Up until a few years ago, we didn't have a convenient, catch-all term for someone who makes a big deal out of small problems — someone who might ask to speak to a manager.
Now, though, we have a term: Karen. Most of us have known a few Karens in our time, but what's it like to be married to one? For answers, check out this r/AskReddit post. It's much easier than marrying a Karen.
"Married to one. She doesn’t get why people think Karens complain so much! It’s annoying for her and she’d like to talk to someone about this."
"My name is Karen too and it’s so annoying! I have to go by Wren now lol."
"I'm not married to a Karen but someone in my family decided to make a Karen family and let me just say.. it is freaking hell! I do not go to any social event if said Karen will be there (keeps the peace in my family tbh) nor do I go alone with Karen. She is a nightmare to everyone in her path, from car guards to cashiers, even her friends... No one can be better than her or smarter than her and she's just freaking exhausting man. The worst part is... Her kids are becoming just like her."
"Engaged to one, she was raised as a princess by her military raised father. However she’s super down to earth but god forbid you work in the service industry and mess something up. She worked at IHOP during college so it humbled her compared to her family. She just writes reviews now (good or bad) and emails corporate to complain. If something is wrong with my food she refuses me to sit there and eat it. Which I hate but I have gotten her better about it (I believe). So maybe she is just a recovering Karen at this point."
"My mum is a bit of a Karen, and we’re pretty much no contact now so that should tell you everything you need to know. Whenever we’d go out to eat it’s always too cold, they don’t have the brand of sparkling water she likes, they’ve put ice in her drink when she didn’t want it, she always has to make some kind of modification to her order etc. the list goes on."
"My mom is a Karen. Legit her name too. Could be the original Karen it is all based on. Don't think she knows the meme of her own name. Essentially she is such a Karen she got her name changed to Karyn. And there is a lot of food sent back at restaurants."
"I was married to a 'Karen.' I’m sure the question on everyone’s mind is 'Was she like that at home?', the answer is absolutely. She was the kind of Karen who it had to be absolutely perfect or I’m complaining. Restaurants, stores, anything. At home was worse. I couldn’t do anything right. Any ambitions or dreams I had, I wasn’t good enough to do...so why try. Ugh. So glad I divorced her! Bonus: the lawyer she hired was an idiot and wrote the paperwork up wrong, so she won’t get anything from my retirement."
"My brother was married to a Karen. She lived to berate people and rarely went anywhere without a flask of vodka 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 sex. 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 10 years he divorced her, moved to another state, and married a kind hearted, generous, empathetic lady."
"I know a couple with a Karen. She blamed him for EVERYTHING.
The husband was (in our opinion) something of a saint.
Once she broke a glass in the kitchen, came and sat back down at the table, and said 'That was your fault.'
We all just stared at her. She looked sheepish and said 'I knew that one probably wouldn't work.'"
"I taught my nephews (ages 9 and 11) about 'Karens' last year when they stayed with us for a week after school let out. After describing traits and observing them in the wild, they asked somewhere around day 2... 'Is our mom a Karen?'
My reply: 'You words, not mine.'"
"I'm divorcing a Karen.
Nothing was ever good enough, everything had to be the most expensive thing and even then it wasn't good enough.
It was exhausting and it sucked the passion I had for life out of me."
"My mom was a Karen for a while. She literally didn’t realize it until my brother and I started calling her out on it when we were early teens because were embarrassed. She made genuine efforts to change, and a few years later was the sweetest women you ever meet. Just saying there’s hope."
"Not married but 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."
"Not the married to one, but my mom's a Karen. Literally overreacts to everything. Whenever something doesn’t go her way- you guessed: gotta speak to the manager or whoever is in charge. Sometimes really embarrassing to go out in public with her because she’ll just yell at the service workers for the smallest of things. Also she has a bob cut."
"My sister is a Karen. Everyone feels so sorry for her husband. Everything is his fault. He is treated like a slave. She only addresses him by yelling. She constantly insults him. We have no idea why he hasn't divorced her or flipped out and attacked her. We have all told her to cool it and her response is that he's just so stupid. I could go on and on but my sister really is a horrible person."
"My Mom is a literal Karen, as in...it’s her name. But she’s like a Bizarro Karen. She will constantly ask to speak with managers and supervisors and bosses...
But when said managers arrive, she unloads about the employee helping her out was fantastic, hardworking and friendly. And then she’ll spend 20 minutes trying to figure out if she and the manager know someone in common. Nine times out of 10 they do. As a kid it would embarrass me, as an adult it’s one of my favorite things about her. She makes people feel good about the work they do—and it’s really special to watch how wonderful she makes people feel."
"My mom is a Karen. she thinks the world is supposed to cater to her, serve her and everyone else is wrong.
Once we went to Carl's Jr. she ordered 4 burgers, for the four of us. She pulls one out of the bag while the guy is getting our drinks and hides it. She complains that he forgot a burger. She pulls them out one by one and counts it in front of him. It's obviously missing because she hid it and he's swearing up and down he put them all in the bag. I'm stunned speechless and it happened so fast. She got a free burger, and laughed as we drive off. Im just staring at her and she opens it up to eat it on the drive home. And she ate her actual burger like the 5th one never existed."
"My ex wife is a Karen, in every sense but name. It was always so embarrassing. She was incapable of treating anyone like a human for the most trivial of occurrences. It was hell for me, as a person that's pretty forgiving and don't seek out confrontation. So in a 1 word description it was Hell. Lol."
"My mom's a Karen. She is self aware she is a Karen my siblings and I send her memes about it. When my step dad divorced her last summer we were all amazed he lasted 17 years to be honest. None of us like going out with her it's terrible and my husband just straight up tells her no you aren't talking to the manager when we go in a place."
"Not married to one, but my aunt is. My uncle is this soft spoken giant. He never stands up to her in any way. Except once.
At their daughters 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 an a-hole.' My uncle, in a calm quiet tone says quickly 'Why stop now?' Almost as if his filter just missed this one. I swear I could hear my dad snort two rows back trying to hold in laughter. Keren was not happy."
"My life has been a living hell. The number of times I have had to intervene to save the life of a customer service rep over nickels is insane. I've asked for divorce now just a couple weeks ago. Guess how that went over."
