I’m an American living in London – these things Brits do give me the ick

It’s normal to struggle with cultural differences when you go abroad for a few days – but one American was left unimpressed with Britons after a permanent move to London.

TikToker @kjordyyy, who describes himself as ‘a mere yank amongst Brits’ told his 121,000 fans his ‘icks about the British’.

He started the video with: ‘I have noticed most Brits do not say “please” and “thank you”.’

Among his other icks were the British sense of humour and poor customer service. 

The video, which has since racked up 56,000 views, has divided viewers with many commenting that the American expat had ‘only been to London’ and invited the TikToker to ‘come to Yorkshire’ to observe the difference.

One commented: ‘Where I live [not London], people always say please and thank you’. 

Conscious of risking offence, he said: ‘I’m not saying all of them, but I’m just speaking from experience.’

He cited a door-holding scenario and claimed that Brits ‘won’t even say thank you’ for the gesture and ‘look at me like it was my job’.

We are a nation famed for our dry sense of humor – but this was another gripe of the TikTok personality – whose video has sparked just under 3,000 reactions.

He remarked: ‘I’m sorry, but sir I just don’t understand British humor. Maybe it’s just me, but someone will say something very sarcastic and people are cracking up.

‘And in my mind, I’m like, bro, how is that funny? On the other hand, a lot of my British friends tell me that American humor is too obvious.

‘But isn’t that the point of a joke?’ 

Another point of contention is the customer service in the UK.

The content creator remarked: ‘ Customer service here is booty, but I just feel like since they’re not getting tips, they don’t have any motivation to have great service.

‘There’s so many times where I’ll go to a place and they’ll be like “What do you want?” Just like that. And that’s just the norm.’

But he didn’t stop there. He was fed up with Brits’ incessant political teasing, with many asking him ‘What do you think about Trump? Or about Joe Biden?’

Many commented that the American expat had ‘only been to London’ and invited the TikToker to ‘come to Yorkshire’ to observe the difference. Another repeated the sentiment seen above: ‘Where I live [not London], people always say please and thank you’

The TikToker wasn’t pleased, and said that his fellow Americans would find this nosiness a clear invasion of privacy.

He said: ‘I’m just like bro, like back home some people will be p***** if you ask who you voted for.’

This comes after another US TikToker posted about her qualms as an American expat living that’s also living in the UK.

Andrea Celeste, from LA shared a video with her 186,000 followers as part of her ‘Things that are socially acceptable in England which would confuse Americans’ series.

Speaking directly to camera, Andrea said: ‘You probably won’t see many people drinking a straight glass of milk in England [but] in America people do this all the time with almost any meal, not just cookies.’