18 children of entitled 'Karens' share stories of their secondhand embarrassment.

Sitting at a restaurant table and watching your own parent argue with a tired service industry employee about why their 6th side of Ranch dressing is taking 'an eternity' can be a humiliating yet formative experience...

So, when a Reddit user asked, 'Children of entitled Parents, what was it like being 'that' kid?' people who have had to apologize to waiters, retail employees, or other customer service workers were ready to share their secondhand 'I need to speak to the manager right now' moments.

1.

My parents are fairly relaxed but my paternal grandmother was what's known now as 'a Karen'. I hated being around her. Anywhere we went, she would find a reason to draw attention to us by loudly complaining or criticizing everything she could.

Scoffing at merchandise in various shops, scolding employees for things they had no control over, sending food back multiple times in every restaurant, all of that kind of shite. I've never been that sort myself and even if I'm upset by something, I make it clear to the poor employee that I know it's not their fault in any way. I learned how NOT to behave from her. - IntergalacticAnomoly

2.

Pretty much being left out of everything. Other kid's birthday? Parents didn't wanna deal with my parents to invite me. Parent teacher conference? Trauma fuel. Getting older and moving out? Do it yourself we helped you this far. - Sufurad247

3.

It was the most embarrassing thing. I think it’s what partially contributed to my social anxiety because she would just make a scene about every little thing. It made me wanna just dissolve into the floor sometimes, I would just cry sometimes too. Like really?

Now it just makes me angry thinking back on it, but I still hate complaining about anything that I could rightfully complain about in public.

I refuse to be that person so much that if you give me something completely incorrect at say a Starbucks I will simply smile and walk away with it as if it was the exact thing I ordered. I literally cannot be assertive about it because memories of what my mom was like just come rushing back to me. Ugh. - GrumpSupport

4.

My mom is fine until she doesn't understand what is going on. She isn't the brightest crayon in the box and will start screaming at the person trying to help her and get really upset. I use to have to call help desks for her because if she did it she would yell at them because she didn't understand.

I also occasionally had to step in when she got heated. She refuses to believe its her fault she can't understand simple things. You have to figure out how to phrase it so she understands and the older she gets the worst she gets - sassyandsweer789

5.

Both of my parents fit into this category. Best example (featuring dad for this one) is that they wanted to have dinner on my birthday and suggested I pick the place.

I picked the ring place apparently, so when we got there my dad screamed at all the employees, demanded a manager and told him how awful the service was, then left to get fast food while I was still eating. On my birthday. Although my mom thinking that my wife should take second place to her when got married was pretty bad too.

As for what it was like, embarrassing, stressful, and sadly impactful on my ability to form healthy relationships. I vacillated between terrified to speak up for my self and extreme anger at people. It really did a number of my dating relationships for a good long while, and my wife is super awesome to both be patient with me and help me learn healthy ways to express what I want in life...she’s awesome!

I knew it was wrong growing up, but when that’s all you know from multiple angles it can be quite difficult to define “normal” or to build healthy habits for social interaction. You know many things that are wrong, but don’t know what to replace them with and your emotions often are uncooperative. - johnhectormcfarlane

6.

My mum technically isn’t an ‘entitled parent’, she’s generally absolutely lovely (a bit controlling but that’s a bother thing) but I honestly don’t think she realises that staff & waitstaff can only do so much.

She’ll get very indignant if food isn’t quite right (eg if it arrived a bit cold) which is fine, but when that happens she normally wants a new meal, instead of it being blasted in the microwave, (which again is understandable, but doesn’t mean that that’s possible).

She’s also a pain when arguing with staff over tickets etc. We went to Disney Paris a couple of years ago and while we HAD paid for a full dining plan but it’s not what we got. She spent a while arguing with the staff which is once again understandable but still awful.

She’ll get quite arsey if that doesn’t happen until we point out that she’s being a bit of a b*tch and then she’ll apologise and back down. It’s still mortifying though. - spiderplantvsfly

7.

You grow up taking things for granted, and when you’re aware of it, it’s actually kinda hard to stop. A lot of times I don’t want to bring people over to my house because I’ve seen theirs in comparison and I don’t want them to see me as “that kid.' I’m not super rich or anything. I’ve just lived upper middle class pretty much all my life. My folks are damn good and hardworking. - ralanr

8.

My parents are very smart people. Highly educated, Ph.D.'s in maths and neuroscience. They're both members of Mensa and would administer IQ tests to me as a child. Armed with the phenomenal results of my IQ tests (156), they got me into every school, and every extracurricular program they could manage.

When I started doing poorly--failing entire grades even--it was never my fault. It was the fault of the institution, because 'I was a child genius', and there was no way I could ever be wrong...

I remember sitting in the principals office, while he tried to explain to my mom that I was going to need to repeat a grade. She screamed at him as loudly as she could, berating him for over 20 minutes and blaming him for my poor academic performance. The whole time I sat white-faced in the corner.

This happened multiple times a year. I actually think her tantrums are what got me through to the next grade each year.

The problem with these IQ tests--when given to kids--is that they are often inaccurate and usually indicate that the child's brain has developed slightly faster than the other kids in their age group. Then, puberty kicks in and levels out the playing field. Sometimes, the kids who were more developed at 8 ends up being the dumbest kid in the class by age 13.

This was me. Two very smart, although arrogant people had (by an unfortunate fluke of genetics) had a kid who ended up well below average. My mom got her psychologist friend to give me the WAIS when I was 19, I scored 93. Sometimes, I think my mom just faked my scores as a kid to help get me into good schools. - TheDumbest

10.

You'd do your very best to avoid going out with that parent. My very entitled dad who also happens to be a homophobe, misogynist, and a body shamer always ALWAYS tries to intimidate people whenever things don't go in his favor.

There was this one time when I went out to the mall with him because I needed to buy a pair of shoes for work (I'm a fresh grad and that's my first job, I'm still dependent) and he needed to renew a membership card. The guy who assisted him told him that it takes two weeks for the renewal to be processed and he got really pissed.

He walked out then went back immediately and tried to intimidate him with questions like, 'What's your name? You new here? I know who to talk to. I'll make sure you'll remember me' and I was just there sitting on a chair pretending that I don't know him. - scottztots

11.

I gotta be honest, I didn’t know my parent were rich for a long time. My dad started off dirt poor with my mom and worked from the ground up and by the age of 29 he was a millionaire, having started his own small business that took off in a recently booming area. So I lived in a mansion on a new street (prolly raised the value of the other houses on the street, it was big) and I got anything I wanted. Pretty cool right?

Well... I became a spoiled brat, and all was well until my parents got a divorce. My dad said my mom could have all the money if he could keep the business (they both shared the business and she even worked at the place) and she agreed.

Only after living at my grandparents at my dads side did I know how bad we were off now, my dad used to be rich but that was because he worked his ass off early, and with age started letting the small amounts of money come in, but being left with no money or property other then the business he had to move back with his parents.

But so some shock, I’m actually glad for this. It taught me not to take sh*t for granted, and that I couldn’t get anything I wanted, it turned me into the guy I am today.

My dad ended up picking himself up together and buying a nice townhouse .(nothing like the mansion but it was plenty for us) And after a long battle with alcoholism my mom ended up starting her own business and lives in a townhouse herself.

I can honestly say through thick and thin that these experiences moulded me into the guy I am today, I still love both my mom and dad dearly and I thank them (maybe too much lol) all the time about how they raised me with the nightmare that is shared custody (one week on, one week off) - Sens-Is-Feeling-Ok

12.

Embarrassing. I rarely went with her because I was always mortified, then when I was old enough I would offer to go for her - that really helped. She'd love the opportunity to stay at home while I did the errands.

But oh my god introducing my partner to her was so embarrassing. We went to a fancy seafood restaurant and she orders Pinot Grigio (this place so fancy that they give you the spit bucket for wine). He comes over with the white and she starts screeching 'I didn't order THAT! I ordered RED!' and he kind of stutters and it's obvious this poor lad is about to panic.

I'm like 'no mum, you definitely said Grigio' (poor boyfriend has no fucking idea what we're talking about because he's not a wine drinker).

After insisting she definitely said grigio (me reasoning that I thought to myself 'Oh I don't like white so I won't drink tonight' - a lie, I never drink when out with her so I can drive because she always insists on driving home drunk) she accepts her mistake, but doesn't apologize to the waiter who's been awkwardly standing there while we had this discussion.

I apologize to him and my mum later says 'You know, it's really embarrassing when you apologize for me. You don't have to apologize to them. It's their job!' but I just reminded her that I work in food service so I understand how it feels to be treated like garbage at work and like to make things easier. - SugarTits1

13.

I'm not the child of an entitled parent, but my boyfriend sure as f*ck is. His mom is something else, let me tell you. I think the first time I realized I was not going to get along with her, she had taken me and my children to go get McDonald's for everyone.

I already didn't want to go, because I didn't know her well enough to be alone with her for any lengthy amount of time, in my opinion. But went to make my boyfriend happy. A trip that should have taken, like, twenty minutes tops (she was getting food for 6 people) wound up taking close to an hour.

When we got there, in the drive through no less, she took her sweet ass time ordering and asking these people all manner of questions about the food. We had everything picked out beforehand, so she spent an extra ten minutes questioning them for just her order alone.

THEN, we get to the window and her card won't work. They tell her that it's their system, not the card. They always have issues with whatever type of card it was she had tried to use.

Now, this woman has all manner of credit cards in her f**king bag. She also always has at LEAST two hundred dollars cash on her. My point being, she could have used a different method of payment. Instead, she makes them run the card, like, six more times. When that doesn't work (and she's been screaming at the poor drive through person the entire time) she pulls up and parks.

Makes me and my kids get out with her because she's acting like a raving lunatic. Says it's because she'll need our help carrying the bags, but it's because she wants a f**king audience.

We go in, and she then proceeds to degrade the kid at the counter. Calls him names. Tells him she's going to call the owner of this particular store because she KNOWS her card will work here and 'someone's doing something funny.' The whole time, I'm apologizing.

I told my kids to go play so they wouldn't have to witness it. I even offered to pay for the damn food. But she was making such a scene that they just gave her the whole f**king order for free. Like, refused to take my money (probably because she screamed at me for even offering) and told her she had her food, and to leave. I have hated her ever since. - FoolishWhim

14.

After losing her job in oil and gas which paid >$150k a year, I got the pleasure of paying her property taxes while she took out a reverse mortgage to 'renovate the ($600k) house for sale,' which never happened. The end result was her being $150k in debt with an unsellable house.

Then her BMW broke. Then her Jaguar broke. She refused to look for work outside of her industry for 3 years, then finally picked up some minimum-wage work 3 years ago. The catch was, she needed my (paid-off, Japanese, 4-cylinder economy)car to get to work. I haven't lived with her for 15 years and walk to work, so it was feasible.

This year, she's been laid off and expected that I was going to keep paying her property taxes while driving my car. I told her I won't give her a dime and I'm taking my car back if the house isn't on the market.

She acted like a bratty teenager and continues to accuse me of 'threatening' her. I'm looking for a lawyer...ideally I'll sue her for the money she's borrowed, but ultimately I just want her out of my life entirely - CmdrPnts

15.

My mother was 'everybody was getting reported to the Better Business Bureau' at the most mirror inconvenience. As an adult, I hardly complain about ANYTHING as a result. It's backfired on me so much that I will put up with basically anything to not make a scene. Are you like that, too? - sickmilk

16.

My mom is a very IT'S MY WAY OR THE HIGHWAY person. You talk to her weird on accident she gets pissy. If you don't do something exactly as she does it or says, she gets upset.

She has an idea and you have a more efficient idea, she gets upset. When she gets upset at other people, me and my sister leave cause it's embarrassing and she doesn't understand what's going on and expects others to. She's only happy when everyone gives up on trying to reason with her. - SoothsayerAtlas

17.

I always hated when after abusing a cashier etc, and getting his way, my grandfather would crack a joke as though everyone was friends and the whole exchange had been lovely. I really think he actually didn’t get it - that they were very uncomfortable and wary of him. My mother is a bit the same. - [deleted]

18.

My mom is very I-want-to-talk-to-your-manager. She complains about s**t and treats service workers poorly because she sees them as beneath her. She doesn't demand free stuff, and usually doesn't ask for discounts, but she definitely complains and b**ches about EVERYTHING.

Like she once nearly made a phone store employee cry because the in-store stock was different from the website and my mom tried to argue with the poor girl and asked where she could lodge a formal complaint.

Anyway. Pretty much from a young age I was embarrassed by her behavior, because I never saw any other adults behave like that and I knew it wasn't okay and wasn't normal.

I stopped going places with my mom because I knew she would just be a jerk and I didn't want to be associated with it. By the time I was a teenager I'd try to slip notes to employees apologizing for her behavior. - SoldMySoulForHairDye