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This Tumblr Thread Goes Viral After Proving That Asking For A Refund Doesn’t Necessarily Make You A Karen
There she is, an enraged suburban white woman calling on the National guards on the underpaid Target employee simply for refusing her refund. Shrieking, stabbing the air or calling for your manager after you politely ask them to put a medical mask on. They want what they want when they want it. Try to tell them any different and you might just get yourself into ‘a Karen situation’.
Fed up with the joke that all Karens must be these entitled and hysteric Medusas with ponytails, visors and high-pitch voices ready to attack, people all over the internet started sharing their stories countering this silly (and occasionally absurdly entertaining) female archetype. As the Tumblr user ‘ruffboijuliaburnsides’ explains in her post that quickly went viral, there’s a big difference between being reasonable about the problem at hand and having a fit every time Starbucks’ employee serves you oat milk instead of an almond one with your Frappuccino.
This is how the entire conversation goes. And if you’re hungry for more Karen content – check this out.
RELATED:
A couple of Tumblr users started discussing reasons why the Karen meme is still alive and kicking
Image credits: Ümit Yıldırım
Then one Karen shared her ‘unusual’ story and the whole thread went viral soon after
Image credits: kyraneko
Words are haunting. Just ask Chad or Becky. Hearing your name used as an insult has become a norm to them. Still, when a few white self-entitled ladies in their mid-50s have a power not only to call a military on you for being a person of color or simply wearing a mask; but to drag the name down to pre-Depression levels in terms of its popularity in the US — it doesn’t sound like a harmless meme no more.
A lot of folks couldn’t agree more
What do you think ?
Monday 4 years ago
I don't think anyone was saying you're automatically a "Karen" if you ask for a refund. The world at large understands pretty well what "normal customer behaviour" and "entitled customer behaviour" is.
Rosie Hamilton 4 years ago (edited)
Exactly. I thought the whole 'Karen' thing was about asking for a manager unnecessarily, usually because even though the staff are perfectly capable, they want someone more senior because they see themselves as so important or the staff as automatically beneath them. Utter rubbish like that. Refunds if you haven't the goods or services that you have paid for are fine. Asking for senior staff when anyone can deal with it, not fine but obviously if they can't then you have that right. Also not fine is being rude. Be polite, let staff do their jobs. If it's more serious or they can't handle it then management can be involved. I've been the manager that people asked to talk to - usually unnecessarily as my team could deal with things. Though I never minded being a resource for my staff to use if people were being unpleasant. Hope that makes sense (migraine just starting... 😕)
Load More Replies...
Caro Caro 4 years ago
I remember posting something here on BP about me asking to talk to the hotel manager about something and I got slammed and downvoted to hell. It could be an American thing that asking for the manager is wrong but I have had to do this in Thailand (friend fell through the deck around a pool - not funny) and in France (dirty bathroom). If done politely and with good reason it's ok.
Random Anon 4 years ago
Oh I feel you. It's surprising that far too many people take a binary view to life. It's either you agree or disagree. Completely. Apparently gray isn't a thing. There are nuances and context to everything. And in order to really observe these, you need to place yourself in the other person's shoes. The alleged "victim" or "aggressor". I would like to think, we as a society has that much intellect to actually process empathy into objective thoughts. I'm still hoping. But I ain't holding my breath.
Load More Replies...
Perfumista Perfumista 4 years ago
I got dissed on Bored Panda for mentioning that I had requested a refund on delivered food that was wrecked because it was packed poorly.
Rosie Hamilton 4 years ago
Sounds perfectly reasonable - the refund request, not the dissing!
Load More Replies...
King Joffrey 4 years ago
Of course it's fine to ask for a refund. What's not right is taking out your frustrations at company policies on the customer service employee who had nothing to do with setting them up.
Roxy Eastland 4 years ago
I will not allow the use of 'karen' as an insult to go unchallenged as it just another misogynistic way to diminish women. Even when used against a man the intent is to insult him by implying he is woman-like. I went through a list of 'karens' on another BP post and it was a collection of people behaving badly or annoyingly in many, many different ways that had only one thing in common: they were women. And why is it reserved for cis/het white women? Because society already has ways to silence and demean other women, but cis/het white women also needed to be brought under control. It is not 'reverse racism' or indeed any type of racism. It's a way of making sure the one group of women that couldn't be hammered back down by other forms of bigotry can be shut up by this method. Add Karen to the long list of ways of reminding women that no matter what they do, part of what is already being held against them is their femaleness: dragon, battle axe, cow, bitch, whore, old bag, old trout etc
Pungent Sauce 4 years ago
Pretty big difference between bringing a legitimate complaint about an issue calmly and civilly to an employee of a business and melting the f*ck down in public because you aren’t getting your way. I think most people know this.
Bender Bending Rodríguez 4 years ago
You won't believe me when I say this but this is exactly what I was about to write here. It was and is never about asking, it has always been about how you ask.
Load More Replies...
Eric Mac Fadden 4 years ago
This week I asked a refund for a lamp. The price was so irrelevant that the store even giving my cash back said to keep the product. It was on Mercado Livre in Brazil.
Dave In MD 4 years ago
As someone who works retail there is a huge difference between asking for a refund and being an ass. And trust me, being polite will get you a more favorable response. There is company policy, and I can make exceptions to it but if you are a jerk or berate me or my staff, I will make no exceptions. Coming in and nastily saying "you sold me the wrong part" is being a jerk when you ordered online and all we did was give you what you ordered. Coming in and nastily saying "you sold me the wrong part" is being a jerk when in an attempt to get you the right part you say "I don't know" to every question I ask you about your car. Oh, and as I side note, when I ask you what you drive, don't point to the parking lot and say, "the blue one".
Caro Caro 4 years ago (edited)
*me grabbing my phone and calling Dave* Hi Dave, it's me Caro. I've got this thing from your store and I think it's the wrong one. Can I come over and change it? What? No it's the grey car ... Oh uhm diesel. Sorry, aaaaah stick shift,. Maybe I should just come and let you decide huh!. :D
Load More Replies... Monday 4 years ago
I don't think anyone was saying you're automatically a "Karen" if you ask for a refund. The world at large understands pretty well what "normal customer behaviour" and "entitled customer behaviour" is.
Rosie Hamilton 4 years ago (edited)
Exactly. I thought the whole 'Karen' thing was about asking for a manager unnecessarily, usually because even though the staff are perfectly capable, they want someone more senior because they see themselves as so important or the staff as automatically beneath them. Utter rubbish like that. Refunds if you haven't the goods or services that you have paid for are fine. Asking for senior staff when anyone can deal with it, not fine but obviously if they can't then you have that right. Also not fine is being rude. Be polite, let staff do their jobs. If it's more serious or they can't handle it then management can be involved. I've been the manager that people asked to talk to - usually unnecessarily as my team could deal with things. Though I never minded being a resource for my staff to use if people were being unpleasant. Hope that makes sense (migraine just starting... 😕)
Load More Replies... Caro Caro 4 years ago
I remember posting something here on BP about me asking to talk to the hotel manager about something and I got slammed and downvoted to hell. It could be an American thing that asking for the manager is wrong but I have had to do this in Thailand (friend fell through the deck around a pool - not funny) and in France (dirty bathroom). If done politely and with good reason it's ok.
Random Anon 4 years ago
Oh I feel you. It's surprising that far too many people take a binary view to life. It's either you agree or disagree. Completely. Apparently gray isn't a thing. There are nuances and context to everything. And in order to really observe these, you need to place yourself in the other person's shoes. The alleged "victim" or "aggressor". I would like to think, we as a society has that much intellect to actually process empathy into objective thoughts. I'm still hoping. But I ain't holding my breath.
Load More Replies... Perfumista Perfumista 4 years ago
I got dissed on Bored Panda for mentioning that I had requested a refund on delivered food that was wrecked because it was packed poorly.
Rosie Hamilton 4 years ago
Sounds perfectly reasonable - the refund request, not the dissing!
Load More Replies... King Joffrey 4 years ago
Of course it's fine to ask for a refund. What's not right is taking out your frustrations at company policies on the customer service employee who had nothing to do with setting them up.
Roxy Eastland 4 years ago
I will not allow the use of 'karen' as an insult to go unchallenged as it just another misogynistic way to diminish women. Even when used against a man the intent is to insult him by implying he is woman-like. I went through a list of 'karens' on another BP post and it was a collection of people behaving badly or annoyingly in many, many different ways that had only one thing in common: they were women. And why is it reserved for cis/het white women? Because society already has ways to silence and demean other women, but cis/het white women also needed to be brought under control. It is not 'reverse racism' or indeed any type of racism. It's a way of making sure the one group of women that couldn't be hammered back down by other forms of bigotry can be shut up by this method. Add Karen to the long list of ways of reminding women that no matter what they do, part of what is already being held against them is their femaleness: dragon, battle axe, cow, bitch, whore, old bag, old trout etc
Pungent Sauce 4 years ago
Pretty big difference between bringing a legitimate complaint about an issue calmly and civilly to an employee of a business and melting the f*ck down in public because you aren’t getting your way. I think most people know this.
Bender Bending Rodríguez 4 years ago
You won't believe me when I say this but this is exactly what I was about to write here. It was and is never about asking, it has always been about how you ask.
Load More Replies... Eric Mac Fadden 4 years ago
This week I asked a refund for a lamp. The price was so irrelevant that the store even giving my cash back said to keep the product. It was on Mercado Livre in Brazil.
Dave In MD 4 years ago
As someone who works retail there is a huge difference between asking for a refund and being an ass. And trust me, being polite will get you a more favorable response. There is company policy, and I can make exceptions to it but if you are a jerk or berate me or my staff, I will make no exceptions. Coming in and nastily saying "you sold me the wrong part" is being a jerk when you ordered online and all we did was give you what you ordered. Coming in and nastily saying "you sold me the wrong part" is being a jerk when in an attempt to get you the right part you say "I don't know" to every question I ask you about your car. Oh, and as I side note, when I ask you what you drive, don't point to the parking lot and say, "the blue one".
Caro Caro 4 years ago (edited)
*me grabbing my phone and calling Dave* Hi Dave, it's me Caro. I've got this thing from your store and I think it's the wrong one. Can I come over and change it? What? No it's the grey car ... Oh uhm diesel. Sorry, aaaaah stick shift,. Maybe I should just come and let you decide huh!. :D
Load More Replies...
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