Messing about with bears is probably one of the most Darwin Award-worthy things to ever do. But hey, it’s an award, worth it, right? Do it for the vine!
Please, don’t. Humanity has messed around with nature enough—just remember that global warming is enough testament to how much you should never test Mother Nature’s patience. And that’s just scratching the surface.
But, if you do end up traversing into bear territory, make sure you [1] have the necessary tools to scare bears off, [2] make sure you’re bringing along a person who really, really asked for it, and [3] include a romantic plot twist.
More Info: Reddit
When you're in the woods, you have a non-zero chance of running into a wild animal. When you're with a Karen, though, the chances seem bigger
Image credits: Luis del Río (not the actual image)
A Redditor shared a story from their dad's life that was not only a malicious compliance story, but had a romantic plot twist to it
Image credits: u/zeemdyx
Image credits: Rachel Claire (not the actual image)
Image credits: u/zeemdyx
While the Karen did have a choice in paths, she didn't choose wisely, which netted her a close call with a grizzly. But that's what she asked for...
Image credits: Gregory Rogers (not the actual image)
The story goes that Reddit user u/zeemdyx has a dad who’s “quite a character.” Life wasn’t treating the guy all that nicely, so he decided to start fresh. Starting fresh meant moving to Montana and becoming a rancher.
Things did start looking up. The dad made friends with a fella who took him under his wing, and that led him to save up enough money for some land, a house and all that jazz. Needless to say, their relationship was solid.
So, one day, OP’s dad had some time to kill and so he figured he’d help the man who helped him out before. Besides ranching, the dad’s friend also had a hiking guide business and would take folks on treks through his land. The dad jumped in as a guide, free of charge, you can say as a token of thanks. Among other tokens, probably.
Immediately, there was action. The dad overheard a commotion in the fields caused by a very angry Karen. It was so intense that it made the guide she was screaming at cry. The dad took over the situation, sparing the guide girl any further abuse, and defused the Karen by taking her on a tour.
As you might have guessed, she channeled her inner Karen throughout the entire tour, especially when it came to being a know-it-all. This culminated very soon when it was time to turn around. Since she knew best, OP’s dad gave her a choice of 2 paths: the same they came here on, and another, shorter one, but it was known as bear land as grizzlies were sighted there often.
As a bonus, the woman the Karen yelled at in the beginning of the story ended up becoming the author of the post's mother, which made the internet smile
Image credits: sagesolar (not the actual photo)
“The presence of a bear was almost certain that day. A grizzly was spotted around those parts merely hours before my dad went there,” elaborated OP in an interview with Bored Panda. “However, if the bear didn’t show, I think my dad would have come up with something. That man is quite a character.”
The Karen didn’t care—she knew better, remember? So, they chose the danger woods and off they went. And sure enough, a wild bear appeared. But because the wild bear was of the grizzly sort, the sense of impending doom was certain and unavoidable. The bear started to advance towards them.
Long story short, Karen did, figuratively speaking, pee her pants and the whole encounter was a tad bit reckless on the part of OP’s dad, but all he did was maliciously comply. He had a backup plan, which he ended up going with—i.e. scaring the bear away with a gunshot—but it seems the whole thing did have an effect on the Karen.
“She got a good scare that day, that’s for sure and I sincerely hope she did learn a lesson, but my family haven’t yet seen her, so I cannot judge,” added OP.
Following this, the Karen did get to finally speak to a manager, in good Karen fashion, but since the dad was not technically employed, he couldn’t be fired, and so nothing really happened. Despite the intense danger, both the dad and his friend had a good laugh about it. Serves her right for abusing tour guides, aye?
Originally, OP approached the Reddit community because they love storytelling—it’s an art form they feel most confident in—and when you have a good story to tell, it would be criminal to pass up on the opportunity.
They didn’t pass on it, and the story soon started drawing attention. Besides getting nearly 3,000 upvotes (with 91% of them positive), they also got quite a bit of approval from the community. Some had their hearts melted, others got the scratch for that serves you right itch, and yet others were surprised how OP’s father even had the patience to endure the Karen for hours on end.
Fun fact: grizzlies live 20–25 years, so while it's no longer around to enjoy its new-found fame, it did go down in history as the bear who scared that one Karen
Image credits: Yellowstone National Park (not the actual photo)
Now, everyone is on the same page that what OP’s dad did was tempting fate, including the dad himself. But he knew what he was doing, and he had a backup plan, and all turned out well in the end. Sure, the safest thing to do is avoid wild woods in the first place, but if you do happen to run into a bear, there are several things you can do to increase your chances of not becoming minced meat:
[1] stay calm, [2] slowly wave your arms to [2.1] make yourself look bigger, but also [2.2] help the bear understand you’re a human, and not prey, [3] never turn your back on it and try to leave the area while slowly walking sideways or backwards if the bear isn’t moving towards you. It helps to hike in groups and to have bear spray with you. Or do (or don’t) everything else listed by the US National Park Service.
Anywho, back to the story. The best part was that there was a plot twist. That woman that the Karen ended up screaming at, and who was defended by their dad? They now call her mom. Good feels all around.
Now, while OP did mention that the experience overall seemed quite intense, and one-upping anything in the malicious compliance would have been dangerous and out-right reckless (even more so than it was before), one commenter pointed out that the Karen had great potential to make it worse for herself by pointing out something that gives off mafia energy: “Rural folk know ALL the nooks and crannies to make a rude tourist ‘disappear’ either on their own or with ‘assistance’ in the form (like Karen) thinking they KNOW ‘better!’” Something to think about.
And you know what? There’s an amazing place to channel your thoughts and that is the comment section below, so do go nuts!
The story got quite a bit of attention and engagement, mostly in the form of people aww'ing at the sheer romance of it all
