No matter how kind or polite you are, every once in a while you’re bound to run into someone who, for no reason at all, goes out of their way to be rude. Whether it’s a minor inconvenience or full-on drama, one thing’s certain, they’ll ruin your day. Online, these people have earned a name: Karens.
And of course, Redditors have no shortage of stories about their run-ins with them. Below, we’ve gathered some of the most patience-testing encounters people have shared. Scroll down to read them all—and maybe vent a little, too.
#41

The maintenance guy/gardener at my workplace back then was the husband of one of our colleagues who worked in the same office with us. His wife initially tried to present herself as a quiet, withdrawn, deeply religious, cute lady, but aside from proving to be a real pain in the a** and constantly hindering our work, it turned out over about three months that she was a true hypocrite, sneaky, and a scheming troublemaker. She would talk back, gossip, and constantly try to stir things up, an average public sector troublemaker.
My then-boss (who was a really great guy) had enough of this and let her go on a beautiful autumn day. The woman went out to cry in the garden, and I guess she spoke to her husband too because about half an hour later, the guy burst into the office with a RAKE in his hand and started yelling at us, cursing, and threatening. The best part was when he tried to hit my boss and was swinging the rake around, but thank God my boss caught his hand and kicked him out into the hallway after the first shove 😅
I think I'll remember the stunned silence and shock after that incident for the rest of my life.
My then-boss (who was a really great guy) had enough of this and let her go on a beautiful autumn day. The woman went out to cry in the garden, and I guess she spoke to her husband too because about half an hour later, the guy burst into the office with a RAKE in his hand and started yelling at us, cursing, and threatening. The best part was when he tried to hit my boss and was swinging the rake around, but thank God my boss caught his hand and kicked him out into the hallway after the first shove 😅
I think I'll remember the stunned silence and shock after that incident for the rest of my life.
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17points
#42

When I moved into my apartment, I didn't know anyone yet. Karen made me a bunch of copies of keys (front door, back door, trash chute, indoor-outdoor gate, common door) then waved them around, saying it would be 17,500. I looked at her, because I'd never seen her before... "Who's the lady?" She was deeply outraged that I hadn't paid her for something I didn't even ask for.
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16points
#43

I was in a store during Covid, already standing in line at the checkout, nicely keeping the one and a half meters distance, when the woman in front of me started hassling me because the toe of my shoe shouldn't be on that line (which, you know, was taped to indicate the one and a half meters), because my foot is there, but my toe is closer to her. At first, I tried not to pay attention to her nonsense, but she bumped my shopping cart into me several times, saying she didn't want to end up on a ventilator because of me, and that I was selfish, and I should get out of line and go home.
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16points
#44

A customer called and stated she had shopped at my store the weekend prior and made a huge purchase, but didn’t realize the whole store was going to be 20% off the next weekend (Black Friday) and therefore she wanted me to refund 20% of her prior purchase back to her card since she had paid full price and that was unfair. I silently laughed, said no I’m sorry I’m unable to do that, so she got mad and hung up
16points
#45

Movie student job. Dude asked how spicy the sauce was for the tortilla. I said, well, it depends on the person, I think it's more like piquant. After the movie, he stormed over to the counter, slammed the tray with the sauce on it, yelled something about what a jerk I was, that the sauce almost burned his girl's mouth. He asked for the complaint book and wrote this in it.
15points
#46

It happened just yesterday. My husband and I were pulling out of a small street onto a bigger road. Karen was turning in from the main road onto the street where we were. At the last second, she swerved towards us and then put on her turn signal. My husband, surprised, raised his hand on the steering wheel. It was like a total "wtf" hand gesture (he raised his hand and put it down, no pointing or anything). Karen stopped next to us while there were cars coming behind her and behind us, rolled down her window, and asked my husband what his problem was. We just told her to move on and not yell, but she kept going.
15points

