I had this encounter during Covid, and looking back on it now, I can see how scared we all were. People were anxious about everything, trying to feel safe any way they could.

My son and I got on the elevator in our building, and a woman said something to him about his mask. Fair enough. He put it on. Then she decided to go further. “Isn’t it only supposed to be one household on the elevator at a time?” I realized pretty quick she was still looking for conflict.

That nonsense rule just didn’t work for me. I get that people were nervous back then, but I wasn’t going to honor that particular guideline. Still, I wore my mask to help everyone feel more comfortable.

“Uh, okay,” I said. Her husband lowered his head, maybe sensing this wasn’t going anywhere productive. He sensed that her inner Karen was surfacing, but Karen just met someone who wasn’t going to bend to her Karen ways.

I told her if she was that uncomfortable, she could just get off the elevator, take the stairs, or wait for the next one. I wasn’t going to delay things while each person took a separate trip up. That made no sense logistically. I was willing to wear the mask. I wasn’t willing to follow every single directive, especially ones that seemed impractical and caused nonsensical delays to our daily routine.

She threatened to report me to the board if I didn’t get off and honor the one household on the elevator rule. I reminded her that management and the board had never really helped me with actual problems before. I’d reported complaints plenty of times over the years, and nothing came of it. So I wasn’t particularly concerned about whatever consequences she might threaten me with from the all powerful board. She had a mask. I had a mask. We were both protected. I was polite, but made it clear that I wasn’t getting off the elevator.

She looked at her husband for backup, but unlike her, he was a reasonable person and just continued to bow his head and stay out of the Karen disagreement.

It was a tense moment, but it passed. Looking back, everyone was just trying to navigate an uncertain time. We didn’t all agree on the best approach, and that was okay. For now, we are all still here and the elevator got us safely to our destination.