A 17-year-old manager at a snow cone stand in Willis, Texas, laid down the law with a female customer who called her a b*tch.
The showdown between the middle-aged woman and two young female workers at Keke’s Snow Balls was caught on security cameras and later posted to TikTok, where it’s gained over 15 million views.
A young girl was at the cash register when the crushed-ice ‘Karen’ arrived complaining about how she had prepaid $6 so her daughter could come by at a later time to pick up a snow cone.
The woman, dressed in a floral shirt and sunglasses, said her daughter wasn’t given the shaved ice treat even though she claimed her mom had already paid in advance for it.
Despite some initial confusion, the customer did in fact get her $6 back, but then decides to return and curse out of one of the employees.
In this split screen image, the Karen customer is seen taking her $6 back from the teenage manager. Despite getting exactly what she claimed she wanted, the Karen will soon return with nothing nice to say
The caption of the TikTok video claims that there was a shift change, which meant the two girls working at the stand when the daughter came by weren’t aware of this arrangement the woman had made.
Kyle Ewald, the owner of Keke’s Snow Balls, told DailyMail.com he posted the video to push the narrative that customers ‘need to treat teenagers who are working in businesses like this with…respect no matter what.’
When the girl at the register slightly questioned her story by asking if the woman had provided her customer number, the frosty-treat ‘Karen’ lets out an exasperated sigh and moves to the ordering window.
‘I came up here by myself and I paid for a snow cone plus six extra dollars so when she wanted a snow cone she could come up here and get it,’ she said.
‘Y’all didn’t give her the snow cone.’
That’s when the older, teenage manager – who had been listening to the tense interaction while doing odd tasks in the background – gently moves the younger girl aside, reaches into the register and hands the woman the $6.
The girl then closes the window, which knocked over a sign.
It’s unclear if the customer saw this as some sort of invitation for more conflict, but seconds later, the younger girl sees the woman returning.
‘Oh no,’ she said.
When the teenager opens the window again to stand the sign back up again, the customer, flush with her six dollars, decides to knock the sign back down.
‘B*tch,’ the woman calls her.
After being called a b*tch by the Karen, this 17-year-old manager unleashes on her, telling her not to act like that because she’s a grown woman.
But she doesn’t take the unwarranted insult lightly, firing right back and appearing far more mature than the woman many years her senior.
‘Ma’am please don’t act like that, you’re a grown woman!’ she shouts.
The customer is heard yelling something back, but the teenager interjects.
‘I’m 17, get out of here! Don’t come back. Don’t come back. We don’t need your business.
Arguably the best part of the video is when the younger girl smirks as she watches the defeated customer walk away.
One of the top comments on the viral TikTok video urged the business to promote the fearless young manager.
Another wrote: ‘The way she listened to the whole conversation while multitasking in the back. Great leader.’
Most commenters were in awe at how maturely the teenager handled herself and loved how she stood up for her younger coworker.
‘When she came back and the little girl said “ohh no” and steps back…poor baby was scared,’ one person pointed out.
Ewald, who opened Keke’s Snow Balls last year and named it after his daughter, said he understands the lady in the video ‘may have been having a bad day,’ but that doesn’t excuse what she did.
‘The message that we just wanted to portray is that there is no reason why grown adult adults need to be cussing out employees,’ Ewald wrote in an email.
Ewald also praised both his employees that appeared in the viral video, saying they did ‘an amazing job.’