‘Karen’ uses her purse to gatekeep Chili’s in viral TikTok

A woman’s odd and unnecessary attempt to be first in line at a Chili’s is racking up reactions online after a TikToker recorded footage of their peculiar standoff.

The footage was posted by an account that collects and distributes Karen videos, aptly labeled @thekarencenter. The video went up just over 24 hours ago and has since collected more than 527,000 views, along with tens of thousands of likes and comments.

The brief clip, shot from the driver’s side of a parked vehicle, is entirely worth its 23-second runtime. It sees a man parked outside of a Chili’s, noting that the “Karen” in the parked car next to him is really eager to be the first person through the door. The Chili’s appears to be as yet unopened for the day, leaving the person filming and the woman to await opening from inside their vehicles.

Woman, insistent that she get first dibs on seating, has seemingly already taken steps to ensure her position in “line” by the time the video begins. The person filming notes that she “literally just put a purse down in front of the door at Chili’s before it opens, so that she’s first in line.” The camera centers on a large black purse, which is placed on the ground in front of the restaurant’s doors.

The person filming jokes that he is “thinking about going up there and snatching that mother fucker and driving off.” The woman, as if reacting to this, takes this opportunity to exit her car and walk toward the door. As she reaches the front, she doesn’t immediately dip to get her purse, instead pausing outside the door as if to peer through the glass to inside. The video ends with her standing there, impatiently waiting for the restaurant to open its doors.

Commenters on the video were mostly confused by the woman’s eagerness to get into a Chili’s, of all things. They noted that “if you’re at Chili’s at 11am waiting for them to open you’ve got issues.”

Numerous people made similar observations, with several commenters questioning “why are y’all waiting for Chili’s to open? Black Friday sale or something?”

This kind of early bird Chili’s appearance is not uncommon, according to several commenters claiming to be Chili’s employees. Apparently, the restaurant often has people waiting to enter by the time it opens its doors.

This revelation opened the doors for commenters to make jokes about the situation, and share their own petty solutions to get the original poster to the front of the line.

“Should have put your wallet on the handle,” one commenter joked.

Another person recommended that he “pick up the bag and throw it on the roof.”

Multiple users resorted to sarcasm after witnessing the ridiculous antics in the video, with one person writing that “its a good thing she put her purse there to save her spot because look at that line, my God she may have never gotten in at this point.”

In general, viewers seem to be in agreement that the entire ordeal is thoroughly excessive. It turns out that most Chili’s actually have more than one table, so securing a spot at the front of a nonexistent line is pretty unnecessary. But if you ever need to be the very first person in the door, consider simply standing in line, instead of using your purse.

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