During the social distancing and stay-at-home orders enacted in response to the pandemic, hospitality workers reported a massive spike in rude customer behavior that appears to have persisted long after the pandemic subsided. One restaurant even closed for a “day of kindness” to draw attention to the mistreatment of its staff by unruly diners.
The “customer is always right” philosophy was adopted by American companies at the dawn of the industrial revolution and seems to be turning some US buyers into a “nightmare” for companies and their employees well before the pandemic; the pandemic seems to have only made it worse. Perhaps the advent of smartphones and the prevalence of public freakouts becoming fodder for social media views has helped bring more of these human behaviors to light.
One such incident was recorded at a subway station by TikToker @chalie_kincade. In the video, a woman asks a worker to “ready” her sandwich. The woman was eventually ignored until she had no choice but to exit the store.
@charlie_kincade I felt so bad for the server. She was doing her job and this woman started yelling at her. #KarenGoneWild #SheWasHangry #RespectYourServers #TheAudacityOfThisWoman #ThisIsSadAF ♬ Original sound – Charlie
“Finish my sandwich!” the woman yells at the worker at the beginning of the video.
The subway employee interrupts her: “No, I’m not stopping because you have to respect me.”
“Well, you have to respect your customers. And I’ll tell them you don’t respect your customers. Would you eat my sandwich?” she screams again.
At this point the woman begins to look around as she is not receiving any service. The worker continues to prepare sandwiches for two other customers. “Cut trio”, wishes one of the other customers.
“Hi how can I help you?” the worker asks another while the angry customer tries to get their attention.
“Can I have a 6 inch white bread?” says the other customer.
The angry customer paces around a bit nervously before pressing her finger against the glass and demanding, “Finish my sandwich!” No one answers and she eventually walks away, muttering to herself, “Okay, you’re being reported, that’s it secure.”
She makes it to the front door and is about to open it to leave before heading back to the worker. “Call your – call your manager right away. Please call her immediately,” she demands. “You were going to call her a while ago, call her now. … I would like to speak to her.” No one acknowledges her.
“Toasted, no cheese. Toasted,” continues one of the other customers.
The angry customer then leaves the store.
@chalie_kincad’s video has been viewed 2 million times. Commenters applauded the way staff and customers treated the “disrespectful” woman. Many believed that whoever was on the subway that day discovered an effective method of handling “Karens” in the wild.
“With everyone ignoring her she had to question her own existence, love it!!!!” said one.
“They just ghosted her and she didn’t know what to do so she left, the best thing she could have done,” said another.
“She ended up being so embarrassed,” claimed a third.
The Daily Dot reached out to @charlie_kincade via TikTok comment.
*Initial publication: September 6, 2022 at 7:29 am CDT
Jack Alban
Jack Alban is a freelance journalist for the Daily Dot, covering trending human interest/social media stories and real people’s reactions to them. He always tries to incorporate evidence-based studies, current events, and relevant facts to those stories to create your not-so-average viral post.
