A woman in Santa Barbara, California, threw a fit when a restaurant could not accept payment for her meal via PayPal.
After she was unable to pay for her dinner tab using her card, the woman was allowed to leave the restaurant by leaving them with her ID. To get it back, she had to come back the next day with an appropriate payment method.
That was when she tried to use PayPal then became irate that the restaurant couldn’t change their business and banking processes to accommodate her.
Ian Soleimani—an employee of the restaurant company and a DJ from the area—walked out of the restaurant after the woman was already berating the restaurant manager.
After being sworn at by the woman, Soleimani—who is Black—began to record a video. That was when the woman's rant turned racist.
The woman said multiple times:
"One of four Black men in the Santa Barbara area."
"Oh, now I'm racist and terrible."
"Don't you have some fish to catch, African American Man? Don't you want to go out on that boat and do some African American fishing?"
Soleimani originally posted the video to Instagram before Redditor zzyyx66 cross-posted it on Reddit's "Public Freakout" forum where the video quickly garnered more than 11,000 upvotes and nearly 1500 comments.
The Redditor captioned the video:
"Santa Barbara Karen loses it on restaurant owner, then breaks 4th wall to let everyone know she's racist."
Later, after speaking to Soleimani, the Redditor clarified a few details about the incident.
"UPDATE* - OP works for the company, and while walking out, he greeted the manager with a high-5 mid-altercation with Karen."
" Karen then turned her focus on him with foul language, so he started recording."
"Karen was returning from the night before, when her card declined and attempted to pay with Paypal. The restaurant kept her ID and told her to return the next day with a proper payment method."
"The OP was wearing a work (SB Fish Market) sweater, which I'm assuming is where the fishing comments came from."
"ALSO, the Manager’s husband just messaged me. She is actually from FLORIDA, and her real name is (drum roll) KAREN! He also added, 'I don't have Reddit, so I hope that helps get this sorry a** b*tch!'"
You can watch the video here:
Fellow Redditors found themselves full of questions about the woman's behavior.
Some were appalled at her racist comments.
"Does African American fishing differ from other types of fishing? Is it more fun and how do I learn to do it?" - TheSubredditPolice
"If you listen carefully when she addresses him during that part, she starts the 'n' sound and then pivots into 'African American Man' (she emphasizes this like it's his Superhero name, which I guess works, too)." - CipaterGrey
"That b*tch FOR SURE was about to call that dude a [n-word]. I’d bet all my life savings and my blood on it. She slammed those brakes." - Top_Swimmer_191
"She just kept projecting everything onto him."
"Even saying 'using a fake ID at a fish market' after asking for her ID back from the place."
"What a poor disturbed person." - ZeePirate
"Imagine being this angry while living in such a beautiful place." - Odd_Vampire
Others couldn't understand why she tried to pay with PayPal.
"This woman is dumb. Literally no business is going to reject money from your friends, or even strangers, just to stick it to you."
"No one offered to help that b*tch, cause she was being a b*tch then too. You don't need video to know that, haha."
"Businesses want your money and they want you to leave, if someone else says 'I'll pay for them!' then at that point they only want you to leave." - Nandabun
"Tried to pay the restaurant in PayPal?? Hahaha" - saturatedbloom
"She must be broke and trying to use PayPal credit. There’s no other reason to use PayPal in that situation." - andychgo
"Keeping the ID as collateral makes sense as it provides an incentive to return with payment as soon as possible to prevent further disruption of your life. Karen did return promptly, however, she forgot to bring an accepted form of payment." - VerucaBlind
We have probably all experienced a card declining at some point, even if it was just a technological glitch, so we can understand how frustrating and embarrassing that experience can be.
However, Reddit could not get behind how the woman proceeded to treat and blame the restaurant manager, let alone the totally unnecessary, racist things she said to the videographer.
@SecretaryBurgum/X
@Doug Ellin/X
@evanrachelwood/Instagram