The victim list of Karens expands past the various employees that they berate when they encounter even the slightest inconvenience. Oftentimes, there are people that willingly live with them. Unfortunately, the spouses of Karens either have to suffer from second-hand embarrassment or they get it even worse than the employees.
Let's take a look at some of the horror stories from people in relationships with Karens.
All posts have been edited for clarity.
Public WiFi
“I was married to a male Karen. Everything and I mean everything, could set him off.
We were at a local taproom and his iPhone automatically connected to the WiFi. Keep in mind, he had full bars on our cell service. The WiFi was being wonky and wasn’t working.
The manager was a super nice guy, who came over and asked how we were doing, while he washed some glasses in the dish pit on the other side of the bar. Keep in mind, my husband was super irritated at this made-up problem because our cell service was working just fine and he could literally just turn off the WiFi.
My husband said, ‘Your WiFi is freaking trash.’
The manager responded, ‘I’m sorry. We recently upgraded our internet, and Cox is sending us a new modem. It’s supposed to be here this week.’
My husband retorted, ‘If you say you have WiFi, you should make sure it actually works.’
The manager responded, ‘I know. I’m sorry. I’d be happy to restart the modem to see if that helps.’
My husband then ignored him and continued to talk under his breath about a made-up issue.
That was my life for almost five years. The sense of entitlement was frustrating enough in public, but more so at home. I had apologized to more servers, retail workers, neighbors, and random people in public for him in five years than the rest of my life outside of him.
You know what, now that I’m talking about it, maybe he’s not so much a male Karen. He’s more like a trash human being.”
Semi-Successful Business Owner
“I dated a male Karen for eight years. He was a semi-successful business owner who was twice my age and I was young and dumb for a lack of a better word. The gist of our relationship was him trying to take over every part of my life.
For instance, he would order for me at restaurants and would dissuade me if I wanted to try something new. If I had a problem with something it would be brushed off but if he had a problem then he had to talk to a manager. Not knowing any better, I just thought he was very particular and even started copying some of his tendencies like speaking up when I felt I wasn’t getting the right service when I was out on my own.
I realized who he was when we were flying back from Vegas and our luggage was heavier than when we flew in. Obviously, we had bought extra things which made up for the weight difference. As he demanded to know an explanation from the check-in clerk as to why it would somehow weigh more if it was the same luggage, I innocently answered that it must have been the extra shoes and clothes. He was quiet and paid up.
Later he told me not to do that again as he knew the reason why the luggage was heavier he was just trying to get away with not paying. At that moment, a bulb went off in my head. This man who’d spent fifteen hundred dollars on a woman for his friend was making an already stressful job more stressful for the clerk in order to avoid paying sixty dollars.
We broke up soon after and I checked myself on the Karen tendencies he had rubbed off on me.”
Karen Tendencies
“Early in our marriage, I started seeing some Karen tendencies in my wife. It started because companies were legitimately pulling us around on things we needed and she was trying to be more assertive. Initially, she had it compartmentalized. She would turn it on when she needed it and turn it off once things were getting resolved. But she started losing her ability to keep it segmented, and the entitled mindset started bleeding into other interactions. It never got too bad, but I didn’t like the direction it was headed.
I finally said something one night after she had gone into a store to return something, and came back out to the car talking about how she gave the employee a talking to about how terrible the return policy was.
So I just asked her, ‘An hourly employee, with no say in the matter, upheld the company policy as she was trained to do, and you thought it was appropriate to give her a talking to for that? How do you think that made her feel? What would you have done differently if you had her job? Was it worth ruining someone’s day over this? Do you feel better that you made her feel bad, or worse? Is that how you want people to remember you?’
All the while I was circling back to the store.
I parked the car and said something to the effect of, ‘I think you owe that woman an apology. And I think if you take a minute to think about it, you’ll do the right thing.’
She argued with me for a few minutes, because she felt like I was attacking her. To her credit, she walked herself back into that store and stood in line for ten minutes to apologize.
That was a turning point for her, I think. Since then, even when people have legitimately messed up, she has been much more patient, understanding, and polite. I’m grateful she was open to my critique because I have other Karens in my extended family, and I don’t know if I could be with someone like that.”
Military Wife Karen
“I was married to a Karen, and it was absolutely embarrassing and cost me many good friendships. I was in the military and she would continually cause drama with the other wives, wear my rank on her sleeve, and was the first person to judge. She always had the attitude that she was better than everyone, still does from what I’ve heard, and would absolutely flip out on servers. I would literally have to pretend I was going to the restroom and sneak a tip to them.
Well after a few different duty stations and a lot of burnt friendships, I was getting tired of it. I would actually look forward to going on my deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan to get away from her. On my last one, she decided to cheat on me with my best friend, gotta love it.
I was immediately told about it. I’m not sure if it was because I was well-liked or she was well-hated. Anyway, that was my thank god moment. I got the opportunity to be the first one in my family to get divorced, not get judged too hard for it, and end ten years of absolute misery.
So, fast-forward to today, my ex-best friend, thanks for the solid dude, and my ex-wife ended up getting married. If there is one thing that military wives don’t do it’s cheating on their deployed husband. That is very poorly looked upon by everyone in the military and they basically get excommunicated by the community. The other major don’t do is start a marriage based on cheating.
So, from what I had heard is that she was divorcing him for cheating on him and she was no longer allowed to be on the post for shacking up with another married dude while his wife was deployed. The circle of shame continued.
Also, that was just the tip of the iceberg in terms of her being excommunicated. There were a lot more repercussions for them because of the initial instance that happened while I was deployed.”
Mixed Bag of Karens Part 1
1. “I’m not married to one, but my uncle is. My uncle is this soft-spoken giant who never stood up to my Karen aunt in any way. Except once.
At their daughter’s wedding, she was about to interrupt the ceremony to close a window because she was chilly.
Everyone sitting close could hear her whisper, ‘I’m going to do it, but I don’t want to be a prick.’
My uncle, in a calm quiet tone quickly said, ‘Why stop now?’
Almost as if his filter just missed that one. I swear I could hear my dad snort two rows back trying to hold in laughter. Karen was not happy.”
2. “I divorced a Karen. I haven’t had a need to see a manager since.”
3. “I am divorced from my Karen. I used to go into our local video rental store and find that she had closed our account in a huff over incorrectly applied late fees.
I would have a quiet conversation with the manager during which I would apologize for whatever she had said, and he would then reinstate my account, with no late fees. I can only imagine the scenes she caused there that resulted in our account getting closed.
I realized later that these interactions at the video store were a microcosm of our entire relationship. She went about in a righteous huff wreaking havoc in all areas of our life, while I was left to pick up the pieces.”
4. “I was engaged to one but called it off the wedding a month ago. We had five months before the big day, and things just kept getting worse.
The tipping point was my twin brother’s wedding. After the ceremony, my brother and new Sister-In-Law were walking up the aisle and everyone was standing, everyone except my ex-wife.
When I talked to her about it she said she couldn’t stand up to celebrate a wedding she didn’t want to be at. There are many more instances, many more, but I’m glad I snapped out of it before our wedding day.”
5. “I married a Karen, actually a Karin with an I, which is a Karen on steroids. We are divorced now. It took five years and nearly a year’s pay to get rid of her. She had frequent outbursts in court. It was so bad that the judge spoke to me in private and told me to get out at whatever expense. She actually attempted to have it written into the divorce agreement that she didn’t have to pay child support. Yes, I have custody of the kids and for that to happen you can only imagine how poorly behaved the women had to be. I call her a woman because she is a mother in absolutely no way.”
Text Source: Story 1, Story 2, Story 3, Story 4, Story 5
Mixed Bag of Karens Part 2
1. “My ex-wife was a Karen. She didn’t start out that way but over time started to show her real colors, there was a lot of mental and physical abuse in that relationship. Her favorite thing to do though when we went out to eat was to cause a scene until they gave her something for free. She is a classic narcissist and I’m so happy I got out.”
2. “My life has been a complete disaster. The number of times I have had to intervene to save the life of a customer service rep over nickels is insane. I asked for divorce just a couple of weeks ago. Guess how that went over.”
3. “My brother was married to a Karen. She lived to berate people and rarely went anywhere without a flask of Tito’s to fuel her fire. She despised kids and wasn’t quiet about it. In the first year of marriage, she decided her husband had to earn hanky panky. So if she didn’t like the way he painted the shed or groomed the dog or poured his cornflakes, and she never did, there was no reward. After ten years he divorced her, moved to another state, and married a kind-hearted, generous, empathetic lady. Karen still can’t understand why he dumped her perfect self.”
4. “They are the guys with couple’s profiles on Facebook, good luck getting any information from them in full view of what their wives can see.”
5. “I happily pay alimony now, and I never have to hear her again.”
6. “I dated a Karen. We went out to dinner once and her food didn’t look like the picture so she sent it back and demanded another. I was pretty polite so I waited to eat. I swear they sent the exact plate back. She lost it and demanded a manager. At that point, I start eating. The manager came over, and the whole restaurant was looking like what on earth. She just laid into him on how her food didn’t look like the picture. I placed a twenty on the table to cover mine and slipped the waitress a ten, mouthed an apology, and left. I never found out what happened. I drove to the restaurant too so I have no idea how she got home. I blocked her number as I left.”
Text Source: Story 1, Story 2, Story 3, Story 4, Story 5, Story 6
Dependent on Karen
“I was married to a Karen.
I had a severe injury and was bedridden for about three months. During that time, Karen and I got engaged. Recovering to full mobility took about a year, during which we got married.
At first, it was great. She made all the decisions, had all the control, and I meekly followed along. I adored her, she was in charge, everything in my life revolved around her, and things couldn’t be better.
Then I started getting healthier. As I became capable of doing more, I began doing things that she didn’t want to, or couldn’t join me in. Not everybody is drawn to white water kayaking, for example. That was when the trouble started.
We ended up divorcing.
During the divorce, she would often say, ‘You’re not the man I married!’
No kidding, you married a man who was badly injured and couldn’t walk. You married someone who was trying to heal. Then I was healthy, and I was my own person again. I get that she didn’t want to be married to a healthy person, which is why we got divorced.
Being married to a Karen was great when I was fine with her walking all over me. It was good if I could have accepted that, it could even have been a win-win if that’s what I actually wanted.
In reality, it was terrible.”
Whole Different Level of Karen
“My best friend married a Karen. That woman is a whole different level of Karen.
He made a large six-digit salary but had to work a cycle shift away from home. She had the option to move from their home so they could live as a family but refused because she had what she called a career. She sells scents and works a clerk job at an HR office.
They had two kids, she couldn’t handle them. She made him drive home from work every single day so she could exercise for thirty minutes in the evening. It was a seven-hour commute for him. He had to buy another vehicle because he couldn’t take the company vehicle back and forth. It was so expensive and dangerous.
She made him attend job fairs with her in hopes that he could find her a job making just as much money as. It wouldn’t happen but he had to do it anyway to please the demands.
She wanted huge renovations done on their house but refused to watch the kids while he did them. He had to watch them while working on the house so nothing got done quickly and that gave her stress and anxiety.
The best of all is that she constantly told him she wanted more kids.
She put the kids in daycare even though it cost more than her total income. She made him buy a luxury camper for forty thousand dollars so she could visit him at work. She visited him one time. She also had insane spending habits on other unnecessary things.
She texted and called him every ten minutes at work to complain about him being away from home and how the kids drove her crazy. She blamed him for any negative things that happened in her life and made him fix it immediately no matter the cost.
She would force him to leave the house with the kids when she was working from home and wouldn’t let them come back until she said it was okay.
It frustrated me because my time with him had literally become therapy sessions where he would vent for hours at a time. It was brutal and I hated that he would tolerate it.
The one that really got me the most was that she would rather pretend to have a really good career than move with him so they could live a great family lifestyle. They would save lots of money and they would be a much better parenting team!”
Rich Family
“My brother married a Karen.
Her father was the CFO of a top pharmaceutical corporation you would likely know if I named it. She would look uncomfortable during our happy family gatherings with her arms crossed looking like she was sneering and judging all of us and flash a fake smile on occasion. You could tell that she and her family were uptight and counting the minutes until they could leave despite everyone else having a fun time.
I thought maybe it was just a bad fit of personalities. It happens. However, when we would go to restaurants and stuff it would be the same uptight behavior towards the staff. The way my family was raised was we were taught to respect everyone no matter what their station in life was. Not with those people.
On the day of the wedding, I heard Karen bragging about all the wedding gifts they got like it was all a money-making event for her. Even the priest who wedded them sounded sarcastic during the procession. I don’t know if she or someone else in her family said some stupid thing to him or not, but he seemed like he was mocking the entire affair.
My family and extended family are awesome, but I suppose we weren’t rich enough to make her and her family feel comfortable. In every other previous instance when we would introduce significant others to meet the family and have dinner and stuff, it was always a great, fun experience.
I had one girlfriend start crying after the first time she went with me to my family gathering for a holiday because she had never felt so relaxed, happy, and accepted by a family before, including her own.
Nope, not good enough for the Karen. My brother thankfully divorced the sociopath and then she turned into a nightmare who used their kid as a weapon against him. Now he’s with someone that’s great for him thank goodness.
I briefly dated a Karen in my late teens. She was also a spoiled, rich brat. One of the last times I hung out with her, we waited in a line together to get food. She tilted her body like she had a stick up her rear end, crossed her arms tightly, and began tapping her foot loudly on the floor.
I literally pulled away from her and just stared at her with a bemused look on my face like I was watching a monkey at the zoo. She was so self-absorbed she didn’t even notice me looking at her like that and just stared down at the staff who obviously wasn’t rushing around fast enough for her. I left her shortly after.”
Snitching at Disney World
“Going out to dinner is tough because there is always something wrong or unacceptable to her. It’s either the service, the food, the place settings, the seating arrangement, or the other customers. Not once have we gone out to dinner and had nothing wrong. At least one thing always goes back to the kitchen. Whether it’s an appetizer or the main course. Sometimes it’s a dirty fork, or maybe her water isn’t cold or fresh enough. It’s always something.
The perceived slights by people are also always blown into personal attacks and warrant battles over very trivial things. Her patience is zero. She can’t wait in line at a McDonald’s, at a grocery store, or at an amusement park. The rules don’t apply to her but they must be followed by everyone else, and if she catches them being broken she tells on them or narcs.
One time we were at Disney World and we were standing in line for an attraction. I had noticed that a family had been waiting a few people in front of us for just as long as we had been. But about halfway in, another family member came up and joined them, no big deal. But she wasn’t having it and had the entire family thrown out of line. At Disney World.
Stuff like that.”
Toxic Teacher
“We aren’t married but I’m currently four years into a toxic relationship with a Karen. I broke up with her on Monday, again. We were in a bad spot financially because of the lockdown, so we are just feeling things out for a month before we decide for sure. The cycle was on repeat.
I constantly had to cut her off and speak over her because of the way she treated people. It could be a waiter, sales assistant, gym staff, neighbor, landlord, randoms we meet in a bar. They all felt her wrath.
We were both waiters at the beginning of our relationship so she had worked in the industry, but still lacked empathy. She even blamed the waiter if something is out of stock.
My second major issue. We were both English second language teachers. She taught kindergarten, while I taught high school. When we started working from home I heard how she spoke to her students and it really opened up another aspect of her personality that I didn’t like. She would berate a student for not understanding instead of evaluating her ability to explain. Talking down on three-year-olds in their second language didn’t fly with me.
A lot of her behavior stemmed from a self-defense mechanism due to insecurity, but that was not an excuse. She didn’t realize how mean she was to people, including myself.
I’m a people pleaser that would rather sacrifice my own comfort than someone else’s. She expected me to be a prick to people because I’m a biggish guy with tattoos, I don’t exactly look soft. It was beyond toxic.”
