Of Karens and Chads by Bonnie Le Hamilton

 

Lately, I’ve read a lot online about entitled people and some of the stuff they’ve done, and it gets me wondering why I haven’t encountered more of such people. I have encountered one, but as I ignored him, there wasn’t a big scene.

It started out quite simple. The store where I do my grocery shopping has clearly marked entrance and exit doors. The thing is the exit doors are closer to the service desk where the electric charts are kept, which means I have to traipse into the store to get a chart.

Now that’s a pretty long trek for me, but by veering toward the exit doors, I cut off enough feet of distance that I can just barely make it to the carts. Now I have done this numerous times with no problems, except this once.

Here I was skirting past a swarm exiting the store when some man said, “This is the exit, idiot!”

As I already said, I ignored that judgmental prick and kept going. Of course, that fool doesn’t know me, knows nothing about me, and like I said, he was a judgmental prick. Enough said.

But why, for instance, haven’t I had one of these self-entitled fools accost me, someone who is very much ambulatory, for parking in handicap parking? Or better yet, someone complaining about me having handicapped plates.

I’ve seen stories where people leave nasty notes or other not-so-nice surprises for people that are parked in handicapped parking, usually without a placard or plate, but sometimes with, because they think the person isn’t handicapped. After all, they can walk. I saw one video where the “Karen” berated a healthy woman for parking in handicap parking, with handicap plates, when she clearly didn’t need them. She wouldn’t even listen to the woman, then the woman’s kid opened the side door to their van and asked his mother if everything was okay. The kid aged 9 or 10 at a guess, was in a wheelchair, making it very clear the healthy mother needed handicapped parking.

And let’s be clear, you can’t get the placards or plate just by asking for them. Your doctor has to fill out a form explaining your need to get them. Therefore, because I can only manage to walk less than 20 feet without assistance, I qualify.

Though even that hasn’t stopped some. I read a story about a young woman who, from the description given, has a severe case of EDS. She can put just about any joint out of place just by moving. She’s only 22, quite young, but clearly, she needs assistance.

Well, one day she was shopping in a grocery store and this older woman accosted her, insisting she was too young to be handicapped and that she should leave the electric charts for those who need them. Not only does this “Karen” berate the poor girl, but she actually pulled her off the chart and threw her to the floor!

I swear, if that had been my niece with severe EDS, I’d have strangled that woman! Do you have any idea how much damage could have been done to that poor girl by that woman’s actions?

And really, how can you be too young to be handicapped? What about those who are born with handicaps?

Another one I read was about an older man with major health issues, he can manage to walk with the aid of a walker, but if he fell, he’d need a ton of help getting up. He was entering a Walmart wearing a green vest with lots of patches and stuff indicating he’s a vet, and this imbecile mistook him for a Walmart employee (he was wearing a vest after all {insert eye roll here]) and his walker for a wheelchair! She forcibly took his walker from him, sending him to the floor in the process, so her teenaged daughter who was wearing a walking boot could ride in the wheelchair because she was “handicapped”.

Long story short, the man needed an ambulance, and the police were called too, but the woman refused to concede that he was a fellow customer and that she stole his walker. Right up until they lifted the seat on the walker to reveal his wallet and prescriptions in it.  She was arrested for assault and theft.

But they keep coming. I’ve seen tons where a so-called Karen insists a fellow customer is an employee because they saw that person help someone else!

Ye Gads! Since when do only employees help out people who need it?

I’ve asked loads of people to help me! Politely, of course. But then I’d be polite asking an employee because everyone deserves respect.

Anyway, happy writing everyone.

Karen's and Me

 

There has been a lot on social media about women dubbed as “Karen’s.” I have noted that the physical description of these women is usually on the lines of older, females. Sometimes they even add the adjective, short. In fact, the only part of the descriptions I’ve heard or read is that these women have short hair-cropped hairstyles.

If you don’t know already, Konnie and I are short, middle-aged women. The only difference is that we both have long straight hair, and we are polite. We’re also smart enough to know the difference between a store employee and a fellow customer, unlike a lot of these “Karen’s.”

I just wonder if they need eyes checked, or maybe their head examined, considering all the stores I’ve ever been to the employees all wear either a vest or an apron with the store logo on it and they also have a name tag, also with the store logo on it.

How can anybody mistake a customer for an employee?

I read one where a couple with a young baby were shopping together, but the baby was fussy, so the father was scurrying around getting their groceries and taking them back to his wife who was standing by their cart rocking the baby. He still wearing his coat, and not wearing anything with the store logo on it, but this rude woman ordered him to stop “helping” his wife and help her!

He wasn’t dressed like an employee! What more clue do you need that you were in the wrong woman? I mean, I am a middle-aged woman, and I’m short, but I would never accost anyone, let alone a fellow customer, to assist me.

I’m not saying I don’t ask for assistance; I occasionally do. My method is to look for the closest adult and say, “Excuse me, could you help me for one second?”

You wouldn’t believe how much help you can get that way!

Actually, I read one of those “Karen” stories where a short older woman was trying to reach something on the top shelve and this genuinely nice taller man saw her and offered to reach it for her.

She was in the middle of thanking him when another woman started scolding him for lollygagging and demanded he help her too or she would complain to the store manager and get him fired.

We all know where that went. I’ve met a lot of people like that. I’ve had tons of people offer to help me when I’m not even looking for help. There was one time, I saw what I needed, and I started to stand up out of the electric cart I always use when a woman shopping nearby ran over to me saying, “Let me get that for you!”

Of course, I thanked her, but no “Karen” showed up. I have never met a “Karen.” I’m not sure they exist here. Idaho is mostly nice people.

This brings me to the worst “Karen” story I’ve ever read was about a guy in a wheelchair. This man wore a yellow safety vest, for his safety, and the nearby store he frequented also had their cart wranglers wearing such a vest, as in out in the parking wrangling carts, but theirs had black trim and the company logo, unlike his.

Well, this guy is in the store with a basket of groceries in his lap when a “Karen” approached. At first, she tried clearing her throat to get his attention, but as he wasn’t an employee, he didn’t pay attention. She escalated to grabbing his wheelchair and spinning him around to face her.

That terrified him to the point he went into a panic attack and couldn’t respond, couldn’t find his voice, so she proceeded to push him, against his will, to the store service desk.

Luckily, he was such a frequent customer that the store employees and manager knew him. One of the salesclerks upfront called security the second he saw that woman pushing this guy’s wheelchair.

This encounter ended with “Karen” being arrested for assault because it isn’t just rude to grab an occupied wheelchair without the occupant’s consent it constitutes assault. That Karen did time.

But what I don’t get is how women who are supposed to be in my age group can be so rude? Didn’t their parents teach them any manners? Didn’t they ever learn that even stock boys and janitors deserve respect as fellow human beings?

By the way, I’m writing this post because my brother-in-law is in the hospital again, ergo Konnie couldn’t write her post this week.

I hope you get better soon, Jerry!

Happy Writing everyone!