Florida’s Silver Springs is a gorgeous park that brings in hundreds of thousands of visitors every year. People come to kayak, swim, and even take glass-bottom boat tours to see the local wildlife. One traveler was at Silver Springs in Florida with her friends and decided she was going to go for a paddleboard ride. However, she was quickly stopped by a Karen who demanded she turn around, setting the mood for her day.
Gabby (@chaptersabroad) shared a video of her experience paddleboarding at Florida Springs. Before her adventure, Gabby looked on their official park website and didn’t see any mention of not being able to paddleboard. However, the information was there – Gabby found out later it was deeply hidden in the online pages. Gabby and her friends didn’t see signs saying they couldn’t paddleboard so they headed out on their adventure.
At one point floating down the river, Gabby is stopped by an angry woman. You can hear her state something to Gabby in a demanding Karen tone. Gabby asks her what she said and the Karen says, “You’re not supposed to be in here with paddle boards.” Gabby pans to the woman and her friend, who are enjoying a swim in the area. She tells the women, “Oh, it didn’t say that.” The woman interrupts Gabby and states again, “This isn’t a paddle board section. It’s swimming. You’re not supposed to be in here.” Gabby pauses and then responds, “Okay. Got that the first, second, and third time.”
As Gabby loudly proclaims that she’s going to turn around with her friends, the Karen keeps yapping. She angrily states, “No. You’re not supposed to be here.” Gabby says back in an irritated tone, “We got that every time you just said it.” She instructs her friends to turn around because they ran into the “paddle police.”
As Gabby is traveling back with her friends in the other direction, she tells her friends that she ran into a “wild Karen” who “kept saying ‘you can’t go there.’” Her friends joke around about the interaction, saying they were having a ceremony for the Karen to be sworn in as the “Springs Police.” It was definitely an aggravating interaction and shows that people will just keep annoyingly repeating themselves when they want to be heard.
One commenter jokingly stated, “After the second time I’d have gone through out of spite and then told her I didn’t hear her.” One commenter was deeply offended by Gabby’s video, asking, “Why are you calling her a Karen for simply informing you that paddle boards and prohibited in the area where you were?” She goes on to say, “Here in FL most of our springs are protected and gave designated areas only for tubing and paddle boarding.” A commenter replied to her statement and said, “We found another” implying she’s a Karen, too. It’s clear Gabby got the message the first time.
