‘I don’t work here': Grocery store Karen grabs electrician by the collar demanding ‘clean up in aisle 10,' he almost actually does it due to sheer craziness-levels

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Elna McHilderson • Managing Editor
Dec 1, 2023 12:00 PM EST

Karens gonna Karen no matter your profession. So whether you work in the service industry or are the CEO of your own company, nobody is safe from a Karen. Take, for example, this electrician's story on Reddit. He was hired, as an electrician, to do some lighting work at a grocery store. This was back when he was a young blue collar worker and still new to the trade. He was alone, on a ladder, working on the lights, very much looking like an electrician and in no way a grocery store clerk. And yet, a Karen still approached him, yelling, demanding that he clean up the spilled ice cream container down the aisle. At first, he ignored her thinking there was no way he was talking to her, but as she insisted, he politely told her that he didn't work at the grocery store, he's just the hired electrician. In a normal world, that would induce maybe a little embarrassed laugh and apology and then the person would leave the electrician alone to find someone who did work there, but not in Karen world. In Karen world, it is perfectly acceptable to get in this man's face, grab him by the shoulders, and threateningly say something that is oozing with entitlement. Usually, this is when the Karen needs to be put in there place, but if this is your first Karen encounter, it's a little jarring and sometimes they confuse and spook you so much, that you just do what they say. It's disappointing, but it happens. This poor young electrician was shooketh by his first Karen encounter, for sure. 

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  • 01
    CAPODAN មេ លោកសាក ភ
    via Pickpic
  • 02
    Posted by u/Aditude Lord 2 days ago Karen demanded I clean spilled ice cream M
    via u/AditudeLord
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    I'm an electrician, I was working in a grocery store replacing all 1956 flouressent light bulbs with led bulbs. I was packing a cart of old bulbs to the back to dispose of them and as I walked I heard
    via u/AditudeLord
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    "Hey you!" I ignored it till I heard it again. I turned to look around and heard her say "yeah you!" And the Karen stormed up to me. "Pick that up." She demanded while pointing at an icecream
    via u/AditudeLord
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    container broken on the ground, her voice full of entitlement. "I don't work here." I said thinking that would explain everything
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    "Well then, what are you doing here?" She demanded, irritated that I dared to contradict her. "I'm changing light bulbs." I said
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    wondering what her problem was. She grabbed my shoulder and brought her face an inch from mine and growled "That means you work here, so clean it up." I
    via u/AditudeLord
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    I then realized that I was dealing with a crazy person so I just said ok to make her leave me alone. An actual worker at the store saw the whole thing and waved me off and cleaned it, while I went on with my day. The whole experience was weird.
    via u/AditudeLord
  • 09
    Inebriated_Gorilla. 2 days ago So how many Karens does it take to change a light bulb?
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    SheWhoLovesToDraw 2 days ago ● Shouldn't have said "okay", that was just reinforcing her delusion that not only did she have
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    the right to grab you without consent - physical assault - but that she had some kind of authority over you.
    via u/SheWhoLovesToDraw
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    Hminney 2 days ago ● Perhaps advise her to take her hand off you or you will call the police and perform a citizens arrest for assault. She'd be right to assume that
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    the police are so short staffed that they won't turn up, but if you perform a citizen arrest then you can probably stick her in a back room for an hour to wait
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    Advanced-Item-7686. 2 days ago You are a better person than I. If someone were to physically grab me in that manner, they would have gotten shoved to the floor.
    via u/Advanced-Item-7686
  • 15
    I remember years ago working at Sonic dealing with Irate customers. One night, I was taking food out, and someone yelled at me to get my attention. I went over, and they started complaining about another customer getting their food delivered before them.
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    I tried to be very kind about it and explained I didn't make the food, only deliver it once it was out. I said I would check the status of the food and thought that was that.
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    Right as I turned to go back inside, this customer quickly grabbed my shoulder and said, "Don't you walk away from me." At this point, I had enough, I quickly spun around and knocked their arm away. They got all
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    taken back, and I proceeded to very bluntly explain that I would not be serving them, and physical assault was not in any way an acceptable form of trying to talk to me.
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    My manager ended up going out there and dealing with the situation, as there was no way I would be serving or even approaching the customer after that interaction.
    via u/Advanced-Item-7686
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    gormami 2 days ago When I was an assistant manager at a fast food place long ago, I had someone try and grab my tie across the counter. I managed to hold it together long enough to go and tell
    via u/gormami
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    the General Manager that he needed to get them out of the store or there would be a real problem. Years later, I was a GM of my own store, and I never had to get into a physical situation. I'm 6'4" and not a small guy in any dimension.
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    When a ruckus started or one of my employees called me for help, all I had to do was put on my "mean face" and walk up to the front. Once whoever it was saw me they would stop and either just leave, or we would sort it out peacefully.
    via u/gormami
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    Once they were gone, I usually had to go to the back and laugh my rear end off, just from the look they had when I walked up and they saw me the first time.
    via u/gormami
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    There was no way I was going to risk a law suit by assaulting them, but if they didn't know that, it was OK with me.
    via u/gormami

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karens blue collar employee tradie working in trades tradesman trade work blue collar workers blue collar worker story reddit karen young blue collar senior blue collar karens in the wild entitled karen karma r-entitled Reddit karen story blue collar karen entitled people
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