Karens have been around long before we labeled them as Karens. A lot of boomers don’t like the Karen label (usually because they display some Karen tendencies themselves), but boomers can’t deny that the term Karen serves a specific and useful linguistic function. There didn’t use to be a concise word to describe an entitled, impatient, cruel, boomer white woman who drives everyone up the wall. The absolute worst thing about Karens is the self-centeredness they seem to all possess. They perceive everything around them that they don’t like as an intentional slight directed at them specifically. How they can blow up angrily at the most banal offense is baffling. They will literally become enraged by people trying to help them in a way that doesn’t perfectly gel with their expectations. That is exactly what happened to a part-time waiter who encountered his first conflict with a Karen this weekend.