Butcher fails to reserve Thanksgiving turkey for customer who booked in October, protests when she demands $40 deposit back: 'He wasn’t about to argue with 'a Thanksgiving Karen''

Ally Perry • Writer and Editor

Nov 7, 2026 5:15 PM EST

There are many businesses for which certain times of the year are when they make most of their money.

For example, you probably aren't going to find a lot of people seeking out a fresh Christmas tree in July, and it takes a special kind of individual to want to rent a sun lounger on the beach in the middle of winter. While some businesses are strictly seasonal, others are year-round and make their biggest profits in different seasons. Most types of retail are the perfect example of that throughout the period from Thanksgiving to Christmas.

While a rush is great news financially, the logistics of it can be stressful to work through. The more customers there are, the more likely it is that mistakes will occasionally be made, and things will be missed. As a result, good customer service is never more important than during the busy times. Owning up and trying to rectify an issue when something goes wrong is an important display of integrity.

Unfortunately, there are places where this simply doesn't factor into their business model. While it may be true that there is a type of entitled customer that it is better to disappoint than cave in to, there are plenty of others who just want to have a fair deal. If they have spent good money on a product or service that has failed to deliver that, it is only natural that they will want some kind of compensation for what they have experienced.

*_{A selection of meat on display at a butcher counter. Scene is illustrative and does not depict actual individuals or events.}*

A woman was feeling the pressure for Thanksgiving this year, as she would be cooking for her husband's family and 14 people overall. She started planning early last month, when she made a reservation at a local butcher for a large, fresh turkey.

By the time November rolled around, the butcher informed her that there were no turkeys left and her order needed to be cancelled. However, they were not willing to return her deposit, offering a small discount on another order instead. The owner of the shop called her a Karen, and she wanted to know if she was being unreasonable for wanting her deposit back.

Am I wrong for wanting my deposit back after the butcher oversold the turkey I reserved?

I'm hosting Thanksgiving for my husband's whole family this year, 14 people, which is the most I've ever done. Back in early October I stopped by the little butcher counter we like and put down a $40 deposit on a 20 pound fresh turkey. The guy wrote my name and number on an order pad and said they'd call the week of to set up a pickup.

They did call last week, but not about pickup. A woman told me they'd way overbooked the big fresh birds this year and were having to cut some of the orders, and mine was getting cut. She said I could take a 12 pound bird instead, or they'd just hold my deposit toward next year.

I told her a bird that size does NOT feed the whole family, and that I'd put money down specifically on the big fresh bird back in October. She got the owner. He said it's been an insane season and everybody overbooked, and he offered me 10% off the smaller bird or 10% off a future order. When I said I just wanted my $40 back instead,

The butcher didn't think her protests were reasonable.

since they can't give me what I paid for, he kind of laughed and told me he wasn't about to argue with "a Thanksgiving Karen" over a deposit.

So now I'm 3 weeks out and scrambling, and every other place that does fresh birds is either booked up or wants a holiday premium. I told him I'd just take the $40 back and sort it out myself, and he said the deposit "holds your spot," not a specific bird, which is not how he put it to me in October. I'm about to dispute the charge and leave a review saying they took money for a turkey and then sold it out from under me.

My husband says I should let it go so I'm not "that person" at a small local place we actually like. But they took my money and oversold the bird I reserved. Then they called me a Karen for asking for it back. AITK?

Ultimately, it was the butcher who had made the mistake, and they needed to accept responsibility for that. The customer still needed a large turkey, and she could be using that deposit money somewhere else. Trying to make her into a repeat customer by force is not likely to end well, especially when they already messed up.