Well, what do you know? Cebu may have inadvertently discovered its own version of a “Karen.”
Actually, that’s not fair. Cebu has nothing to do with it. It’s me who believes I have verified the existence of that rare breed of person – one who is obnoxious, entitled and demanding, all rolled into one – right here in our midst.
Well, not exactly in our midst, since a majority of Cebuanos don’t hang out at a popular foreign coffee chain in an uptown mall and use a speakerphone to discuss with someone on the other line their upcoming trip to Palawan.
Well, we all should be lucky.
While the masses worry about the rising cost of daily living, traffic, rotating brownouts, the waste crisis and homelessness – and I could go on with other pressing problems -- one woman thought it was perfectly okay to vent in a six-minute video that she posted on social media last Aug. 4, 2026, her “intense, unexpected argument with a stranger” inside the establishment.
Don’t get me wrong. She was well within her rights to do so. I have no argument with that. But how did she expect us, mere commoners, to react when, under the circumstances that she herself described, it would appear that the stranger was justified in accosting her. And because he happened to be a foreigner, he had no right to call her out on her rude behavior?
I have had arguments with foreigners who think they’re high and mighty and criticize everything about our country because they think they have the moral upper hand coming from the West and I only have one thing to say to them, “You’re free to leave anytime.”
But that’s not the case here. She must have been talking really loud because she was using the speakerphone. If she had to take the call, she ought to have considered the proper etiquette when there are other people around to consider. People who couldn’t give a flying f*** about her Palawan itinerary. And yet, she took away their choice not to listen to her talk about how far removed she is from the realities of living in a third-world country.
When the man allegedly reminded her that “you can’t just do whatever you want,” she came back with, “This is my country. I can do whatever I want.”
Guess what? It’s my country, too. And the last time I checked, I can’t just do whatever I want. But there are the rare few who actually believe they are above it all.
And that’s what bothers me about this because the woman actually believes she didn’t do anything wrong. Now who is acting entitled? Seriously.
Unfortunately for the “victim,” her rant exposes what is wrong with our society. We all know that such behavior in a public space should not be allowed or tolerated, but we allow and tolerate them anyway because we are too polite to confront someone.
I for one am not polite. In fact, I am very rude when it comes to protecting my space in a public setting. I may have raised my voice on one, two or several occasions at the newsroom to remind young journalists to keep their voices down because a senior editor is still at work. I may have barked at a youngster to turn down the volume of his cellphone because I wasn’t in the least interested in listening to “budots” while inside a bus. I have been known to shush a boyfriend giving a running commentary of a movie to his girlfriend inside a cinema.
I have to admit, I can be brusque at times, and I do try my hardest to be polite, but the fact that I am already confronting the other person or persons only means I have reached my absolute limit of patience. The victim believes “Filipino public spaces are generally more social” and she is absolutely right. But I think that should only apply if the public space is OUTDOORS, not within the confines of walls.
Then again, I am old. I have been accused of being a kill-joy. Cantankerous happens to be my middle name. But I call it as I see it. And trust me, calling attention to yourself in public shows a lack of taste and courtesy.
As a gentle reminder: a coffee shop, a bus, or a waiting room is a shared space, not an extension of your living room.