TikTok Isn't Impressed With This McDonald's Drive-Thru Karen

We've all been in the dreaded situation at a fast-food restaurant where we have to make the snap decision of whether to face the massive queue for the drive-thru or the standing line inside the store. Whatever the choice, you have to prepare yourself for a long wait filled with hunger-inducing smells in the air.

However, the respectful convention of quietly waiting in line while other customers make their food requests is not something that is appreciated by everyone. A trending TikTok shows one visitor of McDonald's completely subverting the status quo by allowing her husband to skip the queue.

The woman — given the social media nickname of "Karen" — is filmed standing in a McDonald's drive-thru queue, holding up the traffic so that her husband in a pickup truck can order before the other customers. The clip, shared by @karen_in_wild, shows the woman unapologetically holding up the line of cars. The TikTok is captioned, "I have just encountered my first wild Karen." Lots of TikTokers have been voicing their frustration and disbelief.

Dubbed a "McKaren," TikTok users have advocated for blaring horns to make the woman's order inaudible, letting air out of the truck's tires, and mirroring her behavior by standing in front of her husband's truck. Some commenters on the video suggested stealing the woman's food as an option, others simply voted to physically move her out of the way. 

Asking McDonald's staff to intervene has received encouragement. Having experienced a similar situation, one TikToker says that drive-thru workers took the orders of patiently queuing customers first. In response to a user asking why the woman didn't go inside to order, one reply read, "Some people work really hard to be lazy." Another comment suggests she could have ordered from the McDonald's app. Other commenters are suggesting the man and woman make the perfect couple, wondering if they got engaged under the Golden Arches. 

Daily Dot offers one potential explanation for the customer's sneaky trick: The indoor restaurant may have been closed, leaving the drive-thru as the only way to acquire crispy nuggets and gherkin-filled burgers. Even if this reason is true, unfortunately, the incident is just one in a long line of McDonald's Karen episodes.