Bartender gets even with entitled Karen customer who never tipped after crossing paths outside of work: 'The money she just gifted me was just karma'

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Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor
Dec 3, 2024 8:00 AM EST

It's not every day that you get to call out an entitled customer after the fact. Most of the time when this happens, employees choose to be the bigger person and smile through the pain instead of giving the aggressor a piece of their minds. However, every so often, you get the opportunity of a lifetime to stand up for yourself and say what you couldn't say in the moment.

Here, we have a bartender who was repeatedly never tipped (not even a cent) by an entitled Karen customer who worked at the nearby mall. Well, when the roles were reversed and the bartender became the Karen's customer, he ended up finally getting all that tip money he deserved, even if it came in a surprising way. Talk about good karma!

Keep scrolling below for the full story and for the best reactions from folks in the comments section. For more, check out this post about a teacher who got even with a misbehaving student.

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    Cheezburger Image 10436266240
    via Unsplash+ (Lala Azizli)

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

  • 02
    Karma is a was she I ... and so M OC Cross posted elsewhere. It being Xmas time reminded me of ...
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    Story from quite a few years ago, from when I was a bartender in a corporate style cookie cutter restaurant. I mostly worked nights, but had one regular mid shift on Fridays. We were always super busy at the bar for lunch on Fridays and usually had quite a few of the mall
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    workers coming in to eat then head back to work. Nearly every Friday the same smug, borderline ride lady came in for lunch. Everytime she paid exact change. Zero tip. Maybe half the time she would complain over some minor
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    inconvenience, and more than a few times got a comped meal. The more I had to wait on her, the more indignant and I got. So around Christmas time I was out and about in the mall buying for
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    family and friends. Picked out something nice for my girlfriend at the time ... a sheer top which I thought would look amazing on her. Decently priced with it being on sale too.
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    Walking up to the cashier, I was a bit surprised to run into ... resting- face. Whatever. In street clothes I felt like she barely registered who I was, or maybe she really didn't care who was at her register... maybe both. So, I hand her a $20 bill. She examines it
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    for a moment. Turned it over twice. Held it up to the light even. Then... out comes the counterfeit pen marker. Thinking to myself "a bit excessive, no?".
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    Change should have been around a dollar and change. Surprisingly, she hands out $81 plus change. She calls next in line, so I stepped to the side for a moment in contemplation. I could honestly feel the dil on one shoulder and angel on the other.
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    Took me a moment or two ... but I finally let my moral compass win and stepped back in front of the register. I nicely explained that there was a mistake made, but before I could continue she shot me down and briskly told me in a semi-professional tone to GTFOH.
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    So... I did. The way I look at it? All those lost tips and the money she just gifted me was just karma. Si guess. to be her I
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    Profreadsalot 1 day ago At least you tried to do the right thing. Many people would have just walked away.
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    י. plexdiferous OP 1 day ago • Trust me... thought of it. But a bit of empathy hit me and to be honest, didn't like the thought of her needing to pay. it back to the store. Or maybe get in trouble for being light that night.
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    But once she glared and me and told me to get out of line? Mind made up.
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    Tallguy71 19 hr. ago Next time she's in the bar and pays...also use a pen marker righhhhht in front of her ☑
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    -DethLok- 1 day ago Meanwhile, in Australia (and numerous other countries) all our notes are different colours and different sizes, the larger the value, the larger the size.
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    Mistakes like that are VERY hard to make. 189 Reply Share
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    plexdiferous OP. 1 day ago I have been overseas and yes, many countries have unique colors and sizes to differentiate the bill denominations. which is definitely a good thing.
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    But in my defense, she examined that $20 for a good, solid 15 seconds before going to the security marker. You would think that a long look like that would have been enough. 154 Reply Share
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    ghostwooman · 15 hr. ago The cherry on top for me: you know from experience that she's capable of giving exact change.
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    ThinkbigShrinktofit 1 day ago I have no issues with how this was handled. I would have done the same. But I'm wondering if she would have gotten into way more trouble if you complained to a manager about her bad customer service ...and cash- handling.
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    plexdiferous OP . 8 hr. ago Honestly? I thought removing myself from her line as told and walking away was enough. It ended up being spent on Xmas gifts and not on myself... so I felt zero guilt.
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karens karen-customer customers entitled people karma karens in the wild bartender entitled reddit thread Reddit karen
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