What do you do for fun when you’re free? Binge Netflix? Hit the local mall for some window shopping with your friends? For humble queens Kris and Kylie Jenner, the idea of a “fun day out” includes doing “normal things” like grocery shopping, pumping their own gas and getting their car washed. Priorities, right?

In the seventh episode of The Kardashians, which premiered on 26 May 2022, the 66-year-old ‘momager’ and her then-pregnant daughter were seen driving around California when Kylie said, “I just want to do normal things with you. I just think when I’m pregnant, I just want to feel really normal.” Kris then admitted, “I have not been to a grocery store in two years,” to which her daughter added: “I haven’t been to a grocery store in forever. I want to go to the grocery store and pick my own things! It’s good for our souls.” We normies disagree, but I guess it’s the little things for the uber rich.

Off they went to Vintage Grocers in Malibu to have the time of their lives, with Kris admitting that “dreams do come true!” At this point, the momager revealed that she had stopped shopping for herself because of her fame. “One of the things that gets a little tricky is privacy,” she explained. “I stopped going to the grocery store because people in the store started sneaking pictures and paparazzi started showing up. It was hard.”

Although the mother-daughter duo proved to be just like the rest of us—piling their cart with cookie dough and tequila (Kendall’s 818 brand, of course)—the real fun (for us, at least) began when they had all their groceries bagged up and ready to be paid for.

“I just need the experience of checking out. I waited for this for years,” Kris said as she whipped out her card after asking her daughter if she wanted “to do the honours.” Kris then slid the card down the machine—only to be told that she needs to insert it with the magnetic chip facing forwards. Thankfully, Kylie showed her the ropes and the payment was made successfully. “We’re approved,” the momager with a net worth of around $190 million then went on to holler and tell the employees that they wanted to push the cart themselves. How little people of them.

Watching Kris and Kylie Jenner relating to their fans by going grocery shopping reminds me of when Trump threw paper towels at hurricane victims. #Kardashians pic.twitter.com/en5SUVwP7K

— Stephanie Sidley (@StephanieSidley) May 27, 2022

Despite it being two years since the 66-year-old shopped for her own groceries, Kris still remembered to never leave the “basket” in the parking lot. “Okay, you have to go put the basket back, remember? Don’t be the customer that just leaves the basket in the middle of the parking lot,” she told Kylie. As the Kylie Cosmetics founder went to place the so-called basket back, her mother cheered: “Go, Kylie, go! Good job, Kylie, you’re doing amazing sweetie! Wow, look at her go. I knew you would shine.”

https://twitter.com/treyfreire/status/1529991720959725581

After the grocery store came the gas station, where the duo stopped to load up their car. At first, Kris was confused about how to position the vehicle at the station. “We’re totally on the wrong side, right?” she asked Kylie, who was driving. Kris then got out of the car but had trouble understanding how to insert her now-infamous card into the machine again. “What does it mean ‘2,000 points’?” she asked her daughter who remained in the vehicle to avoid the fumes during her pregnancy. Kylie then reminded her mother that the car needed to be turned off.

“We didn’t blow up, so that’s the good news,” Kris went on to admit. Once she finished pumping the gas, she struggled with inserting the pump back into the stand. “Just like riding a bike,” she laughed.

But their “normal day” didn’t stop there. Kris and Kylie then entered a drive-thru car wash at the gas station for what appeared to be the first time ever. “This is like Disneyland!” Kris exclaimed. “We have to bring the kids here… This is the best $12 we’ve ever spent!” Kylie replied, “This is fun. This is such a tourist attraction!”

As the mother-daughter duo had the best day of their lives, so did the internet. While some people called the family out for their privilege—just like with Kendall’s cucumbergate in an earlier episode of the show—others questioned if the scenes were staged to make up for a truly harrowing television experience. Either way, Kylie and her basket didn’t steal the internet’s thunder as netizens shined with their loot of memes and jokes on the public debacle:

kris jenner not knowing how to pump gas is making me physically ill

— G$Price (@smeller_1234567) May 27, 2022

Kylie and Kris really called the drive thru car wash a tourist attraction 😭 rich ppl really do live on another planet #TheKardashians

— Cristina Grijalva (@angie_shows) May 26, 2022

https://twitter.com/ETHEREALISTA/status/1529724066105630720

I’m not believing Kris Jenner at 66 years old doesn’t know how to pump gas. This is so scripted.

— Sharné Haywood (@_shukura_) May 27, 2022

https://twitter.com/KaleighMolgaard/status/1529987877848993833

@KrisJenner hadn’t been to the grocery store in 2 years & still knows that the buggy doesn’t go in the parking lot!! Take notes people 😂👏🏼💕#TheKardashians

— Amber (@atully2220) May 27, 2022

@ParisHilton & @nicolerichie walked so @KrisJenner & @KylieJenner could run. #thesimplelife @kardashianshulu #groceryshopping #carwash https://t.co/24hpSzxQeN pic.twitter.com/ZI9vxmvVZ4

— Flirt Cobain (@NancyVicious3) May 27, 2022

I’m Kris Jenner and life is a gas pump

— Bumble Bee Girl (@mamixtsunami) May 27, 2022

They say the devil works hard, but that Kris Jenner, the Kardashian-Jenner ‘momager’ works harder. Everyone has their own opinions about the Kardashian-Jenner clan, who are notorious for a number of reasons. You can think what you want, but their ability to monetise literally anything, big or small, is beyond impressive.

For those who don’t know, just last month, Kylie Jenner, entrepreneur, founder of Kylie Cosmetics, and one of the world’s youngest billionaires released a video tour of the Kylie Cosmetics office, at the end of which, she sang three words to her baby—“rise and shine.” The internet is a bizarre place where things like that can become huge in no time.  In less than a few days ‘Rise and Shine’ became a viral meme. It has since been turned into a remix and the #riseandshine hashtag has been shared on TikTok over a billion times. Now, as one of the world’s most influential and famous people, and the world’s youngest billionaire, what do you do if something you’ve said turned into a viral meme? You try to trademark the phrase and capitalise on it, of course. 

https://www.instagram.com/p/B3unNS4nD4P/

Jenner managed to turn the internet meme we have created into money—just after one week since posting the video, she has already applied to trademark (the entire family has filed 716 trademarks so far) the phrase in order to put it on “belts, bottoms as clothing, coats, dresses, footwear, gloves, headbands, headwear, jackets, loungewear, scarves, sleepwear, socks, swimwear, tops as clothing and undergarments,” and completely sold out of the $65 ‘Rise and Shine’ hoodies listed on her website. And while a big part of the internet envies or even hates Kylie for it, it is important to ask ourselves one question: aren’t we the ones who let this happen in the first place?

The Kardashian-Jenners are certainly one of the most famous families in the world, but they’re also one of the most hated ones, be that for the many ways in which they’ve acquired their wealth or their impact and influence on our society. Perhaps best known for their reality TV show Keeping up with the Kardashians, they are living and breathing pop culture—they are on television, they are talked about in the media on a daily basis (ironically, I am also contributing to this right now), and they are in major fashion campaigns. Somehow, over the last decade, the family has exerted so much influence, that they are able to monetise almost all aspects of their lives.

Every single drama of the Kardashian-Jenner world, from family feuds and affairs, business ventures, PR disasters (the internet will never let go of that Kendall Jenner Pepsi commercial) to near-death experiences, and robberies feed the celebrity news cycle. Driving people’s interest in the reality TV show Keeping up with the Kardashians brings viewers, which then bring an ever-increasing number of sponsorships and brand deals. The common saying ‘there is no such thing as bad publicity’ seems to really apply to their family—they can do anything and just air it on their show. For example, last February, following a family drama where Jenner’s best friend allegedly had an affair with Jenner’s half-sister’s partner, Kylie decided to drop the price of a lip kit dedicated to her best friend by 50 per cent, selling out instantly.

The thing is, the influencer is only as good as those who get influenced by them. The Kardashian-Jenners would not be able to thrive on the hype created around them, if we didn’t create it in the first place. To say that every single person with even a slight engagement in pop culture is responsible for this would be a stretch, but every single time anybody speaks of them, be that praise, intrigue or criticism, we instantly make them even more relevant. Whether you hate or you love the Kardashian-Jenners—if you are involving yourself in the conversation in any way, shape or form, you could easily be making them even richer. And their fan base is especially responsible for that.

Yes, what the Kardashian-Jenners are doing here can be seen as borderline exploitative, but it’s also savvy, and in many ways entrepreneurial and creative. How many of us can say that we wouldn’t do the same for money, were we given the option? At the end of the day, Kylie isn’t forcing you to buy a $65 ‘Rise and Shine’ hoodie or a lip-kit—she is simply using her influence to sell, and we have given her and the rest of her family this influence. Of course, there are way better things to use your influence on than selfishly monetizing on it, and in Kylie’s case, her influence and power is immense. In 2018, after she tweeted “sooo does anyone else not open Snapchat anymore? Or is it just me… ugh this is so sad,” Snapchat’s stock lost $1.3 billion. Jenner only tweeted what everyone was already thinking.

In the same way that Jenner could be using her influence for the greater good, so could we. If you have a problem with either member of the Kardashian-Jenner clan making money off of something you deem as ridiculous, think twice before starting a conversation about it and feeding into the cycle. Otherwise, you’ve played yourself.