'My teenage self took petty revenge': 16-year-old beauty salon employee gets back at Karen coworker

Author image for Remy Millisky
Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Nov 18, 2024 11:00 AM EST

Dealing with bad customers is one thing, but trying to work with a coworker who can't stand you can make your workday hard to bear. Just ask this person, who realized at age 16 that some people are impossible to please, no matter what you do. Clashing personalities or an easily irritated coworker can make for an awkward work environment, and aside from killing them with kindness, there's not a lot you can do to change the situation.

This person was also still a young teenager who knew they "had to start somewhere," which could've also irritated their coworker. As a teen, you don't always know what's normal in a work environment and what's unacceptable. For example, this teen heard that Karen coworker mocking them behind their back---on two different occasions! That's not okay, and it's the kind of behavior that should get a worker in hot water with management. At least the teen got some excellently petty revenge on this coworker. Check out the full story below, as well as comments from people who loved the story. 

Up next, read about what happened when a bowling group scolded a group of youngsters who wouldn't stay in their lane: "My friends called me a Karen and said kids will be kids."

Advertisement
  • 01
    Cheezburger Image 10429422336
    via Brooke Cagle For Unsplash+

    This image is for illustration only, and the subjects are models; the image does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 02
    My teenage self took petty revenge on a work placement bu y
    via u/[deleted]
  • 03
    When I was 16 i took place in a two week work placement scheme at a beauty salon. The buy in question was an adult woman (we will call Karen) who instead of providing opportunities to learn about the beauty industry, instructed me to deep clean the salon and take
    via u/[deleted]
  • 04
    appointments. I figured you have to start somewhere and while I was disappointed, I was young and keen and did as I was asked. The problem was that Karen would exclude me from staff breaks, and regularly cut my lunch hour to 20 mins, just as I was leaving to get lunch. I also heard her twice doing an
    via u/[deleted]
  • 05
    impression of me to the other staff members. I would go home crying and blaming myself. On my last day, someone cancelled their appointment with Karen at the last minute. They were supposed to be getting a hair cut and dye which took aprox 2 hours. Better still, the appointment had been booked towards the end of the
    via u/[deleted]
  • 06
    day (the salon would stay open past closing time for regular customers). I decided not to tell Karen. I sat at the desk and watched as she became more and more frustrated by the lateness of her appointment,
    via u/[deleted]
  • 07
    pacing up and down in frustration like a caged beast and cursing the client. She was still spitting venom as I left and I went home feeling pretty good about myself for the first time in 2 weeks.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 08
    [deleted] One thing I wished I'd learned sooner as a teen- the types of middle aged women that want to beef with teenage girls are really, REALLY easy to wind up because their own sad lives are severely lacking :)
    via u/[deleted]
  • 09
    Standard-Recep... You take her appointments. Time for you to start adding fake appointments. Start giving her "new clients" a couple times a week, that "mysteriously" never show up ...
    via u/Standard-Reception90
  • 10
    Nefariousnesss... It would also be a good idea to have a chat with the work study organizers about the actions of the Karen, and how you were given minimal actual instruction. They will lose the unpaid workers that she was abusing and ridiculing. .
    via u/NefariousnessSweet70
  • 11
    Oh darn. She will have to hire a front desk person. And a janitor..
    via u/NefariousnessSweet70
  • 12
    Seite88 If you're done working for her make an appointment for yourself. These two hours are your time to order her around and criticize her work...
    via u/Seite88

Want More? Follow Us and Add Us as a Preferred Source on Google.

Tags

karens workplace-stories jobs petty-revenge-reddit job revenge work revenge-stories demanding petty revenge petty karens in the wild workplace entitled karen story karen entitled people
Scroll Down For The Next Article