If You've Ever Wondered What’s It Like Being Married To A “Karen,” These People Will Answer Your Question

Karen is a stereotypical lady who is always unsatisfied and always wants to speak to the manager… You know the type – entitled, self-righteous people who think they know best and are willing to harass others until they get what they want. We are using the word “people” instead of “women” because “Karenism” cannot be attributed to women only – males can also become infected with this disease.

These people are sharing their experiences of being married to “Karen,” and we have selected some of the most interesting. Take a look; maybe you know a “Karen.” Or you are married to one and didn’t realize it.

1. I am afraid to even think about it.

“My life has been a living hell. The number of times I have had to intervene to save the life of a customer service rep over nickels is insane.

I’ve asked for a divorce just a couple of weeks ago. Guess how that went over.”

2. Living hell.

“My ex-wife is a Karen, in every sense but name. It was always so embarrassing. She was incapable of treating anyone like a human for the most trivial of occurrences. It was hell for me, as a person who’s pretty forgiving and doesn’t seek out confrontation.

So in a one-word description, it was hell. Lol.”

3. Divorce time- now.

“I’m divorcing a Karen.

Nothing was ever good enough; everything had to be the most expensive thing, and even then it wasn’t good enough.

It was exhausting, and it sucked the passion I had for life out of me.

She never said nice things about me, to me, or to other people. My best friend came over for a BBQ with his wife and kids, and she and her mother just mocked me the whole time to my friend's wife. My friend's wife confronted them about it.

Even on our wedding day, the part where you say nice things sounded like a tentatively warm school report card. The nicest thing I remember her saying about me was, “I like how you make the salads. It’s better than how I make it.” The whole time, that’s the best I can think of.”

4. Male Karens are not that uncommon.

“I was married to a male Karen.

Everything, and I mean everything, could set him off.

We were at a local taproom, and his iPhone automatically connected to the WiFi. Keep in mind, he had full bars on our cell service. The WiFi was being wonky and wasn’t working. The manager, a super nice guy, came over and asked how we were doing while he washed some glasses in the dish pit on the other side of the bar.

The following conversation ensues; keep in mind, my husband is super irritated at this made-up problem because our cell service is working just fine, and he can literally just turn off the WiFi:

Husband: Your WiFi is fucking trash.

Manager: I’m sorry. We recently upgraded our internet, and Cox is sending us a new modem. It’s supposed to be here this week.

Husband: If you say you have WiFi, you should make sure it actually works.

Manager: 😐 I know. I’m sorry. I’d be happy to restart the modem to see if that helps.

Husband then ignores him and continues to talk under his breath about a made-up issue.

This was my life for almost five years. The sense of entitlement was frustrating enough in public, but even more so at home. I had apologized to more servers, retail workers, neighbors, and random people in public for him in five years than in the rest of my life outside of him.

You know what? Now that I’m talking about it, maybe he’s not so much a male Karen. He’s more like a piece of shit.”

5. He has learned to live with it.

“I knew from the beginning that there would be difficulties, but I loved her and made the leap to make her my forever partner. Yes, her attitude towards certain people and things confused me at times, but by keeping an open mind and accepting her for who she was, everything has worked out well.

We’ve been married for 10 years, we have a darling daughter, and I’ve even come to love my wife’s kimchi fried rice.”

6. Great.

“I was married to a “Karen.” I’m sure the question on everyone’s mind is, “Was she like that at home?” The answer is abso-fucking-lutely. She was the kind of Karen who had to have everything absolutely perfect, or she would complain. Restaurants, stores, anything. At home, it was worse. I couldn’t do anything right.

Any ambitions or dreams I had, I wasn’t good enough to pursue… so why try? Ugh. I’m so glad I divorced her! Bonus: the lawyer she hired was an idiot and wrote the paperwork up wrong, so she won’t get anything from my retirement.”

7. That is a great weekend.

“A coworker of mine is married to a Karen.

He tells us stories multiple days a week about how she drives to four different grocery stores and harasses the employees because their stock is low on the specific item she wants.”

8. Well, the sex is good....

“Not married. Four years of a toxic relationship, though. I broke up with her on Monday, again. We’re kind of fucked financially because of this lockdown, so we are just feeling things out for a month before we decide for sure. This cycle is on repeat.

I constantly have to cut her off and speak over her because of the way she treats people: waiters, sales assistants, gym staff, neighbors, landlords, and random people we meet in bars, etc.

Note: we were both waiters at the beginning of our relationship, so she has worked in the industry but still lacks empathy. She blames the waiter if something is out of stock, etc.

My second major issue is that we are both English as a second language teachers. She teaches kindergarten, while I teach high school. Now that we are working from home, I hear how she speaks to her students, and it’s really opened up another aspect of her personality that I don’t like.

She will berate a student for not understanding instead of evaluating her ability to explain. Shitting on 3-year-olds in their second language doesn’t fly with me.

A lot of her behavior stems from a self-defense mechanism due to insecurity, but that’s not an excuse. She doesn’t realize how mean she is to people, including myself.

I’m a people pleaser who would rather sacrifice my own comfort than someone else’s. She expects me to be an asshole to people because I’m a biggish guy with tattoos; I don’t exactly look soft. It’s toxic as hell; please help.

PS. The sex is so good it rivals most porn, easily.”

9. Wishful thinking.

“Engaged to one; she was raised as a princess by her military-raised father. However, she’s super down to earth, but god forbid you work in the service industry and mess something up.

She worked at IHOP during college, so it humbled her compared to her family. She just writes reviews now (good or bad) and emails corporate to complain. If something is wrong with my food, she refuses to let me sit there and eat it.

Which I hate, but I have gotten her better about it (I believe). So maybe she is just a recovering Karen at this point.”

10. A military wife Karen

“I was married to a Karen, and it was absolutely embarrassing and cost me many good friendships. I was in the military, and she would continually cause drama with the other wives, wear my rank on her sleeve, and was the first person to judge.

She always had the attitude that she was better than everyone (still does from what I’ve heard) and would flip out on servers, and I would have to sneakily tip them.

Well, after a few different duty stations and a lot of burnt friendships, I was getting tired of it, and I would look forward to going on my deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. On my last one, she decided to cheat on me with my “best friend” (gotta love it), and I was immediately told about it. I’m not sure if it was because I was well-liked or she was well-hated.

Anyway, this was my THANK GOD moment: I could be the first one in my family to get a divorce and not get judged too harshly for it and end 10 years of absolute misery.

So, fast forward to today, my ex-best friend (thanks for the solid, dude, lol) and my ex-wife ended up getting married. But if there is one thing you don’t do, it’s cheat on your deployed husband. This is very poorly looked upon by EVERYONE in the military, and you’ll be excommunicated by the community. The other thing is starting a marriage based on cheating.

So, from what I heard (not that I really give a shit), she is divorcing him for cheating on her, and she is no longer allowed to be on the post for shacking up with another married dude while his wife was deployed. The circle of shame continues!”

11. Good for you.

“I broke up with my ex-Karen after she went to buy a coffee machine for 700 bucks and then proceeded to be so horrible to the cashier (for some reason, she demanded 20% off) that he had to get his manager.

After about 40 minutes of pure Karen-ness, the manager used his card to give her the 20%. After she came home and told me, I drove back to the store to apologize.”

12. Win some, lose some....

“I know a guy who’s married to a Karen named Karen. Every part of their family’s life is perfectly scheduled, right from the homework to the dinners. I think the bathroom schedule has been out of whack recently.

I think it’s a win-win situation for him since his life is perfectly organized with minimal effort on his part, and when someone crosses a line and annoys him, his wife will destroy them with her passive-aggressive comments, and he still doesn’t have to raise a finger!”

13. "Karen was not happy."

“Not married to one, but my aunt is. My uncle is this soft-spoken giant. He never stands up to her in any way. Except once.

At their daughter’s wedding, she was about to interrupt the ceremony to close a window because she was chilly. Everyone sitting close could hear her whisper, “I’m going to do it, but I don’t want to be an asshole.” My uncle, in a calm, quiet tone, quickly says, “Why stop now?”

Almost as if his filter just missed this one. I swear I could hear my dad snort two rows back trying to hold in laughter. Karen was not happy.”