A woman had Redditors torn between outrage and giggles when she turned the “Karen” meme on its head in her workplace. Now the men are fighting back and she wonders what her next move should be. Here is her full story.
The Sales Guys Are Neanderthals
OP is the only woman in a company of about 50 people. She gets along OK with most of her coworkers, but the guys in sales are tough to take.
The salesmen are mostly younger men, so many of their conversations predictably turn into obnoxious jokes. OP tries to avoid them as much as possible, but sometimes she gets sucked in.
One of the major themes with the sales team is that they use the “Karen” meme to make jokes about every woman, OP included.
And OP says there are no boundaries. Old women, young girls, mothers, nuns, teachers, and every other woman get labeled as a different type of Karen by these Neanderthals.
She Hoped Their ‘Karen’ Jokes Would Wear Thin
OP tried to ignore the Karen banter for a good, long while thinking it would play out like all the other stupid jokes. But when it was still going strong after months, she decided she had to do something about it.
So, during a casual conversation with one of the sales guys, OP told him that all the Karen talk wasn’t cool with her. The man’s response was simply to call her a Karen.
OP had to come up with another way to get her point across. And she came up with a doozy.
Now, whenever there is a man within earshot, OP makes it a point to refer to any man she’s talking about as “Kevin.”
So She Got Her Own Back and Called Them ‘Kevin’s’ in a Whiny Voice
OP makes it especially obvious when she is talking to one of her offending coworkers, calling him Kevin in a whiny, nasally voice and drawing out the name.
She knows it’s childish, but OP was out of ways to get through to her coworkers.
The company is small enough that they outsource their HR function. And as far as OP can tell, all the HR firm does is run payroll.
And OP’s managers are useless when it comes to conflict resolution. They’re an IT services company, and management activities revolve around getting their projects done, not making friends.
They Were Begging Her To Quit Her Joke
OP also thinks that if she threatens to sue her company for creating a hostile workplace, she’ll be ostracized in her industry.
So OP felt like it was up to her to come up with a solution.
As it turns out, OP’s plan worked even better than she thought it would. Not only are the sales guys upset with her and begging her to quit her joke, but other people in the company have started calling them Kevin, too.
But the sales team is still using Karen as a blanket term for every woman, everywhere, so OP’s job is not done.
She Planned To Continue Despite Rising Office Tensions
OP hopes the men will finally stop leaning into the Karen meme so she can also stop her Kevin assault. But until then, she plans to keep it going.
Still, OP isn’t thrilled that she’s contributing to the tension in her workplace, and she’s looking for another job.
For the most part, Redditors applaud OP for her creative approach to her workplace problem.
Most of them think it’s more than fair for her to turn the Karen meme against her chauvinistic coworkers.
It’s All Downright Hilarious
Some of them think it’s all downright hilarious.
But more than a few commenters think OP is just being childish and not really helping make the situation better.
What Are Your Thoughts?
So, what do you think of this story?
Is OP brilliant for the way she turned an ugly meme against her tormentors?
Or is she just being mean like the men in her workplace?
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The post She Starts Calling Her Neanderthal Colleagues ‘Kevin’ To Get Her Own Back on Their Tiresome ‘Karen’ Reference to All Women first appeared on The Net Worth Of.
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Source: Reddit