I find them annoying, despicable, unlikeable, pathetic people, and avoid them whenever possible. They're the main reason I refuse to ever work in call centers or do customer service for a living, because you run into them all the time in those lines of work. Just ask my mom and bother, who both worked in those exact jobs back in the early 2000s.
What's interesting is, we didn't originally have a name for them before the late 2010s. We've had noisy, loud, stupid, arrogant, entitled, nosy, in-your-face people like that for a long time, and names people have given them have changed over time. Most of the time, we just called them "bitches" or "assholes."
While the stereotype is that they usually resemble upper-middle-class, middle-aged white women (and many do fit this description); not all Karens are white, over 40, or even female!
My brother lost his job at customer service at Wal-Mart years ago because a black Karen wouldn't listen when he told her he couldn't refund the item she wanted the money back for without a receipt. She refused to listen to my brother and wanted the money back anyway. She was stupid, stubborn, and aggressive; a very ugly combination. Even better, my brother's manager had actually given him an officially signed paper, saying that no customers (we didn't call them "Karens" in the early 2000s, but they existed all the same) were allowed to see the manager about an issue, and they HAD to work with the representative instead. Despite my brother following the rules, the bitch then went screeching to a relative of hers who apparently had clout, who threatened Wal-Mart with a lawsuit, and they were forced to fire my brother, despite him doing nothing wrong and doing exactly what he was supposed to.
One type of woman I really feel sorry for in this subject are women who are actually named Karen, and were given that name long before this stereotype started. It's even worse if their personality is the exact opposite of the slur, and yet people insult them anyway.
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ClementinaSpur (883)
8 months ago
One type of woman I really feel sorry for in this subject are women who are actually named Karen, and were given those names long before this stereotype started. It's even worse if their personality is the exact opposite of the slur, and yet people insult them anyway.
Correct. This ridiculous craze has made it difficult for these women to make their way through their lives without being subjected to ridicule from not only people they know, but also absolute strangers.
The whole mess has set up dangerous situations at the hands of people who feel justified to attack women who have valid complaints. Here's an article about an attack on a woman in NYC who was perceived as a "Karen" for complaining about subway turnstile jumpers. Even the New York Post can't resist using the term in the headline to describe the victim in this case.
https://nypost.com/2023/07/18/nyc-karen-pepper-sprayed-after-subway-turnstile-confrontation/
White women who are truly wronged are now hesitant to speak up because they fear being called this pejorative and not taken seriously.
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AmeriGirl26 (12894)
8 months ago
It's why I'm really careful to be put on a calm, sweet, (sometimes concerned) and innocent persona when delivering a complaint about something to customer service. And I always make sure I have all the paperwork in order (had to learn the hard way with other items I've bought and regretted doing so). I mean, the purpose is to motivate the person to help you, and yelling at them might make them dig their heels in or tell you to go fly a kite. I know some people might think yelling, screaming, and making a fuss gets things done, but sometimes that actually makes things worse. Besides, there are many ways of dealing with people that don't involve loud voices at all, and they can be just as effective.
Although to be fair, some women really have deserved the title, like that woman who got hostile towards the older man who refused to wear a mask on an airplane during the pandemic craze. She even tried to hit him! She'd scream "Put your mask on!" and he'd yell back, "Sit down, Karen!" Luckily the flight attendants got clever and pretended like they were delivering refreshments to passengers, carefully forcing the woman down the aisle away from the man and back to her seat with the cart. (I watched the whole video in the article talking about it).
What's weirder is when you meet men pulling that nonsense.
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