boxes and throw most of it away. I'm sorry you were treated so badly.
    via u/Mongo_Skruddgemire
  • 10
    Font - Mongo_Skruddgemire OP • 3 hr. ago Do you know why? I thought that getting our employees to pick up one of the boxes since so many go to Food Lion for groceries was a convenient way to get donations. Kinda a moot point since we collect for Toys for Tots around Christmas when they're putting them out, but I'd still like to know why.
    via u/Mongo_Skruddgemire
  • 11
    Rectangle - acb1971 3 hr. ago There was definitely a Karen there, and it wasn't you. Someone who has main character syndrome.
    via u/Mongo_Skruddgemire
  • 12
    Font - encouragement_much. 3 hr. ago He'll go out and be so proud because he barged into someone's conversation with no context. Hope he sees this. You sir, are a Karen. Nasty man.
    via u/Mongo_Skruddgemire
  • 13
    Rectangle - Tcapone1977. 1 hr. ago I would have went off on that man and been on some viral video somewhere for sure.
    via u/Mongo_Skruddgemire
  • 14
    Font - renijreddit 1 hr. ago There is usually a "Customer Service" counter where they sell lotto tickets and cigarettes. Going to that counter rather than bothering an employee would have probably avoided this.
    via u/Mongo_Skruddgemire
  • 15
    Font - Mongo_Skruddgemire OP 34 min. ago That was my first thought too, but that counter was next to the self check area and no one was in the enclosure. So my next thought was to ask the first employee I saw.
    via u/Mongo_Skruddgemire
  • 16
    Font - lurker-2260 1 hr. ago I'm sorry, and I know it's not the way to do things, but that guy would have been looking up at the lights
    via u/Mongo_Skruddgemire
  • 17
    Font - Sudden-Possible3263 56 min. ago It's so overused, sometimes people forget what a Karen is
    via u/Mongo_Skruddgemire

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karens karen-customer karens in the wild entitled reddit thread Reddit karen entitled people grocery store
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