Opinion: Why I won’t be going back to Karen’s Diner at Westfield Chermside

When she walked through the door and was forced to pick up the menu off the ground our reporter knew this notorious but popular restaurant might not be for her. This is what happened.

“You’re such a basic b**ch” is not something I have ever been called before and certainly not in a restaurant, but this was how I was greeted at the controversial Karen’s Diner at Westfield Chermside.

I was familiar with the concept, which originated in the United States, but my body felt paralysed as soon as I walked through the door and was forced to pick up my own menu from the ground.

It was at this point that I started to question why I had decided to subject myself to a lunch where I would be incessantly heckled and ridiculed...for an entire hour.

Perhaps the most surprising thing about the whole experience is that I developed the ability to apologise… and to everything…”you’re a bit f**king late”…me (two minutes late): “I’m so sorry”…”you would order a coke you basic b**ch”…me: “I’m so sorry”.

My best friend had to go to the toilet almost immediately after we arrived at the diner so I sat there for what felt like 20 minutes paralysed with this newly-developed social anxiety.

Just when I thought I had dodged a massive bullet, I was then heckled over the loudest megaphone ever that I had “no friends” with everyone encouraged to give me the finger...just because I wasn’t humiliated enough.

A staff member at Karen's Diner at Chermside

Note: If you’re an extroverted introvert STAY AWAY!

Despite a number of “house rules” I was surprised that I was not required to sign any sort of waiver before I strapped in for an hour-long dining experience with the holy grail of school bullies.

For the most part, comments like “basic b**ch” and “are you filming for your OnlyFans” were like water off a duck’s back but when a waiter called my friend “four eyes” that appeared “un-Karen like”.

But the most anxiety I felt throughout the whole experience was when my friend and I rushed to pay at the counter and I heard a female waiter say to a colleague “Oi...you’re meant to rub your arse on her” (as she referred to the person in front of me in the queue).

This particular comment concerned me the most out of the whole experience because not only was it far beyond a “Karen”, it highlighted a glaring double standard in the diner’s seemingly non-existent “House rules”.

The rule for patrons states: “No sexual remarks towards staff members”… but what about the customers? Don’t we deserve the same protection for certain subjects?

Also, in case you were wondering, the “cholesterol-heavy” menu of burgers, wings and fries definitely wasn’t worth the hour-long abuse.