When someone is being a jerk to other people, most of us look the other way, telling ourselves things like, "it doesn't concern us," "nobody is getting hurt," or "why bother, we won't change them." But not every situation is the same, and not every tool deserves our indifference. Some are so exceptionally annoying, it's impossible not to retaliate. Just ask Reddit user NicotineAmy; when she was working at an amusement park, she had the pleasure of meeting one.
The lady was mocking little kids for the sole reason of how they looked on a ride. Make no mistake, she wasn't laughing with them or anything, she was just insulting them. Something along the lines of, "Look at their squashed faces, haha, they're so stupid." NicotineAmy couldn't just sit quietly as she heard these immature and mean comments, so she scolded the woman, demanding respect for other guests. But the woman didn't listen. She was indulging in her ignorance.
So when she hopped on one of the seats herself, NicotineAmy gave her one hell of a ride.
This one amusement park guest was being very rude to other customers
Image credits: m01229 (not the actual photo)
So one of the employees gave her a ride she will never forget
Image credits: nicotineamy
We managed to get in touch with NicotineAmy, and she was kind enough to tell us more about her time at the amusement park and the whole Karen situation. "I've worked the summer job for around 5 years and I loved my time working at the park," NicotineAmy told Bored Panda. "But with getting older, I will not be returning."
The ride operator said most of her guests were amazing. "We got a lot of amazing and patient families. [But] we did get our fair share of entitled/toxic people [and] I've got a lot [more similar] stories. One of my favorites was when I ran the ticket booth: I had a woman try to jump me after my shift since she wanted a refund I had no control over."
Unloading on a Karen online can serve as a much-needed catharsis. There's only so much people who have to smile while customers cuss at them can take. Publicly shaming individuals for their entitled tantrums feels good, like a much-needed reward after taking in all of that negativity. But shaming Karens only treats the symptom and not the disease.
Even though Karens come in all ages and names, a business comparison company out of the United Kingdom called Bionic decided to do a humorous new study and look into their prevalence around the globe.
Image credits: nicotineamy
"All small business owners need to deal with negative feedback at some stage," Dani Weller, customer service team leader at Bionic, told Forbes. "We ran our report to find out if location had a bearing on the number of complaints, and during our research, we found the Karen phenomenon was a real thing, with Karen ranking in the top ten names for people who complain the most."
First of all, Bionic looked at the most Karen-like incidents by analyzing over one million reviews on Trustpilot, a leading source of customer feedback used by brands to improve their product offerings, customer experience, and service. Bionic then matched up the names of the top complainers to find out who the most common complainers really are and where they’re most active. They also determined the real names of the women—and men—most likely to become a future Karen.
Interestingly, the biggest Karens aren't actually named Karen. According to the data, the top name for women most likely to complain around the globe is Louise, followed by Ann and Jane. Karen only came in at number eight on the list. "Louise is three times more Karen than Karen—responsible for 4.8% of complaints in the 1,799 reviews we analyzed on Trustpilot," the team at Bionic explained.
"Although we typically refer to people who demand to speak to managers (and generally make life difficult for those around them) as a Karen, we were actually surprised that the name Karen did in fact rank in the top ten names for people who complain the most," Weller added. "It infers that the meme wasn't just based on a random name."
When talking about men, John, David, and James are most likely to complain.
The company also looked at the women's names that exhibit Karen-like behavior the least—Lisa and Emma were responsible for only 0.1% of complaints each.
Besides analyzing the names, Bionic looked at the countries with the most women named Louise (the top complainer), as well as the places with the most women who are actually named Karen. In both cases, the U.S. was the top location in the world for Karens and Karen-like behavior.
People were really glad that justice was served
"The report indicates that while California is the state with the highest density of Karens, the Karen phenomenon is... broad and universal," Weller explained. "The issue of unruly and unreasonable customers is one that affects customer-facing workers, as well as other customers, the world over."
If you, just like NicotineAmy, encounter a Karen, here are a few tips to get you through it:
- Keep calm and listen to their issues. "Even if you don't think their point of view is correct, you need to show a willingness to at least hear their side of the story," Weller said.
- Be solution-focused. "Acknowledging the [Karen's] feelings and offering solutions goes a long way. Offer a genuine apology and focus on how the situation can be rectified. Be polite, genuine, and let them know you hear what they’re saying."
- Stick to the facts. "If you can't come to a solution, calmly let [the Karen] know why. At this point, it's important to keep your head, explain the situation factually, not subjectively, and keep emotions in check so you don’t poke the proverbial bear," Weller explained.
- Keep records and protect yourself. "Keep communication open and transparent and record what's taking place."
- Know your rights. Weller also said it's good to know your legal rights and what customers are entitled to. "If you ever feel like you could be on the verge of a legal issue, you should seek professional legal advice as soon as you’re able to. There’s also plenty of resources for free online."
For anyone wondering, this is the Moby Dick ride and how it's meant to run: "Moby Dick is a ride for ages 6+ that goes in a wipe-on wipe-off motion," NicotineAmy said. "It's what I'd like to call a test ride for kids who want to go on faster rides. The ride doesn't go SUPER fast. When I said I put it on the fastest speed, it's really not that fast. If you look at the video, you can see how the ride works! I run the ride the same way they do in the video!"
"I didn't change how the ride was meant to be at all, I just held them up top for an extra 5 seconds from what I normally would do," NicotineAmy further explained on Reddit after her post went viral.
"I've stopped rides before for medical emergencies, panic attacks, vomiting, seizures. It's my job to watch the guests who are on the ride and make calls. I could tell she was just scared; every day, I get people screaming 'stop', stomping, and yelling and it's just their reaction to the ride. You can tell when they mean to get me off this second vs. the 'omg omg omg' reaction. I'd never willingly put someone in danger."
"I've been doing my job long enough to know when something is truly wrong," NicotineAmy continued. "She paid to go, willingly got on to the ride, and even pulled the seat down. She knew what she was getting into." She just got a free extra!
