Little Girl ‘Outraged’ About Ice Cream Truck Charging $11.50 For 2 Cones — ‘And He Only Takes Cards, I Stood There With Cash’
Her rant is as relatable as it is hilarious.
Hero Images / Getty Images | Canva Pro You know the economy has officially jumped the shark when even children are absolutely spitting, cursing furiously about the price of things.
That's what happened recently in the U.K. when 9-year-old twins Mylah and Marnie went to an ice cream truck in a park and were greeted with prices that had Marnie's blood boiling in the most hilarious way possible.
The little girl was outraged about ice cream prices and went on a hilariously relatable rant about it.
You may have noticed that things have gotten a bit expensive lately! Though many Americans lay the blame at the feet of President Biden, the surge in costs has hit all over the world. That includes the United Kingdom, where an ongoing "cost of living crisis" has prices on everything from groceries to energy through the roof and practically everyone in the country seething.
If one recently viral TikTok is any indication, those skyrocketing prices include ice cream cones, and those seething people definitely include two incensed 9-year-old twins from the small city of Burnley, near Manchester.
In a TikTok her aunt Karis Lambert posted, 9-year-old Marnie had some choice words for an ice cream seller trying to fleece her for two Screwballs, a popular British frozen treat with a gumball inside. "Just two ice creams with two chewing gums in it, for bloody nine pounds for two of them!" Marnie practically spat with rage.
Nine pounds is about $11.50 — a price that would probably not be out of place on these shores nowadays despite its absolute absurdity.
"The one that comes down my street, it's either one pound or two pounds," Marnie continued, before raging about the insult the ice cream man added to injury. "And he only does bloody card! Stood there with my cash! Bloody hell!," she ranted like Julia Roberts in "Erin Brockovich" except British and, you know, nine. "He ain't gonna get nowhere with that!"
Then, just to make sure the ice cream man knew EXACTLY who she was referencing, she bellowed over her shoulder, "Bet he can hear me!" She's got her eye on you, ice cream man. You've been warned!
The little girl's rant about the cost of ice cream has gone super viral because it's hilarious, but also very relatable.
Lambert's video was practically built to go viral — nothing is funnier than little kids so hoppin' mad about grown-up problems they're swearing like a sailor, after all. Even Stephen Colbert couldn't help but crack up at the kid — and be a bit scared of her, for that matter. "I have never been so intimidated by a little girl," he quipped after showing Lambert's video on his show.
But her rant is also, of course, wildly relatable. Especially given the revelation that a huge proportion of the "inflation" we've seen in recent years has been nothing more than good old-fashioned price-gouging, aka "greedflation" — especially here in the U.S. — we've all absolutely had it with the cost of things.
Marnie's instantly relatable outrage has made her and her sister a sensation in the U.K., not just on the internet but on national television.
On the U.K. morning talk show "This Morning," where Marnie and Mylah appeared along with their Aunt Karis, hosts Alison Hammond (who we Yanks may recognize from "The Great British Baking Show") and Dermot O'Leary complimented the girls for putting up a fight — and definitely shared their outrage about the absurd ice cream prices. "It's disgusting!" Hammond exclaimed while asking the girls about the incident.
And if their appearance on another British talk show, "Jeremy Vine," is any indication, the girls may have even found the issue that unites the respective poles of the British political spectrum, which is as deeply divided as the U.S.
The girls had the show's leftist commentator Yasmin Alibhai Brown and right-wing comedian Geoff Norcott on the same side of things. Both heaped praise on the twins and decried what their ice cream incident revealed about the absurd price hikes and corporate price-gouging worsening the economic crisis.
"People have noticed that they can creep the price up, and people will buy it," Norcutt said. "The cost of living crisis has kind of become, 'I can do whatever I like," agreed Brown. Both commended the girls for speaking out about the issue.
The girls even had the panel agreeing on who should be the country's next Prime Minister — the twins themselves. "A lot of people are calling for you to be the next Prime Minister," host Storm Huntley said. "Have you ever considered a career in politics?... Are you gonna be a consumer champion now, just righting wrongs all over the country?"
The girls answered with a resounding yes. And their first order of business once they reach the British Prime Minister's office at 10 Downing Street? "Change the prices" on ice creams, Marnie enthusiastically answered. Hey, it's a place to start!
John Sundholm is a news and entertainment writer who covers pop culture, social justice, and human interest topics.