'She blamed him for EVERYTHING': 20+ spouses and family members of Karens speak out, commiserate, and provide tips on how to cope

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Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor
Nov 19, 2023 2:00 PM EST

It's certainly not easy to deal with a Karen customer or a Karen coworker, but what about having to deal with being married to one? Or rather, having a Karen in your immediate family? There are several tips and tricks for how to cope with this unfortunate but very real phenomenon. Firstly, find someone else to confide in, whether that's another family member or, ideally, a professional because this Karen is probably going to cause you to go into therapy at some point anyway. Second, draw boundaries with this person. Let that be an important test to the relationship. If you are dating this Karen (or are married to them) and they do not honor your boundaries, you may need to resort to the next tip: run as fast as you can and never look back.

Obviously, we are joking about these strategies because at the end of the day, if you have a Karen in your immediate family, you are kind of irrevocably doomed. Keep scrolling below for these anecdotes and if you have some of your own, feel free to share them in the comments section. For more content like this, check out this list of ridiculous "facts" we learned in grade school.

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  • 01
    r/AskReddit. Posted by u/ThisOne_NotThis One Redditors who are married to Karens, how is it like?
    via u/ThisOne_NotThisOne
  • 02
    + [deleted] 2 Divorced Karen. Haven't had a need to see a manager since. 37.1k Share
    via u/ThisOne_NotThisOne
  • 03
    [deleted] None of them are on here, they're on shared Facebook accounts named "KarenN Dave Smith". this exploded more than I could imagine, thanks for the awards and my first gold 27.3k ↓ Share
    via u/ThisOne_NotThisOne
  • 04
    areaysee My Mom is a literal Karen, as in...it's her name. But she's like a Bizarro Karen. She will constantly ask to speak with managers and supervisors and bosses... But when said managers arrive, she unloads about the employee helping her out was fantastic, hardworking and friendly. And then she'll spend 20 minutes trying to figure out if she and the manager know someone in common. Nine times out of 10 they do. As a kid it would embarrass me, as an adult it's one of my favorite things about h
    via u/ThisOne_NotThisOne
  • 05
    The Thugmuffin Not married to a Karen, but married someone with a Karen for a sister. SIL is the freaking worst. I hate more than anything going out to dinner with her, listening to her order food and talk to the servers. Holidays are also terrible, she sends out long lists of expected gifts list. She celebrates every holiday and birthday specifically for presents even when it not appropriate. Funny thing is one time I was away from the dinner table when the bill came and SIL waited for me to re
    via u/ThisOne_NotThisOne
  • 06
    Toro whatthescrap It is the absolute best I love my wife Edit: I didn't write that 25.0k Share
    via u/ThisOne_NotThisOne
  • 07
    GetOutOfTheWhey. Not married to one. but mom was a major Karen back when I was growing up. "Mom can we just go?" was my favorite question. Then the apologetic nod as we leave the store. 23.0k Share ...
    via u/ThisOne_NotThisOne
  • 08
    LozNewman - 4 I know a couple with a Karen.She blamed him for EVERYTHING. The husband was (in our opinion) something of a saint. Once she broke a glass in the kitchen, came and sat back down at the table, and said "That was your fault." We all just stared at her. She looked sheepish and said "I knew that one probably wouldn't work."
    via u/ThisOne_NotThisOne
  • 09
    STOP Taney34 My husband's ex is Karen. She's a classic narcissist. When one of our feral hens started acting aggressive towards other hens, my stepson named her Karen. Edit: Wow, the most upvotes I've ever had! No awards, though. Ha.
    via u/ThisOne_NotThisOne
  • 10
    Effect3692.4 Not the married to one, but my moms a Karen. Literally overreacts to everything. Whenever something doesn't go her way- you guessed: gotta speak to the manager or whoever is in charge. Sometimes really embarrassing to go out in public with her because she'll just yell at the service workers for the smallest of things. Also she has a bob cut. 16.3k Share
    via u/ThisOne_NotThisOne
  • 11
    ToastyToast1111 .. Not married to one, but my aunt is. My uncle is this soft spoken giant. He never stands up to her in any way. Except once. At their daughters wedding, she was about to interrupt the ceremony to close a window because she was chilly. Everyone sitting close could hear her whisper "Im going to do it, but I don't want to be an ." My uncle, in a calm quiet tone says quickly "why stop now?" Almost as if his filter just missed this one. I swear I could hear my dad snort two rows back
    via u/ThisOne_NotThisOne
  • 12
    WAS20120 ordinaryBiped Don't think there's any Karen's husbands on Reddit, they're probably all on Facebook 13.4k ♡ Share
    via u/ThisOne_NotThisOne
  • 13
    le_gasdaddy. I taught my nephews (ages 9 and 11) about 'Karens' last year when they stayed with us for a week after school let out. After describing traits and observing them in the wild, they asked somewhere around day 2... "Is our mom a Karen?" My reply: "You words, not mine." 9.4k Share
    via u/ThisOne_NotThisOne
  • 14
    Roland Towers.. Married to one. She doesn't get why people think Karens complain so much! It's annoying for her and she'd like to talk to someone about this. ↑ 6.9k Share
    via u/ThisOne_NotThisOne
  • 15
    throwawayyyyyprawn Not married. 4 years of a toxic relationship though. I broke up with her on Monday, again. We're kinda | financially because of this lockdown so we are just feeling things out for a month before we decide forsure. This cycle is on repeat. I constantly have to cut her off and speak over her because of the way she treats people. Waiters, sales assistants, gym staff, neighbours, landlords, randoms we meet in bars etc.
    via u/ThisOne_NotThisOne
  • 16
    Note: we were both waiters at the beginning of our relationship so she has worked in the industry, but still lacks empathy. She blames the waiter if something is out of stock etc. My second major issue. We are both English second language teachers. She teaches kindergarten, while I teach highschool. Now that we are working from home I hear how she speaks to her students and it's really opened up another aspect of her personality that I don't like. She will berate a student for not understanding
    via u/ThisOne_NotThisOne
  • 17
    A lot of her behaviour stems from a self defence due to mechanism insecurity, but that's not an excuse. She doesn't realise how mean she is to people, including myself. I'm a people pleaser that would rather sacrifice my own comfort than someone else's. She expects me to be an to people because I'm a biggish guy with tattoos, I don't exactly look soft. It's toxic as please help.
    via u/ThisOne_NotThisOne
  • 18
    Emerald Sparrow0110 Not married but Dated a Male Karen for eight years. He was a semi successful business owner who was twice my age and I was young and dumb for a lack of a better word. The gist of our relationship was him trying to take over every part of my life. For instance he would order for me at restaurants and would dissuade me if I wanted to try something new. If I had a problem with something it would be brushed off but if he had a problem then he had to talk to a manager. Not knowing
    via u/ThisOne_NotThisOne
  • 19
    I realized who he was when we were flying back from Vegas and our luggage was heavier than when we flew in. Obviously we'd bought extra things which made up for the weight difference so as he demanded to know an explanation from the check in clerk as to why if it was the same luggage would it somehow weigh more, I innocently answered that it must have been the extra shoes and clothes. He was quiet and paid up. Later he told me to not to do that again as he knew the reason why the luggage was hea
    via u/ThisOne_NotThisOne
  • 20
    codemasonry Help me, please. ↑ 3.1k ♡ Share
    via u/ThisOne_NotThisOne
  • 21
    unholymole1. My ex wife is a Karen, in every sense but name. It was always so embarrassing. She was incapable of treating anyone like a human for the most trivial of occurrences. It was for me, as a person that's pretty forgiving and don't seek out confrontation. So in a 1 word description it was . Lol P.s she's very codependent and jumps from relationship to relationship these days. Not surprised. ↑ 3.0k ↓ Share
    via u/ThisOne_NotThisOne
  • 22
    Secret_MPH_Guy. My life has been a living . The number of times I have had to intervene to save the life of a customer service rep over nickels is insane. I've asked for divorce now just a couple weeks ago. Guess how that went over. 2.8k Share
    via u/ThisOne_NotThisOne
  • 23
    [deleted] Engaged to one, she was raised as a princess by here military raised father. However she's super down to earth but god forbid you work in the service industry and mess something up. She worked at IHOP during college so it humbled her compared to her family. She just writes reviews now (good or bad) and emails corporate to complain. If something is wrong with my food she refuses me to sit there and eat it. Which I hate but I have gotten her better about it (I believe). So maybe she is j
    via u/ThisOne_NotThisOne
  • 24
    AbsentAcres People who are married to Karens are the guy equivalent of Karens Or they are aloof goofs unaware that their Karen is a Karen You won't get a real answer 803 Share
    via u/ThisOne_NotThisOne

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karens neighbors entitled parents server karen-customer askreddit karens in the wild entitled reddit thread Reddit karen entitled people
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