This Karen not only embarrassed herself but her daughters as well. Reddit user thegreatazrealini tells of a customer who lets her temper get the best of her.
“I used to work at a certain fast food restaurant and, just like every other customer service rep, I have dealt with my fair share of entitled parents and their children. Though the kids usually weren’t entitled or bratty. Surprisingly, it’s usually only their bratty parents who are the entitled one. Anyway, coming into work every day felt like walking through tall grass, and a wild ‘Karen’ could always appear. I’ve got a treasure chest full of stories, but this one is by far my favorite.
On normal days, I usually worked at the drive thru window, handing out bags of food instead of taking orders (mostly because I was garbage at trying to take orders since I couldn’t hear all that well with all the background noise).
All I had to do is say, ‘Good afternoon, here’s your burger and fries with a coke. Have a good day,’ and this day was no different.
It’s halfway through the lunch hours when ‘Karen’s’ order pops up on my screen: 5 double cheese burgers meals with extra pickles and a couple cokes. I don’t think too hard about it. I get her drinks ready and wait for her to roll up so I can just hand her order off and wait for the next customer. Karen rolls up with her hair as messy as the car she drove and a square in her hand. She’s got two teenage girls sitting in the back of her car, texting on their phones and paying me no mind.
Me: ‘Hi, did you order the five double cheeseburgers?’
Karen nods her head, and responds in her deep, southern drawl: ‘Yes, with extra pickles?’
Me: ‘Yes ma’am. Here’s your order, and you have a good day.’
Karen just sneers and rolls her eyes at me as she takes the food and speeds off. And I think that’s the end of our interaction. Boy was I wrong.
Not five minutes later, I hear a banging on the window, and I turn around to see Karen, red in the face and her two daughters looking pitifully up at me aware of what’s about to happen next. She goes off the second I open my window.
Karen: ‘Excuse me, but I said I wanted extra pickles on my cheeseburger and look how many I got?!’
She practically crawls out of the driver side window to shove that burger into my hands, showing, not two, but four pickles on the pitifully made sandwich. Oh, the humanity!
On a quick side note, we don’t up-charge for any extra pickles that they request for our cheaper menu options, so these are free pickles she’s got on her sandwich.
Karen: ‘I have my receipt! You charged me for these extra pickles, and I only get four on each burger?! I want my order remade, RIGHT NOW!’
Me, shaking because I do NOT like confrontation: ‘Okay ma’am. I’ll talk to my manager and try to get your order remade for you.’
I close my window and take the rejected cheeseburger to my manager who’s standing four feet away from me, thinking I’ve resolved the issue. Apparently not. I hear something hit the window followed shortly by tires screeching as this woman hits the gas and pulls into a parking space in front of the store. She gets out the car and slams the car door shut behind her. I kid you not, someone’s kid started screaming and wailing as this woman storms into the restaurant, her face red with the fury she was about to unleash.
My manager shoos me back to the window before I can get caught up in the crossfire.
Karen: ‘HELLO!’
Manager: ‘Yes Ma’am. Is there an issue?’
Karen: ‘Yes there’s an issue! (she points a finger at me). That idiot there charged me for extra pickles and I got the same amount of pickles they put on any other burger!’
Manager: ‘Ma’am, you ordered the double cheese burger. We normally make these with two pickles instead of four, and we didn’t up-charge you for any extra.’
Karen: ‘Well, I wanted more pickles!’
Manager: ‘I’m so sorry about the inconvenience ma’am. We’ll remake your order, free of charge.’
Karen: ‘What about her?!’
she points at me again
Manager: ‘What about her?’
Karen: ‘I want her fired for being so rude and inconsiderate! This is not good customer service!’
Manager: ‘Oh, I’m sorry. How was she rude?’
Karen: ‘She took my burger from me!’
Me, cutting in: ‘Ma’am, you handed me your burger, so I just took it so I could get it fixed.’
Karen: ‘Well I didn’t want the old burgers fixed, I wanted to get a whole new order to make up for this one being messed up!’
Manager: ‘I’m sorry about this ma’am. Can we have your old bag of food? We’ll just throw it out and make your order from scratch.’
Karen: ‘No, I just want my new, correct order!’
This goes on for a few minutes, with my manager trying to be as calm as she can be while this woman just goes back and forth with her. If I had to make a guess, I’d say she was just trying to pilfer extra food from us. One of her daughters, who came in the store with her, tried to get Karen to calm down and leave, obviously having dealt with this sort of thing before.
I start ignoring her, and go back to handing out food. The woman in the car behind Karen pulled up and start apologizing for her behavior! Apparently, when I turned around, Karen had gotten mad and lobbed a couple of the burgers at the window, screaming and cursing as she speed off. The lady in the car behind her was appalled, and, before she screeched off, threw one of her old drinks at Karen’s car. She was so sweet compared to the screeching banshee behind me.
As far as the story goes, Karen eventually breaks down and hands her rejected order back to the manager, gets her order remade with 8 pickles per sandwich, and leaves in a huff with her daughter apologizing behind her as they leave.”
