Why TikTok Roasted A Karen Couple At A Restaurant

It seems like there's a new Karen story every day, from the most Karen moment ever caught on tape at Costco to the Dunkin' Karen that has TikTok shaking their heads. But how did we get to the point as a culture that when someone is called a Karen, we know exactly what that means? 

The Karen meme is rumored to have begun on Reddit in 2014 with the infamous photo of Kate Gosselin with the "can I speak to the manager" haircut (via Insider). There was no name associated with the haircut, but someone made a connection to a Dane Cook skit. There are other possible points of origin for the meme, but Cook had a bit about "The Friend Nobody Likes" back in 2005, and that friend happened to be named Karen (via YouTube).

Although as a culture we have agreed that Karen represents a woman who complains (or worse), Bionic did a study about which names complain the most, and turns out we need to be on the lookout for Louises, not Karens. The moniker for a male Karen has yet to be agreed upon, but in the case of this family who made a TikTok about a Karen encounter at a restaurant, they referred to her husband as Larry (via TikTok).

As we've seen over the years, Karen encounters can happen anywhere (via The New York Times), but on TikTok, restaurant Karens dominate the For You Page. If a Karen didn't tip on a large food order or was rude to the staff, TikTok will most likely find out about it. One user recently posted a video on TikTok of their mother clapping back at a couple that yelled at their family for being too noisy at a restaurant. "He actually yelled at us, like he was my daddy," the mom said in the video. Although the yelling was not captured on camera, you can faintly hear the couple saying that the family was being too noisy and the mom responded "I'm sorry Karen what? God forbid you hear a noise when you're eating."

You can tell by the comments on the video that TikTok was pretty much on the mom's side and many got a kick out of the video. "always some Karen out there somewhere just trying to ruin your good time. I'm glad you told her and Larry off," commented one viewer. "They act like it's gunna [sp] be quiet as if they're eating at home," said another. One TikToker provided an elegant solution to the Karen encounter, "I woulda added 'pay my bill since you wanna tell me what to do!'"