“Karen” threatens to call cops on a braai in South Africa

[Personherebb9]

Random post, but this video is going incredibly viral in South Africa and has even made the news, I thought I’d share for some laughs. Essentially the woman was upset that her neighbours were having a “braai” (South African version of barbecue) and was apparently complaining about the smoke and fire, even threatened to call the police. Now what makes this funny is the fact that this presumably American (accent) lady doesn’t understand the cultural differences between her country and SA.

1) We don’t complain about braais/parties here. South Africans are usually very relaxed and accommodating when it comes to neighbours. We all kind of live in a mutual agreement to just let each other be, without complaining about it. And this lady saying the braai almost put her house on fire is completely ridiculous, especially considering the braai wasn’t even on her property.

2) Police. The South African police aren’t similar to police in the USA at all. The police here are very friendly, they’re basically just friends that like occasionally pull you over every now and then. For reference, I’ve randomly asked police officers to give me a ride to McDonald’s. The other day I was pulled over for a random drug check and for that entire 10 minutes we were literally just talking about stranger things Season 4, he never even searched my car. Like South African police officers truly do not care. The police would not come over for “petty” calls. If no one was stabbed, robbed or injured, the police definitely won’t show. So threatening to call the police, because of a braai is essentially as null as calling them to file a complaint against a monkey that stole your lunch. 

Anyways this type of unreasonable outrage never happens here, so it definitely was such a culture shock that it literally made news headlines.

---

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMFXTL5UN/

[rachel83az]

I've seen a couple of USA news stories like this before. For one, the woman took a neighbor to court over the smell of the next door neighbor's BBQ grill. The judge either dismissed the case or ruled in favor of the person doing the grilling, so all the neighbors had a neighborhood BBQ party to celebrate.

[LevelUP]

2) Police. The South African police aren’t similar to police in the USA at all. The police here are very friendly, they’re basically just friends that like occasionally pull you over every now and then. For reference, I’ve randomly asked police officers to give me a ride to McDonald’s. The other day I was pulled over for a random drug check and for that entire 10 minutes we were literally just talking about stranger things Season 4, he never even searched my car. Like South African police officers truly do not care. The police would not come over for “petty” calls. If no one was stabbed, robbed or injured, the police definitely won’t show. So threatening to call the police, because of a braai is essentially as null as calling them to file a complaint against a monkey that stole your lunch.

The police here are also friendly, for the most part depending on where you are.

Here in the U.S., you can't be randomly pulled over. So you could go many years without an encounter with a police officer.

There are rules for loud music. Also, the neighborhood you live in may have subdivision rules that, for example, limit you from leaving your dog outside at night to bark all night.

[ss20ts]

This women says something about flames coming towards her property. She said something about it being windy too. I can see why someone would be upset over flames on a windy day heading for their property. The things you say about the police isn't how it works in America.