Louise Roberts: Bunnings Karen is giving us all a bad name
Could there be anything more selfish than refusing a simple request to put on a mask inside a shop? Yes – trying to win yourself 15 minutes of fame for it, writes Louise Roberts.
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No mask, no brain and certainly she deserves to be crowned the most offensive woman in Australia.
The ubiquitous and infuriating “Karen” is the type of person we used to describe as a self righteous know-it-all.
Now this Covidiot performs for a social media audience, in this case waltzing into Melbourne shops with an iPhone already filming and praying it won’t be long before a staff member notices that she is not wearing a legally-required face mask.
The law is simple. Wrap your nose and mouth or cop a $200 fine. Surely even Karen can understand that.
Ah but no, it’s game on and here comes the indignation and spouting of counter-scientific rubbish because – let’s remember – Karen knows better than the government, police and epidemiologists.
It’s a disturbing new pandemic development when footage of a woman goes viral because she is berating the eternally patient and professional Bunnings and Australia Post staff but then whines “You’re discriminating against me” when asked if she has a mask.
Karen haughtily declares: “Well it is clear I don’t, and you are not authorised to ask me or question me about it.”
Then the manager is looped in who tells this charming customer that if she won’t wear a mask, she needs a medical certificate.
“Actually I don’t need a medical certificate,” she says while refusing a request to stop filming.
“No, I am allowed to do this and you’re discriminating against me,” she snaps.
Even when I watched footage which purports to show this particular Karen later being handcuffed by police in the car park, I felt no sense of justice.
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It’s a similar scenario in the post office – constant mask baiting from Karen met with quiet professionalism from the employee.
There’s a certain type of “I beg your pardon?” person who bullies and belittles The Servants in their world.
And they demonstrate a universal contempt for cabbies, shop assistants, waiters, baristas and anyone else trying to help them.
And we are all meant to be helping each other. It’s a pandemic.
And like anti-vaxxers these conspiracy theorists plough on ahead oblivious to the danger they are to the rest of us
Some argue that this footage should not be shared because it glorifies someone who is a coward.
But I say use it as a guide on how not to behave when the health of every Australian is at stake. Don’t be like Karen.