When most of us boil down an average day, a decent chunk of it is spent earning money or doing auxiliary tasks to help ourselves earn money tomorrow. But a lucky few live a life so far removed from this that our lifestyles might appear mutually incomprehensible.
A netizen was curious to hear the fabulously out-of-touch things the rich had said to people. Internet users shared all the weird, incorrect, and confusing flights of fantasy that they had heard from wealthy people. So prepare to cringe and roll your eyes as you scroll through, be sure to upvote your favorite post and comment your thoughts and experiences below.
#1
I was working at a car dealership and saw the owner pull up in a $250k Porsche GT3. Told him how much I loved the car and dreamt of owning one someday. Owner looked at me confused and said "what do you mean? We sell them right here you know?" Totally blew my mind that he didn't realize his employees couldn't afford the cars they were selling.
Image credits: tbh3900
#2
“I have no hair on my body! You should have your husband take you to get laser hair removal! It only cost me $10,000”…maybe in my dreams
She was the Mayors daughter and I was catering her dogs birthday party
Image credits: Open-Ad-189
#3
"Isnt it funny we are the same age but my dad bought me a condo and you have to work 2 jobs?"
Image credits: BopbopHereWeGo
Sometimes a wealthy person being deeply, deeply out of touch can come with marginal benefits for people in the right position. Service staff might, from time to time, encounter gigantic tips, or people buying used houses, cars and other physical assets might get incredible deals as the rich sellers don’t care to fight over every dollar.
On the flip side, the average experience in most of these cases is that the wealthy are notoriously cheap, leave the worst tips, and will be excessively greedy for no good reason. There are abundant stories of multi-millionaires underpaying their workers, trying to find the best possible deals, and treating their own, abundant, money as more valuable than anything else in the universe.
#4
Me: Yeah I love flying. I have a nice flightsim setup at home. Wish I could do it for real.Owner of the company: Yeah the real thing is so much better. You should buy a plane. I love taking mine out for trips.
Me: You sign my checks.
Image credits: Jefe_Bezos
#5
In college, I made most of my money cleaning and tutoring for rich families. Here are the highlights."It's so much more convenient to have a sauna in your house."
"We ordered our wallpaper from Europe. It's the only way to go."
"I just bought the empty lot next to ours so we won't have neighbors."
And my personal favorite:
Rich person's kid: Gosh, I can't find any babysitting jobs. They've been taken by the 1%.
Rich parent: Honey, you are the 1%.
Image credits: bombasticfox
#6
One of my former coworkers grew up in a wealthy family and married into more wealth, but they decided she should work anyways. She was outside her car crying one day, waiting for her husband to pick her up, saying she couldn’t drive her car because a light was on. My buddy looked, it was a low tire pressure light. He asked if she wanted help filling up the tire.Her sobbing response “This is a Mercedes! You can’t just put air in the tire!!”
Edit: To everyone wondering why she would cry about a tire pressure light, I think that was second time the light came on in three months so she didn’t think it was safe or reliable anymore and traded it in soon after (I believe the next one was a Lexus). She was also very much the type of person who would cry because she had to wait 30 minutes to get picked up while everyone else could go home.
Image credits: scmillion
This still doesn’t mean that rich people quite understand the impact and importance of money for most people’s survival. Wealth is a fantastic insulator, allowing them to “skip” entire sections of life that we go through daily, from commutes, grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning, coupons, thrifting, and practically anything else.
#7
Built a 3mil+ house for a couple. After the neighbors built their home, we're talking, and the wife says "that little house is so dinky. We have a joke going that we call it 'the helps house'. " Now this is still a 750k-1mil home no less. Just struck me as not very grounded ?
Image credits: nlights999321
#8
They lived in Boston and we were talking about how small condos are there. They were lamenting that they had no space and, as a result, they had to buy another condo (this was Beacon Hill) because they ran out of space to store their Persian rugs.
Image credits: SsurebreC
#9
"You've never been to Disney? Did your parents not love you or something" B***h my parents were raising three kids working two jobs on poverty wages.
Image credits: max-peck
As a result, there isn’t just a gap in income, there is a gap in knowledge and experience. A long-time rich person might not have the slightest idea of what taking the subway feels like, or has never explored one-pot recipes to save on cleaning time. Similarly, they are pretty unlikely to have non-rich friends, disconnecting them from the majority of the population automatically.
#10
My dad, a boomer who has lived an absolutely charmed financial life, tells me every time we talk, "You should invest in real estate!"Great idea, dad, let me take this $0.36 I have to my name and buy a house with it, I don't know why more people don't do this.
Image credits: StrangersWithAndi
#11
"It's only $1,000."Ok, b***h. Then give it to me!
Image credits: BrushYourTeethHoe
#12
“Money has been tight so we have to wait a couple more weeks before we break ground on the new air conditioned stable for the horses”
Image credits: PM_ME_THEM_TOES_GURL
This also raises the curious question of how do the super-wealthy consume media, particularly very contemporary works where income inequality and the struggles of everyday life feature pretty heavily. Do they even understand why someone might work two jobs, or what gig work really is?
#13
I was between jobs and a bunch of my friends told me that I should take the time to go travel the world. Like a) just because someone doesn't have a job doesn't mean they can just up & travel the world- in fact the opposite is more likely, but also b) you m***********s thought the reason I wasn't traveling the world because I *hadn't thought of it*?
Image credits: Annual-Intern5669
#14
I was talking to my manager about a mistake on a check.Me: This isn’t even enough to cover my daughters day care for the month.
Her: Well what did you do with the money you were just paid?
Ma’am. Food, rent, electricity, and car payment. Boom, check gone.
Image credits: Lvsucknuts69
#15
Boss: My wife and I decided that you and your wife should join us in the Caribbean. I'lll pay for everything.Me: We appreciate the offer but we won't be able to afford it.
Boss: Why?
Me: I'd have to hire someone to watch the kids.
Boss: What? Surely your nanny can handle that!
Image credits: nobody2u
Ultimately, we can see the results of money’s insulating effect in threads like this, from obtuse questions to head-scratchingly confusing ideas. The silver lining is that we at least get a decent laugh out of it. So if you are interested in continuing to see more of the bizarre thoughts held by the rich, Bored Panda has got you covered, you can find our other articles on this topic here and here.
#16
My boss is an attorney. A client who was filling out her financial statement for a divorce realized that she had forgotten to include her student loans on the report. Laughing somewhat ruefully, she said “I can’t believe I forgot to include that.“ And in a bright, sunny, voice my boss laughed and said “I sometimes forget that I own a boat!“ The client and I quietly locked eyes with a shared understanding of how out of touch that was.
Image credits: headcase-and-a-half
#17
“How often do you go sailing?”Said by the guy that knows I was struggling financially.
Image credits: ZoharTheWise
#18
"it's not expensive, You just can't afford it"
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#19
It’s one banana, Michael. What could it cost, ten dollars?
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#20
I was venting to a school mate about not being able to have a car.She said “why don’t you just ask your mom?”
It literally broke my brain. Like yeah, why didn’t I think of that?
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#21
I was venting to a coworker about how burnt out I was (she has a very rich husband, and used to be high income herself, but stepped down to relax a bit) and she suggested I take a few weeks off and travel.Ma'am. I make $30k a year and pay rent.
She would also complain to me about finding a townhome to buy for her 18 year old son so he didn't have to live in a dorm his freshman year of college. The horror was that she didn't like the carpet in the one they bought, so she *wanted* to replace it.
Image credits: bubble0peach
#22
"Your just letting money stop you" yes it does that.
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#23
"What's your families private jet policy? They charge you?!?!?"A friend from school had apparently grown up incredible wealthy. Freshman year we were talking about spring break and I mentioned I was hoping to afford gas money to drive somewhere. He thought I meant "jet plane" gas money and was curious why my parents would charge me to use the family jet.
We do not have a family jet....
2nd story: (years after the college one above. This was a handful of years back)
"You should join one of our golf club or country clubs this year. Initiation fees got reduced to only like $40k a person for some so its basically free the first year."
(Yes, he was members at multiples of each. I don't remember the exact cost but it was well into the 5 digits each)
I should mention this person and family do not show off the money and are very free with it to friends. It just comes thru unbeknownst to them a lot of time because they think thats the norm.
Image credits: Aulm
#24
“Your house is so quaint. I didn’t know that u could live in such a small place” lol
Image credits: freedomisgreat4
#25
Me: complains about the cost of childcareBoss’ wife: You should just get an au pair!
Me: Um, au pairs need their own room.
Boss’ wife: Don’t your kids share a room? You can give her the spare bedroom.
Me: There is NO spare bedroom.
Boss’ wife: Well, you could repurpose the playroom, or the office.
Me: Yes, we could, if we had them. But we have NO spare bedrooms!
She just couldn’t wrap her head around the idea of a family of four living in mere two bedrooms. Certainly there is a wine cellar or a hobby room or a stargazing room, or something!
#26
Referring to a coworker, they said "she's been saying she wants to buy a house. She's in her 30s now but she still rents. Kinda embarrassing." This person owns an apartment downtown, is paying for a f*****g villa in the suburbs with the help of some relative and could choose to stay at their parents' big a*s house which they've owned for generations. According to this person, they're "normal people" because they're middle class; they're not filthy rich/old money. The coworker is middle class too. And If she can't afford a house right now, how the fk are we supposed to?#27
Our former president suggested we could buy health insurance for $20 a month. A legislator suggested that about $1500 could by a new car and remodel the kitchen. Technically they were speaking to America, but I'm American so that counts.#28
Guy makes 250k at least, probably low 300s.Something something "middle class people like us".
I make 40.
#29
"Yo they don't pay you enough, you should get another job."I agree, I agree...
#30
When i was a freshman in college, i had made a couple friends. People asked me why I took my studies so serious, i just said “well i have student loans i gotta worry about afterwards, so trying to do the best i can here to get a nice job”A kid (from very very wealthy parents) goes “What’s a student loan?”
?
#31
Like an idiot, I got into a conversation at a restaurant in Palo Alto with an older couple at the bar. They brought politics into it. I don't recall the whole serpentine trail of hypocrisy that led up to this, but the man said: "I don't think poor people should be allowed to vote. They don't know anything."#32
My doctor knew I was working doing home health care, not a very lucrative position. She prescribed a medication for elevated blood pressure and it would cost me three weeks take home a month. I went back and asked if there was something more affordable. She was surprised that it mattered as she said had never had to consider the price of anything her life. I switch doctors.#33
My boomer father insists that moms should not work. When someone says that a family needs 2 incomes to survive, he insists that they could manage if they lived within their means. He always cites these examples as "extravagant choices" - cell phones, disposable diapers, and paper towels. I cringe every time I hear this.#34
My friend’s family sold their company for 3-4 billion dollars. Yes, billion with a B. He was obviously awarded a chunk of that money and of course was audited by the IRS because he moved to a state that has no income tax prior to the sale. He asked me if everyone gets audited by the IRS when they submit their taxes… not when you’re in my tax bracket, buddy!#35
The house behind us is listed for under $3 million. You and your sister should buy it.#36
My wife’s boss told her that she doesn’t really need her meds, she should just do her own research about biohacking. He said he was depressed once and switched to a red meat diet and now he’s not depressed anymore.#37
Not to me, but my wife used to work at a law firm and one Christmas holidays had a party which included a treasure hunt for a few things outside of the office building, one of which was a burger wrapper. My wife watched as one of the partners asked some people eating at a McDonald's if those round things they had were burgers.#38
“Where does your family summer?” I never knew summer could be used as a verb.#39
l worked for Medicaid. The big bugs at the state government level had a "poverty exercise" where they had to try to budget at poverty level and live on it for 3 days. "My, that was SO difficult!" No s**t pal - that whole idea pissed me off so bad.
Image credits: Nanatomany44
#40
I dated a rich guy who loved my authenticity, and he would pick me up in one of his dad's cool collector cars and take me to record stores. When I went to visit him I showed up in my grandpa's old Ford f150 truck.He asked me why I drove around in that thing.
I shrugged and said "because I'm poor."
And he said "no you're not."
It was like I ruined his whole hipster aesthetic and he realized I wasn't grunge.
Image credits: char-le-magne
#41
One thing I’ve learned about very wealthy people if they tend to hang around with other very wealthy people. I mean if I want to take a vacation to Aspen and go skiing I’m going to pay out my a*****e for that, between flight, equipment rental, and hotel?A wealthy person will just talk to their friends who will offer up there or multi million dollar chalet that they have just for Funzies. wealthy people will literally have a ski chalet that they rarely go to that houses all of their top of the line ski equipment and just offer it to their friends.
Image credits: Joygernaut
#42
My CEO’s daughter was talking to me and she now lives in the UK. She bought a place in London. I mentioned I have some family over there that I’ve always been interested in visiting, and hoped to see it one day.Her response? Just go. Definitely, it’s as easy as buying a plane ticket. She had no idea why I hadn’t gone yet.
Image credits: Snoochey
#43
At the height of COVID, I was living in a small apartment in NYC making $50K (def NOT in DUMBO). I put this beautiful view from Brooklyn Heights m/DUMBO as my Zoom background. For those who don't know, one of the most expensive areas of NYC.I had a meeting with a SVP who asks: "omg! Is that your view? Are we neighbors?!"
No lady, you don't pay me nearly enough to be your neighbor.
Image credits: CapitanGay
#44
Met a guy on a backpacking trip that said he couldn't understand why all these backpackers stayed in hostels when there are so many hotels around. I pointed out that most of us have budgets and hostels are cheaper. The thought had just never occurred to him that we can't all afford that. Same thing with restaurants. He just never considered that nicer places aren't in everyone's budget.
Image credits: Waste_Coat_4506
#45
My boss's wife grew up wealthy and then married an "heir to the throne" for a multi-million dollar organization.She is meandering around our office bullpen one day and brings me into the conversation, "How about you, where would you take your lady on a Honeymoon?"
Me: I dunno, go to the coast for a week and just enjoy the sun.
She laughed out loud at me and said "Oh my god, no woman will ever marry you unless you're going to take her on a Hawaiian honeymoon."
At the time I made $10 an hour.
#46
I was going through a bad time financially and my mental state was very low. A woman said to me "when I feel depressed I go to India for month and just chill that always cheers me up" in a manner that I took as I ought to do it if i had any sense.#47
Long ago when I was a server in a Country Club.I was very new to properly opening wine bottles, as I was using my key to take off the foil and gashed the webbing on my hand bad.
Husband and wife at the table.
I put down the bottle, and was about to leave when he says "Who told you to stop pouring?!"
I picked it up, poured the wine dribbling blood all over the white table cloth.
Went outside, had a smoke and thought about my life.
#48
Had some kid in his early 20s start working at the restaurant I was at, total trust fund baby but his parents made him get a job or they would cut him off (Phone, car, apartment, school, credit card, everything).We were talking about plans for the summer, I mentioned I was gonna take a weekend to head north and visit my mom, someone else was going camping, another guy was taking a long weekend to help his brother move.
Holy f**k. "You guys have no idea what vacation means, do you? I'm taking my GF to Spain for two weeks and then spending a few days in Italy before we come back."
He got real upset when I asked him where he was gonna work when he came back. Apparently he didn't understand that taking 3 weeks vacation not even two months into a job isn't a thing, especially when part of that was during our busiest season of the year.
Even better when we all looked at him and told him we couldn't even afford a week off, let alone in Spain.
He didn't last long.
#49
"oh yeah you can keep all of this since I'm moving out. I'll buy new stuff for my next place"Some dude I knew who was taking classes at a prestigious university in a very nice studio apartment, whose father had just flown in from Indonesia just to help him pack his clothes.
I got a full mattress set that was about 3k, multiple leathers for carpeting, expensive looking paintings, way too much ikea stuff, and a dyson vacuum.
#50
i live in southern spain and here it’s so hot during summer months that u can’t even get out of ur house till 9-10 pm. a lot of people (including me) can’t even afford having air conditioners in their houses and they just survive the hot temperatures inside as they can do it, usually spending the days sweaty and tired. A friend of mine lives in a huge house (one of the hugest i’ve ever been) with many rooms and an air conditioner machine in each one of them. A few days ago he started complaining about how tired he was for having to take such a long walk at night in order to turn off all the air conditioners in the house. That day i’ve had to take 4 showers to feel just a bit refreshed and i recognise i felt violence taking up control of my body while he was speaking#51
I worked for a very wealthy lady. Her son graduated college (with some useless degree) and she put him to work answering phones.She also bought him a car.
"Can you believe it? I told her I wanted a blue car." She didnt get him a blue car *so he asked her to paint it.* She refused.
I could see his naivete as he spoke since he truly thought this was something I could relate to.
Sorry kiddo, I had to work at Chuck E Cheese as a teenager to be able to afford to buy a piece of c**p that overheated if I drove for longer than 20 minutes.
#52
“You’ve never been to Paris?!”Also, this is what this girl’s father said after I commented on Albert Camus’ “The Stranger” on his bookshelf. “Well, have you read it in French?”
#53
Years ago I overheard a woman bitching to a 7/11 (convenience store in the midwest) about the color of the Maserati her husband bought her. I was like, B***h, the man you're talking to makes min wage.#54
A wealthy coworker of mine was asking me about what kind of wedding I wanted. She said hers was only $60,000 dollars. Anybody can afford that. My fiancé and I eloped.#55
The anti-union lawyer in bargaining talking about going to his mountain house for the holiday after saying I was making too much at $17/hr.#56
Not so much said, but not know how to do. In my 1st year of student halls, a fair few of my roommates came from rich families and they had no idea how to cook or clean up after themselves on the most basic level. Luckily, they were all eager to learn and I was happy to teach them things like how to iron, clean a cooker top, change bin bags and recycle (Etc), but I was surprised that so many parents had sent their kids off to uni without the most basic life skills.#57
Just buy an investment property. It's easy money.#58
When i was 18 I worked at a pool in the rich area. I once heard this lady (who was there everyday, xanned out of her mind) say to her friends, "Getting pneumonia is such a low class thing to do."Yeah...
#59
"The world would be a lot better without The Poors"#60
that they didnt understand how parents could let their kids go to public school (5min after i told her that i was from public school)#61
"Washing dishes is slavery!"#62
A new exec came on and was talking about her hobbies. They included white water rafting and flipping houses.#63
Went to an estate sale near my home. Middle class neighborhood. Older woman parks near me, gets out of her mercedes, and we walk in within a yard or 2 of each other. She turns and says, "Who would believe a house this nice would be in a neighborhood like this?"#64
"Business class was full so I had to sit back with the animals."#65
When the film industry struck this year, my boss with a straight face told me I should always have about 40k put aside for things like this#66
"You don't need to own a house. Just rent for the rest of your life." -my aunt and uncle who own two houses#67
An ex friend of mine whose family was very wealthy while we were in high school. She was looking at Kate Spade bags online to pick out so her mom could buy her one for Christmas. I pointed out one that I liked and she said "why don't you ask your mom to buy it for you?" B***h...they're like $500I remember eventually explaining to her that my mom works 3 jobs because we're broke and she said "I didn't know you were poor."
#68
“You should save it”Unfortunately I’m unable to save money because I don’t have a substantial amount to spare. I can either eat now or eat later and I’d prefer to eat now
#69
My old millionaire boss picked a penny up off the workshop floor, handed it to me and said "there's your wages" then walked away laughing to himself like the mustache twirling villain he was.#70
Worked for a small company that was owned by two wealthy individuals. They were very kind and generous but completely out of touch. One day I was at my desk and my then boss came to me and said he was leaving early for the day to go waterskiing because the weather was nice. It was early summer and the weather was no nicer then it had been the rest of the week. I inquired where they were going, thinking it was somewhere near where we were, and he said he was going to his friend’s house in Florida. He’d just booked his private flight, around a 3-3.5 hour flight lol.Then there was the time he left early to fly to his friend’s house to go quail hunting…
The other owner, also wealthy, would jet around the world on a whim to go surfing. Like everywhere. During a conversation about what we were doing for the holidays one year he said he rented a big house in Canada and hired a helicopter so he, his family, and friends could go heli-skiing. It was total normal thing to him lol
On the other side, they would give great gifts like
good wine, dinners, sometimes small trips, stuff like that. Very nice people and I sometimes miss working for them and seeing them but they both basically semi-retired during the pandemic.
#71
One Big4 partner to another when talking about some unexpected personal expenses in a room full of junior staff: it’s only 50k, but still… The whole room went silent#72
For context, Bellevue is a city in Washington state full of VERY wealthy people. The town next door is called Newcastle, and is also full of very wealthy people. At the time of this story, I lived in Newcastle, but on the outskirts of town in an apartment that I could barely afford.Talking to one of the parents when picking my son up from kindergarten. She starts talking s**t about her ex-husband's house and says "and worst it's in Bellevue. Ew!"
#73
One of my good friends grew up in a crazy wealthy family. When we both got our first “real” jobs out of college, I was talking to him about how I want to start saving money and wasn’t sure where to start. He said “you should go over that with your Financial Advisor”#74
"Why don't you just charter a flight", in response to me not being able to make it from Oregon to NY by the following day.#75
"Rich people like you and I..."Dude, I am not rich, you're rich.
#76
Fortunately, I don't know him personally, but I did read a David Brooks column the other day in which he droned on and on about how marriage is so, so much more important than "obsessing about money & career."My 15 year old son read it, laughing, and said, "Let's look up how much David Brooks is worth."
58$ Million.
I'm sure the homeless guy I gave a bit of money to the other day would feel SO much happier and fulfilled if he would just f*****g GET MARRIED!
#77
“We didn’t have a lot of money either. I guess that’s why we learned to save our money.”Poor people know.
#78
I was raised mostly lower class, lower middle class in Texas. In college, I worked at a Residential Treatment Center for Children. This was a place the state would send mentally ill and emotionally disturbed children who had been removed from their parents custody for reasons ranging from simple neglect to the most horrific abuse you can imagine.This is where I met my now husband. He also worked there while attending college.
When we got engaged, I went to meet and visit his parents in a northern state. They had a "cabin" at a very elite summer club. Essentially, there were 36 cabins. You owned the cabin, but not the land it sat on. There was a dining room, golf course, tennis courts, fishing and shooting on property. You had to be voted in unanimously in order to become a member of this club.
So we went to the cabin for a week and part of the deal was attending cocktail parties. Not anything I'd ever experienced so I just stuck to my fiancé's side and smiled and nodded a lot.
We were talking with a woman who was friends with my in-laws and she wanted to know what we did in Texas. So we told her we worked with these children.
Her reply "I just don't understand how you could want to spend your time HELPING someone like that."
Needless to say both my fiancé and I were speechless and had no reply we could have spoken to this woman.
His parent's, while fairly well off, were generous, kind people who went out of their way to help others.
So it was one of those "Oh look! There's Sally! We've been meaning to catch up with her. Please excuse us.", said quickly while moving away equally as quick.
What's weird is this woman was raised solidly middle class and just married someonef from a wealthy family who became wealthy himself. He as the club's biggest lech and all the waitresses (yes, only female serving staff) knew to keep away from him.
#79
I worked at a bank for many years, since I needed the money. My co-worker P. did not need the money, and she constantly complained about the job, how little it paid, how stupid the work was, how boring it was, etc. She was also disorganized, sloppy, and incompetent. I usually had to redo all of her work to make it presentable. They finally confronted her, and she quit. It was a great day for the department.from Bored Panda https://ift.tt/saH1PSZ
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