This story is so insane I had to share it with everyone. This weekend there were a number of open studio art walks around town and as it was also Tara's birthday we decided to get some culture. Culture is exhausting and before long all the horizon expanding we were doing was making us hungry, but lucky for us there were a selection of food trucks outside one of the location. We ordered some food, the chef was friendly and chatty and told us it would be about 10 minutes until it was ready so we decided to pop in another studio and then pick up the eats after. The studio happened to be a prop manufacturer with a life size bloody corpse laying on a table in the middle of the room. That's an unrelated detail I just threw in for fun.

After our prop corpse viewing we made our way back to the food truck and it had been about 10 minutes. There was a woman and her friend ordering food and a few people standing around waiting for their orders. The woman ordering was white, blonde, probably in her mid-late 60's, very nicely dressed, hair done, wearing a selection of tasteful but chunky golden jewelry. Her friend was similar aged, dark hair but with a more European vibe. If that makes sense. Anyway, she finished her order and they ask for a name for the order and she says "Karen."

The chef, who has continued to be chatty and friendly with everyone looks up at her and says "Can I ask you a question... with that name do you feel the need to be extra awesome to everyone all the time to compensate, or you know, take it back?"

I assume 99% of Karens out there in the world would have laughed, said yes, and that would have been that. But that would not have inspired this post, so you already know that's not what happens next. Here's how it goes:

Karen respond "What do you mean?"

Chef: "Well you know, Karen."

Karen: "No?"

Chef: "The meme?"

Karen: "Oh is that still a thing? No, I didn't even think about it, it'll probably just go away."

Chef: "It's not going away... it's been like 5 years already, that one is locked in"

Karen: "5 years? I only heard about it a few months ago, I thought it was new."

Chef: "It's not new at all, it's been around for a while"

Karen: "Oh, well why is it Karen? Can't they just change it to Tina or something else? I don't understand why it's attached to Karen?"

Friend: "Oh it's that video, you know, from the park"

Karen: "What video?"

Chef: "You haven't seen the dog walking Karen video?"

Karen: "No, why does that matter?"

Chef: "That's where it all started! That's the original Karen!"

The Chef goes on to explain what "the video" is - tells the story of this blonde woman in Toronto with her dog off leash at the park, when a black guy walks up and tells her that it's not an off leash park and asks her to put her dog on a leash, at which point she flips out and calls the cops. For the meme historians, yes he's gotten a few details wrong and that may or may not be the start of it all, but he was referring to the Amy Cooper / Central Park / Birdwatching event which you can read all about but basically this bird watcher told this woman that her dog wasn't supposed to be off leash chasing the birds and she went ballistic and said she was going to tell the cops an "African American man was chasing her and threatening her life." The video of course shows that wasn't the case at all.

We could spend all day on this but the thing that made this such a big deal was that 1) She was in the wrong to begin with, 2) the guy was not aggressive at all, and 3) telling cops in the US that a black man is threatening someone's life is a great way to get someone killed. If you were alive and conscious when this happened you certainly remember it because it was everywhere, anyway the Chef retells the story and says that the woman's name was Karen and that's how it started. (Her name was Amy, not Karen, but whatever).

Again, at this point 99% of people having heard the story would have laughed, said wow what a story, and that would have been that. But that would not have been post worthy, so you already know that's not what happens next...

Karen: "Well was he threatening her?"

Chef: "... uh, no, he told her that her dog was supposed to be on a leash"

Karen: "Was it bothering anyone though, why does it matter if it was on a leash or not"

Chef: "It was chasing the birds and it wasn't an off leash park"

Karen: "Well I don't know, that doesn't sound right. Was he scary looking, people don't just call the cops because someone asks them to put their dog on a leash."

Friend: "That's the whole point, no one would normally do that but this Karen lady did and so it became a meme"

Chef: "Exactly, she was acting crazy and it's on video. And then she got fired and charged with making a fake 911 call, it was a big thing."

Karen: "Well I don't know, sounds like we don't have the full story."

Chef: "Oh we have the full story aright, everyone has it. She's gonna have to deal with that for the rest of her life."

Karen: "Well, I don't know anything about it, but it sounds like you don't know her side of the story."

So at this point everyone around is watching because this Karen is defending this indefensible situation, which she admittedly doesn't know anything about, simply because (she thinks) the perpetrator of the story is named Karen and therefor must be the victim. She want's Karen to get her fair shake. Again, this could have ended here, but no...

Friend: "Well it's not going away, maybe you can pronounce your name differently. How about Corine? That sounds nice."

Karen: "No... oh maybe Koran! (Quran). Then no one could say anything to me because I'd tell them it's a religious name!"

Friend: "Oh yeah, you might actually get some extra perks with that!"

Chef: "... um, uh.. yeah, ok... anyway, who's order is this? Yours, ok here you go"

The Chef hands the box to a guy standing there and then as the guy walks away he double takes and realizes he gave the guy the wrong order. "Damn, that was a large, I think that guy wanted a small"

Other Guy: "yeah that large was mine I think"

Chef: "Aw crap, my mistake, I got to talkin' and mixed up who was next, let me get that for you real quick"

Karen: "We've been waiting a while too"

Now, let me remind you that we ordered, were told it was a 10 minute wait, left, came back and Karen was just ordering when we walked up. She'd been waiting as long as the conversation she just had, but 100% of the other people around had been waiting longer.

Chef: "Right, coming up, let me just get this guys first"

Karen: "Was he before us?"

Other Guy: "Yeah, I was waiting here for a while"

Karen: "We've been waiting for a while too"

Chef: "Don't worry, I got everyone covered, sorry for that mix up a moment ago, I'll get it all squared!"

Karen: "Thank you"

Other Guy: "No worries"

Chef, to assistant: "Where is Karen on that list?"

Karen: "It's pronounced Koran, and we're next"

She's deadpan here, doesn't seem to be amused or joking. Just staring at the Chef. Chef doesn't really know how to process this. He looks at the Other Guy. Other Guy shrugs, also unclear about what the hell is going on. Karen just stares. Chef says, "Ok, Ok, hang on." Then finishes up and hands the order to Karen, who snatches it and walks off immediately.

Other Guy: "Wow"

Chef: "Wow"

Chef, to assistant, looking at the list: "Terry? Who's Terry?"

Assistant: "Um..."

Me: "You mean Tara? That's us."

Chef: "Tara? It's says Terry"

Assistant: "Ooops"

Chef: "You've been waiting a while right?"

Me: "Longer than Karen"

Chef: "Aw Crap, I think I gave yours to her, hang on."

Other Guy: "Is mine on that list still too?"

Eventually the Other Guy got his order, then we got ours. Which was mediocre at best, but we were hungry and plowed through it and got reenergized to continue our adventure soaking up all the culture the city had to offer.