What would we ever do without receptionists ? These people keep the world running by doing all the organization and planning that keeps businesses afloat. CEOs and CFOs get the fancy titles and get to spend their time taking clients to glamorous lunches. They aren't the ones truly running the company, though. They may have the look of a person in power, but you know who's really in charge? The person who unlocks the doors each morning, keeps the office full of food and coffee, handles phone cal…

Not everyone is good at giving gifts. Obviously, for some people out there, it's their bread and butter. Their love language, if you will. If that's you, congratulations. However, the rest of us (myself included) were not born with the “good gift-giver” gene. As someone who was once gifted a dictionary and a pencil case holder for my 15th birthday, not to mention a DVD of Inside Out for my 21st birthday, I was not raised to be good at this. That's why when this time of year rolls around, I get…

There's this general idea online and in life that pregnant people deserve special treatment. You're probably holding your breath reading this, wondering where I'm going with that statement—and before you get too outraged, let me just say that, yes, absolutely, that idea and treatment is resoundingly deserved. After all, they're growing a whole new person inside of them—an astonishing feat that deserves special recognition before you even factor in the ordeal of troubling side effects that come…

One guest got up on the wrong side of the bed one morning, and decided to take it out on a poor front desk clerk, who could only reply with the corporate script she had been given. The guest was aghast when she found out that the hotel did not provide a Thanksgiving meal, and promptly demanded a discount. It was not the hotel clerk's first rodeo, and she politely explained to the guest that with all due respect, the hotel was not required to provide a Thanksgiving meal… Obviously, the Karen gue…

Ma'am, just get a janky $10 phone charger from CVS and move ON! Some Karens do not understand the concept that there are limits to how long one can complain about something, especially something as replaceable as a phone charger. Now, if you're like this Karen and you're really just trying to get access to a free charger, there is a much better way of going about this. For instance, she could have just asked the front desk agent if there was a charger she could borrow for an hour or so. But lik…

It doesn't matter how old and grumpy your entitled male Karen neighbor may be. Make no mistake: he does not write the rules. As someone who cannot afford to live in a residential neighborhood, I can merely compare this incident to one that happened to me in a communal laundry room in my apartment building. When I first moved into what is now my current place, there was this older lady who claimed that I could not use one of the washing machines because “everyone knows that it's her machine.” Ev…

Rallying family members for group gatherings can take more mental energy than taxes, apartment hunting, and scheduling your next doctor appointment combined. Everyone has that one family member who makes planning these kinds of social occasions way more difficult than it needs to be. It's like rallying a whole troop of soldiers, except really you're just rallying one infuriating human who has no regard for other people's time and schedules. I'm all for moving at your own pace, but not at the ex…

You've probably heard about the “Ship of Theseus,” a paradoxical thought experiment that challenges you to question whether or not an object that has had all of its parts replaced is actually the same object anymore. Another variant of this is the "grandfather’s axe," which seeks to challenge whether or not an axe that has had its handle replaced and then later its head is really the same axe as it was before. Although not really quite the same philosophical question, I can't help but wonder… I…

We all spent the past week giving thanks and expressing our gratitude for life's many joys. Unfortunately for us and for the rest of the world, life still comes with Karens. So now that we are done saying what we're thankful for this week, let's take a look at some of the people who we aren't thankful for but we have to deal with every so often. This week's roundup of Karen stories includes an Internet rant, a parking debacle, a customer service experience gone wrong, a workplace sabotage saga,…

Imagine the kind of level of desperation one would have to exhibit to draft a Santa Wish List letter as a 12-year-old child in order to get expensive Christmas gifts. These are the kinds of letters to nonprofit organizations where billionaires purchase Holiday gifts for underprivileged kids. These are the kinds of organizations that are meant for children in need, not fully grown choosing beggars with a whole lot of audacity.

One thing no one is thankful for is their nightmare roommate who has made the year exponentially more difficult than it needed to be. Thankfully, my year of having a nightmare roommate is long over, but I remember it like it was yesterday. I'm sure I am not the only person who will tell you that these experiences stick with you. Sure, you might go through a process of convincing yourself that it was an important chapter of your life and one that helped you grow into the person you are today, bl…

Sometimes, the only way to deal with a Karen customer is to give them a taste of their own medicine. Here, we have a rare instance of a revenge tale that ends up having more of a wholesome ending. Who knew that getting payback could actually lead to positive change in your adversary's behavior? That's what this Redditor learned after they refused to let this regular customer get away with nonsense at the fast food restaurant where OP worked.

There is nothing like a hypothetical question to figure out who amongst us is selfish and who is caring. Some of you are far greater individuals than I would be in this situation. But then again, this is all incredibly theoretical. For instance, let's give a warm shoutout to the Redditor who said they would buy up vacant hotels and convert them into affordable housing. Perhaps if I became the richest person in the world, that would be the second or third thought that would cross my mind. Unfort…

No offense to this woman, but if you're in a super big rush , why are you stopping at a restaurant? We've all been there: you're out on the go somewhere, maybe between jobs or between meetings, and you suddenly get that rumble in your stomach. When you're hungry, every restaurant looks appealing. If you have an hour or two to spare, stopping into a sit-down dining establishment is a great way to have a break and refuel.

It's certainly not easy to deal with a Karen customer or a Karen coworker, but what about having to deal with being married to one? Or rather, having a Karen in your immediate family? There are several tips and tricks for how to cope with this unfortunate but very real phenomenon. Firstly, find someone else to confide in, whether that's another family member or, ideally, a professional because this Karen is probably going to cause you to go into therapy at some point anyway. Second, draw bounda…

Whether we like it or not, life is full of nuisances. We try our best to muddle through these struggles, but that does not stop us from being overdramatic and drawing attention to ourselves as we express our frustration over the smallest of problems. Yes, we're aware that there are bigger problems in this world than our in-grown toenails or the 10-minute wait time for the next subway, but that won't stop us from acting like we are the most aggrieved people in the world. Call it main character s…