Source: Reddit
I wasn’t sure where this Karen story belonged, but decided to post it here in honor of its hero, who most definitely doesn’t work here. Anymore.
So, for some context, this story involves me, a nice lady, a Karen, Karen’s husband, and a guy who used to work there. We’ll call him Adam. But he’s actually my hero. Also, I’m obviously a trans guy, which did not help.
I work at a large hardware store as an appliance associate (we wear orange aprons, so I’ll let you figure out where that is). Now, I don’t usually work in flooring, but the regular flooring guy was on break so, after the nice lady asked me to get something down from the overhead for her, I headed over there to help. Seeing Karen and Adam standing at the carpet cutting machine, not together, I tell them I’ll come help them as soon as I am done with the nice lady.
After about 2 minutes, I return to the carpet cutting machine to find Karen gone, leaving me to talk Adam through what would be best for him to get for his project. Just as I’m getting ready to roll out the carpet we decided on, Karen comes stomping back.
Karen: “There you are!”
Adam: “It’s alright man, take care of her first. I’m not in any rush.”
Me: “How can I help you, ma’am?”
Karen: “I need 60 ft of AstroTurf. How f***ing hard is that?” I start rolling out her carpet “You should’ve just done that to begin with. Are you stupid or something? All of you people are lazy good for nothing retards.”
Adam: “Ma’am, there’s no reason to talk to him like that. He’s just doing his job.”
Karen: “Not F**** fast enough, not that it’s any of your business. You need to stay out of our conversation.”
Adam: obviously done with her bullsh** “Look, he’s just trying to do his job and you’re acting like a b**ch.”
A verbal smackdown ensues until my manager, we’ll call her Debbie, walks over to intervene.
Manager: “Is there a problem?”
Karen: “I was just having a conversation with this lady points to me and he started being rude. You need to handle it.”
Manager: “Ma’am, he doesn’t work here, I don’t know what you want me to tell you.”
My manager proceeds to try and talk the woman down while I roll and cut her carpet. By the time I had her carpet ready, her husband had arrived with a cart to load it up. Then, thinking everything was over, my manager walks away and I turn to Adam to get him his carpet. That’s when I realized that Karen had been telling her husband what happened.
Husband: storming out to Adam “Did you call my wife a bi****?!?!”
Adam: shrugging “I said she was acting like a b****h. There’s no reason to talk to associates the way she did.”
Husband: “You need to learn some f***ing respect! You can’t talk to customers like that!”
Adam: “I am a customer. Which means I can say the things everyone else is thinking, but can’t say.”
Then, the husband tried to fight Adam before my manager came back and escorted the couple to the front. Come to find out, Adam used to work there, and loved the opportunity to tell customers everything he’d never been able to when he worked there. I’ve never been so satisfied.
