One of the most clichéd, but no less ridiculous tropes in world culture, from classic literature to sitcoms, is the situation when a person is mistaken for someone else. We are perfectly familiar with this technique, we know what will follow in this or that scene – and we still laugh when we encounter something like this.

Especially if we come across it in real life, as happened with one Redditor who, about a year ago, had the opportunity to see a real combo: an entitled angry customer, a case of mistaking someone for another person, and a spectacular shaming of the aggressor at the very end. It was brilliant, and definitely worthy of your attention!

The author of the post once had a business trip to the US and went to some large retail store

Image credits: Mike Mozart (not the actual photo)

There was a typical angry ‘Karen’ harassing a poor teen whom she mistook for a store employee

Image credits: [deleted]

Image credits: Walmart (not the actual photo)

Image credits: [deleted]

Finally some official-looking guy came to the rescue, saying that he was ‘firing’ the girl and ‘promoting her to customer’

Image credits: RDNE Stock project (not the actual photo)

Image credits: [deleted]

The entitled customer was ashamed and simply tried to fade away as soon as possible

So, the Original Poster (OP), a Briton, once visited the United States as part of their business trip, and by the will of fate ended up in… well, if the author with inimitable British humor says that this is ‘the Wall of Marts’ store, then we understand exactly what is meant, don’t we? So, it was in the expanses of this store that this wonderful situation occurred.

At one fine moment, the author of the post noticed a completely typical livid “Karen”, who chose a random teenage girl as the target of her anger. It is not clear why she became this very target – after all, the girl was not wearing a uniform, and most likely was just another customer, but when did such a little thing stop any truly entitled person?

All the teen’s timid attempts to somehow explain to this hurricane of anger and indignation that she didn’t actually work there were simply swept away. The author was about to intervene – but a random guy in a formal suit was ahead of them – perhaps some kind of store manager or just another customer. The OP calls this dude “a legend” and we can’t help but agree with that definition. Now let’s explain why.

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The legend, literally with a wave of his hand, stopped the stormy flow of indignation from Karen and, turning to the upset girl, imperiously declared: “I’m officially promoting you to customer. You’re fired. Enjoy your shopping experience!” The teen, as the OP recalls, couldn’t stop grinning by this point, and the guy in the suit, continuing his inspirational speech, turned to Karen again: “She’s fired. Happy now?”

It was impossible to say that Karen was happy with this turn of events. She tried to say something, but the legend retorted brilliantly: “That’s a customer you’re harassing. If you continue to harass her, or any other customer in this store, I’ll have those large men from security haul you out the shop.” It all ended with the entitled customer somehow even visually cringing and trying to leave as soon as possible to get lost somewhere in the store. The teen and the legendary guy looked at each other – and burst out laughing together.

Image credits: Engin Akyurt (not the actual photo)

“By the way, this is a fairly effective technique to stop an overly aggressive opponent – and then follows the classic ‘bringing to the point of absurdity’ way to make fun of this aggression,” says Irina Matveeva, a psychologist and certified NLP specialist, whom Bored Panda asked for a comment on this situation. “Such a kind of sobering punch. And only later, when this opponent’s livid momentum is already lost, you can try to convey your point of view. Which actually happened in the described situation.”

“And it doesn’t matter at all whether the person who stood up for the teen was actually a store manager or just a stranger passing by. The main thing is that they managed to restore justice for an innocent girl, and the witty form in which it was all dressed up was simply an extra twist on the cake,” Irina sums up.

We must say, the vast majority of commenters to the original post turned out to be completely on the girl’s side, wondering what this ‘Karen’ really wanted? To fire everyone in the store and to get it closed? To punish the ‘employee’ somehow? Who knows? However, according to folks in the comments, when it comes to this category of clients, you never know what really caused their outburst of anger, and what they really wanted. “I just don’t understand why these Karens feel so comfortable just harassing people, particularly teenagers. Just get a hobby or something!” one of the commenters ponders.

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And to continue on this Karen topic, here is our selection of 33 of the most outstanding, weird and hilarious quotes from entitled customers, as shared by retail employees from all over the world. If you’ve also ever experienced outrageous behavior from customers in stores, please feel free to share your own tale in the comments below.

People in the comments praised the ‘legendary’ guy for sticking up for the teen in such a witty way

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