A “Karen” is typically defined as someone who throws a tantrum when she doesn’t get what she wants. She asks to speak to the manager over the slightest inconvenience and is always dissatisfied with her service. Unfortunately, Karens are everywhere and usually take their anger out on innocent service workers. However, some workers aren’t afraid to give the attitude right back. These are our top 10 favorite stories where workers put rude customers in their place. This content has been edited for clarity.
No Sandwich For You!
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“I’m employed at a Dunkin Donuts. I work all shifts, and during the third week, on my first-morning shift, we were in the middle of a crazy rush. The line must have been about 15 customers, and we’d had two people call off.
One lady was near the end of the line, checking her watch every few seconds. After a minute or two, she was third in line and decided to yell her order. Three sandwiches, two lattes, and a frozen coffee with almond milk (which we can’t even do because we don’t use it in the blender in case anyone has an allergy to nuts).
I told her to hold on, there are two customers before her, and we’re making three or four items per area at the moment. She gave me her dagger stare and shut up while the other two were taken care of. I asked her ‘Hi, hon, how are you today?’
She just repeated her order, and when I told her about the frozen drink and the almond milk, she just said, ‘F**k it, make it with skim milk. Come on, I’m late for work!’
‘Of course! Would you like a donut or some hash browns today?’ I said.
I could barely keep a straight face at that point.
‘No, dang it. I f**king don’t!’ I told her the price and she fought with the credit machine. It went through, and she asked where her stuff was. Right away. The machine was still finishing its confirmation chime!
‘We just started making it, ma’am. We start orders once they are paid for. And we were busy. There are still 10 people behind you waiting patiently.’ I smiled at one of my regulars and asked how they were.
‘We were talking here, moron!’ The woman at my counter yelled at me.
‘Our transaction is finished, sweetie. Your order will be ready at the next counter in a few minutes,’ I replied.
As I headed to the breakfast station, I saw her take $4 out of my tip jar and wait for her stuff. About three minutes later, I handed her food minus a sandwich. She checked her bag with me standing there and asked for it.
‘No ma’am. You stole $4 out of my tips. I figure I can’t let you have this sandwich unless you give it back.’
‘F**k that! Hand it over!’
I finally blew up and ripped right into her.
‘You are being rude because of a wait! If you don’t like it, get moving earlier or shut it. This is mine, now.’ I squished the sandwich in its wrapper and threw it in the trash. She left, ticked off. I felt great. My manager gave me a quick grin while the customers watched the woman storm out. Idiot never came back as far as I know.
There is no excuse to treat a service worker the way that woman did.”
Chill Out, Bro. It’s Just Peppers.
“Back in my college days, I worked as your typical friendly neighborhood delivery guy for a popular pizza chain. I enjoyed it pretty well, the tips were good for the most part and I could work fewer hours and make more than most of my friends.
Now with the job, of course, I dealt with quite a lot of different people, but the worst to deal with were the people who didn’t tip or people who would try to take advantage of ‘the system’ (you know the type, eat half their pizza, only to miraculously realize that the order was not up to their ‘standards’ and demand a refund). Nothing that bad or that hard to deal with.
Now for a little backstory.
At this particular pizza chain, it is standard practice to include pepperoncini in the box with your freshly baked pizza.
About 30 minutes before the end of my shift, I got routed on a delivery to a decent neighborhood. I’m familiar with the area so it didn’t take me long to find the house. The order was simple: two large pepperoni pies. I walked up to the house and knocked on the door.
I was greeted by the customer, Mr. Ignoramus, in a rather tepid manner. He took the first pizza from me, opened it, and just sat there and stared. I could visibly see his face darken to a shade of crimson, an expression that can only be described as complete rage.
‘I TELL THEM PEOPLE EVERY TIME I ORDER MY PIZZA I DON’T WANT THE STUPID PEPPERS!’
I gave him a blank stare.
‘I HATE THE PEPPER! HOW HARD IS IT TO REALIZE THAT? I DON’T WANT IT, HERE — (He then took the pepperoncini out of the box and placed it in my hand) — I DON’T WANT THIS F**KING SH*T, YOU TAKE IT BACK.’
He snatched the second box and took the second pepper out and threw it at me, then slammed the door.
I was in pure shock and disbelief, wondering what in the heck I just witnessed. I got back in my car and headed back to the store. I handed my tips and receipts to my manager for counting and headed to the back to do dishes.
This is where it gets good!
While back there, I grabbed one of the plastic bags we use to carry two liters of soda when someone orders them and took advantage of my distracted manager. I quickly filled the bag to the BRIM with pepperoncini and placed it outside via the back door. Once I finished the dishes and collected my tips, I went outside, retrieved my bag of peppery goodness, and got into my car. It was about 10:00 PM at this point.
Under the cover of nightfall, I returned to Mr. Ignaramus’s house and quickly ran out to scatter hundreds of pepperoncini all over his front porch, sidewalk, and lawn. It was a moment I had never been more absolutely certain of in my entire life! I ran back to the car and drove home.
I would have paid good money to see this clown’s reaction. Unfortunately, I had a drill weekend that weekend for the National Guard.
When I returned, my manager could hardly contain his laughter. On his desk were plastic sandwich bags of the peppers and a note with the total count (yes, this goober had nothing better to do than pick up all of the peppers and count them). He asked me if I knew where they came from.
‘No idea,’ I said.
He gave me a grin of knowing better, laughed to himself, and said ‘I’m sorry to do this but I’m gonna have to let you go at the end of the week.’
‘I completely understand,’ I replied.
He thought it was hilarious, as did my co-workers. I regret absolutely nothing, and to this day when I order pizza from that chain, and I tell people I am the ‘pepper guy,’ they recognize me with much laughter and excitement. I apparently became somewhat of a legend.”
“I Want To Talk To The Manager”
“I was in a restaurant once and this woman went up to the waiter and said ‘Excuse me but I have been waiting for my food for nearly five minutes now.’ She had a table of eight by the way!
The waiter then, calmly, said to her ‘Ma’am you realize the restaurant is extremely busy, you have a table of eight and we have minimum staff. It’s going to take a whole lot longer than five minutes to cook your food.’
Bear in mind, this was a week before Christmas so everyone was having their holiday dinners.
She huffed and went to sit down.
Five minutes later, goes back again.
Woman: ‘Sir we have been waiting 10 minutes. Where is our food!?’
Waiter: Getting slightly annoyed ‘Ma’am I’m going to have to ask you to sit down and wait patiently or leave.’
Woman: ‘I want to talk to the manager.’
Waiter: ‘Ma’am, the manager is on maternity leave. I’m the assistant manager. I’m asking you to sit down or leave.’
The woman went to sit down. By this point, nearly the entire restaurant was trying to not laugh. The waiter spoke to the cook to get the woman’s food out first. Two minutes later, he did so, they ate, left money for the bill, and then got ready to leave. The waiter walked over.
Waiter: ‘Did you enjoy your food?’
Woman: ‘Yes, not thanks to you though.’
Waiter: Literally almost at the end of his tether ‘Ma’am, if not for me you would still be waiting.’
Woman: ‘I’m going to leave a bad review on this restaurant and get you sacked from your job.’
Waiter: ‘I won’t get sacked thanks to a bimbo like you who thinks everyone has all the time in the world to cater to you.’
The woman and her party left after that. I never did find out what happened but I applaud that waiter for acting so calm.
Hopefully, that woman learned her lesson when it comes to treating workers with the respect they deserve.”
What Goes Around Comes Around, Old Man
“This past Sunday, we had this man in with his family. A family of 15. The sort of family where they were loud and rude and spoke down to the waiting staff like we are beneath them. This man in particular, probably late 50s to 60s, was trying to cling on to his youth by wearing a hideous tie-dye t-shirt.
He also made little comments and when confronted said, ‘It’s just a joke.’
So the server was a fairly seasoned pro at dealing with rude customers, but this guy kept making comments about her red hair. All the awful ginger jokes he could think of, he said to her. She kept a smile on her face but came to me and said she was losing her temper. I told her to take a quick breather and that I would clear the plates away.
I went over and the man immediately said, ‘Have you met my friend? His name is fat Tony. What’s your name then?’
‘I’m Sophie,’ I replied.
‘Ah. Fat Sophie meet fat Tony. You two should get together and have dinner. You would like that, wouldn’t you?’ he said with a smirk.
His whole awful family was laughing hysterically, even fat Tony. Now, I am a big woman and I have no problem with people stating the obvious, but it was the way he was saying it. And he knew (thought) I couldn’t say anything back.
So I said, ‘Oh, I didn’t realize we were stating the obvious, or I COULD have mentioned that badly receding hairline or your tacky t-shirt. But I wouldn’t because that wouldn’t be polite, would it?’
The rude one and his family were gobsmacked. He said, ‘You can’t say that to me.’
‘I will speak to you in the same manner you speak to me and other members of staff. Your friend may not care that you call him fat Tony, but you should have a bit more respect for people you don’t know who may be offended.’
I finished clearing the plates away and later on when they paid the bill, it was just awkward silence from them whilst I was my usual cheery self.
I should mention this is a family business, so to be honest I don’t care about offending customers who think they can talk down to people just because they are waiters or waitresses. We are not beneath you. I doubt I will see them again but it’s no big loss. This is why I’m an advocate for treating people how you want to be treated.
Honestly, I hope that family never steps foot in there again!”
How To Deal With A Bad Tipper
“I served at a diner in Muskoka, Ontario years ago and served lots of celebrities in the area for the summer. I served Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn burgers, Martin Short, Dan Akroyd, etc. Some pretty big stars but there was this local nobody who thought he was a big-shot celebrity for some delusional reason. This guy would never tip and would always crumple up both copies of the visa bill into a tiny little ball, even chew on it till it was the size of a spitball. Absolutely lousy behavior.
One day, this moron came in with a bunch of friends and treated them all to supper and a hefty $600 bill. Mr. Big Shot crumpled up the visa bills again into the tiny little ball and flicked it at me with a grin on his face. At this point, I’d had enough and decided to pull a stunt on the guy. I swiftly kicked the wadded-up spitwad receipt off the patio and into the lake on our patio.
The guy saw this and said in front of the table, ‘Guess you won’t know what your tip is now.’
I flat out told the table that this loser never tips anyway so there was no loss, and simply walked away. They left and I called the police on a dine and dash because there was no evidence this guy paid (it was in the lake) and I deleted the pre-authorization from the debit machine. The cops went to this guy’s house and demanded he return to the restaurant to pay. He wasn’t an a-hole ever again.
Sometimes justice prevails when you stand up for yourself!”
Put Them Back
“I was an assistant manager at a convenience store for about three years. One day, when we were super busy, during the summer, I was refilling the cups for the soda fountain. I was running back and forth to the register since I was alone. Three women entered who had been partying all day. One of whose husband was a regular in the mornings. He always wrote a check when he was in the store.
So when this group of women got to the counter, I asked if they found everything alright. They were loud and bubbly and said yes. Then the wife handed me a check, pre-signed by the husband. I ran it, all good. Well then as they were leaving, one of the women grabbed a 30-pack of drinks that she had conveniently put on the floor in front of the counter when I was at the fountain. My back was turned.
I stopped them and said that I never scanned the drinks, to which she brought the case back, and when I rang it up and told her the total, she answered with, ‘I only have one check. Just run it again.’
I explained to her that would be a fraud and that they knew that I hadn’t seen the pack of drinks. I never checked their ID which the system requires. The person who placed it there, placed it when I was nowhere near the register, and it was up against a little beef jerky display so it wasn’t exactly noticeable. This woman proceeded to start yelling at me. Mind you, she did this while the store was filling with people. She called me stupid and threatened me.
I was pregnant at the time, but I never got very big, so basically, no one knew. Well, my hormones from being pregnant were telling me to jump over the counter and beat this woman, but only after she proceeded to call me names.
My hands were balled up and everyone saw me trembling from holding back, and then she said with that arrogance that only someone who is clearly about to have it shoved right back into their face unknowingly, ‘Call Chuck, you need to call him right now, and tell him what you did!’
So, I smiled, agreed that I should, and dialed him up.
When he answered, I told him exactly what happened, how it happened, and how this woman was reacting, making sure to add in the colorful names she called me. I did this in front of her and the now seriously long line of people. All of which were aggravated at this woman’s lack of decency.
He then told me to put her on the phone, explained how there is nothing we can do about this pack of drinks, and she could either go get another check or cash otherwise she could not have it. She got mad but handed the phone back. I went on, and he proceeded to tell me to explain to her that if she doesn’t leave the drinks and exit the store, I am to call the police and have her removed.
I agreed and do just that. Well, if you guessed that she got even more annoyingly belligerent, you’re right. As soon as I picked the phone back up to call the police, another regular customer stepped out from the line, grabbed her by the arm, told her friend to put the drinks back, and walked this woman outside. I saw them exchange a few words, and the lady left.
This customer walked back in and came to the counter. They apologized for this person that they knew but weren’t extremely close to, and told me she was done listening to her talk to me that way. I never charged this woman for another fountain drink, or hot food in there again.
It’s sad when someone else has to be the voice of reason for others. At least that woman’s friends have some common sense.”
Copyrighted Photos
“I was the store’s photo department manager and as such was responsible for the Kodak self-serve print machine. This was a self-contained machine that allowed the customer to print or copy any photo. We managed copyright infringement by requiring the customer to come to our service counter to have the print(s) priced.
Note, copyright infringement was a big deal with those machines and potentially very expensive if we didn’t control it because case law had established that a violation would result in the award of damages for every single print being multiplied by the number of machines the company owned nationwide.
Anyway, a woman copied her daughter’s senior picture which was marked with the studio’s logo. I told her we couldn’t sell her those because they were copyrighted and they violated federal law. She was outraged. First, she insisted I sell her the prints because she bought, and owned, that picture. I explained that what she bought was that copy, not the right to print more.
After ranting a little more she angrily pointed out that the tree her daughter was leaning against in the photo was her tree in her backyard. She then proceeded to tell anyone within earshot how rude I was to her. I never raised my voice or treated her with anything less than respect.
She even convinced the next customer who was an older lady who also had a copyright issue and was denied the sale that I was rude to her and talked her into returning to the counter to tell me (and I quote verbatim), ‘That other lady said you were rude to me.’
She then left. Bizarre.
But the best part was the nice, older gentleman who then stepped up to the counter, paid for his item, looked me in the eye, and said with a faint smile, ‘You weren’t rude to me.’
I will never understand why grown adults decide to act like children!”
“I’ll Give You Five Minutes To Make Me Look Good.”
“I worked at a cosmetics store where we provided complimentary makeovers to anyone who asked for it.
One day, a woman came in and sat down on an empty chair and gestured to her face. ‘I want to have foundation,’ she retorted.
So I went through the routine of questions: ‘What is your skin type? What consistency do you prefer? How much coverage?’
She promptly cut me off, and simply said, ‘Too many questions. I’ll give you five minutes to make me look good.’
I was getting slightly annoyed, but I figured she was maybe just trying to get some makeup done before meeting someone. So, I went with the safe bet: a popular foundation that is highly recommended for sensitive skin (I didn’t want to accidentally break her out.) Anyway, I started to apply, and she stopped me and began to raise her voice.
‘What are you doing?! I just want to cover this one spot,’ she snapped.
By the way, she didn’t mention this at all and if she had I would have applied concealer, which was what she was looking for.
‘Take it off and do it over,’ she demanded.
At this point, I sat down all of my brushes and said, ‘You can say that nicely.’
She stared at me in disbelief, but after about 10 seconds, began to stammer, ‘No… no… I just meant…’
My manager ran over and asked if I wanted my break, and took over. I seldom lose my temper, and I guess she knew that so I never got in trouble for it. I certainly was not paid enough (or will ever be paid enough) to be made to feel less of a person.
Making people re-think their words and actions can go a long way.”
The Joke Was On Him
“While serving, we all meet people dripping with entitlement, and most of the time I can laugh them off. But today, I met the worst offender yet. To give a little background, I work at a cafe located inside my university’s main library. Since we are centrally located on campus, we accept real money and the university meal plan, despite being an independent and locally-owned cafe. Enter Cold Brew Guy. This loser comes in daily, and every day we have the same conversation. Cold Brew Guy whines about how we don’t have cold brew coffee and scolds us for not having it in stock. Then I sell him his iced coffee and the cycle repeats. Every time he is shockingly condescending, and at twenty-something years old, pouts and whines like a toddler. The other shop is three minutes away if he wants cold brew, so he can get it easily.
A few weeks ago, one of my coworkers brought in his homemade cold brew concentrate, made from a really great artisan roasted bean for us baristas to try. It was amazing and we were all raving about it when Cold Brew Guy showed up. We went through the same back and forth, except this time he accused us of lying about the cold brew and had a total meltdown. Now, the health department frowns upon selling outside food made in a home kitchen, and frankly, all of us hate him, so we stonewalled and told him truthfully that we still don’t sell cold brew.
After this, he stepped up his cold brew campaign, but that wasn’t a problem until tonight. We can all deal with low level entitlement and whining. Tonight, Cold Brew Guy came in with the biggest smile on his face. He told me all about how he is a powerful chair in the student government, and that he has submitted a proposal to force us to sell cold brew. He is scheduling a meeting with campus dining later this week.
This guy is so offended that we don’t serve cold brew he is trying to legislate and have the university make it policy that we sell this drink, which only he seems to want. I personally find this hilarious. The university has no control over what we sell, and our contract gives us control over what foods and beverages we offer. He doesn’t know this, which is also what makes it infuriating. His smug self thinks he won. The entitlement is strong with this one. I think I’m going to have our coworker teach me how to make my own cold brew.
I do want to clarify that cold brew is not popular here and is a bad investment for a high-turnover coffee shop like ours. He is the only customer who asks for it. Making cold brew takes 12-36 hours depending on the recipe, and it has a very light, watery flavor despite using huge amounts of beans. It is an expensive product, and we wouldn’t want to make gallons of it for a handful of people to buy, who would undoubtedly complain about the $6 price tag (our regular iced coffee is $2) or complain should we run out of this, since we can’t just brew more to sell.
Apparently, if people don’t get what they want these days, they will legislate it until they do.”
Waiting For The Right Moment To Strike
This happened last night, and when I tell you my adrenaline was pumping, it was really pumping! So I work at a fast food chain based around sandwiches with food that is rather on the expensive side (a medium sandwich is about $7-8), and that’s without drinks and chips. About fifteen minutes before closing, a woman and her children walk in and rush to the counter. I was sweeping at the time and had a few separate piles of dirt and old lettuce on the ground because the church crowds are no joke. I walk up to the counter and begin to ring up her meal. She orders 3 sandwiches and 3 combos for a total of $35.07. When I ask for her name, she looks at me and says in a sarcastic tone, ‘Aren’t you a little salesman, huh?’
‘Excuse me?’ I asked in a polite tone.
‘The chili is more expensive with the combo compared to regular, I think that you should change that so people don’t get confused. I would like to see my receipt, please.’
At this point, I knew it was going to be trouble, so I printed the receipt and she snatched it out of my hand and threw on her glasses. ‘Yes, you charged me too much for this chili combo young man, do you know how frustrating this is to the public?’
I replied, ‘I’m sorry ma’am, I don’t make the prices. I just work the cash register.’
This woman exclaimed, ‘Well I want you to refund my purchase! I believe I’m entitled to this food now!’
When she said entitled, I just kind of looked at her in shock. Like it is not my fault I sold you something that costs more to make due to labor and ingredient costs. Regardless, I went to administer a refund, but she stopped me and said it was fine, don’t bother with it anymore. I stepped away suspiciously to finish my sweeping, then I heard this thud from the far side of the restaurant. It turned out that she wanted me to turn away, so she could tip over my mop bucket onto the floor.
By this point, my manager had enough and decided to kick her out of the store after she cleaned up her own mess. He demanded that this customer issue an apology to me. The customer screamed and tried to leave, but the manager was able to detain her while he called the police. The police showed up about six minutes later to take her out of the store. I don’t know what exactly happened after she was kicked out, but I still had a whole lot of mopping to do.
There would be a lot more peace in the world if people stopped viewing themselves as better than everyone.”
