Grass Valley, CA — Finding it not worth the wait at the DMV and, totally not worth wearing a mask to yell at the front-line workers at the grocery store, liquor store, and hospitals, self-proclaimed area expert-shopper Karen Davies decided to take things into her own hands.
“Honestly, I’m just tired of having to do all the complaining and constructive criticism around this town,” said the mother of two looking down at her iPhone. “So that’s when I thought I’d let my 8-year-old do the talking. She has to learn sometime.”
The trouble started when Karen became irritated with the long line at the Grass Valley DMV and stormed out after not finding someone to complain to. she made her way across the street to Safeway, where she discovered that the popular grocery store had only stocked an industrial-janitorial style toilet paper.
“Shaleequa just has a certain style and way of saying things that people listen to. I just get laughed at and called ‘Karen.’ So I let her approach the customer service desk. With some coaching, of course.”
According to Karen, who was born in Lafayette, CA, and moved up to the Foothills when she was six, she wants to build assertiveness in her children. And according to her, that includes “building in conflict and adversity” into their lives.
“Everything I do with the girls is about building character. And providing feedback to businesses and the police is a part of that. In fact, last week I had Abukcheech call the police on this suspicious person in our neighborhood. This week, it’s Shaleequa’s turn.”
According to the Grass Valley police department, the unnamed man was a gardener working at Karen’s next-door neighbor. He was briefly detained after questioning, and no charges were filed. This was the 8th time this year that Karen has reported suspicious activity in her Rhode Island Street neighborhood.
As for the Safeway complaint, Karen says her daughter did just fine for her first time.
“There’s always room for improvement, but she did just fine. She gave the manager a piece of her mind.”
