Graffiti, Drama, and $10K: Who’s the Real Karen?

By Elke Porter | Am I the Karen? | April 26, 2025

Alright, Vancouver entrepreneurs, brace yourselves for this graffiti gauntlet! If your business gets tagged with some rogue spray paint, don’t expect your landlord to swoop in with a scrub brush. Per Vancouver’s Graffiti By-law 7343, it’s technically the property owner’s job to wipe that mess clean, but if you’re a tenant, your lease might just toss that hot potato right into your lap — check those fine print details, folks!

The City gives you 10 days from their notice to make it spotless, or they’ll power-wash it themselves and slap the bill on the owner’s tab, possibly with a side of tax hikes. Fines? Oh, they’re real — starting at $500 for graffiti shenanigans — but they’re more like a last resort for serial slackers. Don’t cry foul too quick, though; the City’s not totally heartless. They’ll toss you up to two gallons of free paint a year and fund cleanup crews through Business Improvement Areas (we’re talking $500,000 in 2021 grants).

With all that in mind, this is the story of two local businesses — a cozy little bakery and a colorful paint shop — siting side-by-side, sharing a front sidewalk peaceful for years. In the beginning, their owners made a classic handshake deal: "We’ll tackle cleanups together. One team, one dream!"

Fast forward to one ugly morning: graffiti, vandalism, broken windows, and a whole dumpster-worth of trash dumped inside both stores.
Spoiler: the paint store got absolutely wrecked. To make matters worse, they used their own products. The bakery? A few squiggles and a bad drawing of a cat. Keeping in mind that art's beauty is subjective, varying from person to person.

To continue the story, the two company owners called in the pros. The cleanup quote? $10,000. The paint store figured, "No problem, we’ll split it 50/50, just like we agreed."

The bakery?
"Hold up! We barely got hit. We’ll pay 60% of what you’re asking. You deal with the rest."

Cue the drama.
Cue the icy stares.
Cue five months (and counting) of passive-aggressive energy thick enough to frost a cake.

One good relationship crumbles into dust.

So, who’s the Karen here?
🍰 The bakery owner, for trying to dodge a deal when things got expensive?
🎨 The paint shop owner, for insisting on an even split even though the damage wasn’t?
💥 Or is this just classic Vancouver chaos, and everyone needs to chill?

Sound off — we’re dying to know what you think! 👇

Because in Vancouver, even the sidewalks have drama. 🎭

#Vancouver Business #Graffiti Cleanup #Small Business Drama #Urban Life Vancouver #Am I TheKaren #Retail Woes #City Bylaws #Neighbourhood Feud #WBN News Vancouver #Elke Porter

Connect with Elke at Westcoast German Media or on LinkedIn: Elke Porter or contact her on WhatsApp:  +1 604 828 8788