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Fed Up With Karens ("Get me your manager!")

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  • Fed Up With Karens ("Get me your manager!")

    Hello, all. Sorry for this long rant, but...

    My family and I have been friends with this couple for about 8 years now, and they have two kids that are about the same age as ours. We've eaten out with them many times, but lately, it's gotten to where we no longer can do that because of what the wife, and now her husband, do many times at restaurants.

    I'll call the wife "Rose", and the husband "Joe". Rose is the person who looks like one of those so-called "Karens", cropped blonde hair, overweight, sometimes a nasty personality, and one of those that wants to speak to the manager.

    A few years back, after we had all met, we had decided to eat out at Chili's. The first time we did this, Rose had demanded to speak to the manager, because she felt her burger was too overdone (never mind she ate the whole thing anyway), plus she felt the service was too slow. This resulted in the manager giving all of us at the table free gift cards that we could all use for our next visit. With this, my wife and I did not feel that our service nor food was bad, but had we declined, Rose may have gotten offended, so we went along wth it. In addition to that, Rose said this happened the last time they ate at this Chili's and they also got free gift cards from that visit. This should have been the first red flag for us.

    A few months later, we ate at the local pizza place. This time, Rose again demanded a manager because the service was slow and it took a longer than normal time to get a refill on her iced tea. My family and I had eaten at this place many times with no problems, but the one time we go with Rose and Joe, Rose pulls this stunt again, and again, it resulted in free gift cards for everyone. I felt a little embarrassed as again, we didn't feel the service was bad. There are times when service can be a bit slow due to being busy and so forth, and we've had this happen, but not to where it warranted this.

    Later, maybe a year after that, we went to a local bar and grill where I have to agree, the service was not that great. But, instead of acting like an adult about it, Rose, who has a nice loud voice and big mouth, constantly berated our server to where it drew attention from other patrons. And yes, Rose again demanded to speak to a manager, who came over and after Rose's yelling, gave us all a free meal. I was very embarrassed at this point and wanted to hide under the table because of this. In fact, I had told my wife I never wanted to eat out with Rose and Joe again after Rose had caused this scene. But, the nice guy I can be, I later gave in to the next story.

    A year or so after this, we went to Fred's, another local bar and grill that I love eating at. The service is good as is the food, plus I love the atmosphere. Well, I gave in to having Rose and Joe meet us there. The moment we got there, Rose bitched and complained that the greeter was rude to her and, you got it! She demanded to speak to the manager. After Rose lodged her complaint, the manager gave us a free complimentary order of nachos. These nachos are about $12 and are on the "starter" page of their menu. I again was upset about this since this was the first and only time we were at Fred's with these people, and we ourselves had never had any problem with the greeters or employees. Yet, this happened with Rose and Joe.

    Finally, the straw that broke the camel's back. We ate at a burger place in the local mall and had this young server that was maybe 16 or 17 years old. The place was rather busy, so there were times when the service was not exactly up to par. I made the mistake of saying to Joe "I wonder where my refill is?" The moment I said this, this time, Joe wanted to speak to a manager and spoke on my behalf about my soda, which perturbed me. While this went on, the server arrived with my soda refill. While that happened, Joe then said, "He also brought my salad only a minute before the main course arrived" and Rose said, "And yes, he was this poor and not great the last time we ate here", right in front of the server. Their oldest kid even asked his dad why he needed the manager when nothing bad happened. By then, the server's hands were shaking as he handed me my refill, and my wife and I were sitting there in disbelief at all of this. When their check came, Joe asked Rose if anything had been taken off their check, to which Rose said no and had this disgusted look because of that. They didn't take anything off our bill, and I did not expect them to. My guess is this manager caught on to what they were up to and gave them no freebies.

    When this stuff happens, I feel as if the managers believe that everyone at the table is in on this "scheme", which I believe Rose and Joe do before they leave home. It's embarrassing and disconcerting. After this last time, which was about three months ago, we have not eaten with them since then, and I even removed them from my social media friends list. They have contacted us a couple of times to eat out again, and we have declined, but they don't yet seem to have taken the hint, nor asked any questions.

    We have eaten out many times with Rose and Joe, and not every time was bad. However, after about the second or third time, I took note of that fact that Rose always has a small complaint about the service, no matter how good it is, and she always "observes" the place. Should any customer that was seated a minute or two after she was receive their food before her, we all hear about it. I get a little annoyed with that, too, but I won't speak up unless a very long time goes by without our food arriving.

    I am a usually nice person (since I put up with this four other times), but I have to draw the line somewhere.

    Does anyone else have friends or aquaintances like this?
    Last edited by greensinestro; 12-06-2021, 12:54 PM.

  • #2
    No worries, we don't consider something "long" until we have to hit PageDown at least 3 times to read it all ^_^ And hey, rants and venting are what the board is for!

    As for knowing anyone like this personally? No, buuuuuuuuut...

    Back when I used to sling pizzas for a living (early aughties), we had this one customer (I am convinced that every pizza joint has one)...They ordered more or less every week, and on nearly ALL of their orders (at least, the ones they had to pay for), they would complain and obtain a "Free Card" (coupon good for any large pizza, any number of toppings). They would claim that their pizza was cold, or that it wasn't made correctly...but never on the day of; they always called to complain the day after getting their order, and after having eaten the whole thing. They would call the store, often get their order comped, and get their Free Card, which they used on a future order. When our SM manager began to realize that they were simply scammers and backed off a bit on his generosity, they started contacting Corporate directly, which would result in our SM getting yelled at AND the scammers getting sent multiple Free Cards.

    Sadly, Corporate's (let's call them "Daddy Jim's") way of doing things was of the "Do everything you can to please every customer" variety, while never taking into account that these people were causing us to LOSE money on them. They're probably still getting free pizzas to this day. E.g., if someone cleaned out their sofa and brought in a 10-year-old coupon, we were expected to honor it (which is fine) on the basis that "they must be great/repeat customers!" (complete bullshit). Invariably, said couponers had either no order history from us in that intervening time period, or simply none whatsoever.
    "For a musician, the SNES sound engine is like using Crayola Crayons. Nobuo Uematsu used Crayola Crayons to paint the Sistine Chapel." - Jeremy Jahns (re: "Dancing Mad")
    "The difference between an amateur and a master is that the master has failed way more times." - JoCat
    "Thinking is difficult, therefore let the herd pronounce judgment!" ~ Carl Jung
    "There's burning bridges, and then there's the lake just to fill it with gasoline." - Wiccy, reddit
    "Retail is a cruel master, and could very well be the most educational time of many people's lives, in its own twisted way." - me
    "Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down...tell you she's hurtin' 'fore she keens...makes her a home." - Capt. Malcolm Reynolds, "Serenity" (2005)
    Acts of Gord – Read it, Learn it, Love it!
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    • #3
      It sounds as if you have already called a halt to dining out with this precious pair, which is a very good thing. Of course the staff at these restaurants will think you and your spouse are in on these little scams ... why wouldn't they? You are not disputing the matter when "Karen" raises it nor are you refusing the gift cards when they're offered. Hopefully you have gone back to some of these places by yourselves and shown that you are not clones of Rose and Joe. The problem with the way management is handling them is that all they're doing is showing Rose and Joe how to scam freebies everywhere they go.

      I've never known anybody like this, thank goodness.
      Customer service: More efficient than a Dementor's kiss
      ~ Mr Hero

      Comment


      • #4
        Quoth Pixelated View Post
        You are not disputing the matter when "Karen" raises it nor are you refusing the gift cards when they're offered.
        Correct on that Pixelated, and I did feel guilty about that, too. But as I had mentioned, even though I wanted to decline, I had to at that time go along with it out of concern for souring a friendship. Now I know better.

        On another note, with my last story, I must point out that I later on called that restaurant and spoke to the manager while defending our server. I told her that this couple was one always looking for freebies and that we'd had enough of them. Too bad I didn't tell the manager to put them on a "refuse service" list.

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        • #5
          It's hard when you're first put on the spot like that ... like "WTF are they doing???" It leaves you between a rock and a hard place, and I think people like that are (consciously or unconsciously) depending on that to keep you silent.

          As for speaking to the manager, kudos to you for doing that! I'm sure the manager will keep an eye out for them in future and hopefully (depending on corporate's stance) will be able to deal with them as they deserve. Would be nice if they could be banned.
          Customer service: More efficient than a Dementor's kiss
          ~ Mr Hero

          Comment


          • #6
            Update on this. Rose texted us and asked if we'd like to eat out with them last night! She's so moronic that she still has not caught on nor has any clue that we don't want to eat out with them again. I guess we'll eventually have to get ugly with them about it at some point, and I actually relish doing that.

            Comment


            • #7
              Quoth greensinestro View Post
              Update on this. Rose texted us and asked if we'd like to eat out with them last night! She's so moronic that she still has not caught on nor has any clue that we don't want to eat out with them again. I guess we'll eventually have to get ugly with them about it at some point, and I actually relish doing that.
              If you otherwise enjoy their company, be up front about their behavior and tell them you will only eat out with them if they stop scamming the restaurants. Non-negotiable. And hold them to it at the restaurant.
              "I don't have to be petty. The Universe does that for me."

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              • #8
                Update...Rose contacted my wife yesterday to tell her all about them eating at the local Bru's Room and on and on and on. My wife's reply was to ask her if she made any complaints to the manager. Rose did not answer back, so maybe she's going to get the message into that thick skull of hers. Time will tell.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Why DO I see this, reading that? hummmmm
                  AkaiKitsune
                  Sarcasm dear, sarcasm. I’m well aware that dealing with civilians in any capacity will skin your faith in humanity alive, then pickle anything that remains so as to watch it shrivel up into an immortal husk thus reminding you of how dead inside you now are.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Waiting. I do need to watch that movie. It's sitting on my movie shelf just waiting for me.
                    "I don't have to be petty. The Universe does that for me."

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Rose still continues from time to time to contact us about eating out again. I mean, what does it take for a person to get the message? Getting ugly? Telling them off?

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