'Give me the actual burrito I ordered!': Top Karens of the Week (November 24, 2023)

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Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor
Nov 24, 2023 2:00 PM EST

We all spent the past week giving thanks and expressing our gratitude for life's many joys. Unfortunately for us and for the rest of the world, life still comes with Karens. So now that we are done saying what we're thankful for this week, let's take a look at some of the people who we aren't thankful for but we have to deal with every so often.

This week's roundup of Karen stories includes an Internet rant, a parking debacle, a customer service experience gone wrong, a workplace sabotage saga, and some neighborhood trash drama. Perhaps we can all take away some tools on how to deal with the next Karen we confront at work, at home, or at the store. Or perhaps we can simply enjoy this drama from afar and be thankful that we weren't directly involved. That's something to be thankful for, isn't it? 

Keep scrolling below for the full stories. When you're done, here is a collection of Thanksgiving food fails.

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  • 01
    "Karen" shows their true colours Youtube Karen 1 hour ago "Karen" was conceived as an insult by submissive millennials who hate confrontation and believe it's nobler to accept the wrong order from Taco Bell than to say, "hey, give me the actual burrito I ordered." Show less Reply ⠀
    via u/AwkwrdPrtMskrt
  • 02
    Put a Karen in her place this morning. Karen This morning I had to make a Walmart run for some Cat Food and some coffee creamer, I head into the store and jump into a mobility cart and start cruising my way towards the cat food. When I get there I see the only bag of my brand they have is the really big on I am not able to lift on my own due to my back so I hit the customer service button to get an asscoiate over to me and I wait.
    via u/Paradigmfusion
  • 03
    Just as the Walmart guy comes around the corner, I greet him and ask if he could help me getting the big bag of cat food into the scooter as well as a bucket of litter while Im there. He happily obliges but when he reaches for litter, a middle aged lady calls out to him while snapping her fingers (I hate it when people snap at me) to get his attention. He looks her way and tells her to hang on a moment that he is helping another customer.
    via u/Paradigmfusion
  • 04
    So she rushes up right next to me (like uncomfortably so) and start nagging at this poor guy about how she needs help right this second, all while snapping her fingers right up in his face, I guess just to drive the point in further? "I need help now (SNAP), forget about this guy!! (SNAP) COME WITH ME NOW (SNAP!1)
    via u/Paradigmfusion
  • 05
    Ok, I was done with this poor excuse for a human so I stood up out of the scooter, my 6ft 3 in 425lb frame instantly dwarfing her. "Listen !! (Snaps in her face) STOP SNAPPING YOUR FINGERS!! (Snap) Does he look like a dog to you? (Snap) Stop being a and scuttle your useless out of here (SNAP) She flinched really bad at that last snap.
    via u/Paradigmfusion
  • 06
    Mouth agape, she give the associate a quick "sorry" and takes off through Gardening, Im assuming to the store exit as that's the closest one, Sorry guys, nothing much to report on after that. I sat back in the buggy, checked out and the guy helped me load stuff into my car and I headed back home. Don't snap at people, its very demeaning and
    via u/Paradigmfusion
  • 07
    Trashy Karen OC Okay, so this took place years ago, but watching a Click video reminded me of this I am sorry for any errors or confusion, English is not my first language
    via u/PatchingPatch
  • 08
    So, this Karen was old and had really nothing going on in her life. I don't think any family ever came to visit her and she didn't seem like the type to make friends. So she would sit, day in and day out and watch the community trashcans (apartment complex stuff).
    via u/PatchingPatch
  • 09
    Now, I get sorting trash is good and all that, but Karen took it to a new level. You know how there's different categories for trash? Like paper, plastic, metal, food waste, ect. And then there are like, these other trash cans that's for basically anything else that don't fit in the other categories? Yea, those were the ones Karen was watching
    via u/PatchingPatch
  • 10
    And I'm not kidding, when I'm telling you this woman was obsessed. Someone once threw out pizza boxes in the general trash, she rumaged through it and left the boxes on their doorstep.
    via u/PatchingPatch
  • 11
    What I me off so incredible much about this old lady, was the fact that my dad suffered from Alzheimers. It didn't matter how often you explained to him, that the trash needed sorting, he obviously couldn't understand it. All the neighbours knew it. Including Karen.
    via u/PatchingPatch
  • 12
    But did that stop the running out of her apartment, screaming from murder at my dad, when he accidentally threw out some metal in the general trash? No, of course not, that would make her a decent person
    via u/PatchingPatch
  • 13
    This lady, really just spent every day the rest of her life, sitting by the window and watching the trash, ready to fight anyone who did not sort correctly What a miserable life that old hag must've lived
    via u/PatchingPatch
  • 14
    Also, I don't know if she had anything wrong with her health, but from my understanding (according to the neighbours) she was just someone with nothing else to do with her live.
    via u/PatchingPatch
  • 15
    Heard this in the parking lot Let me preface this by saying yes, this is cliche, and no, I was not part of this exchange. I only really remember two lines, but holy was it cathartic to hear. Karen: "You don't LOOK disabled" Man: "Yeah, and you don't look like but you clearly are." a All I remember of the interaction after was a lot of ranting and frankly I wasn't gonna get involved.
    via u/thing-sayer
  • 16
    Karens Career K Attempt I knew and worked with "My Karen" for 20 years. The first 18 years we worked at arms length. The last two years we worked closely together.
    via u/Visible_Rabbit_1157
  • 17
    Karen came from nothing, had no formal education, and no certifications. A keen opportunist and in the right place at the right time. She was not bright or brilliant. Yet she had a way at being completely and totally FOS. Her story and success was impressive.
    via u/Visible_Rabbit_1157
  • 18
    A thief of concepts and ideas. A fluid yet poor liar to an expert in verbal and non verbal communication. Not prone to give credit to her teams. A knack for identifying personality types that would do their job, her job, and put in 60-70 hours per week for peanuts. Once you got to know her, you could sense the empty suit.
    via u/Visible_Rabbit_1157
  • 19
    For a variety of reasons she rose through the ranks of global corporates. Imagine 10 unethical ways a person could climb and she would check off 9 of the 10 boxes on your list.
    via u/Visible_Rabbit_1157
  • 20
    Low and behold she landed at yet another company I worked for. I did not report to her. My brand was known - all efforts to market, on time, within budget, exceeding earnings, and over time driving billions in revenue.
    via u/Visible_Rabbit_1157
  • 21
    Her real skillset was a series of third rate cult leader tactics. She had to. She had no substance and was lazy, but hid it well. I am impossible to hypnotize, mesmerize, or gaslight. I am fearless. I am a passionate defender of my employees and grow careers.
    via u/Visible_Rabbit_1157
  • 22
    Karen and I ended up working closely together for two years. She was senior in rank, but I did not report to her. My management stack was not favorable to her and was convinced she would not make it more than two years. She did not. However, one can waste a lot of money, time, and morale during two years.
    via u/Visible_Rabbit_1157
  • 23
    At every meeting, trade show, call, etc. she said something stunningly unethical. At every dinner, social event, etc. it was worse. I resolved to basically ask in any given situation, "What Would Karen Do?". Then I did the opposite. I survived.
    via u/Visible_Rabbit_1157
  • 24
    Once she failed her way out of the company due to ethical infractions, bullying shared services employees, offending C-levels, insane expenses, and expressing her stupidity, lack of awareness, emotional intelligence, social intelligence, and trust-building - she was s___ canned in a spectacular manner. She was quite surprised by it, which is not surprising given she was a Karen.
    via u/Visible_Rabbit_1157
  • 25
    Prior to her being dumped, our two verticals had a small leadership meeting. Her concern was the strategy she was preparing for presentation to the CEO and senior leadership team had dragged for nearly two years. The strategy and business case should have been complete inside of eight months. Not by assignment. By principle.
    via u/Visible_Rabbit_1157
  • 26
    She was preparing to begin gathering detail for finger pointing. "Why are we not progressing?" Her lapdog babbled, then it was my turn. I shared: 1. Your boys here are taking six months to work up a 15 slide PowerPoint. A PP a standard business person could assemble in a weak. This is not a NASA project.
    via u/Visible_Rabbit_1157
  • 27
    2. Every time we set a four day strategy, working session, white boarding meeting with a ton of travel and expense behind it, you arrive, spend half a day, then conveniently have to leave.
    via u/Visible_Rabbit_1157
  • 28
    3. When we have a one day meeting, two hours is spent on arranging an order from Starbucks, insist on going to pick it up, bring it back, serve, and an hour later it is lunch for two hours. An hour after lunch it is get ready for dinner and dinner. Great full day, get two hours of cursory work done waste of time.
    via u/Visible_Rabbit_1157
  • 29
    4. This is a software company. You have no experience with software. Your two hires have no experience with software. It is not a think tank or country club. 5. You literally require a "do not disturb" for a week prior to a presentation to practice the presentation. A 30 minute presentation. If you remained informed, it would roll off your tongue with less than a days prep.
    via u/Visible_Rabbit_1157
  • 30
    6. You exclude the resources needed to make a buy, build, or partner decision from meetings where a buy, build, or partner assessment is being made with the target companies. 7. You are actively moonlighting through consulting during the day and during a critical time. I know. You clients are contacts who have informed me privately.
    via u/Visible_Rabbit_1157
  • 31
    8. You threaten shared services employees who do not report to you with their jobs, demand firing people on the spot for a comment, and bully veterans who make the magic happen. There was more. My boss was most entertained. His boss more than entertained. Looking back it was better I did it in a meeting than privately. Not usually the case.
    via u/Visible_Rabbit_1157
  • 32
    About two months after Karen was ejected, I began receiving calls from industry contacts asking what happened, advising me to stay away from her, and that Karen was sharing I had been "inappropriate with her". What the ..... does that sound like during the midst of "me too"?
    via u/Visible_Rabbit_1157
  • 33
    I kept in careful touch with Karen's lapdog and let it be know subtly that if a person were defame, slander, etc. me, it was a common practice of mine to issue a cease and desist, I always kept witnesses willing to testify, and was well positioned financially to go the distance. That put an end to the whispering.
    via u/Visible_Rabbit_1157
  • 34
    I later learned the executive who hired Karen did so to intentionally fail the initiative and selected Karen as it was a sure bet Karen would job it and did. I called a few contacts and learned the history for Karen was fired, fired, fired - innability to deliver - FOS - delusional - among other odd things.
    via u/Visible_Rabbit_1157
  • 35
    A defining trait of a Karen is to seek to unjustly impede another's ability to earn a living. The only way to manage a Karen situation is being willing to go the distance if you can. Otherwise, take it till you can escape.
    via u/Visible_Rabbit_1157

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