Disclaimer: This post probably makes me sound like a bad person x2.
So I binged watched ‘The Good Place‘ over the weekend with my husband and despite the eerie similarity of characters between Chidi and my own Dork Husband…it’s still very, very good :).
^That was just about my exact reaction when I found out I was in love with Mr. Hippo.
(If you haven’t watched ‘The Good Place’ on Netflix, I strongly recommend it.)
The general premise is if you do good, you get to go to a good place; but that’s just the 1% of humans. Everyone else goes to the bad place filled with hot lava and pokey things.
The show has flashbacks of the characters doing good or bad. I had one such flashback myself. This totally hilarious show did make me question my moral point system on Earth…
OK, the main question is: Is it wrong to do another kid’s homework for money?
Most reflexes will go “duh yeah, of course, it’s wrong.” Now usually I’m guilt-ridden and depressive, calling myself a raindrop. But then I thought about it again and I’m like…”Nah, the end justified the mean.”
This one flashback here today, I want to defend myself properly. My favorite color has been gray since I was 13 years old because that’s typically the age when people start understanding how the world works. I love it when life is morally conflicted. It tickles my funny bone like nothing else.
You guys can be a judge and absolutely feel free to disagree with me.
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Table of Contents
My Motive
On my 8th grade “permanent record,” there’s probably a remark about how I did the homework of an idiot for a month or two…for money.
My family didn’t have much to give me money wise, I understand that completely. I would sooner see aliens than an allowance.
But I wanted to save up back then so I could own some VHS tapes of my favorite 90s movies and have my own set of Dahl books. I was particularly fond of ‘Matilda’ and ‘Fantastic Mr. Fox’, both by Dahl.
I was a good student. Not the brightest but I was responsible with my school homework. More importantly – I was an excellent forger.
My parents didn’t come home from work until late so I forged their signatures on every single school document without having to bother them. In my entire school career, they never knew they had to sign a thing.
That’s the small perk of having illiterate parents. It’s not hard to fake a parent signature – I’m pretty sure most kids have attempted to do it once or at least thought about it.
It was more of a moot point though. My parents couldn’t speak, read, or write in English. There was no point in giving them the paper forms. They don’t even know grammatically correct Chinese (a lot of poor Chinese don’t know so it’s not just my parents.)
When my school sends me home with various release forms, report cards, a thousand other things to sign – I signed them all myself. My parents never had to touch a single piece of paper in my entire school life and they never knew or asked.
One day…uhhh…….huh……..you know, I don’t even remember how this dude in my class and I struck this deal but we did…
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Let’s call him Dash!
I recall it started in 7th-grade Biology. Dash was one of the most annoying wannabe pre-teen gangsters in the school…granted a lot of adolescents are annoying at that age but he was especially annoying.
We knew each other because we were both in the ESL (English as a Second Language) program. ESL is a special program for children who did not firmly grasp English as a primary language. I had been on American soil for 2 and a half years when I was put into ESL.
I had a hard time understanding the assignments in English class…it was like they were talking in a strange foreign tongue 😉
Also, my vision was starting to go bad during that time and I had hearing issues in one ear that were both only detected as issues much later on.
I guess I came off pretty dumb…being very very shy, half deaf, half blind, and having elementary grade English skills.
I thought I was dumb too because I didn’t understand why I couldn’t see, hear, or learn like everyone else. Hearing and vision are physiological losses you don’t notice because it’s so progressive. Eventually, they figured out my history and I was shipped to the special class.
It puzzled me why Dash was in ESL though. He’s Chinese like me but he was born here and spoke English at home too.
He was very lazy with totally wrong school priorities. He was determined to fit in by sagging his pants as far as possible – to his calves – and trying to come off gangster to everyone else.
(Dash = Jianyu from The Good Place except Dash’s not adorable.)
He picked on me about my clothes and shoes. (…I am NOW just understanding the irony of a guy sagging his pants to his calves making fun of me for my clothes. What a world bawahaha!)
It bothered me at the time. No one likes to be ganged up on by other similar idiots for wearing ugly clothes and being poor. Who wants to be poor???
But that was 7th-grade politics and a good introduction to real life. I was an easy target. I didn’t even have American branded hand-me-downs at the time. They were leftover clothes brought over from China.
Did you guys ever have a pink knock-off “Snoopee” shirt? ‘Cause I had one! 😉
His family must have some spare cash around because his parents bought him a lot of pricey rapper clothes. Since he was the only son, and Chinese people love sons more than daughters, he was pretty spoiled. 50 Cent was a big rapper name at the time and, to this day, I’m convinced Dash lived in 50 Cent’s closet or something.
Dash’s grades sucked, he proposed in secret that I do his homework for money.
Morally, it wouldn’t have been the right thing to do.
But I’m not a moral person 🙂 many moralities are for those who can afford it (slippery slope, I know). I label myself as realistic.
By the time he mentioned money, I was in. Not even a whiff of conscience.
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Things Were Good…
We had about 5 classes together and 2 of those classes came with daily assignments that were easy to copy and paste. For every assignment I forged in his handwriting I was paid $2. It took me 2-3 minutes to copy my homework and make it into his handwriting so no one would be any wiser.
He applied very faint pressure in his handwriting and I copied that. He had a vague crookedness to the order of his math equations and I applied the same teetering format. No one could tell even if they tried.
For a while, things were good. No one suspected a thing. Every applicable class period, we would pass the homework up to the front as a table in groups. I just turned in Dash’s homework with mine. Dash was finally and consistently turning in “his” homework. Even his gang of “friends” wondered why he started doing his homework.
“You’re doing your homework now? Did you get into trouble with your mom?”
[Everyone laughs]
See, Dash thought he an authentic gangster reputation to keep up and that statement didn’t sit right so he announced to the whole table of his goons,
“Pff NO, I’m paying Xiao to do it. Right X?”
I sat adjacent on a large table of 6 and honestly…that should have been my lesson in not doing business with idiots. He just ratted both of us out, that dumbass.
Yup, that’s gangster material alright. One of the guys sitting at our desk, goes by Ricky, said to Dash, “Hmmm, isn’t that wrong?”
“What are you gonna do? You’re just mad no one is doing your homework.”
“I’m going to tell.”
“You’re not going to tell.”
“Yes I am, I’m going to tell the teacher.”
“No, you’re not.”
“Yes, I am.”
“No, you’re not.”
“Yes, I am.”
*End of class bell rings to free me from that stimulating conversation*
“Sooo, um, I think he’s gonna tell.” – I said back.
“No he’s not X, if he tells he’s getting jumped.”
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Plot Twist (Not Really)
I thought I understood middle school politics; I didn’t really believe Ricky would tattle! Not that Dash changeling him helped. I was not scared of a call home. We had a shared landline with a bunch of people in the rented house.
My parents aren’t home and they didn’t have any phone access at work. OH, and they didn’t speak English so I use to just translate whatever I wanted to them. Totally moot!
If I get detention, no one would know. Worst, I tell them I was at the library (which I would be anyway.)
The last thing, if they bring home a slip of note requiring a sign-off, I’ll forge a siggy like I do everything else already.
It turns out Ricky DID tattle. I was a bit surprised initially but later I pieced it together: EVERYBODY hates Dash.
Simple! It turns out, people, no matter what age, is capable of hating and plotting revenge on class bullies. He wasn’t just rude to me.
Nothing Happened!
You see, our original science teacher left in the middle of the school year for a better private school district where he gets better pay, better students, better support, and fewer dum-dums like Dash interrupting class every 3.25 minutes.
For a good portion of the school year, we had substitute teachers one after another who couldn’t care less while the school scrambled to find suitable applicants.
The last one managed to stay around for almost a year (before leaving for a better private school in a better district, like most teachers).
Ms. Woods was the one that got the tattle from Ricky. She was 23 and fresh out of college. She still had those college party girl highlights and wearing lip gloss that made her look 18.
“I heard from an anonymous tipster that you have been doing homework for Dash, for money…is that true?”
“Yes…”
“OK, well you know that’s not right, I can let you go this time but if this happens a second time, I will have to put this on your permanent record where colleges will see. Promise?”
“Promise!”
“OK, you can go back to your seat.”
Well, that was that. Nothing came of it. Anytime someone says permanent record = hahahhahhhaha.
It could be Ms. Woods being nice or she didn’t care or even more likely she didn’t have much authority as a substitute teacher. She didn’t do anything to Dash either. Since substitute teachers are temps, they don’t get the administrative rights as real teachers. They’re more or less…glorified babysitters.
No lesson learned! Dash went back to not doing his homework and went around asking to copy homework. I went back to being poor. Ricky didn’t get jumped or beat up (that I know of.)
I do recall Dash saying to Ricky right after class the next day, “You’re a rat.”
“No I didn’t, I swear, I didn’t.” Ricky said back. (Even though just yesterday he swore he would tell.)
“Yeah? Who else?”
“I don’t know Dash, could be anyone. I didn’t do it.”
Dash turns towards me, “What do you think X?”
“I don’t care.”
I actually saw Ricky talk to Ms. Woods after class so…well, yeah I’m pretty sure it was him but I didn’t care enough to rat out the rat. I made enough money to get what I wanted so I’m done anyway and it was a quick end. I don’t quite remember but I think I made about $200 🙂
Those dollars really did add up every class, every day! Wish I knew about investing back then.
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Is It Wrong?
Nah, not to me. I can see why it’s wrong, I’m not crazy. But there’s another side to it that makes it that beautiful gray that I like. Here are the big arguments of why it seems wrong.
1. Cheating IS bad! Dash didn’t deserve his grade.
That would be the biggest argument here. Dash was getting a grade he didn’t deserve. But just because he had the homework doesn’t mean he was going to ace any exams or state tests without breaking out his books. He wasn’t going to because of the aforementioned idiotic priorities.
Woods didn’t even bother reversing the assignments Dash turned in but didn’t do. Literally, 0 forks given, it was too much work for a fill in. No one cares, there are bigger problems…because…you know…it’s 7th grade. Nothing came from it.
She didn’t want to stay as a public school teacher in San Freaking Expensicisco anyway.
Dash’s slightly better 7th-grade biology grade wasn’t going to trick Harvard into accepting him.
In the end, Dash did deserve his grade because of measures like exams and classroom behavior that has no easy copy and paste genies.
Today 2018, he is still trying to pass community college at the ripe age of 27 with an ever-growing fascination with Tokyo drifting, sports cars, and bikini models…but will never finance anything more than a run down Honda…anyone know the type of Asian wannabe hoodrats I’m talking about?
At least his pants are pulled up now, kinda.
2. It was unfair to other children who did do their homework.
Nah, the kids who wanted to do their homework will have done their homework. That’s called personal responsibility. You can drop a kid into the best school but you can’t make them learn. I took no knowledge away from him because he wasn’t going to learn it. Especially if they’re determined to dress and act like a wankster. Easily influenced, easily fooled, simple-minded Dash.
It didn’t depend on Dash, or me, or anyone — and the class was not graded on a curve. I will always encourage learning but I’m not stuffing learning down the throats of those who don’t want to. Why bother? If Dash can’t possess the mentality to push him past maturity, then let the nature of the world do its thing.
3. I robbed Dash of opportunities to learn.
First, he begged me to help him & I got paid. Freedom of choice. Second, Dash is determined to be a gangster. His motivation was zilch except social pressure to prove his gangster-ness. If I said no because of conscience, he’d ask someone else or continue not doing his homework (or barely), and I remain empty-pocketed.
What’s the fun in that? I had a market price for a skill and now it’s middle school business.
His goal was to rid himself of knowledge he didn’t want to learn anyway. MY goal was expanding my precious collection of Dahl books and movies. Wouldn’t you say I had my rights and opportunities to learn too and especially if I can make them happen?
4. Ricky could have gotten hurt for tattling.
Ricky was no hero, I know him enough to understand revenge disguised as a martyr.
He had ZERO moral qualms about homework trust me.
He just hated Dash like everyone else. Dash made fun of Ricky for needing a tutor because it meant he was ‘proven stupid.’ It was a bullseye on Rick’s feelings of insecurity. If a kid has a tutor = they’re stupid is the middle school logic. Little Rick has been fired for revenge ever since and he can’t stand Dash getting a possibly better grade without the work either.
No one liked Dash, he was 4 foot 10 and chubby. His fake homeboys included 2 other guys who were (somehow) even dumber and fatter. They’re all talk…because…well they’re wanksters. If you took them to Bayview (the real ghetto) they would wet their pants crying for mommy.
5. Doing it for money is especially wrong. You should have offered him tutoring instead.
Um…tell me how the heck this world worked again? I had a service, he had a problem. Profit!
The tutoring makes sense but he didn’t want to learn, that was the point. I could use my spare time to reach out and make him understand math…or I can just let the guy who picked on his peers…rot.
Like Rick, I was waiting for a kind of revenge myself. We had more in common thanks to the unification of hating Dash.
The only downside that I was caught. I could have made some more money to save up. I certainly would have appreciated that money more than Dashy boy.
~
Readers, do you think it’s wrong to do another person’s work for money? Is cheating on homework always bad? Have you ever done something borderline expellable in school?
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Wow this is like a thriller movie! I couldn’t wait to find out what happened at the end. I’m glad you were ok. No one has ever offered to pay me to do homework for them. They probably thought I wasn’t qualified enough or something.
$200 sounds pretty good, especially when you take into account inflation. You were just a little kid when it happened, so don’t be too hard on yourself. Every kid needs a little pocket money. I used to sell my dad and grandpa’s beer cans and bottles for like 1 cent each and just saved up all the money. Tough time!
P.S. I have forged my parents’ signatures a couple of times, and no one knew *shh*
“I used to sell my dad and grandpa’s beer cans and bottles for like 1 cent each and just saved up all the money.”
Aww 🙁 Ms. FAF that’s so sad!! >_< World's difference from American children!!
So. It’s hard for me to read this without my teacher eyes. I will say that A LOT of issues like this could be and are made moot when teachers assign homework well ( you know, practice at a level that kids can actually do!). In the age of the internet when you can buy apps to solve math problems or download entire papers, I think it gets even murkier. Fun post!
Oh yes Penny! Spill your secrets!
Are substitute teachers allowed to assign different homework? That internet age was slightly before me but by the time I got into college, people were buying and sharing test answers online.
I think you could make essentially the same arguments for why selling illegal drugs is actually perfectly OK. Victims want the stuff, they are losers with little societal value with or without the drugs, you need the money, etc. Except nobody is a loser, everybody needs a hand up sometimes and participating in somebody’s slide downhill is always wrong. This isn’t some gray area conundrum, it’s just wrong. But it’s a tiny wrong. I’ve done bigger wrongs many many times, no judgement here, maybe that’s why I know it when I see it. Excellent post and you are impressive for what you’ve lived through and the trajectory of your life! Very thought provoking stuff.
Great point and I totally see that. I wonder if not doing homework is addictive like drugs are. Perhaps if I was not in a situation that needed money and I didn’t hate his guts x)
It is not like you initially made the offer to do his homework for money, he came to you. So that should lower the badness factor some.
It definitely is a moral dilemma. Interesting to imagine what if scenarios. If you didn’t do his homework and he got held back would they have motivated him to study or would he drop out first chance he got?
You saw an entrepreneurial opportunity and took advantage of it. Glad you got away with it without marks on your record. In the end there were a lot worse things you could have done.
Ooooh good prose! He parents wouldn’t have let him fail. He grazed everything past Ds and Cs. I wonder if there’s such a thing as perm records. I looked it up once and I don’t think it’s real or have much weight.
That’s a good story 🙂 I like how you deep dive into all the reasons why it wasn’t wrong of you to do his homework. This could be turned into a short film with the way you wrote it lol
Haha thanks ^_^
Haha I loved this story. I agree with you. I would have done the same thing. Of course, I may have been the one to ask you. I learned a few new words here like wangster and San Freaking Expensicisco . Poor kid – you should send him your post. I felt sorry for him lol.
I hope he reads this someday but my blog is anon to my Facebook for my comfort x)
i used to get paid for assignments too. i would write early computer code 5 different ways for the baseball players and cheerleaders for 5 bucks each. i had to dumb ’em down a little. my best friend’s brother was a heavy equipment operator in his teens and i wrote a term paper for him so he could graduate. he went on to stay an equipment operator. good story, especially about if those snots went to the real hood they would wet their pants.
Hahaha “snots” is a very good descriptor!
It might be the Hong Kong Hustler in me, but I’d say right on for your hustle at that age. Street smarts ftw. ? It’s the stuff kids do, like when we and my bro were selling sweets and converting old bike frames into fixed gears. (Just don’t ask why we allowed to wield oxyacetylene torches at 13-15)
Everyone presses an advantage somehow. The more competitive the world gets, it would stupid not to right? Some use their street smarts, some their connections, some their money, some have the right family support.
All in all. We stand on the shoulders of giants.
“We stand on the shoulders of giants.”
That’s one of my favorite phrases ^_^
I just found out what an oxyacetylene torch is….I googled it, it looks like a badass version of the flame torch thingy they use to sear sushi at sushi bars LOL!
I’m just impressed you are that good of a forger! I definitely don’t have those skills, but then again I don’t have the practice either ? The idea that you both wouldn’t get in MAJOR trouble is mind boggling to me because that is not how it would have been treated at my school, I doubt even with a substitute.
I actually had quite a few people asking me to do their homework, but I never did it for them, paid or no, but I did offer to sit with them and go through it with them, which most often they agreed to. I was never smart enough to require a tutoring fee though!
I’m surprised too, I was surprised back then! Did you go to public school? I always chalked it up that it was public school and no one cared as much.
Ah, you’re a person person than me Angela 🙂 for sure
So I edited student papers for a while as a side gig (way better than tutoring) mostly international students whose English wasn’t great. I wound up feeling quite conflicted because a lot needed quite a bit of work to polish up and be readable just in terms of basic spelling and grammar (not content) and I would think, am I helping them deceive the markers by giving them a false impression of their writing chops?
I think you were helping, no? Because they can choose to review your edits and learn OR just turn it in. Interesting story!
I loved reading this! You bring up such a touchy topic for some.
As for me, I was similar to you. I actually supplied over half of my jr. high class with test answers. The difference is I didn’t make a dime. I thought I was being altruistic for helping my fellow classmates. Anyhow, the cheating was out of hand for awhile. That is until some students that were 100% honest got upset and ratted out the class in general. The teacher changed the test on the fly and a chunk of my friends got busted that day. I, on the other hand, recognized the difference and scored a 100% on the modified test. So, I didn’t get busted then, but I did eventually get busted in chemistry 3 years later! Of course, I only got a slap on the wrist and went back to cheating all over again.
Now that I have children and am married to a high school teacher, my perspective has changed a bit. I realize that cheating teaches some important points about creativity, but it can also be detrimental if you truly want to learn a subject. So, my point is that balance is the key regardless of your moral stance.
Thanks for the entertaining story and have a great 4th!
“I realize that cheating teaches some important points about creativity, but it can also be detrimental if you truly want to learn a subject.”
Ooh good point! If you knew you COULD cheat beforehand, there’s less motivation to learn.
Love love love your tale Michael!!! I think my AP Physics class had a someone who emailed out all the test answers to the rest of the periods. When the teacher found out he made us take tests in different rooms in groups.
OMGOSH is that photo u? If that’s stock photo then there’s a lot of similarities hehe
I still remember typing up homework for a classmate in grade 6 because she was so “AMAZED” @ how fast I typed back then. #90sKids which would be laughable today of course. I think she paid me $3 and when I went home to tell my Dad he bragged to my relatives and they told him to stop re-enforcing this unethical behavior LOL
LOL! Whaaaaaaat hahahaah that’s the most ridiculous story. Damn $3?! I was short changed!
This made me laugh out loud and I especially loved it because of The Good Place inspiration. Such a good show!
I’m not sure I can completely get on board with it being ok to cheat on homework but it’s a minor crime and I get your motives. There’s a pretty good chance I would have done the same thing when I was in junior high. Money for new CD’s and candy was vital.
“Money for new CD’s and candy was vital.”
Hahhahah absolutely!! Thanks for making me laugh too Sarah!
And now, with this glorious blog post, a permanent record of your misdeeds will truly stand the test of time!
Do you think they will….revoke my middle school diploma and how much should I care? Baawahahahaha
I liked The Good Place too. It’s pretty funny and the plot twist at the end of season 1 was great.
I don’t think it’s a big deal to cheat on homework. I let some of my friends copy my homework too. You reap what you sow. If you don’t do homework, you won’t do well on the test.
Yes the twist!! Michael’s laugh when Elenor solved it….it gives me nightmares!!! Scary scary laugh!
OMG, this is such a fun read. And your story-telling ability is compelling AF. Can I use my Hollywood connections and adapt this into a screen play and send it over to Justin Lin to make a movie out of it? I want to call it “Better Luck Tomorrow: The Middle School Days” or maybe… “Better Lily Tomorrow”. But this move has a much better (and happier ending) than the original because the protagonist becomes the millionaire next door!!!
This post also took me back to the middle school days and the petty politics that were involved. The cool “O.G.” kids sit at one specific table. The gothics at another. The jocks, band geeks, and the list of cliques go on. The one thing that schools need to improve is “bullying”. It’s sad that it even exists. And as a new parent, it can be kind of scary.
On a personal note, I was asked a few times by fellow classmates to do their homework. But I refused. I never grew up poor, so I never needed the money. If I did grow up poor, perhaps it would have changed my thought process. I would never know. Luckily I was able to be smart enough and popular enough to avoid bullies/gangsters/wanksters/hoodrats.
P.S. Btw, why did people think sagging their pants looks fashionable and cool? It looked ridiculous to me back then, and it looks even stupider now. And I’m surprised you keep touch with Dash. Sounds like a total loser. Probably spends all of his time at Hot Import Nights trying to hit up the import models. I’m surprised Dash didn’t try to hit on Ms. Woods (she sounds like a total hottie, j/k ;)).
P.P.S. Good luck with all of your masters programs applications. And happy birthday!!!
“Better Lily Tomorrow” Omgggg, if you pitch it you’re gonna be sooooooo rich. So rich. Stupid girl falls into another dimension, comes out somehow OK in life!!! Justin!!!!!!! Notice me senpai! LOL.
Oh I don’t keep in touch with Dash. I remember last year I login into Facebook because my friend left me a message and FB emailed me saying I had a message – then he was on the timeline and I was like ooooooooh yeah, what’s this guy doing??
*womp womp*
“Well….that makes sense.” -Me
Lolololol!!
Oh man, what a tale! Sure, sure I don’t think it’s right that you helped Dash cheat, but I think any sense of accusation I feel right now is overridden by how impressed I am at your business savvy at such a young age! That’s a kid who’s going to learn how to make it in the real world, you know?
I never really had the chance to share notes in middle school, because I was a homeschooled jungle freak. But I loved the rush of maybe getting caught by living it vicariously through you!
I wondered why Dash had money and I didn’t and I thought it was unfair – that was a goooood dose of life’s best medicine.
You were homeschooled?!? Did you like it? Have you a post on it?!?!? I wanna read!
I was! Yep, from the 3rd grade on through graduation. And I LOVED it. It allowed me to pursue topics I was passionate about, have a flexible schedule, learn how to self-motivate and actually have time to see my family (I was a professional ballet dancer and started training alootttttt at a young age and my parents felt they never got to see me! haha). There were a lot of reasons my parents decided it was best for me, and I’m so grateful they did. I recognize that it’s not for everyone, but it worked for our situation.
Wow, it seems kinda wild talking about it now … I haven’t ever written about it, but I guess I should! I’ll add it to the list 🙂
The whole point of school is learning, and it’s clear that by paying you to do the homework Dash wasn’t learning. You learned a different lesson — how to bend the rules for profit!
I’m not judging (I’ve probably done worse), but I’m not sure that’s a good lesson to learn.
In this case it all worked out OK, and didn’t hurt anyone but that idiot Dash. That’s not always the case. Most of the time we have laws and rules to protect people from getting hurt from the world’s bullies — the ones that will absolutely ruin lives for a little money. Generally rule of law is a pretty good thing.
And what if you had been expelled? Some schools take cheating very seriously and a highly doubt your parents would have liked paying for private school.
Great story Lily!
Oooh that’s a scary thought! My mom would have understood because we were poor and she can see why a kid needs pocket change, but nope, definitely not a private school.
“Generally rule of law is a pretty good thing.”
Hah definitely agree there. If it was more serious of an issue (like the SAT) I wouldn’t! Now that’s expulsion!
It is unethical to do someone else’s homework. As a former math tutor, cheating on the homework is wrong. Most of the time, homework and test grades have a strong positive correlation. Some teachers check the actual work on both the homework and tests. If teachers were to find out that a student did well on the homework but didn’t do well on the test, then teachers will be suspicious. Especially when students get an easy A by cheating and moving up to a higher level math, they don’t have the foundation to take on more challenging problems and they will be struggling later on, just like Dash.
However, in terms of the business, as long as you’re not a student at Dash’s school and doing his homework, I think it’s completely legal and you won’t get into trouble. You just have to keep a low profile to yourself when doing these things to make money.