⁤In a viral Reddit post, one user asked, "What's your experience with ultra-rich people that shocked you?" ⁤⁤It quickly amassed over 2,000 replies, with stories about everything from bizarre requests to jaw-dropping extravagance, and they reveal the striking contrasts between "regular" people and those who can afford virtually everything they want. ⁤⁤The firsthand accounts offer a rare glimpse into the world of the rich that most can only imagine.

#1

Waiting to check out of a five-star hotel. The guy in front asked the Receptionist to order a car to take him to the airport.

Receptionist: “Of course, what time’s your flight?”

Guy: “Whenever I arrive”.

Image credits: Ribbitor123

#2

A friend in college was from Japan. His father owned a plastics company and was crazy rich. One day he asked to borrow $1000 until his allowance came. I said I didn't have $1000. And he was like, "I don't mean cash, you can write me a check." And I said, no, I literally didn't have $1000. He was dumbfounded.

Image credits: p38-lightning

#3

The richest person I met, worth billions, refused to pay $5 for a Diet Coke, argued it, and drove a 20 year old regular car.

Image credits: Peace-wolf

#4

Threw a €800 kids Dior jacket in the kitchen bin because it got wet…in the rain…it’s a rain jacket.

Image credits: bibijoe

#5

Boss I worked for. Filthy rich, but wears the same old clothes all the time. 
His wife wouldn't spend money on a new bikini at the hotel shop in the hotel they own, because she has one.


Plainest, nicest people. Also loaded.

Image credits: Party_Rooster7303

#6

A local family with generational wealth and smart business minds grew their businesses to become multi billionaires. But they'd still stop at the chain of corner stores they owned to get coffee and snacks.

I went there for coffee after they switched from very bad coffee to very good coffee, and there was the patriarch of the family getting his coffee at the coffee bar. I introduced myself, shook his hand, and congratulated him on the massive improvement in his stores' coffee. I asked him what was behind the change after decades of selling the same less-then-average coffee.

"My brother and I were stopped for coffee one day," he said, " and he took a big gulp and he looked at me and he says, 'Tell me again why we sell such s****y coffee.'" LOL!

Image credits: RabidFisherman3411

#7

I work at a private high school, and every year each class starts with an overnight class retreat. One year, we couldn't find a location that would take the junior class, so one of the parents just casually BOUGHT A SUMMER CAMP, and the junior class had their retreat there.

Image credits: Violet_Lynnn

#8

Told a customer (I clean for a living) they were out of paper towels. She then asked me “where would I get more? My personal shopper is on maternity leave and her replacement has not come yet…” as she stared off in the distance, afraid of the horrors of the grocery store.

Image credits: gogogadgetdumbass

#9

I worked with a guy for 20 years who was worth $400 million when he died in 2008. We did a lot of deals with other multi multi millionaires. What amazed me was with some not all was their absolute love of accumulating wealth. They loved their assets more than they loved their children. I remember one day when I walked into his office and he was crying. I asked what was wrong, what happened??? His answer was”interest rates had risen”.

Image credits: Unfair_Pop_8373

#10

She forgot she had bought a Birkin bag that was out of stock at the time and was surprised when they finally shipped it to her.

Image credits: forgetful-giraffe

#11

He was bewildered that people work hard to improve their lot in life - that people study, take a second job, move jobs for better pay, try to accrue a pension, that kind of thing.


The idea that people's salary is all the money they had, was alien to him.

Image credits: GatewaytoGhenna

#12

I used to be a big-time Jeep 4x4 off-road guy. I made friends with one of the guys behind the counter of a local 4x4 store. We'd occasionally go out for beers or dinner and got to be pretty close. I knew he had a degree in mechanical engineering, but he never spoke much about himself or his family. One day, he called me up and asked me if I was interested in going to watch a big GT Daytona 24 Type car race in PHX. I laughed and said I'd love to, but I can't afford that s**t. His response was, "my Dad will swing by Denver and pick us up in his jet, and then we'll fly onto the race. He's fielding a new Daytona Prototype car. I'll cover everything". It was an awesome trip I'll never forget. Turns out his family was/is ridiculously wealthy. The next race we went to was THE 24 hours of Daytona. Both races were in Luxury boxes. Unlimited food and booze. Pit passes.

Image credits: Lactoria-Fornasini

#13

A friend of mine is on the flight crew for a billionaire as a maintenance tech.

His job is to just go wherever, whenever these people want and stay for as long as they require. He’s paid very well, stays in nice accommodation etc, but the owners of the aircraft simply don’t even think about the expenses.

The owners might be staying in a given location for a few months, so the flight crew will travel around the world picking up and dropping off their friends and other billionaires. Today could be China, tomorrow Los Angeles, the next day Sydney. They have to stock the plane with exclusive liquors, foods, etc and some places they have to find narcotics, it’s just a wild scene with not a single consideration of the bill.

Image credits: TheBimpo

#14

This Saudi girl I met at uni was super chill, really cool and down to earth and grounded, always dressed very low key in oversized hoodies and didn’t really wear any notable jewelry. Anyway, she told me that she didn’t live on campus because her mum had bought a place nearby as both her and her sister were going to the same uni. So like a bit weird but okay! Then she invited me to a party at her place that her mum was throwing and when I got there my jaw dropped to the floor. Turns out her mum had bought an entire estate complete with huge grounds, there were marquees set up in the garden set up as cocktail bars and shisha spaces, incredible mixologists and countless wait staff serving around the most amazing canapés. Ivana Trump was there. I was like WHAT THE F**K?! And she just looked at me like it was all nothing. Crazy. Went to many more parties she threw - the best one being a casino night where they essentially built a casino inside a marquee in their garden with all the games you’d expect and proper dealers and all. Blew my mind how insanely rich they were and you’d never guess from just seeing them out and about, and they were the nicest, sweetest most down to earth family (not that rich people can’t be nice but obviously that’s the stereotype!).

Image credits: redpandabear89

#15

Two things come to mind that I haven’t seen mentioned:

1. The amount of people who absolutely kiss their a*s, even family, hoping to get a cut of their fortune. It’s almost like they have a level of worship or mystique in other people’s mind that is really gross to witness upfront. 

2. It’s almost easy for them to find new ways to make money. Example: a $20M property development that falls apart and the bank needs someone to step in and complete it. Bank wants $15M for it, they negotiate $10M. Put in $2m to complete it and it’s worth $20M. So it cost them $12M to make $20M so they manage to net $8M just by being someone who can get it done. Negligible to their overall worth but to the average person, they could do that once and never have to work a day again in their life. .

Image credits: Working_On_Quitting

#16

A buddy of mine, who has since passed away from cancer, while going through treatment was working at a bike shop. One of the customers was/still is a Wall Street guy who is a billionaire several times over. My buddy mentioned to the rich guy that he got denied getting into a cancer treatment trial at UNC. The rich guy said “ hmm, somebody should do something about that”

And 2 days later, my buddy got a call and they told that “due to recent events” he is in the trial.

I always thought that was cool.

Image credits: NCfartstorm

#17

Maybe not ultra rich, just regular rich, but my friend works for a private company where the board of directors had to be all original family members so one of the adult executives got legally adopted by one of the members so that they could be on the board.

Image credits: jorgentwo

#18

The scene about “how much can a banana cost? 10 dollars?” from Arrested Development is true. My wife worked for this large family owned coffee empire and her boss, the daughter, carrying the name of the company was told that her parking in the underground garage was pretty expensive. She said “honestly, how expensive can it be to park the car for a day? A couple of hundred?”. I recognised the meme, so I showed the scene from AD and she couldn’t stop laughing. But yes, she wasn’t ultra - just normal rich.

Image credits: jaysire

#19

Met a guy who was a tiler. I enquired how much he’d charge to do my bathroom floor.

He showed me a magazine he had in his pocket and said he just finished tiling this house, owned by James Packer. It had taken him 3 or 4 years to complete the job and he had spent over $10 million dollars just in materials.

He told me he didn’t look for work and he didn’t do quotes, and he was booked out for the next 10 years with jobs.

Image credits: Impossible-Reason987

#20

Not sure if he is considered “ultra” rich but it was definitely a different bracket than mine. I used to work in a restaurant and there was an older gentleman who would come in maybe once or twice a month and he ALWAYS knew someone at two or three tables. He’d come up to the host stand and make it known that he’d be paying for all their bills. Every time. It was the one and only time I’ve ever handled a black Amex. Those things are THICK. He was very nice and always left a humongous tip for whoever was serving the tables.

Image credits: yagirlskinnypenis

#21

Guy built a house on a lake and wanted a big giant boat house/dock. Was told no because of the piles that would need to be drilled into the lake which would disturb the environment. So he did it anyway and paid the $50,000 fine for an un permitted building but it couldn’t be taken down because that would disturb the environment again.

Image credits: Cleets11

#22

They don't spend money on or care about stupid s**t.

A landlord friend of mine owns a yacht that's crewed all year round. His net worth in assets is £60m. He drives a 15 year old range rover and dresses like a tramp.

Another rich person who I know (director of a large building services company) has a house that most people in the UK would call a mansion, yet every TV is old plasmas. Admittedly, he drives an Aston Martin, but it's 10 years old. His phone is some cheap c**p he bought off Amazon after searching for "phone".

I remember having a conversation with him stating that if he got a flagship Samsung, he could install all the latest apps and stay in contact with his friends and family.

His reply "You say that like it's a benefit".

me: "It also has a 2 day battery life"

Him: "Mine lasts a week".

Image credits: -Blue_Bull-

#23

Sat next to a billionaire on a flight, and they were still using their phone from 2015. Guess they don’t care about upgrades!

Image credits: Tastycake_091

#24

I was invited to play the North course of the Los Angeles Country Club--an epic track that is very difficult to get on, especially for a lowly winemaker. But I sold the GM some wine and he invited me out, so I got there at 6:45 am for an 8 am tee time--clubhouse is supposed to open at 7.

But as I pulled up, a guy came down in an LACC windbreaker, took my clubs and asked if I wanted a cup of coffee.

After we were all set up and chilling in the locker room, I asked him:

"I'm not sure how it works here, my good man. Are you able to receive cash tips? (Some clubs don't allow.)"

"Oh I don't work here," he laughed. "I'm a member."

Later I saw him leaving in a Lambo--dude could have bought and sold me 1000x over, but still showed amazing hospitality to a visitor to his club.

Image credits: investinlove

#25

Depression. I met various people from extremely wealthy backgrounds (international elite), I met by working at a tech startup founded by one of them. They were largely the children of billionaires.  


 A couple of them (both younger men) are so listless, flip flopping between things, not really committing and bummed out about life. 


The start up was half arsed, the CEOs dad bankrolled it and stopped turning up after a while because he got sick of it.  I think they have too much choice. Meanwhile I'm too busy with work and trying to pay my mortgage to be bummed out.

Image credits: ClayDenton

#26

Very insecure. I used to write about them, these billionaires & their projects & they were more concerned about what I said about them personally than anything. Their feelings would get hurt.

Image credits: 10WithTom

#27

That they are just as (internally) messed up as the rest of us ?

Although that didn't shock me, really. I suppose aspects of their (sheltered) ignorance could be quite surprising at times.

Image credits: Curious0ddity

#28

A couple I know had a 80’ sport fishing boat and kept it in a boat basin near the ocean. There wasn’t a parking space for them, as they were all deeded to the waterfront condo owners. They bought a condo to get a parking space.

Image credits: calypsodweller

#29

The traders on Wall Street are, surprisingly, mostly decent people. There are some scumbags, but they're maybe 10-15% at worst. Don't get me wrong; these guys are type-A, competitive capitalists, and so I have ideological disagreements with them, but they're mostly decent human beings, and they often are fairly humble because they know that luck could have turned any other way.

The ones in Silicon Valley are psychopaths, sex pests, and often secret (or not to secret) fascists. They're not programmers or real technologists themselves, for the most part; they moved into the field because they learned there were a lot of highly productive people with autism to take advantage of... so they're, I suppose, what you'd expect.

So yeah, the ones in a rather ugly industry (finance) are mostly normal, decent people who know their work doesn't help the world much, but who do not go out of their way to harm it; the ones out west who are "changing the world" are depraved sickos.

Image credits: michaelochurch

#30

I once broke like $15,000 worth of marble because a piece wasn't installed correctly. I was a pool tech in Florida working on 'millionaire pools' basically people who lived too far away or their pools were too large for regular pool companies. It encompassed everything from driving 3 hours to clean a pool or flip a switch to actual tech stuff and troubleshooting leaks or doing repairs on fun pools built very oddly to say the least.

Anyways I'm just walking along the edge of the pool A which is an Infinity style pool that shared an edge and 20' drop with pool B. I was standing where I was supposed too, the marble feature I was standing on wasn't secured when installed and began to slide under my feet. The pool being very elevated left me in a weird spot, I jumped over the wall and to the side about a 10' drop and I cleared the base of a marble staircase. The 8' curved slab of marble wobbled back over the edge and took out 3 marble steps and some of the sandstone floor.

Guy comes outside yelling and says 'tell me you weren't standing on that' me: 'I was standing on that' and you watched all the anger leave his face. The money and damage meant nothing to him, likely an insured inconvenience. He thought I'd lie to him and he'd have some justification for the anger. Instead he goes inside, comes back out like 5 minutes later while I'm on the phone with my boss with a tablet and tells me I was like Spiderman as he shows me leaping over staircase, and me standing where I should be able to stand and the marble wobbling under me. We investigate the ledge, lo and behold none of the adhesive made contact with the slab. It had just been existing there due to gravity and pressure of other slabs. I handed him my phone with boss, his insurance ended up covering it and he was able to sue the company that installed it... but watching all the anger leave his face left taught me a cool lesson.

Image credits: moocow4125

#31

D**g use in rich, posher, private schools was much higher than state comprehensives I'm used to.

#32

20 years ago. A casual friend asked me to be his +1 to a destination wedding. He is gay but was told he needed to bring a female. We were friendly but I didn’t know much about him, other than he was cool people and when we all went out in our friend group, he always looked amazing. I was like, ok how much? “No worries, I got it”. Turns out it was one of those many-day long Indian weddings. In India. He flew us there on his family’s private plane, we stayed in separate suites at a gorgeous hotel. All kinds of wealthy and famous people were there. I think my jaw was on the floor the entire trip. I received a “gift bag” with like $20k worth of jewelry, local luxury goods, and tech devices. He offered me his bag bc he didn’t need a macbook..?! Hell yeah.

I never thought I would enjoy a big a*s wedding like that but I also never thought I’d get to see so many famous people up close either. Hands down incredible. .

#33

This story was passed to me by the normie, he wants it told to everyone.

Normie gets a call from rich friend, Richie. He got tickets to the auto show in town and hasn't seen his friend Normie in a while, so hey lets go!

A few hours into the show, Richie wants to sit in the new whatever the big expensive thing is. The attendant tells him he needs a key fob from the manufacturer to prove he already owns something from the manufacturer, and isn't just some goofball.

Turns out Richie drove his daily driver and doesn't have the key fob he needs.

So they leave the auto show, go to the dealership, and he buys one. Tells the sales guy he wants "that one over there, in green. Give me the key fob and have the green car delivered to my address." They set all the details up, give him a final price including delivery, and he just calls the bank and has them hire a courier service to run a check down to the dealership.

They go back to the car show. The attendant recognizes him and immediately tells him no, without a key fob you still can't sit in the car. So he hands him the key fob and explains he really likes the new look and wants to sit in the car on display, so he got a new car and will this fob work?

Attendant cracked and showed his surprise. Ran the code on the key fob and saw the car was in his name and had to let him sit in it.

All so he could get behind the wheel of a new model car and see how the seat felt.

#34

I worked with a billionaire (5 PJs, Helicopters everywhere, yacht with a helicopter on the back). The thing I found striking was how they handle money. They just borrow and borrow. They never sell assets. Just borrow against them. They also "sell debt" and do "debt financing". All kinds of weird shell games. I was around when he was getting ready to buy a basketball team and it was all he was talking about for a while.

#35

Had large private beach front “cottage”. Along this strip there was one very small public beach that was looking to improve the parking lot.
He felt this would diminish his enjoyment of his private beach so he hired a lawyer to ask for environmental assessments of the project, delaying it for years.
He had a private beach and wanted to deprive others of going to a public beach. Disgusting.

#36

They paid for their kids school football teams kit every year when the kids went to that school.

#37

My wife and I bought a nice house in a middle/slightly upper middle class neighborhood. Not many European cars, parents didn’t send their kids to private schools. Everyone was doing fine, but seemingly not rich.

One day, a neighbors kid (age 6) passed out. Went to the hospital and within a few days was diagnosed with brain cancer of a type that was pretty much a death sentence. He was given 6 months to live.

A week later there was the previously scheduled block party and Frank (single guy, mid 60s, quiet neighbor 6 houses down) shows up and overhears people talking about the neighbor kid with cancer.

He asked me if I had the parents phone number, which I did and gave it to him.

The next day Frank had flown the entire family on his private jet across the country to a research center in California to meet with his best friend / former college roommate who happened to be conducting cutting edge immunotherapy research (basically reprogramming your body’s cells to fight specific strains of cancer).

As it turns out, Frank, the quiet guy living down the street who drove a 7 year old Toyota Camry was worth $750M (he started a company in the 90s that was bought by Oracle in the early 2000s and made him ultra rich).

Fast forward 5 months. Frank had paid for the entire family to move to CA for treatment which cost him just over $2.2M out of pocket. The kid was in remission after some next level, Star Trek crazy medical treatment. For a family he didn’t even know. Amazingly enough that wasn’t the extent of it…

Come to find out, we all learned Frank was sponsoring orphans in the system in our state and paying for college or trade school educations for every single orphan in the system in the state and had been for 20 years. He had sent more than 1,500 orphans to college or a trade school of their choice, spending $230M to do so.

The quiet dude down the street driving an old Toyota. He died 2 years ago. Left all his money to his foundation to continue to send state orphans to college.

The world would a significantly better place if only a fraction of the world’s ultra wealthy followed his example.

#38

I was in a drive through for a coffee shop and there was a Ferrari 458 in front of me. Really cool car and not something I get to see often so I was enjoying getting a close look. The driver goes to pull around to the window after ordering and drags the side of the car against the yellow bollard. Crunches the door pretty hard. I audibly yelled. The driver gets out and is understandably freaking out, looking at the car, the bollard, hoping some magic would happen to undue what had been done. Then the passenger gets out and he's laughing. What an a*****e to be laughing at his distraught friend who had just smashed up their expensive car. It soon became clear that the passenger was the owner and the driver was their friend who had just crunched the car. The owner was calming their friend down explaining it was no big deal he'd just get the car fixed and not to worry about it.

#39

I think the word 'ultra' isn't necessary in my case, but I've met someone who was more-than-rich but not wealthy, or at least I guess.

I said that before here. He, as a kid, had no concept of value of anything. He got some pocket money weekly, and it was higher than mid monthly salary here(that's much I remember, but he basically asked and got money anytime he wanted). He wanted a car while being very, very young (around 13 I think). You can't have a licence here until 18, so a seemingly pointless purchase. Parents bought him a new car anyway... a NEW one, not some second hand thingy, so he could learn how to drive. He didn't understand how people could live in an apartment, it was simply beyond him. He even said something along the line 'why people just don't build houses when they can't afford to buy a built one?'
He went to some artsy high-school (honestly, that school was a joke), he was studying there a 'public speaking' whatnot. Later he was giving financial advice and public speeches how to save money. Basically 'You can save over half of your salary if you just go somewhere for vacation only once per a year.' or even better 'Don't be afraid to invest some small amount...' after which he proceeded to mention an exorbitant amount. Boy was still delusional in his 30s. I have no info about him now.

#40

I work in Luxury Hotels in major cities and vacation destinations; few things that surprised me

People with money are just as unsatisfied with life as anyone.

One guest I had was staying in a literal $8000 per night suite. This was a grown a*s woman mind you. Her in-room phone wasn't working. When she came down to the front desk she actually had a mental breakdown and started crying because she wasn't able to "contact anyone" and "she didn't know if the world was ending". This was in 2017.

I had a couple ask me to tell their son "No" because he wouldn't listen to them. They said he needed a "strong disciplined voice" . They are literally his parents and could not work up the nerve to say no to their own son.

One mother blamed the hotel and threatened to sue us because she had spent thousands of dollars on therapy for her daughter's anxiety issues. We told them they had to wait 45 minutes as they did not make a reservation at the hotel restaurant. (Since these are five star destinations even the restaurants have their own following). Her daughter started crying and had an "anxiety attack" because she had to wait to eat. I kid you not her daughter was 5 years old. 5 FIVE YEARS OLD. Lady 5 years are supposed to cry when they don't get their way, their 5. Also who spends thousands of dollars on a 5 year olds anxiety issues? What!??!

Billionaires are actually some of the coolest guests I've had. They have this alien like attention where if you are engaged in a conversation with them, you get their entire attention. They don't look at anyone else and maintain eye contact in every conversation I've had with them. It's almost scary, but I feel it may be a release for them as they always have vultures surrounding them trying to get a convo in or a favor.
Except P. Diddy he was really into his phone.

The people that treat us the worse aren't celebrities, it's the assistants and Hollywood Agents that are the real scum of the earth. These people are vile and are the closest things I've met to demons. I'm assuming this is because celebrities have a public image to uphold, so they give it all to their assistants who then pass it to us. Most of them act like the stories you've heard of James Corden.

There are soon many rich people. Way more than you think. The top 1% of America is 3.5 million people. The top 1% of the world is 70 million.

#41

At a friends house for a week-end. They didnt know how to use a dishwasher.

#42

I used to date the niece of the retired CEO of Aramark. I saw him park at the front door of the Borgata Casino and they just put cones around his car. I then saw him playing poker with $400k on the table.

#43

Weekly or biweekly international visits like commuting from office to home.

#44

I imagined that most their children would have more choices. But most seemed to lack real confidence, because their parents didn't allow for them to really learn independence. And specifically with the ultra rich, that the parents aren't the basis of that wealth, but rather previous generations.

especially with teenagers have a lot of access to activities that they can't handle. D***s, alcohol, parties, gross exploitation of workers, etc. Also just not having a relationship with the parents or family.

a lot of behavioral restrictions. who is acceptable to be around, what is acceptable to say, study, work...

#45

They don't realize how rich they are.

#46

Their kid's birthday parties are outta this world.

#47

That they're usually pretty nice. Back in the 90s I delivered pizzas in a pretty exclusive area. This was one of the towns that some of the pro athletes lived in. Then various business owners, CEO's, etc.

Anyway, most of the people were really nice. One guy and his wife were concerned that I didn't have an investment plan started. I mean this in a good way. Like they were worried about my future. There were other similar gestures from others that were also well meaning.

Now, their kids could be a******s sometimes. The people who actually earned the money though? More often than not they were solid people.

#48

I know a very rich guy who owns multiple well known car dealerships. The finance company they use has a contest for all the finance managers for the one who writes the most finance deals and gets an all expense paid vacation to Hawaii.

My buddy won the contest, called his wife and said where going to Hawaii! The dealership owner comes into his office and said he and his wife are taking the vacation he just won.

Vacation time comes and at the airport on the day of departure the owner’s wife breaks her ankle. Vacation canceled! Karma!

My buddy quits shortly after and the owner pleads for him to stay because he’s a top producer and can’t find anyone else as good as him. Now he’s making more money and winning all the contests at the new dealership that who is also a major competitor of the Dealership he recently quit. Karma again!

#49

In college I worked at a small, municipal airport in the middle of East Texas. Most of the traffic we had was old guys who flew for hobby and just a few private / corporate jets a week.

There was a group of guys that would fly in from Dallas every few weeks on their own jet just to play a round of golf at a nearby course for a day trip. They always had a Cadillac Escalade waiting for them. They would each tip me a $50 bill for putting their golf clubs and yeti coolers on to my golf cart and driving them 50 yards to their Escalade waiting for them. Every time they flew in it was a guaranteed $200 in my pocket, which was awesome for a broke 20 year old college student. Even now, I can’t fathom having that kind of money to hop on a private jet for a quick round of golf and tipping for such small tasks. Hope those guys are doing well, they were always a pleasure to be around regardless of their generous tipping.

#50

Not shocking, but how ordinary they are in behavior. I helped with some fundraising events and got to meet and observe quite a few wealthy people including billionaires. What surprised me was how average and or ordinary they looked and acted. Just like all of us. Nothing like the egotistical billionaires we see in the news. Nobody pretentious or snotty either. Just regular people, and if you didn't know, you'd never guess they were ultra-wealthy or powerful. A few were even pretty fun to chat with.

#51

I knew a guy from a crazy wealthy family. He and a girlfriend (not even a super serious girlfriend) took a weekend trip to San Diego (this was from LA - so not a crazy trip). They flew down in his family's jet. While there, instead of renting a car, he bought a brand new Porsche 911. When they drove back, he decided he didn't love the color, and gave her the car. Bought another one for himself.

#52

My brother told me I was poor because I got into the wrong profession. Í was a teacher.

#53

Worked for a concierge that catered to their needs.

The one I remember the most is a guy who had a daughter that loved penguins so he asked us to go to antartica and pick up several Empire Penguins for her birthday party. He was aware that he'd have to create an antartic environment for them in one section of the party.

Not sure it was even legal, but my company was willing to do it anyway for a price of course. And the price of this was astronomical. He didn't care.

In the end we couldn't do that because risk of harming the birds was going to be too great and he didn't want to take the risk of ending up with a 4 foot tall dead penguin at the party. So instead we got one empire penguin from a zoo in Asia equipped with its handler and a bunch of other types of penguins.

#54

For day to day s**t, they're SUPER f****n cheap.  If they can't write it off or if it can't make them more money they go for the cheapest route imaginable.  .

#55

Work for a family office worth about 1b, three or four families could live off of the waste.
Didn’t like where a transformer was on his ranch property so we moved it for 25k. Decided a week later really did like original location, moved it back for another 25k. Stuff like that all the time.

#56

How easy my ex got an apartment in Berlin,
Fully furnished by his parents.
Interior must have been a few k,
Let alone the rest.
Edit: I meant a few k as in „not one k, more like ten k or more“ for furniture alone.
I obviously don’t have the price catalogue.

#57

Not my personal experience. This was told to me by a designer I was working with on a project.



She used to work for Dior Couture in the workshop.

One day, a customer came to pick up a custom jacket she has ordered. When checking out, she glanced at the bill and said : Oh but it's only 45 000€? It's so cheap! Why didn't you tell me that before, I would have taken 2 jackets.

#58

I went to a brunch at an extremely rich family’s house, and they bragged and bragged and bragged about a particular item. Then, as I was serving myself the last piece (my first piece!), they told me that hadn’t gotten enough for everyone and I’d have to split my portion with another guest.

And then they made me feel like an a*****e for being embarrassed by their behavior.

#59

We had a family friend that was rich. He is not a friend with us anymore but I was young and we were sitting at a table having breakfast with leftovers from his yesterday's breakfast because he is cheap.

He bought a very very expensive downtown condominium for her daughter + bmw + million dollar donation to the university so she take her university study seriously. In the end she didn't. She got married to a loser.

He said what are you going to study? I said computer science. He said I know a few successful people in this field that I could get you connected with. I said no. Then for years I made fun of him because I was arrogant and he was working in construction but he wanted to give an advice to me studying computer science.

I was dumb to not listen to his advice.

#60

When I started at private school, I expected to find spoiled, arrogant kids flaunting their wealth. Instead, I was surprised to find that most were incredibly down-to-earth and approachable. Conversations rarely centered on money or status; instead, they revolved around shared interests like music, sports, or weekend plans. Many of my classmates were humble, genuinely kind, and often involved in volunteer work.