Karen became internet shorthand in the late 2010s for a stereotypical entitled customer, the kind who loudly demands to speak to a manager over a minor complaint. The label spread through Reddit threads, Twitter jokes and viral videos of public confrontations, peaking around 2020. Clips of screaming or ranting women were remixed into reaction sounds, and short shrieks like this one became a classic scream meme for mocking overreactions. Creators still use it as instant shorthand for an unreasonable meltdown, even in videos with no connection to the original confrontations.