So my mom and I went out for dinner at a restaurant and became Karen. She paid for both of our food. When she went to pay, she accidentally tipped 20% on the card machine ($5.62 tip).
The two guys working were younger and weren’t sure how to cancel the payment. My mom told them it was a mistake and requested the money back. When the employees said they didn’t know how to cancel the payment after it had gone through, she got visibly irritated. She never insulted or raised her voice but was condescending to the workers.
Ultimately they called a manager who wasn’t there and the manager told them to reimburse her out of the tip jar.
After we sat down with our food I told her that it was humiliating that she was so adamant about getting the money back since it was such a small amount and was a tip to the employees to who she was talking down to. She then got mad at me saying that I get mad at her for everything she does.
I never actually called her a “Karen” to her face. It was just the best way I could describe it.
2) Money isn’t tight at all in our house. My parents have shared finances.
Am I wong for telling my mom she humiliated herself and me after demanding the tip back?
Here are what netizens think:
- since the tip was her mistake. If it hadn’t been her error I could have gotten behind her on this, but it was on her so, imo, she just needed to live with it and take it as a reminder to be more careful next time.
- I think it is great that you told her. Growing up, I never would have said that to my father because I “respect your elders.” Well, now we know that respect goes both ways, no matter the age.
- I frequently enraged my family by telling them respect was earned not automatically given when I was in my teens and twenties (1970s-1980s). I would have definitely called a family member out on behavior like this.