My First "Karen" Experience

    I worked at a lot of different places throughout my high school life. From my junior year to senior year, I worked at a boba shop. Bubble tea is a style of drink originating from Taiwan, and boba is simply just a topping that goes into the drinks. Boba is made of tapioca and is made into little balls that are chewy and sweet; great for dessert after dinner. I was nearly seventeen, young, and naive. I was usually the person on the register and dealing with the complaining customers, so I knew how to deal with them and cater to the way they acted. Every so often, our store would get occasional Karens that would walk in acting like they owned the place, but one specific Karen changed how I viewed the rest of the customers who would come in from that day forward.

    My shift for that day started at five o'clock and ended at ten o'clock, and it was a typical busy Saturday night shift. I was trying to get hundreds of customers' orders in before helping out with smaller tasks such as dish washing and brewing fresh teas. The rush for that night did not start until around six o'clock, so everyone was just mentally and physically preparing for the rush. I started the preparation work by sweeping the front house, where customers would either be ordering or sitting down at the tables to enjoy their drinks. Then, I walked into the kitchen area and brewed fresh teas, cooked a new batch of boba and did some spot cleaning, which is just as crucial if not more important than working front of house. This was because we wanted to present our store as a clean and calming environment. Once the rush began, we started to get into the groove and fired out drinks as if ˇwe were playing Overcooked being just as stressed out.ˇ

    There was a long line of customers going out the door and the store was packed full of people. It started to get intense, customers getting furious within minutes of the rush and my coworkers barking orders behind me as I slayed the register for our sanity and we had to keep composure to get all of the orders out in time. My job on register was fun but also stressful since I not only took orders but I had to help clean the cups and measuring tools to make drinks since the baristas were busy making the drinks. The line just kept getting longer and the orders went from being maybe one two drinks, to being five to six drink orders. I always kept a smile on my face when working even with all of our customers gave nasty looks and ridiculed us. I loved conversing with the customers so I got pretty decent at judging how a customer would be based on how they first spoke to me.ˇ

    This one lady walked in and immediately evoked anger towards me. She had swung the door open and smoke entered the building as she stomped in. Her appearance was frightening as she had horns and a pitchfork to go along well with the red glow on her skin. She was complaining about how the line was too long and how she deserved better service while waiting in line. After our initial interaction, I asked her how her day was and what I can could get for her. She acted like I was not there and wanted to speak with another one of our employees. I told her that she would have to speak with me and that I can not just go and switch places with another employee since I was still learning how to make drinks in a quicker manner. After I explained the reason for not being able to switch off, she murmured under her breath that I shouldn't work there and I should just go back to my country.ˇ

    I kept my composure and politely asked her if she would still like to order and she finally did. Once her order was called, she expected me to bring her order to her. We had a pick up location where customers would have to walk up and grab their drinks. Although I wanted to throw the drink in her face, I did not and just smiled and handed her the drink. Once she left the building there was a release of bad energy almost immediately and everyone was relieved from the pressure and uncomfortable situation. A couple of hours following that altercation had gone by and the same Karen walked into the store. The rush died down and I was eating dinner in the break room. She asked to speak with me and I came out to the front and I saw her staring at me as I walked toward her. She wanted to apologize for earlier and it seemed like such a fake apology. The Karen expressed that she was only like that because she had a bad day at work, which is still not an excuse for treating me poorly. All I saw was the terrible person she was and how she acted but I could not act unprofessional in front of her or our other customers. Furthermore, she still did not say the word Sorry to my face. I was over it at that point and just told her to have a nice day and ate my food in peace.ˇ

    This experience has helped shape me as a person who had started with being ill minded about jobs to being hopeful and thankful of being able to help customers the way that I did. This Karen was the reason for me being the way I am towards everyone. Never showing anger towards another person anywhere. From that day forward, I learned that being polite even when being ridiculed is what makes a person stronger. Even if the kindness is not returned, it could help change their whole day and make it better.