There seems to have been a growing trend over recent years where people use names like Becky, Chad, Cheryl, and the O.G. – Karen as an insult, but why? 

It’s really just a stereotype, and it doesn’t really have any grounds for why we have used those names to create memes. 

Take “Bad Luck Brian” for example. 

His real name isn’t Brian. It’s actually Kyle, but they called him “Bad Luck Brian” because it stuck better and fit his overall look a little more. 

But not all Brian's (or Kyles, I guess) are unlucky, and not all Karen's are mean. 

A woman in Lancaster shared a “Karen experience” on Facebook this week, and many people were pleasantly surprised. 

Maria was shopping at the Tops on Transit and Pleasant View in Lancaster when she encountered a problem: the card machines stopped working! It is a situation that you have probably run into at least once, but it always causes dire panic – especially with how little cash people carry nowadays. 

The cashier was able to cash people out if they could use another payment method other than card, but unfortunately, Maria had no cash. 

“I didn’t have cash on me,” Maria wrote on Facebook. “Rather than add to the bad situation…Karen, the cashier, jumped in, insisting on pulling money out of her own wallet to pay for my lunch for this afternoon.”

Maria was more than grateful for Karen’s kindness. 

“You are so kind and handled a bad situation with grace and kindness. Thank you for making my morning and restoring my faith that there are GOOD people!” Maria said. 

Maria plans to return to Tops to share her good experience with the manager at Tops and, of course, to pay generous Karen back. 

Another person, Karri, commented on the post where they admitted that they were nervous about the “Karen” name. “When you said “However, Karen, the cashier” my mind went and then I realized that was actually her name.”

Not all Karen's are bad. In fact, most of them are kind…especially in the City of Good Neighbors! 

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