COVID Karens.

[RustedFox]

Anyone else running into these types at work with increasing frequency during this "second wave"?

"Karens" are demanding that I wipe down my stethoscope in front of them so they can observe, wash my hands so they can observe, ask me how many days I have been using this mask, etc.

I mean, eff this. I'm not letting a Karen dictate what I do. They're free to get up and leave.

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[Dr Mantis Toboggan]

Anyone else running into these types at work with increasing frequency during this "second wave"?

"Karens" are demanding that I wipe down my stethoscope in front of them so they can observe, wash my hands so they can observe, ask me how many days I have been using this mask, etc.

I mean, eff this. I'm not letting a Karen dictate what I do. They're free to get up and leave.

Who are these people? Nurses?

 

[RustedFox]

Who are these people? Nurses?

Patients.
Often not named "Karen".

 

[Zebra Hunter]

I have been able to avoid this by not touching or even coming within 6ft of any of my patients outside of the occasional procedure or quick push of the belly in abdominal pain patients.

 

[GeneralVeers]

I wouldn't do any of that. I'd simply state: "I've taken all required precautions. Do you want me to see you or not?"

 

[GeneralVeers]

I find these Karen’s are often unattractive and wonder if that’s why they like wearing the masks so much.

You're going to get banned for promoting cis-normative male patriarchal definitions of beauty.

 

[Spikebd]

You're going to get banned for promoting cis-normative male patriarchal definitions of beauty.

I wondered if it was a similar phenomenon to how some men grow facial hair to hide weight gain.

 

[Birdstrike]

You're going to get banned for promoting cis-normative male patriarchal definitions of beauty.

Stay woke, Veers. Stay woke.

 

[Spikebd]

Stay woke, Veers. Stay woke.

Deleted for insensitivity

 

[RustedFox]

All LOLZ aside, anybody else encountering this?
Or is this so very telling about just how "country club" my home base shop is?

 

[migm]

I've had someone come in for asymptomatic testing and demand the "more sensitive test". How about you just leave?

 

[Birdstrike]

All LOLZ aside, anybody else encountering this?
Or is this so very telling about just how "country club" my home base shop is?

Yes. It’s either psycho Karen’s like that, or extreme Ken’s that insist on belligerently taking the mask every time they cough, because “My doctor said I COPD so my cough can’t be COVID,” and the “constitutional right” to cough on others, or something. Now back to lolz

 

[gamerEMdoc]

Ive had the complete opposite experience. Patients who refuse to mask or are constantly pulling it off their face to talk.

 

[Dr Mantis Toboggan]

All LOLZ aside, anybody else encountering this?
Or is this so very telling about just how "country club" my home base shop is?

My neck of the woods is quite the opposite. Chase Rice gave a concert last weekend and asked how many were willing to die for their country music. Huge roar. Those are my patients right there.

 

[Birdstrike]

My neck of the woods is quite the opposite. Chase Rice gave a concert last weekend and asked how many were willing to die for their country music. Huge roar. Those are my patients right there.

Wait. You’re not willing to die for country music?


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[Dr Mantis Toboggan]

Wait. You’re not willing to die for country music?


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Negative, Ghost Rider.

 

[RustedFox]

Is Chase Rice kind of like instant rice?

I kid.

Kind of.

I had to google him.

 

[bravotwozero]

Ive had the complete opposite experience. Patients who refuse to mask or are constantly pulling it off their face to talk.

Same. First thing I do when I walk in the room is place the mask over the patient's nose.

 

[GeneralVeers]

Same. First thing I do when I walk in the room is place the mask over the patient's nose.

I don't. I'm not the mask police. Dealing with that just prolongs the time I have to spend with the ignorant.

 

[bravotwozero]

Yeah, but I don't really want their covid cooties either....

 

[Cinclus]

Ive had the complete opposite experience. Patients who refuse to mask or are constantly pulling it off their face to talk.

I've commonly seen people pulling their own masks off their faces when they are having difficulty hearing me speak, even though I can hear them just fine. Makes sense.

 

[RustedFox]

I've commonly seen people pulling their own masks off their faces when they are having difficulty hearing me speak, even though I can hear them just fine. Makes sense.

Dude.
I work on the gulf coast of Florida.
The United States Capital of Old People.

They do this **** ALL THE TIME.
I walk into a room, and both Grandpa and Grandma BOOMER have their masks under their chins.
Neither is clear as to why they're here.

I go into the closet that has all of the procedure-stuff in it, and I scream.
I go to my car, after my shift.
And I drive across the street to the convenience store.
I buy some booze.
I drive to the golf course around the corner from my house (parking lot is less than a half mile from my front door)
and I drink.
The radio is nice, on my phone, outside the car, sitting and looking at the driving range.
"Robbledy ROBBLEdy robble, LOcal NEWS."
Try sitting on the driving range when nobody else is there. Its strange, but its fun.
I'd rather fight shadow-enemies and punch them all down than be at home and be mad at my family.
I go home.
Its okay.
I fall asleep.
I wake up the next morning, and say to myself: "Okay, how am I going to do this all again?"

 

[TwoHighways]

My neck of the woods is quite the opposite. Chase Rice gave a concert last weekend and asked how many were willing to die for their country music. Huge roar. Those are my patients right there.

Bro country artist of the year? I’d rather be dead than at that concert (to be fair, I’m totally unfamiliar with this particular artist, the only thing remotely authentic to have any mainstream country appeal in the last 25 years was Chris Stapleton).

 

[TwoHighways]

This is the funniest subforum on all of SDN. I suppose you gotta laugh to keep your sanity as an EM doc.

 

[RustedFox]

Bro country artist of the year? I’d rather be dead than at that concert (to be fair, I’m totally unfamiliar with this particular artist, the only thing remotely authentic to have any mainstream country appeal in the last 25 years was Chris Stapleton).

This.

"country" = "pop" for a long, long time.

 

[TwoHighways]

This.

"country" = "pop" for a long, long time.

Wait, you don’t want to hear a song about going muddin’ in a jacked up pickup truck with cold beer and a girl in cutoff jean shorts?

Sir, why do you hate ‘Merica?

 

[RustedFox]

Wait, you don’t want to hear a song about going muddin’ in a jacked up pickup truck with cold beer and a girl in cutoff jean shorts?

Sir, why do you hate ‘Merica?

Wait, you don’t want to hear a song about going muddin’ in a jacked up pickup truck with cold beer and a girl in cutoff jean shorts?

Sir, why do you hate ‘Merica?

Yep. Have heard that exact same song forEVER.

/Sad.

Its not country.

Its just.


.Sad

 

[Birdstrike]

This is the funniest subforum on all of SDN. I suppose you gotta laugh to keep your sanity as an EM doc.

What sanity?

 

[CJack]

At my shop, patients represent a diverse spectrum of mask utilization. I've concluded that the rate of mask adherence in an individual patient is inversely proportional to how bad I want their mask to stay on.
If they are a coughing drunk hallway patient now starting to rigor, guarantee despite numerous reminders, his hospital-issued mask is at best covering chin >90% of his whole stay. This type was 50% of my patients today.
Flip side were Mr. Hot Potato Voice saying throat felt real swollen on one side and he was SHOCKED I asked him to take down his mask for me to look. And having to legit argue with a 60 something stroke eval to let me see her lower face muscles and tongue protrusion/palatal elevation cuz she seemed truly horrified I'ld contaminate her "Ms. Karen, this is part of the important, thorough neuro exam I have to do to determine your risk of dangerous stroke and choose appropriate brain-saving intervention. I'll stand 6ft away and keep my mask on., don't worry" "But it's my arm that suddenly won't move and you can hear my garbled speech just fine through the mask ! My face looks fine!" **looks at me like i'm typoid mary**
The rest fall somewhere in between, like old probs not covids pulling mask down to talk at me better while I did my socially distant H&P. And soooo many demented old ppl absentmindedly straight chewing on their masks...fine most of the time until their hard of hearing so you gots to get real real close to shout and they choose that moment to cough a giant loogey in my face
So ready for this malarky to be over!

 

[Dr Mantis Toboggan]

Bro country artist of the year? I’d rather be dead than at that concert (to be fair, I’m totally unfamiliar with this particular artist, the only thing remotely authentic to have any mainstream country appeal in the last 25 years was Chris Stapleton).

Agrees sir/ma’am.

Now, being from WV myself Tyler Childers on the other hand...

 

[thegenius]

All LOLZ aside, anybody else encountering this?
Or is this so very telling about just how "country club" my home base shop is?

COVID Karens usually refer to screaming women in line at Trader Joe or some other convenience store demanding service despite not following private businesses rules for wearing a mask. They all say the same thing:

"I have a right not to wear a mask in your store"
"you are all democratic ****bags / bitches"
"I have a breathing problem and my doctor says I don't need to wear a mask"
"You are violating my constitutional rights"


All of those are nonsense, idiotic, and incorrect statements.

COVID Karen's look like real douchebags when caught on video and shared on social media for all the world to see.

 

[thegenius]

Wait. You’re not willing to die for country music?


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I wouldn't die for Tennessee Jed or Alabama Getaway, but I would die for a DS > TOO > Rat > Truckin > DS sandwich.

 

[thegenius]

I don't. I'm not the mask police. Dealing with that just prolongs the time I have to spend with the ignorant.

All three seconds. Yup

 

[HoosierdaddyO]

Maybe I’m in the minority here but I personally am not a fan of the term and phrasing “Karen”. I know what it’s meant to mean and being used as a joke, but it’s starting to take on a whole other insidious meaning... it’s becoming a racist slur/term to demean white people especially women!!! I witnessed on multiple occasions of regular every day women minding their damn business only to be told that they are some a** dumb Karen’s, just because... not a fan of this term and I don’t ever think I will.

 

[thegenius]

Just wondering, can we ever tease anyone these days without being called a racist or bigot?

How can we rightfully tease "Karens" for yelling at the top of their lungs while they claim they have a medical breathing problem, in a way that takes race or bigotry out of it?

It may not be possible. Most of the time teasing people inherently means "I am right, you are wrong, and as a result I'm better."

 

[TwoHighways]

Maybe I’m in the minority here but I personally am not a fan of the term and phrasing “Karen”. I know what it’s meant to mean and being used as a joke, but it’s starting to take on a whole other insidious meaning... it’s becoming a racist slur/term to demean white people especially women!!! I witnessed on multiple occasions of regular every day women minding their damn business only to be told that they are some a** dumb Karen’s, just because... not a fan of this term and I don’t ever think I will.

Really? This sort of logic is what makes a cartoon frog a symbol of racism.

 

[TwoHighways]

Just wondering, can we ever tease anyone these days without being called a racist or bigot?

How can we rightfully tease "Karens" for yelling at the top of their lungs while they claim they have a medical breathing problem, in a way that takes race or bigotry out of it?

It may not be possible. Most of the time teasing people inherently means "I am right, you are wrong, and as a result I'm better."

You've gotta use a gender and racially neutral name, even though Karens usually are white women.

 

[HoosierdaddyO]

Listen the term Karen was all fun and in jest initially and I even laughed and agreed with all these crazy people at walmart etc. but in the past few days I have seen this term used for non crazy types only to dehumanize them etc. please, I am an equal opportunist when it comes to laughing and making fun of people. But my holy hell if people started being like don’t act like a shaniqua... I mean come on there’s got to be a better way to label these crazies then by playing identity politics. And trust me I’m not some millennial social justice warrior. But legit saw this with my own two eyes, where a white couple where moving BLM signs off of there own personal store and was being harassed and called Karen’s!!! I’m just not cool with how the term is evolving into as a racial epithet mostly targeted now at white people regardless of if they are doing something ridiculous or not!!

 

[TwoHighways]

Listen the term Karen was all fun and in jest initially and I even laughed and agreed with all these crazy people at walmart etc. but in the past few days I have seen this term used for non crazy types only to dehumanize them etc. please, I am an equal opportunist when it comes to laughing and making fun of people. But my holy hell if people started being like don’t act like a shaniqua... I mean come on there’s got to be a better way to label these crazies then by playing identity politics. And trust me I’m not some millennial social justice warrior. But legit saw this with my own two eyes, where a white couple where moving BLM signs off of there own personal store and was being harassed and called Karen’s!!! I’m just not cool with how the term is evolving into as a racial epithet mostly targeted now at white people regardless of if they are doing something ridiculous or not!!

It's a word. It only has meaning if you give it meaning. That being said, I do sort of see what you're getting at. I wish there wasn't such a taboo around speech in general. Like, if we all started using vulgarities and racial slurs, would they have any power behind them?

 

[HoosierdaddyO]

Well welcome to cancel culture and the era of controlled speech lol!!! Should be an interesting ride from here on out till Election Day!!! And I agree words only have meaning if you give it meaning, but all it takes is one group to hijack a term or a word and then use it as their weapon. Uncle Tom, otherwise a normal guy who can be someone’s uncle is now a no no in society and used to make other black people feel guilty for not towing the identity politics line!!! Aka all I can say is this world regardless of what aisle you belong too... is going up in flames lol!!

 

[Apollyon]

I told this to a few people: distilled down, "Karen" is an ethnic slur, because it is a derogatory, pejorative term based on skin color. The only people that, online, object to this being an ethnic slur are people of color (which, this term, in itself, will not age well), or, the really, REALLY liberal left, who engage in a fallacy (I talked with a professor of philosophy on this) that, because it's not as bad as others, which are based on years of oppression, it's not bad at all. However, that is equivalent to stating "petty theft isn't as bad as murder, so, it's not a crime at all".

I could list word after word, to describe Jewish people, people of African descent, people from Asia, people from central and eastern Europe, and, even people from right here in the heart of America, that are censored by the filter here on SDN. However, because "Karen" is applied to someone with "white privilege", people feel it's not a slur. It is.

 

[TwoHighways]

I told this to a few people: distilled down, "Karen" is an ethnic slur, because it is a derogatory, pejorative term based on skin color. The only people that, online, object to this being an ethnic slur are people of color (which, this term, in itself, will not age well), who engage in a fallacy (I talked with a professor of philosophy on this) that, because it's not as bad as others, which are based on years of oppression, it's not bad at all. However, that is equivalent to stating "petty theft isn't as bad as murder, so, it's not a crime at all".

I could list word after word, to describe Jewish people, people of African descent, people from Asia, people from central and eastern Europe, and, even people from right here in the heart of America, that are censored by the filter here on SDN. However, because "Karen" is applied to someone with "white privilege", people feel it's not a slur. It is.

I would totally use "Karen" to describe a person of any race acting like a stereotypical "Karen".

 

[HoosierdaddyO]

I would totally use "Karen" to describe a person of any race acting like a stereotypical "Karen".

Yea but I sadly feel that you’re in the minority on that feeling. If you think for one second someone will call a black woman a Karen?! Then maybe that’s just you, society isn’t using as such.

 

[hundreddaysoff]

All LOLZ aside, anybody else encountering this?
Or is this so very telling about just how "country club" my home base shop is?

No. Yes.

 

[TwoHighways]

Yea but I sadly feel that you’re in the minority on that feeling. If you think for one second someone will call a black woman a Karen?! Then maybe that’s just you, society isn’t using as such.

Angry black woman holding up the line at the drive through is totally a Karen. SJW type femsplaining the male white patriarchy is a Karen. Anyone acting ridiculous and/or making a mountain out of a mole hill is a Karen really. Gender doesn't even matter.

 

[HoosierdaddyO]

Angry black woman holding up the line at the drive through is totally a Karen. SJW type femsplaining the male white patriarchy is a Karen. Anyone acting ridiculous and/or making a mountain out of a mole hill is a Karen really. Gender doesn't even matter.

I don’t disagree with you that those would all fit under the meaning of how a Karen is acting!!! But the only people being called Karen’s or Kevin’s now... are predominately and usually only white people either by other whites people or by black people that are trying to use it an ethnic slur... just my 2 cents

 

[HoosierdaddyO]

When you attach a name to an insult and that name is predominantly a white persons name... that’s where a pejorative takes effect. Whatever happened to calling all this people just dinguses!!! Now there is a motive to using a white woman’s name as an attack and slur. I’m not buying it and I’m not using it. For me, it just doesn’t pass the sniff test, that’s all I’m trying to say.

 

[thegenius]

I told this to a few people: distilled down, "Karen" is an ethnic slur, because it is a derogatory, pejorative term based on skin color. The only people that, online, object to this being an ethnic slur are people of color (which, this term, in itself, will not age well), or, the really, REALLY liberal left, who engage in a fallacy (I talked with a professor of philosophy on this) that, because it's not as bad as others, which are based on years of oppression, it's not bad at all. However, that is equivalent to stating "petty theft isn't as bad as murder, so, it's not a crime at all".

I could list word after word, to describe Jewish people, people of African descent, people from Asia, people from central and eastern Europe, and, even people from right here in the heart of America, that are censored by the filter here on SDN. However, because "Karen" is applied to someone with "white privilege", people feel it's not a slur. It is.

I'm not going to get in the details of this, largely because I think you are right. But maybe not 100%. But that matters not.

Over the past month, much of the social medial showing women going off about "not wearing a mask" and "I have constitutional rights" and all that other nonsense are, what appears to be, upper class or rich white women.

First, this is what I've seen. If in fact someone scrolls through all of social media over the past month and finds a relatively even distribution of white, black, latin, and asian people that are both men and women saying these things, then I am wrong, I admit it, and we can end this conversation at the end of this sentence.







If in fact there is a preponderance of what appears to be upper class or rich white women yelling at the top of their lungs that they have a breathing problem, then if I were to tease them I would choose a name that mostly fits upper-class white middle-aged women. Karen seems to be a good name. I would not choose "Kayla or Emmie" as these are mostly YOUNG female white names, nor would I choose "Shaniqua or Desiree" which are predominately black names, nor similarly would I choose "Suyin or Mei Hua" as these are mainly Asian names.

I guess we could just call them "COVID Crazies" but that doesn't connote much about the person doing the crazy ****.

I guess it can still be an appropriately chosen name and bigot / racist. But it doesn't bother me.

 

[HoosierdaddyO]

So can we call all the black women in these protests who are screaming at the top of their lungs trying to incite violence and hurling rocks at police... can we call them shaniquas. They are acting crazy and on pure emotion and just legit off their rocker. No we can NOT... because that would be racist. I just stay away from it all and just call all of them idiots, why get into the racial stuff, it doesn’t help anyone in the long run and it plays in to the hands of identity politics which to me is one of the driving forces that is destroying this country that I love!!

 

[TwoHighways]

So can we call all the black women in these protests who are screaming at the top of their lungs trying to incite violence and hurling rocks at police... can we call them shaniquas. They are acting crazy and on pure emotion and just legit off their rocker. No we can NOT... because that would be racist. I just stay away from it all and just call all of them idiots, why get into the racial stuff, it doesn’t help anyone in the long run and it plays in to the hands of identity politics which to me is one of the driving forces that is destroying this country that I love!!

The irony in this is rich. This is a total Karen post.