When you’re a freelance artist working on-site at a business, passersby may comment on your handiwork, but it’s not exactly normal for them to harass you. This is especially true if their criticism has nothing to do with your art, but is in fact an issue that is beyond your control. This is exactly what happened recently with a Mississippi freelance window painter who was busy painting a coffee shop’s window before the shop had even opened. While she was working, however, an elderly male Karen entered the premises and began harassing the artist because the entry gate was shut, and he believed that it should’ve been open.
As the video begins, the Mississippi artist is busy painting a large pumpkin on the business’ window, and a couple of short captions flash on screen, “Me: minding my own business” and “Painting windows to bring others joy“. Importantly, a further caption adds some more context, “Got here early to paint before they opened so that I’m not in people’s way“.
Next, a “random guy walks up” from off camera and can be heard exclaiming, “Who shut this gate?” It’s worth noting that the gate was shut because the business was closed. The audio is quite hard to make out, but it sounds like the artist tries to explain the situation, but her words fall on deaf ears.
The next part sounds like the male Karen is saying, “I’m not going to wear these orders. Hey pal, I might know, kind of struck me with this angle and that’s not picking up the ADA standards and I’ll be back.” In short, it appears that the man is referencing the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which is a set of guidelines for businesses to adhere to in order to ensure access for people with physical disabilities. The thing is, the business is currently not open, and the artist working on the window is actually a freelancer and not a full-time employee.
Tensions begin to escalate even more, as the man begins cursing and swearing at the woman. “How the [expletive] are you gonna get a wheelchair through there? You better fix it! I’m up your [expletive].” As the freelance artist goes back to pick up her camera, you can hear her say, “I’m shaking right now.”
People Reacting to the Bizarre Confrontation
The majority of social media reactions took the side of the freelance artist who was at the heart of the drama. One person on TikTok wrote, “I couldn’t hear what he said ?” while the OP responded to this, explaining, “Long story short, he is complaining about the gate being closed.. cussing at me and being rude to me.. when he is catastrophically disabled and that gate being closed is not up to ADA code and he tried to go in to tell the owners that it’s gonna be their [expletive] if they don’t fix it, but the business was closed because I got there before they opened to paint 🤣”
A third comment read, “He just looking to sue and make money. Had a business and a person came in and sued us because the bathroom mirror was too high.. yea he loookg for a paycheck [sic]” while another added, “So sad people have to act this way“. Meanwhile, over on Reddit, one commenter summed up my thoughts well, penning, “I think you handled it well…just go back to painting“.
