rSlash - r/Idontworkherelady Karen Trashes My Store and Spends Months In Prison!

Episode Date: January 4, 2021

r/Idontworkherelady In today's episode, OP owns a tattoo parlor and has a rather unique encounter with a completely insane Karen. After a mild confrontation, the Karen returns to OP's parlor and trash...es the store, causing thousands of dollars in damage. The funny thing? Karen gave her personal information to OP's friend right before trashing the parlor, so tracking her down was a piece of cake. Enjoy prison, Karen! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Why do I love getting my holiday gifts at Chopper's Drug Mart, the PC Optimum Points? Perfume from Mom? Points for me. Gaming Council for the Kids? Points for me. Chalkets for the Teachers? Oh yeah, points for me. Shoppers. You should totally go. Exclusions of Life. Welcome to R-Slash, a podcast where I read the best post from a cross-reddit. Today's sub-reddit is R-Slash, I don't work here, lady, where a Karen gets herself thrown in jail. Our next reddit post is from never-ever-e-pairs. This happened a couple of months ago. is our slash, I don't work here lady, where a caring gets herself thrown in jail. Our next reddit post is from never ever eat pairs.
Starting point is 00:00:28 This happened a couple of months ago. Backstory, I'm a youth worker, and part of my job involves taking clients to a bowling alley. I do this a few times a week, sometimes more than once a day, and usually at odd times. Nine a.m. Monday bowling, anyone? So this place is basically my second office and we have a really good relationship with the proprietors. During the quiet hours they only have two staff working. One in the office
Starting point is 00:00:50 slash front desk slash cafe and one behind the scenes. This means that often there's a bit of standing around waiting when the front of the house staff members in a different area. Myself and the other weekday regulars mostly senior bowlers are used to it. It actually works well for me because part of what I'm doing there is teaching my client social skills and coping strategies. So having to occupy yourself and be patient and polite is a good teaching moment. My client and I have finished bowling and we're sitting at the cafe eating and talking quietly when a man approaches the unattended cafe and immediately starts huffing and pacing relentlessly. I side-item, but kept talking to the kid.
Starting point is 00:01:26 A minute later, he comes and looms over our table and says, EXCUSE ME in an aggressive tone. Now, I've got my calm neutral face on, but inside, I started jibbering because, one, I hate confrontation. Two, this guy is actually massive. Three, the kids I work with are the zero to kick your effing teeth in kinda kid. And they often get very protective of their workers and a sweep but messed up kinda way. So if this guy tries to start something, there's a good chance there will be red and blue flashing lights in my immediate future. Yes, I inquired politely, keeping one eye on the kid, one hand on the phone, and a vapid smile on my face. How about you do your epic job?
Starting point is 00:02:08 He leaned down over the table. His breath was as unpleasant as the rest of him. I was surprised because sitting at a bowling alley eating curly fries with a 15-year-old at 10am on a Tuesday was my job. And I was doing it very well, thank you very much. I was also alarmed because said 15-year-old has become very still and very tense. Not good. I moved back in my seat and resumed the vapid smiling. Oh, sorry, I don't work here. Sometimes you have to wait a minute for someone to see you and come over, but otherwise maybe try the front
Starting point is 00:02:40 desk? Well, you're dressed like you effing work here. He leaned over more and jabbed me. He jabbed me in my chest. The staff at this bowling alley wear black trousers and violently orange polo shirts that match the violently orange walls. Awful. I'm glad I don't drink because going in there with a hangover would kill me.
Starting point is 00:03:01 I was wearing baggy hippie pants, my purple manic pixie dream torangility, and a sparkly sequin backpack. And a lanyard with the word staff printed on it. I held up the company ID card at the end of the lanyard, which identified me as an employee of the nonprofit I work for. No, sorry, I work for a nonprofit, we're customers here. Now, if you don't mind, you're being very rude. This was me trying to be a role model terrified. I smiled my best. Everything is fine. Smile to the kid who was eyeing the cutlery bucket. Don't talk to me like that you little B word. I went three beers and some effing wings.
Starting point is 00:03:39 He actually smacked the table with his hand. I looked over to the main area. Oh goody, he has friends. I leaned back as far as I could. The wall was behind me. Tables were on either side of me and he was blocking my exit. The kid stood up. This was bad. A staff member spotted us and started rushing over. This was good.
Starting point is 00:04:00 We had time for a few rounds of, I want to speak to your manager. And I don't work here though, please let me out before the actual manager of the bowling alley reached us. He pulled the guy away so I could get up, but the dude wanted to speak to my manager and won't let up. The manager says, I'm the manager here. You're her manager? No she doesn't work here.
Starting point is 00:04:21 He says to me, I want to speak to your manager now. At this point, I figured why not and handed him one of our company business cards and said, as for my manager's name, he turned away to dial the number and I grabbed the kid and whispered, now watch him make a dick of himself. The kid laughs and relaxes a bit and the three of us just stand in a row and watch this moron call my actual manager and complain that I wouldn't serve him beer and chicken wings. My manager actually took the complaint on an official form and made me sign it when I got back to the office.
Starting point is 00:04:52 Meanwhile the dude got banned and the bullying Ellie gave the kid a huge pile of free arcade tokens as an apology. And I was able to get him to give me back the night that he stole before I dropped him home. Wins all around. And then OP adds in an edit. The complaint that my awesome manager wrote was a joke and a stuck up on the staff notice board.
Starting point is 00:05:11 It's written in a tongue in cheekway and will absolutely not come back to bite me. We all enjoy the running joke. Our next Reddit post is from Complex River. Maybe 10 years ago I owned a tattoo shop that was located next door to a piercing shop. I had gone next door to watch the lobby for the piercer while they ran out and grabbed some change. So, a Karen walks in, and I get why she thinks I work there because I'm sitting by in the counter. I was here last week and you screwed up my piercing. It's infected now, and I need you to fix it. I don't work here, I'm just... No, it was you. I remember your tattoos. Look, she proceeds to show me her naval piercing swollen
Starting point is 00:05:46 over with cheap, sucky jewelry. Obviously not from the upscale shop where I was currently at, and covered in yellow crust. The piercer will be right back. He just went, no, you! You screwed it up and now you're going to fix it. I'm not dealing with anyone else. They shouldn't have to fix your mistakes. I don't work here. I haven't done a piercing in years. I'm sure the piercer will be happy too. Are you calling me a liar?
Starting point is 00:06:14 I remember you. I don't want some guy touching me. Mind you, the only piercers who work there at the time were men. You need to help me or I'm going to have to go to the hospital and have this thing surgery removed, and they don't have to suit you for my medical bills. Since I'm not a piercer, I don't know for sure, but that thing looks pretty gross. Maybe you should go to the hospital and get it checked out. I'm not going to the hospital.
Starting point is 00:06:39 You're going to fix it. You screwed it up. I need this fix today. Okay, fill out this form and formal to see what can be done. I was tired of dealing with her, I just want to stop talking. The piercing shop had a long release form that everyone has to fill out, so I gave her one of those to keep her busy till the piercer returned. While she was working on the form, the piercer returned. I explained that she was upset and hadn't issue with her naval, and then snuck out the backdoor to return to my much quieter tattoo shop.
Starting point is 00:07:07 Maybe 10 minutes past and guess who walks into my shop. I went to get a tattoo today. The lady acted like she had never seen me before, no mention of me being in the other shop or anything. I'm sorry, I'm busy today. We're booked out for several months and not able to take any new clients for a while. I went blah, blah, blah. She proceeds to describe a fairly large and detailed tattoo.
Starting point is 00:07:28 I can't remember what. I know how much tattoos cost, so I don't intend to overpay. There's no way I can tattoo you today, and I'm about to lock up for lunch. Karen goes through the gate that separates the lobby from the tattoo station, sits down on my massage table, and holds out $40. How long do you think this will take? Can I use your phone? I have to call my husband until I'm when I'll be home.
Starting point is 00:07:52 Ma'am, you have to leave. You are not getting tattooed here today. I'm not taking new clients and you've been kind of rude both here and next door and I just plain don't want your business. Here, she holds out $40 again. You're not busy now so I don't don't want your business. Here she holds out 40 bucks again. You're not busy now so I don't see what the problem is. How can you even stay open if you refuse to tattoo anyone? Here. Again she hands out the $40. We tattoo plenty of people. I just won't be tattooing you. You're demanding a $400 tattoo for 40 bucks when I'm already booked
Starting point is 00:08:23 and you're rude to me next door. Please take your person, leave. I'm trying to get lunch before my next appointment. The best adventures are the ones we share. So explore together with the 2023 Defender 130 featuring increased cargo capacity and room for eight adults. With unstoppable off-road capability, excellent on-road dynamics, 21st century connectivity and luxury interiors,
Starting point is 00:08:48 you'll be capable of great things. The 2023 Defender 130, Adventure, Share Widenly. Contact your Land Rover Authorized dealer for details. This episode is brought to you by RBC Student Banking. Here's an RBC student offer that turns a feel-good moment into a feel-great moment. Students, get $100 when you open a no-muffly fee, RBC Advantage Banking account, and we'll give another $100 to a charity of your choice. RBC Vantage, this great perk and more! Only at RBC. Visit rbc.com slash get 100-div 100. Condition Supply, in January 31, 2024, complete offer eligibility criteria by March 29, 2024. Choose one of the eight I'm not tattooing you now or ever. Get your stuff and get out of my shop and don't
Starting point is 00:09:36 ever come in here again. At this point, I picked up a tattoo reference photos and shoved them back in our purse and handed to her. What the f are you doing? Give me my purse. You're trying to rob me. Give me my effing money back, girl. Call the police! So I walked to the door, opened it, and threw her purse outside. Call whoever the f you want, but you need to leave now. She practically left out the front door, continuing to scream about her purse, the contents
Starting point is 00:10:02 of which it spilled for me tossing it. And on her way out, she pushed me hard enough that I cut my shoulder on the corner of a vending machine in the lobby. I locked the door behind her, gathered my things and left on foot out the back to get lunch at the bar a couple of doors down. While I was at lunch, I got a notification that someone had left her a review. Guess who? It was the most insane and confusing review I've ever read. My favorite parts were that I had secretly disclosed having hepatitis to her, and that her nephew was going to do an apprenticeship with us, but wouldn't after how she was
Starting point is 00:10:33 treated. The rest of it was profanity and saying my shop was dirty, I'm a drug addict, etc. So I flagged with Google and figured that was the end of that. My shop had a little enclosed patio at the front entrance with seating in a smoking area for clients as well as a bunch of potted plants and decorations. When I returned, I found all but one of my pods broken, dirt and plants everywhere. A bench thrown halfway over the fence, the Christmas lights had been torn down. My gait had been kicked or pushed so hard that it was sitting crooked on the hinges, my
Starting point is 00:11:02 small window had been broken. One of the letters was torn off my tattoos sign, and my freaking car was keyed. My car had a huge sticker for my shop, and the plate was tattooed in you, so it was obvious who to target. Not a little bit, either. This woman went freaking crazy while keying my car. There was so much damage, I couldn't believe she'd been able to do it in the hour or so I'd been gone.
Starting point is 00:11:24 I was super bummed. No one had seen it happening because the stripped-or-parking lock configuration was kind of weird. So I started crying. I was so bummed out about my shop and the car and all of it. I'm really low-key and get stressed easy and this was too much. I then called the police, canceled my next appointment and went next toward a visit while I waited for the cops. I found out the lady had been crazy rude to the piercer as well, and that he wound up kicking her out as well. She wanted him to replace the awful jewelry she'd gotten at Piercewood at another shop,
Starting point is 00:11:56 with a $150 barbell for free and became my rate when he refused. So I rate that she pushed all the flyers from the flyer table on the ground as she left while cussing him out. So the cop showed up and took her report. It takes me a while to fill everything out and he took a photo of the cut that I got from being pushed and we showed him a video of her trashing the place. The cop was telling me that the report was pretty much just for insurance because we don't know who she is or how to find her when I remembered the release form.
Starting point is 00:12:23 Part of the piercers release form process was to take a photocopy of client ID cards in the form. So that's what I'd done when I was trying to shut her up. We dug the release forms out of the trash, and then the cops had her full name, recent address, phone number, etc. She lived not even a half mile from the shop. So the cops drove to her house and arrested her. She got in trouble for all of it. By the time it was over, she had to serve several months in jail. And I assume a long time on probation and I bet she had to do a 10 classes.
Starting point is 00:12:56 I don't know just a guess. I got a notification several months later letting me know she got out of jail, and I remember thinking, man, she was in there for a while. The following day her husband called me to find out what the damages were so we could cover the costs. By the time I added everything up, it was close to $5,000. I was kind of a dick and taxed the F out of them and quoted him as though I'd paid people top dollar to fix all my stuff that I actually fixed. Like replace and set up the plans, the fans, etc. He brought an envelope of cash in the day after I told him the cost. It was weird. He was a nice acting, seemingly normal guy. He apologized and said that she has a temper. This means that Karen could
Starting point is 00:13:35 have afforded the jewelry she was trying to get for free, and the tattoos she was trying to get for cheap. I assume anyways, because it seems like he just had the money laying around since he came up with it so fast. But don't worry, none of this stopped Karen. After she got out of jail for about a year, my shop would get these random super weird reviews from random Gmail accounts that had no other reviews. I had no proof it was her, but we never got bad reviews till this happened and they were all written in the same way. They all just sounded like the same person wrote them. Some of my favorite highlights from the reviews, that I'm a prostitute and operate that business out of the shop, that we reuse needles, that we did a misspelled tattoo, that I sell drugs from
Starting point is 00:14:15 the shop, that you can find newt of me online, that we tattooed a minor without a parent, that we allowed dogs in the shop, that we got shut down by the health department, and that I hire illegal immigrants. There was plenty of other stuff, and it was all pretty far out, that's just what I can remember. This lady would write paragraphs of weird stuff every time, just rambling lunacy. I was in business over 15 years, that was the only caring I ever remembered having to deal with. I'm sure there were a lot of other rude customers, but nothing like that.
Starting point is 00:14:46 I wonder if she ever realized that she provided us with the information that made it super easy to track her down right after. Based on this Karen's behavior, I'm guessing that the reason why she flipped out when you threw a purse out into the street was because she had drugs in there. This lady seems like she's not all there. Our next reply is from 1000 mile Boner. Quick Preface, I was in a very serious car accident a little over a year ago. This left me with some brain damage, nerve damage, etc. Throughout my days, I have episodes where I get disoriented, forget where I am, what I'm doing, what's
Starting point is 00:15:19 going on around me, etc. I used to do heavy manual labor, but I'm now working at a well-known department store with aprons of a certain citrus variety. A couple of days ago I was shopping at our store with a friend in a black and archanted flannel. I'm approached by a middle-aged man carrying a small metal piece related to light bulbs. Well, at the certain point of our trip, I was starting to have an episode. My body got really hot, I zoned out quite a bit, and I wish his overall not 100% there. He asked me where I can find a replacement for this piece and I point towards the hardware department even though I was off duty, not in uniform and clearly shopping myself.
Starting point is 00:15:54 The place where I pointed seemed to confuse him and he muttered something under his breath while giving a really puzzled look but goes anyway. We go to the water founds near the bathrooms in the back so I can get some fluids in my system and chill out a bit. When we continue shopping a few minutes later, who passes us? None other than the puzzle-looking man complaining about stupid employees and blah blah blah. Oh no, it's about to go down. At first he stops a few feet away from me looking around. Clearly searching for the stupid guy who sent him over to the hardware department until he realizes I'm standing right by him. He locks eyes with me and the conversation goes as follows.
Starting point is 00:16:29 Are you the one who sent me all around the store looking like an idiot? Oh, I'm sorry, I was confused by what you showed me. It's a such and such piece. Why the F would you send me to the hardware aisle? Are you an R-word or something? If this one of those programs, I'm sorry man, I'm not even working right now. I'm just trying to enjoy my day off. I didn't mean to see you do the wrong place. At this point, another employee walks up and tries to diffuse the situation,
Starting point is 00:16:54 seeing me, their subpar mental capacity co-worker, and a fuming customer in a situation. My co-worker says, what seems to be the problem? Thank God! Are you an R-word too? Or do you think you can show me where I can find this? He gestures through the small piece in his hand. Sir, I understand that you can't know this, but I am a bit slow at times. I have fairly severe brain damage, and also as I said before, it's my day off. I gesture at my coworker's apron.
Starting point is 00:17:24 When I say this, the guy turned white as a ghost. I kid you not. White as a ghost. Mouth of gap. It was glorious. After this, everything dies down a bit and I bask in the small win. Somehow, despite the fact that he was talking to a person with brain damage, he was a stupid one.
Starting point is 00:17:43 That was our slash. I don't work here, lady. And if you like this content, be sure to follow my podcast because I put out new Reddit person with a brain damage, he was a stupid one.

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