Every day seemingly brings us a new type of Karen. On one end, they can range from racist to downright miserable. But on the opposite side, there have actually been a few select cases where the Karen in question has surprisingly turned out to be in the right. In fact, in some extreme cases, they’ve actually proven themselves to be an anti-Karen, which is a new term for a kind woman who is supportive and wholesome, though appears to have Karen-like attributes. Today, though, we have a rare breed of Karen from Arizona that wants to cause trouble to regular working folk for no discernible reason.
During this incident, the Karen called a train conductor for a toy train ride in Arizona Mills mall a “pedo”, even though she seemingly has no visible evidence of this claim, and due to the man’s justified reaction, he’s now been fired from his job and is now sadly homeless. We’ll be taking a close look at two videos today, with the first centering on the specific incident with the Karen, and a second video that details the fallout following the heated altercation.
The first video takes place in Arizona Mills mall, and is recorded by the Karen on her phone. To be clear, the beginning of the footage does not paint the train conductor in a good light at all, though it’s fair to say that the buildup before the video has suspiciously not been included. Sat next to the toy-train and sporting a faux railway uniform, the elderly worker appears irate, and looks at the camera, stating, “Oh, f*ck you, wh*re.”
“Excuse me?” replies the Karen. “You heard me. I got all kinds of cameras around. So go for it. I didn’t say a damn word to you. I just looked at you as you walked away.” fires the toy-train conductor. To this, the woman calmly responds with a shocking claim, “You’re a pedophile.” Angrily, the man retorts, “You’re a wh*re.”
Going further, the Karen begins to give us some much-needed context, “My kid was gonna get on your train and you’re–” Interrupting her mid-sentence, the man exclaims, “I don’t want her on my train. Not with a wh*re mother like you.” In shock and disbelief, the camerawoman responds incredulously with, “A wh*re mother?“
Interestingly, the Karen then turns to another member of public who is filming the incident. “Do you hear how the way this man is talking to me? He’s calling me a wh*re mother?” though the stranger does not chime in. Well, not yet anyway. Admitting to his rude tirade, the train man says, “Yeah, I did. And I got cameras everywhere. Just showing exactly what you f*cking did to me. You walked away and then turned around and started to jump me, so you can go.” During this, the Karen replies with something quite important as she admits that she didn’t pay to allow her kid to get on the toy-train: “What did I do? Because I didn’t pay to get on?”
After some back and forth, the next part is a critical moment of the video. Specifically, the aforementioned stranger who has been filming the incident weighs in with his take on the situation, and as he’s a neutral party, I’m inclined to believe him. Importantly, this witness states, “I’m recording, too, and I got you calling this gentleman a child molestor when he’s not.” In a crazy twist, the Karen then accuses this man of being a “pedo” as well. The Karen claims, “He is. You too.” to the stranger who is recording, who fires back with, “No, you are.”
Cornered by witnesses who oversaw the interaction, and attempting to scramble to save face, the Karen pipes up, saying, “What did I– I was gonna pay for the ride with my child.” insinuating that she hadn’t paid in the first place, which is probably what led up to the altercation.
In a follow-up post on Instagram recently, recorded with his granddaughter, it’s come to light that the train conductor has now lost his job and is currently homeless following the public quarrel.
Hi, my name is Dave and I was the train conductor at Arizona Mills mall in Tempe. I’m the one who got into the fight with that woman. She started it by calling me an ‘f’ing pedophile.’ I don’t think there’s one man in this world that would let a skinny thing like that call them a pedophile. I know they won’t.
azmillsmall_train_conductor via Instagram
I’m trying to get my job back. My boss has been talking to mall management. If you’re in support of me… one, I’m homeless. I needed the job. I’m retired. I need extra money to get off of the street. I was homeless for two years. That’s why I took this job. And now because of her [the Karen] I no longer have a job. So please, if you’re in support of me, contact Arizona Mills mall management. Or contact my granddaughter.
As the videos continue to make the rounds, netizens on social media took to the comments in support of the train conductor, and to slam the Karen. One thoughtful Redditor wrote a long comment that sums up my thoughts as well, “Just me guessing what happened: She put her kid on the train without paying, the conductor tells mom and kid they have to get off and buy a ticket first. This is most likely due to liability issues. The ticket itself is a form of a contract with legal language printed on it stating “management is not responsible for injuries”. No kid can ride the train, or even get on without buying a ticket first. So the conductor demands the mother remove the child, buy a ticket, then the child may ride. Karen is not having it. Karen put her kid on the train, then wanted to pay. When told no, that’s not how it works, Karen gets upset. Karen then proceeds to lash out, because Karen, like all Karens hates being told NO. Karen lashes out by calling the conductor a pedo. Conductor then flips out. Conductor is probably going to get fired, unfortunately. The train will likely be out of operation for 2 weeks while they interview for another conductor. Karen costs this man his job, and shuts the train down for some time, affecting countless kids who just want a fun ride in the mall and be relieved of boredom for 5 minutes while going with Mom while she shops because the world doesn’t revolve around Karen.”
Elsewhere, other comments poured in, with one penning, “I hate this woman so much. That poor man“, while another commenter on Instagram expressed, “We’re all on your side man that lady seemed like like what you were calling her!” A fourth remark weighed in with, “I can’t believe he lost his job. Someone start this man a gofundme“.
Even though the train conductor should never have sworn at the Karen, it’s fair to say that public opinion sides with Dave on this specific incident. Ultimately, while it’s difficult to come to a conclusion with the limited evidence on show, I personally believe that the Karen is in the wrong and should never have hurled accusations like that without any evidence or anything to back it up with. In short, I genuinely feel sorry for the train conductor and hope he gets his job back.
