have to see these
I was outside playing on my iPad when this Karen accused me of stealing it. Luckily, my dad saw this—and he shut her down for good.
When I was seven years old, I was sitting in the park and watching Netflix on my iPad. The park was right in front of my house and my parents were watching me from inside.
Then along comes a Karen. She told me that I wasn’t allowed to loiter and then asked whose iPad I was using. “It’s mine, miss,” I answered and started to get up to go home.
My parents warned me about prejudiced people but I was still confused about how a child sitting on the grass in a public park would be considered loitering, but I didn’t ask her. “Come back here! You swiped that from someone. didn’t you?" She said, grabbing my arm. Her hand was cold and clammy. “Miss, please let me go,” I said. But she would just not let up.
Even at that young age I already knew that arguing with older white people never ended well. “Give me the iPad,” she said, trying to grab it. I clutched it to my chest and just then my dad came running out of the house and to my rescue. “Ma’am, your hands are on my child. If you don’t let go I will call the authorities”.
She huffed and finally let me go. “You probably shoplifted the iPad for her anyway,” she mumbled as she walked away.
2. Showdown At The Shallow End
This happened to me at the public pool today. I found a shaded area to set up my chair while being conscious of not taking up too much space so that others can use the shade, too. I noticed that beside me there were five towels on the ground taking up nearly all the shade. After keeping an eye on them for about an hour, I noticed that no one had even used them.
I was out of the chair so that I could soak up some sun with my son nearby when suddenly, a woman walked up to me and snarkily asked, “Is this your chair”? I told her that it was and asked if she’d like me to move it. I should have turned off the podcast I was listening to because I didn’t quite hear her reply, but I could tell from her expression, it wasn’t friendly. It felt like something was about to go down.
I asked her if there was a problem and she said, “Your chair is not six feet away from us. What is WRONG with you? What if I have a sick child”? I just stared at her for a moment thinking, Ooh, now it’s on like Donkey Kong…I smiled at her and said, “Um, did you ever think that maybe you shouldn’t be at the pool in the first place, then, Karen”?
As her enraged mind was processing what I had said, I added, “And maybe you shouldn’t be hog all the shade with five huge towels when you’re not even using the space”. As she started to sputter out some Karen-esque clap backs, I turned up my podcast and flipped her the bird. She screamed, “That’s a really nice gesture to use in front of your son”!
I shrugged and said, “I’m showing him how to stand up to bullies. Go bother someone else”.
3. The Customer Is Very, Very Wrong
When I was working as a store manager at Starbucks, I had the pleasure of meeting many Karens. This one was a real doozy, though. She came in and ordered a Venti cappuccino. My assistant manager and an experienced barista were cranking out the beverages, no sweat…until this one. One return, OK, fair enough. Two returns, OK, but there is no way that one is wrong. Three returns?
When she finally got out all that she needed to get out, I told her that I will not have my staff treated that way and asked her to go elsewhere for her coffee since we clearly were not able to serve her as she wanted. Her jaw dropped. She was definitely not expecting that response, but I wasn’t in the mood to kiss her behind.
She stormed out in a huff and I got major kudos from the staff and customers within earshot for defending my staff, who I knew were in the right and were just trying to give her what she wanted. Who knew it would be such an impossible task? Send your prayers to the poor workers at the next coffee shop she goes to!
I was outside playing on my iPad when this Karen accused me of stealing it. Luckily, my dad saw this—and he shut her down for good.
When I was seven years old, I was sitting in the park and watching Netflix on my iPad. The park was right in front of my house and my parents were watching me from inside.
Then along comes a Karen. She told me that I wasn’t allowed to loiter and then asked whose iPad I was using. “It’s mine, miss,” I answered and started to get up to go home.
My parents warned me about prejudiced people but I was still confused about how a child sitting on the grass in a public park would be considered loitering, but I didn’t ask her. “Come back here! You swiped that from someone. didn’t you?" She said, grabbing my arm. Her hand was cold and clammy. “Miss, please let me go,” I said. But she would just not let up.
Even at that young age I already knew that arguing with older white people never ended well. “Give me the iPad,” she said, trying to grab it. I clutched it to my chest and just then my dad came running out of the house and to my rescue. “Ma’am, your hands are on my child. If you don’t let go I will call the authorities”.
She huffed and finally let me go. “You probably shoplifted the iPad for her anyway,” she mumbled as she walked away.
2. Showdown At The Shallow End
This happened to me at the public pool today. I found a shaded area to set up my chair while being conscious of not taking up too much space so that others can use the shade, too. I noticed that beside me there were five towels on the ground taking up nearly all the shade. After keeping an eye on them for about an hour, I noticed that no one had even used them.
I was out of the chair so that I could soak up some sun with my son nearby when suddenly, a woman walked up to me and snarkily asked, “Is this your chair”? I told her that it was and asked if she’d like me to move it. I should have turned off the podcast I was listening to because I didn’t quite hear her reply, but I could tell from her expression, it wasn’t friendly. It felt like something was about to go down.
I asked her if there was a problem and she said, “Your chair is not six feet away from us. What is WRONG with you? What if I have a sick child”? I just stared at her for a moment thinking, Ooh, now it’s on like Donkey Kong…I smiled at her and said, “Um, did you ever think that maybe you shouldn’t be at the pool in the first place, then, Karen”?
As her enraged mind was processing what I had said, I added, “And maybe you shouldn’t be hog all the shade with five huge towels when you’re not even using the space”. As she started to sputter out some Karen-esque clap backs, I turned up my podcast and flipped her the bird. She screamed, “That’s a really nice gesture to use in front of your son”!
I shrugged and said, “I’m showing him how to stand up to bullies. Go bother someone else”.
3. The Customer Is Very, Very Wrong
When I was working as a store manager at Starbucks, I had the pleasure of meeting many Karens. This one was a real doozy, though. She came in and ordered a Venti cappuccino. My assistant manager and an experienced barista were cranking out the beverages, no sweat…until this one. One return, OK, fair enough. Two returns, OK, but there is no way that one is wrong. Three returns?
When she finally got out all that she needed to get out, I told her that I will not have my staff treated that way and asked her to go elsewhere for her coffee since we clearly were not able to serve her as she wanted. Her jaw dropped. She was definitely not expecting that response, but I wasn’t in the mood to kiss her behind.
She stormed out in a huff and I got major kudos from the staff and customers within earshot for defending my staff, who I knew were in the right and were just trying to give her what she wanted. Who knew it would be such an impossible task? Send your prayers to the poor workers at the next coffee shop she goes to!