Not individually but as a function of society. These people keep standards high, even the ones who are unreasonable. I don’t like them and I would hate to deal with them but in contrast they make reasonable people appear reasonable. If there were no Karen’s you might get attitude for asking for a clean spoon. So have some appreciation for these horrible people.
I kind of agree with OP to a degree. I did 10 years of retail (mostly in small local shops where I could help influence how stuff was run) and now run my own business, which is essentially retail. So I’ve experienced 100s of Karens over the years.
Their endless and stupid complaints in a lot of cases have helped me simplify process for the thickos, make information as dumbed down as possible and helped me clarify things that I assumed anyone with half a brain would just know. It’s also given me the opportunity to learn how to deal with completely unreasonable people, which is a really useful skill to have in life.
The Karens help anyone with average and above intelligence see the world through the eyes of people who are completely ignorant, they allow you to see “issues” that no normal person would ever consider and help try and mitigate the Karen complaints before they even begin.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not excusing their behaviour and I get incredibly frustrated every time I have to deal with one, but you can learn lessons from these people in a lot of cases that’ll make your life easier if you have managers/owners who are willing to listen.