The Karenovirus Is Real

It only took about a year and a half of being a Not Always Right reader for me to finally run into a real, live Karen in the wild. It’s currently the fourth month of the health crisis, and in New Jersey, it has been state law to wear a mask when visiting any public venue — store, restaurant, doctor’s office, etc. — since April. It’s been in every news venue and posted outside every establishment for months now.

While visiting a [Major Big Box Store], I enter — wearing my mask, of course, as is literally everyone else — and go to get my cart from the rack right inside the front door. As I’m wiping off the handle with my antiseptic wipe, a woman about my age walks in with a cart but without a mask.

She is addressed rather loudly by the staff attending the front door but appears to be completely ignoring them. Since it’s noisy and I have a louder-than-normal voice, I try to get her attention, as well. She does turn and look at me, and then looks away when I point at the staff, so I don’t think her hearing was an issue.

When other shoppers that are directly in front of her — and blocking her way — point her to the front door, she finally turns and comes back, where the staff remind her she needs to be wearing a mask to enter the store. She comes off with nothing but attitude — “Why do I need a mask?!” — and when they remind her that it’s the law, she repeats it to them mockingly, like a child would — think of the Spongebob meme with words like this: “ItS tHe LaWwEr.”

She even demands the staff give her a mask, but they remind her it’s not their job to provide them. As she’s leaving her cart with the others, she looks at me for some kind of agreement, but I just raise my eyebrows and shoulders. She does leave the store, but as I’m doing my shopping, I see her again, with a mask. I wanted to yell at her, “Was that so friggin’ hard?!”

This story is part of our Anti-Masker roundup.

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