Living in a society generally means trying to be civic minded when it comes to things like benches, parks or just places where lots of people congregate. However, there are always some folks out there who are so deeply and bizarrely entitled to things that are in no way, shape or form theirs, that they ruin everything for everyone else.
A netizen shared their bizarre encounter with a “Karen” who decided that she had “reserved” a random public seat in a mall. We reached out to the person who posted the story via private message and will update the article when they get back to us.
Many malls and stores put out seats and benches for folks who need to rest
Image credits: Olena_Rudo/Envato (not the actual photo)
But one Karen decided that a particular seat was “hers”
Image credits: djoronimo/Envato (not the actual photo)
Image credits: YuriArcursPeopleimages/Envato (not the actual photo)
Image credits: painsomnia
Entitled, rude people have been around forever
Image credits: Daniele La Rosa Messina/Unsplash (not the actual photo)
While the word we use for this sort of person, i.e. “Karen” has only been around for a decade or two, but there is no denying that folks in customer-facing roles have had to deal with them since the dawn of time. This story even manages to demonstrate that you can literally be sitting at the mall, minding your own business and still not be protected from some random stranger’s entitlement.
The most likely origin of “Karen,” in the form we know it today, came from a 2016 meme referencing an ad for the Nintendo Switch, in which a person’s horrible behavior gets them labeled the “antisocial Karen.” It’s worth noting that there were some other, possible “Karens” in the past, but, as with anything related to meme culture and virality, it could only take off once memes became ubiquitous.
It’s telling that around this time, some of the more prominent internet groups and forums dedicated to “Karen stories” were set up, which just goes to show that folks have been dealing with this sort of person for a long time, even if we don’t have records for it. The image of a blond, short haired woman is the most common “Karen” out there, but it’s worth noting that entitled people come in all shapes, sizes and forms.
These individuals have, unfortunately, made life difficult for random folks who happened to be named Karen. After all, this is a perfectly normal name, but in this day and age it just invokes the image of a person who needs to see your manager right this moment. Some companies have tried to “rehabilitate” the name, for example, Domino’s Pizza running an ad where “Nice Karens” are given free pizza. It was met with some controversy and they dropped it.
This “Karen” was lucky to avoid getting herself in trouble
Image credits: Curated Lifestyle/Unsplash (not the actual photo)
In short, the world is and has been plagued by folks who insist that they have some special rights or privileges, blacked up by the delusions in their head. For example, this woman invented the idea that she could “reserve” a seat at the mall and was willing to escalate to kicking a stranger over it.
Even worse, from her point of view, this was a child, so to a third party, it would look like this woman was attacking and cursing at a teenager who was just sitting in a chair. Unfortunately, none of the folks around stepped in and did anything until staff got involved. While it’s a bit cowardly, many people do not want to deal with a delusional person willing to attack someone in public. A lot of entitlement could perhaps be solved just by treating them more firmly.
Which is exactly what we see here, the security guard gets involved and the Karen is forced to retreat. We don’t get any follow-up about her, but it’s safe to surmise that the manager told her the same thing, that she should probably drop it. While we don’t know for certain, most malls do have, for example, cameras, and it would be very easy to find out if she was lying.
People were sympathetic to their story
