A Bartender Was Fined for Burping Too Loudly After Eating a Kebab

Who hasn't had a late-night donair, washed it down with the requisite Fanta, and let out a victorious belch? Spit-roasted meats, yogurt, onions, and a cold, crisp soda are, after all, cause for celebration, no matter how base or audible.

And while the act of emitting gas from the stomach through the mouth is a practice that is tolerated, if not encouraged, in most countries, it caused an overzealous patrolman in Vienna put a 70 euro damper on a burping bartender's day off.

Austrian bartender Edin Mehic was strolling through the Praterstern neighbourhood of Vienna last Sunday when he decided to stop in a kebab shop and pick up some doner, as one does.

"It was a Sunday and I was enjoying a walk in the park, and I suddenly felt hungry. I ordered one the way I like it, spicy with a lot of onion," Mehic wrote in now-viral Facebook post. "A strange feeling began to tingle. […] I lost control, I wanted to get it back but—since it had happened! BAM: Ali caught too many onions! […] I burped… Liberating! Everybody knows this feeling!!!"

Everybody, apparently, except for an Austrian police officer within earshot of Mehic's burp who promptly tapped Mehic on the shoulder and hit him with a 70 euro fine for the loud belch. Beside himself with outrage, the bartender returned home and posted a photo of the ticket with a lengthy rant about the incident.

"I know in these times police are very present on the streets to tackle crime but surely tackling a burper is a bit too much," he wrote. "I guess things can't be as bad in the area as we read in the papers because if they have time to chase up burping, it means there isn't anything more serious to worry about."

In an age of ever-expanding state surveillance, one wonders if (and how) authorities could one day resort to mass eructation surveillance. Luckily, more than 200 brave souls are scheduled to attend a massive pro-burping flash mob this Saturday in Praterstern to drink pop, eat kebabs, and collectively belch against the Man.