“No Apple Pay”: SA Woman Shares Hilarious Culture Shock After Nearly Getting Kicked Out of a Store

• A South African woman shared the chaotic experience she had trying to pay with her phone at a liquor store in Botswana
• What started as a confident walk into a store ended with a manager, a security guard and a very stressed cashier
• South Africans and Batswana in the comments could not stop laughing while debating whether Apple Pay actually works in Botswana or not

A South African woman who shares funny content on her TikTok page posted a video on 18 January 2026 about one of her most chaotic moments during a visit to Botswana. She walked into a liquor store and spent time picking out her drinks with full confidence. Towards the end, she greeted the cashier politely and then tried to tap her phone to pay. The card machine had no reaction at all. What followed was an issue involving the cashier, a security guard, the store manager and a lot of back-and-forth conversations.

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What made the whole situation funnier for South Africans watching is that tap-to-pay using a phone is completely normal back home. South Africa's banking and payments systems, including systems like SnapScan, Zapper and tap-to-pay features, are some of the most advanced on the continent. Walking into a store and tapping your phone instead of a card is an everyday experience for many South Africans.

Some commenters confirmed that Apple Pay does work in certain Botswana stores, depending on the bank and the machine, but it's not consistent enough.

Watch the TikTok clip below:

Mzansi and Botswana discuss the liquor store saga

People were fully entertained by TikToker @kat.koolatotse's experience:

@Unami Zweni wrote:

"The cashier seeing you trying to pay with your phone."

@Enhle_Maoze said:

"I thought you were South African all along."

@jeremiah29.11 added:

"Even those in developed countries will tell you that SA's payment system is miles ahead of its neighbours."

@Michelle wrote:

"There is Apple Pay, but it just does not work with some banks. I was also held hostage in a store when I tapped. I had to wait until the manager came, and I explained the technology to them. Mind you, the transaction went through, and they still did not believe it."

@Joss said:

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"They have Apple Pay in Botswana. In Zim, they do not even tap or swipe; it is insert only."

@thandi_bonno added:

"But it works. Apple Pay does work. Their machine was the problem."

@Jakura_19 wrote:

"I was literally in Botswana in December. I managed to pay for everything using Apple Pay. It worked perfectly fine."

@Nomstoyou said:

"We have better alternatives to Apple Pay in South Africa."

More on culture shock moments

• Briefly News recently reported on a Pretoria man who filmed what daily life costs in Germany.
• An Afrikaner couple in America shared a video of an Amazon parcel sitting untouched on their front door and South Africans could not believe what they were seeing.
• An American woman shared her honest observations about life in South Africa after moving here.

Proofreading by Kelly Lippke, copy editor at Briefly.co.za.

Source: Briefly News