So i posted a story on here a few days ago and it took off pretty well and it had me thinking this subreddit doesn’t have a whole lot of stories. mostly vents and questions about the job ( WHICH IS COMPLETELY VALID BC THIS IS THE PLACE TO DO IT) so i thought i’d liven the feed up with another story! This one is pretty juicy bc this karen was a trifecta of red flags!!!!

So this time frame was right after starbucks took away mask mandate for customers and opened the cafes THE FIRST TIME and had put them back into place maybe like two weeks later. This older woman i would guess maybe 50-60s latest, approaches the counter with no mask. red flag #1. my partner and close friend (let’s call them Lilith) went up to the front register to take their order but of course we had to ask them to wear a mask. The lady refuses and i start to see some upset body language coming from Lilith. This woman had started jabbing fingers at Lilith. “But lilith got this,” i thought, bc they’re really good at standing their ground!!
but right as i was like, this transaction has gone on too long and start to pay more closer attention, i hear:
“You are oppressing me! You are OPPRESSING ME by taking away my right to choose!!! THIS IS OPPRESSION!”
lilith throws off their drive thru headset turns to me, walks up, says they can’t deal with her anymore and i’m like “nah i heard that let me in there.”
Mind you, Lilith is a person of color. this woman (in the middle of the height of the BLM movement) tells lilith that SHE THE CUSTOMER is being oppressed bc of mask mandates… and i’m just a lil white girl built like a stick you found on a hiking trail…
so lilith’s seething, i’m seething bc the way she said it can’t be translated over text, it was cruel and very intentionally said as if lilith would be like “oh shit, you’re right. YOU face the real oppression”
i go up to the counter and she tries to pull the same lines with me. i give her my most resting bitch face i can, “ma’am to be in here you need to wear a mask, you’re not being oppressed”
she then tries to define oppression to me.
“you’re missing the fact that oppression isn’t a choice and you have every right to go through the drive thru or go to different shop”
this woman reacts as if she won the lottery but i told her that i actually get to keep the money.LIVID, she threw her arms up and said, “then i’m leaving, if you’re going to oppress me and treat me like this”
i didn’t even say anything to her i let her walk out. i know it hurt her more to not even hear me respond at all rather than something petty.