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The Toxicity of the Karens and the Chads

Happy 2021!

We’ve all come through a bit of a different Christmas and New Year haven’t we? Well, for those of us who took onboard the need to continue with the social distancing rules anyway. Some opted to throw caution to the four winds, but for most of us things had to be done around the New Normal.

Which doesn’t feel very normal at all, but that’s the way of the world for the time being and common sense would suggest we all just go with the flow for now.

But it’s nice to know that some things haven’t changed. Well no, it’s actually not all that nice, because I’m talking about the Karens and the Chads. For those of you who don’t know what a Chad is, it is the male version of the Karen, and they are starting to come to the fore now. Although to be honest, I think they have always been present, but have managed to stay below the radar because we have been distracted by the antics of the Karens.

Both however, are highly toxic.

Karens, as we know, have a  heightened sense of entitlement, and can become loudly aggressive when they believe their “rights” have been challenged, which we have seen many times when one of them has been confronted with the directives regarding masks and hand sanitiser. They also have issues with social distancing and anything else that might stymie their desire to do whatever they want. They get downright nasty, and then they get abusive.

Chads also have a well-developed sense of entitlement and are as obsessed with their “rights” as the Karens, but where the Karens tend to throw noisy tantrums when confronted with reality, Chads tend to be quietly sinister. They get sarcastic, caustic, and are also very fond of glaring at whoever has had the audacity to challenge them. You will spot the occasional Chad who can be as loudly vocal as a Karen, but more often than not they keep the spleen to a lower decibel. But it’s just as nasty.

Karens and Chads often present as a pair, which would be par for the course I suppose, like being attracted to like and all, and when they come up against a reality check they tend to operate in tandem.  The Karen becomes immediately indignant. The Chad kicks in with the eye-roll, followed by the glare. If that fails to exempt them from having to comply with whatever it is they don’t want to do, despite it being a reasonable request that the rest of us don’t have an issue with, the Karen will then begin to express her displeasure via rudeness and if that doesn’t work, will resort to aggressive body language and shouty voice. The Chad will back her up.

As I mentioned, Chads get off on being sarcastic, but that’s only the start. Chads are also very entitled and strangely, all of them tend to believe they are gifted with a far greater degree of intelligence than the rest of humanity, especially business owners/staff who insist the current rules, which apply to everyone else who enters the premises these days, also apply to the Karen and the Chad. But the Karen and the Chad are hellbent on challenging any form of constraint. Confronted with the hard and fast rules for masks and hand sanitiser, they will go on the attack and that’s where the Chad can get really nasty. She rants, but he quietly throws down the gauntlet and can become quite threatening if that fails to move things along in their favour.

If this isn’t an offence worthy of arrest yet, it should be, because business owners and their staff do have the right to insist on any current rules of entry, which means hand sanitiser and masks these days, and the Karens and the Chads need to be brought back down to earth with a resounding thud because this is life now.

And they need to get over themselves.

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When the Sign says Sanitise…

Are people beginning to become desensitised to sanitising?

I’m only asking because more and more often now I am seeing people walk straight past the table in front of them in shop doorways, either no longer registering the sign asking them to please use the hand sanitiser provided, or just opting not to use it because the threat of contracting COVID-19 has diminished for them and they no longer see the need.

This is not okay, as far as the business/shops are concerned, as they provide that sanitiser because they want people to use it. It is a requirement for entering the premises and I cannot see why some people have such an issue with that.

Well, it’s like this…it’s not just your safety they have in mind, it’s also the safety of every other customer who enters the premises and therefore it is your responsibility to use the hand sanitiser provided regardless of what you may or may not believe about The Bug. This request is not a biggie.

Nor is it a threat to your rights as an individual or a judgement on you personally. It is simply a requirement for entering the premises and your hands will not drop off as a result of following the directive and using it! Why are people having such an issue with this?

The same applies to face masks. At present they are not exactly mandatory in Australia but some shops and businesses are asking customers to wear one if they wish to enter the premises, and that is the store’s right and again, it’s not a biggie, so just carry one in your bag or whatever and don it when asked.  No one is stepping on your rights by asking you to wear a mask, but you are violating theirs if you refuse.  Ditto the hand sanitiser.

So why are some members of the community who have to make an issue out of it? It’s not a big ask. It’s not difficult to do. It’s not going to ruin your life (if anything, it just might save it one day!). So why the song and dance about following those directives?

But more and more people are. Possibly because some are still of the belief that COVID-19 is “fake news” or some other covert government plot to “control” them, or they are of the other bunch who truly believe if it’s out there it will only infect others, it will not happen to them. Neither is a wise belief and the high number of people who have caught the virus, and the number who have died from it, should be enough to convince us all that there is a virulent nasty making the rounds of the planet and every single one of us is at risk. Unless, of course, we follow the directives put in place to lessen the chances. That’s why they have been put in place! I don’t understand why some people are failing to follow what, to me at least, are very simple requests designed to help us to keep The Bug at bay, and hopefully remain at much less risk of falling prey to it.

In a way it’s just general hygiene. Things like washing your hands should be a given anyway, but while you’re out and about (and hopefully social distancing when you are) sanitising your hands is a good idea because they are coming into contact with doors, with cash and a myriad of other surfaces with which you have no idea about who else has had contact…and whether they were sick when they touched.

And that’s the thing. You have no idea who previously touched the surfaces you touch and that alone should be enough to make you take the precaution of using the hand sanitiser provided for your convenience at the door of the next shop you enter.

It’s not difficult.

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Believe It or Not

I recently witnessed an exchange between a potential shopper and a retail assistant at the door of an Op Shop, where the shopper was asked to please use the complimentary hand sanitiser at the doorway, which was a condition of entering the shop. The shop assistant was pleasant and polite, but the shopper backed up as though she had been asked to swallow razorblades with a bleach chaser.

The woman refused to use the sanitiser, claiming she never used it because she was not “buying into the fear”. When the shop assistant politely advised that using the sanitiser first was a condition of entry, the woman stomped off in a huff.

Right now the planet is not in a good place, health wise, and whether you believe the virus is a hoax, a conspiracy, an  immune system killer via waves from the 5G satellites, or just plain evil dust being sprinkled on us from above by same, the fact remains that there is something out there and a lot of people around the world are dropping down dead when they contract it. Even those who recover are being left with after effects which will not necessarily go away.

So it’s not good.

Right, so you don’t believe there is a deadly virus out there. Okay, then feel free to have your  like-minded friends all come to visit you, all at the same time, and you can all hug and party like there’s no tomorrow. That’s your prerogative. Chances are though, that one or more of them may have been exposed to and infected by another like-minded individual and before you know it, your tomorrows may be severely compromised or worse, definitely numbered, because you have all come down with what feels like the worst flu you can ever remember having…

Well you can’t say you weren’t warned.

If by some stroke of luck you all survive the defiant group hug in your own homes, that doesn’t let you off the hook when it comes to the general directives when you are outdoors, and if that directive includes keeping physically-distanced from others and using hand sanitiser, when asked, before you enter a premises, then what’s the problem? It’s not a biggie. The thousands of people dying around the globe are not dropping all at the same time from natural causes and no, it is not “just flu” either.

You see, despite what you may or may not believe, there are many others out there in your community who are taking COVID-19 a little more seriously. As a result they are following all the directives currently in place to protect themselves and others, and while it may be impacting their lives to a greater or lesser extent, depending on their circumstances, at least they are still alive and not threatening the lives of those around them.

It is not that difficult!

No one is asking us to leap through hoops of fire, do the razorblades and bleach thingy (okay, maybe someone I just can’t be bothered naming here did mention bleach), or lock ourselves up so securely as to never see the light of day again. Even at the peak of the threat, we could make a visit to the chemist or the supermarket. We could go out onto a balcony or into a backyard. Walk, cycle or jog around the block or the park. We were just asked to stay distant and make good with the hand sanitiser and keep our socialising to the phone, social media and Face Time, and if you think that has flushed your whole life down the toilet, then you might want to rethink your whole life.

As for the woman who refused to use the hand sanitiser and stomped off in a huff; perhaps that was a blessing because I don’t know whether it was her clothes, or her, or both, but she smelt like there had been no laundry or showering done  in while. Quite a while to be honest, and I wondered whether not washing at all may have been part of her protest over the “fear” she was not “buying into”.  I mean, general hygiene has always been a thing, not a request that has just popped up recently because we have all been asked to be more diligent about it. But  hey, if you don’t want to wash  yourself or your clothes or sanitise your hands, stay home.

Trust me, no one won’t miss you.