Mass hysteria has swept not only the US but also the rest of the world, as the coronavirus pandemic reaches anxiety-inducing levels. As a result, a rush to stock up on basic items such as toilet paper, tissues, and — the most coveted item of all — hand sanitizer has left store shelves eerily vacant. Even online, antibacterial items are either unavailable, backordered, or suddenly overpriced, as sellers continue to raise costs along with the demand. In Leeds, England, it seems one "very enterprising lad" is getting in on the game too, by reportedly charging fellow students for "squirts" of hand sanitizer.
The "enterprising" teen in question is 13-year-old Oliver Cooper, who attends Dixons Unity Academy in the United Kingdom, according to Metro UK.
That is, until he was sent home early on Wednesday after being suspended for the day.
"This is a picture of my teenage son just getting in from school," his mom, Jenny Tompkins, later shared in a now-viral Facebook post. "Why is he getting in from school at 10:53 am you ask? Schools don't finish until 3 pm."
The reason, Tompkins explains, is that her son thought it might be a good idea to capitalize on all the coronavirus panic that's been swirling.
"The little turd has just been expelled from school for the day after been caught charging students 50p a squirt for hand sanitizer to protect themselves from the bloody coronavirus!!" the mother shared.
Oof.
In case you're wondering (because apparently, a lot of people were), he turned a decent profit, considering how much he was charging.
"For those asking, he made £9!" his mom shared. (For reference, that equates to a little over $11 in US dollars.)
As a reward, "he bought a multipack of Doritos and [is] saving the rest to buy a kebab later," his mother shared.
Needless to say, the post spread like wildfire on Facebook, where people called the teen "ingenious" and praised his "entrepreneurial spirit."
"You've got yourself an entrepreneur on your hands!" one person wrote.
"What an absolute f-cking legend," another commented.
"The only problem is he got caught," some else posted.
"He shouldn't be punished, he used his initiative and made himself some money in the process," yet another person added. "[I] think it is going too far to expel him … also does it not say to clean hands all the time he has done his job keeping his class mates clean."
In all fairness, though, raising teens is hard enough without the internet supporting their bad behavior.
In the real world, up-charging people for a product that is in high demand simply because people desperately need it for their health and safety is not cool. (Um, hello, just look at the current crisis happening with skyrocketing prescription drug prices.)
But apparently, it's not just strangers who are praising the little dude for his sketchy behavior -- so was his own dad!
"Very hard to discipline this behavior when his dad phones him from work to call him a f—ing legend," the mother added in her post.
Yikes.
(We certainly don't envy her on that one.)
Speaking with Metro, Tompkins says she's been sure to discipline her son accordingly, so he's clear on what's "right" and what's "wrong."
"I told him off so that when we go into school, I can tell his head of year that I have told him it’s wrong," the mom of seven told the outlet.
"I think they see it as him exploiting a situation, but his stepdad called him a legend halfway through me telling him off so that put a stop to it," she continued. "He’s like my little Del Boy, I won’t be punishing him any further. He’ll do what he has to at school, but that’s it."
Oliver told Metro that he really only was punished with a one-day suspension, but still feels it's unfair, because other students were allegedly running similar schemes.
"It’s ridiculous really," the teen said. "I asked the teacher if they wanted any and she said, 'No, I’ve already got some, but you’re not allowed to do that."
