Oakland, CA — Organizers of the first annual Karen “Konvention” held at the Oakland Community Center say they have received a record number of complaints during the 3-day event. Hydra International Limited, the organization responsible for “KarenFest,” sought to ease tensions in the highly controversial “Karen community,” but instead, event managers were almost immediately overwhelmed with issues.
“We thought we had everything under control,” said KarenFest director of operations Karen Davidson. “We knew we had a community of activist participants who certainly appreciate having their opinions heard, and we had planned for weeks before opening day.”
According to Ms. Davidson, KarenFest has over 42 customer service tables set up to deal with feedback. However, within 15 minutes of the doors opening, the staff was overwhelmed with hundreds of complaints ranging from dissatisfaction with accommodations to the color of the streamers in the Community Center lobby.
“Many Karens missed the first two sessions due to all of the complaints,” continued Ms. Davidson. “Because we were expecting a surge, we made all staff members managers to head off any requests. For example, if a Konvention participant asked a staff member to speak to a manager, the staff manager would respond with ‘I’m a manager, can I help you?’ Unfortunately, that just encouraged more issues.”
Organizers say that they’re already making changes for next year’s Konention, including “digitally reinventing” the complaint process by allowing Karens to log issues via their cell phone. Some worry that extended access to mobile phones might result in frivolous calls to the police department.
