{"id":107,"date":"2024-06-11T10:06:00","date_gmt":"2024-06-11T09:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mccs-journalism.gold.ac.uk\/wp\/odd-one-out\/?p=107"},"modified":"2024-06-14T12:37:00","modified_gmt":"2024-06-14T11:37:00","slug":"i-want-to-speak-to-a-manager","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mccs-journalism.gold.ac.uk\/wp\/odd-one-out\/i-want-to-speak-to-a-manager\/","title":{"rendered":"Karen\u2019s Diner: banter and burgers… or sexism in plain sight?\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Juicy burgers, crispy fries, and good old milkshakes. You would think that this is just like any other diner. The only difference is that each meal comes with a side of verbal abuse. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The UK chain Karen\u2019s Diner<\/a> is based on the concept of \u201cgood food, terrible service\u201d, inspired by the Karen meme. Originating in the United States about ten years ago, the Karen stereotype<\/a> references privileged, white women acting in a self-entitled, rude manner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But if you were expecting condescending, angry women to serve you with a grump, think again, because the Karen stereotype<\/a> took a whole different turn when Odd One Out visited the London diner last month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Karen\u2019s Diner, which came to Angel last year, featured a strictly male team that day, subverting the idea that it takes a woman to be a Karen. General manager Amaan Ullah, 30, explained that three female Karens were off on that day, indicating that this was not the restaurant\u2019s usual setup. Still, it changed the atmosphere for me, one of Odd One Out\u2019s female journalists.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cEach meal comes with a side of verbal abuse\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

I was welcomed with a middle finger from the lovely Kyle Miley, 36, who\u2019s been working as a Karen for almost five months. He made sure I knew where I was and that I was about to receive a lot of foul putdowns without being able to fight back. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As soon as I said I was lactose intolerant, Kyle replied, \u201cSo, you are going to shit yourself!\u201d and proceeded to give me a tag reading \u201cGive me milk\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The quick witty remark certainly made me embarrassed, but I wasn\u2019t ready for everything that was going to come next. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Ready to get roasted at Karen’s diner? Picture: Ilenia Reale<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The staff gave me a hat to wear, reading \u201c50p a ride\u201d and as I strutted around the diner with \u201cBarbie Girl\u201d in the background, in what was supposed to be a fun catwalk game, I got whistles from the male guests cheering for 50p a ride. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And if that wasn\u2019t enough, the Karens repeatedly called me an \u201cugly slag\u201d and made fun of my make-up. It felt degrading to have \u201cbitch\u201d yelled at me at every occasion, as if this word was supposed to make me laugh. On the contrary, it just made my skin crawl and made me question if I was the crazy one for being enraged when the other male<\/em> customers seemed amused. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Karen\u2019s Diner is not supposed to be a free-for-all, but it seems to have a blind spot for what is frankly blatant sexism.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cIt was degrading to have ‘bitch’ yelled at me at every occasion\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s just something about a man calling a woman a \u201cbitch\u201d that should be inherently wrong, but believe it or not, this appears to be something some guests want. A woman with a hat reciting \u201cmy fanny flaps in the wind\u201d appeared to be having a blast during her date, and the same was true for a girl having dinner with her friends and wearing a hat with \u201cdick breath\u201d written on it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSome people expect the complete extreme. They come in here and expect borderline illegal,\u201d says Kyle.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The male Karens loved playing off their guests being women, which I found very distasteful, and being at the diner as a woman, I felt at my most vulnerable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier, when talking to me out of character, the Karens said there are guidelines pointing out boundaries that they will not cross. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEven though we are being rude to people, we still have to maintain restaurant standards, as in, you\u2019ve got to get [guests] their food and still got to look after them, obviously in a Karen way,\u201d says Kyle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Solo guest dining with a mannequin while “All by myself” plays in the background. Picture: Ilenia Reale<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t know what people are going through; we don\u2019t want to really upset people,\u201d he adds. \u201cIf someone is having a bad day and they see burgers and don\u2019t realise what this place is, and I just scream in their face or have a go at them and not explain the rules, that could really affect them. We have to make sure they know what they are going into.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe rule<\/a> is very simple. We don\u2019t tolerate any racism, homophobia, sexism or body shaming,\u201d clarifies Amaan.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPeople sometimes come in and ask for a cake that says \u2018fatty\u2019 on it, but we can\u2019t do that. However, we can put ‘fuck off\u2019 on the cake,\u201d says Kyle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I spoke to other members of staff, they said the same thing: racism, homophobia, sexism or body shaming are not tolerated \u2013 but that was not my experience. While there some genuenly funny moments \u2013 a kid wearing a hat saying “mistake” or slightly earnest woman being called Greta Thunberg \u2013 some of the abuse levelled at me wasn\u2019t just sexist but rather crossed into toxic masculinity. Some might say I was made aware of what was coming and have no reason to complain. But not-so-subtle misogyny wasn\u2019t supposed to be on the menu. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

If you think you’re tough enough, book a table at Karen’s Diner here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A woman\u2019s experience at the rudest diner in London <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":236,"featured_media":108,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[80,140,151,81,82],"class_list":["post-107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-food-and-drink","tag-diner","tag-ilenia-reale","tag-review","tag-rude","tag-sexism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mccs-journalism.gold.ac.uk\/wp\/odd-one-out\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mccs-journalism.gold.ac.uk\/wp\/odd-one-out\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mccs-journalism.gold.ac.uk\/wp\/odd-one-out\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mccs-journalism.gold.ac.uk\/wp\/odd-one-out\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/236"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mccs-journalism.gold.ac.uk\/wp\/odd-one-out\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107"}],"version-history":[{"count":36,"href":"https:\/\/mccs-journalism.gold.ac.uk\/wp\/odd-one-out\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1379,"href":"https:\/\/mccs-journalism.gold.ac.uk\/wp\/odd-one-out\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107\/revisions\/1379"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mccs-journalism.gold.ac.uk\/wp\/odd-one-out\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mccs-journalism.gold.ac.uk\/wp\/odd-one-out\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mccs-journalism.gold.ac.uk\/wp\/odd-one-out\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mccs-journalism.gold.ac.uk\/wp\/odd-one-out\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}