People Are Sharing The Most Absurd Display Of Wealth They've Ever Witnessed, And Suddenly "The White Lotus" Looks Tame
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Ohhh, lifestyles of the rich and the famous. We've all probably come across some pretty excessive displays of wealth (even if it's just from watching The White Lotus on your couch). So redditor u/DefinitleyNot203Eel asked, "What is the most egregious display of wealth you've ever personally seen?" Here is what people said.
1."The first time I saw a support vessel I was blown away. To clarify, this is a yacht that accompanies your much bigger yacht — and it stores your toys in its garage. It also houses some of your staff, stores your supplies, etc."
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2."I worked at a suit store, and one day a guy came in looking kinda schlubby, but there were no customers in the store so I went to help him. He went to another store to check out some clothes and returned an hour later. He said no one at the other store paid any attention to him because he 'looks poor.' He then proceeded to tell me he liked how I treated him with respect and bought a full wardrobe from me (we’re talking 10-plus custom suits, 30-plus dress shirts, 30-plus ties, casual shirts, shorts, pants, shoes, the whole deal. I ended up ringing everything up, and it was around $20K. I made 10% commission on everything, and that was the most money I've ever gotten in a single paycheck as a broke college student."
3."The wealthiest person I know once said to me, 'Oh, you get seasonal depression? Why don’t you just go to the Caribbean for a week and the Mediterranean the next?' It always helps me.'"
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4."I was talking to a friend's mom at a party. She said to me, 'You know, after six weeks in our Tuscan villa, you honestly get bored of having people wait on you all day. I was so ready to just pick up my own dish and wash it.' Like, uh huh. Life must be so hard."
5."I was working at a small airport, and a 737 passenger airplane came in and parked. The ground crew put some luggage onto it. A person with a dog got on the plane, then walked off the plane without the dog. The plane proceeded to take off. This rich family sent their private 737 to pick up their dog."
6."My dad works in shipping and has a lot of friends who have worked on super yachts. In the '90s, one of his mates got a call to bring the yacht of a particular Australian media tycoon billionaire from Sydney to New York — with instructions to be anchored in a particular bay at an exact time with a lunch spread for 50 people ready. The crew got there, set up the food, and the guy never showed up. Turns out, he was hosting a party in a building overlooking the harbor and just wanted to be able to point down and say, 'That’s my boat.'"
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7."I was an art student working as a gardener in one of the wealthiest areas in my country. Some customers were really eager to show me their art collections once they found out that I studied art. I remember one time standing in a bathroom — in my dirty gardening clothes — and there was a Picasso hanging above the toilet."
8."A friend's dad owns one of those Fortune 500 companies. His son, my friend, has never had to think about money; I remember when we were in college he drove his $200K car to meet us at a party, got drunk, and had his dad's driver come pick us all up. He just left his car at the frat house and didn't even think to go pick it up again. Two months later he was notified that it had been towed, and he had to pay to get it back. His response was 'I bought another one last week anyway.' Life is truly wild for some people."
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9."I have a friend who was employed by a very famous old pop star. She lived rent-free on site at his mansion (which itself was a very cute cottage) and was paid very well. Her job? To open his bedroom curtains each morning, put on classical music, and gently wake him up for the day (in a totally non-sexual manner)."
10."I interned for a wealthy CEO based in Houston. He was traveling to Mexico and had forgotten his laptop, which he needed. When he called the company and asked to have it sent to him, they said it would take three days to ship it, even with priority. He paid me $500 — plus a plane ticket and a hotel room — to fly his laptop there so he could have it within 12 hours."
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11."I'm a custom metal worker, and I worked on the penthouse at the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan just off Central Park. The wife of the owner had a massive library, and we had to make a rolling staircase that she could move. We made the staircase, which probably cost $80,000. When we delivered it, she said it was too steep and asked us to make another. $80,000 later and she’s very happy."
12."Theres a mom-and-pop breakfast place I frequented often in my hometown. One morning I went to pay for my meal, and the waitress was like, "Don't worry, it is covered." I went back the next day, and once again my meal was covered. This repeated for the rest of a week, and I was baffled. Apparently some rich dude liked his breakfast, and so he covered all orders for the following week. On top of that he tipped all the staff $10K to cover their tips for the week."
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13."I was working at a wealthy family's event. They handed me a cup of tea while I was outside, and after the event I went into the kitchen to throw the cup away. I asked the wife where the garbage was, and she replied, 'I don't actually know.'"
14."I worked at a summer camp where campers would show up with brand-new expensive bedsheets, high-end pillows, new $150-plus tennis rackets, and brand-new shoes all packed in their $300-plus camp trunks. At the end of camp, everything but the trunk was left in a huge disposal pile. Not to mention it also cost about $5,000 for the campers to attend each four-week session. I came home with a lot of good loot."
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15."I worked at a university. Every day this one sorority girl would park her BMW illegally and get an expensive ticket. Every day she just paid them off."
16."I used to work in a museum where you could rent out part of the building for special events like receptions or dinner parties. For one particular wedding reception, the bride strongly disliked the color of the walls in the large gallery. We refused her request to paint them a different color, even when she offered to pay to have the walls painted for the reception and then repainted afterward. Her solution, instead, was to have a florist create walls of flowers to hang on portable frames in front of the walls. We never heard the exact cost of that, but the florist commented during the installation that it was the largest single order he had ever filled and it would cost about as much as his shop would make in a year."
17."My husband and I were invited to a destination wedding in the Caribbean. The bride's family came from old European royalty. We had to buy our flights, but the rest of the trip was completely paid for. A private resort was shut down for the long weekend so only the wedding guests were in attendance. The airport had our names when we landed, and we bypassed customs. It was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience."
18."I was a chef in a fancy boutique hotel in New Zealand, and we used to get plenty of famous and wealthy staying with us. Once there was some oil tycoon who came into the kitchen and complimented us on the meal. He asked how many staff worked in the kitchen, including kitchen hands and waitstaff (it was something like 12 or 13 people). The guy just took out his wallet and gave everyone a $100 tip."
Hulu
19."I work out in the Hamptons, and all of my clients are ultra-wealthy people with large, expensive vacation homes. Most of these clients only use the property a few times a year (primarily weekends in the summer). After that, the homes sit unoccupied 90% of the time. Most of these clients spend more on landscaping annually than I make in a whole year. My biggest client spends over $100K a month on landscaping services."
20."I know a girl who works as a fencing instructor to make extra money, and one of her clients is an extremely wealthy family with two children, both of whom take a lot of sports and music lessons. When the pandemic started two years ago, the parents literally bought an entire extra house just so their kids would have somewhere private to continue their lessons when all the gym facilities were closed."
NBC
21."An old high school teacher of mine is an extremely successful private tutor. He does a lot of work in the wealthy neighborhoods in the area. He told me he was once tutoring a kid, and he helped this kid pass his college-level physics class. At the end of their last session, the kid told the tutor to wait and went into his dad’s office. He came out with his payment and an extra $1,000. My teacher tried to turn it down saying it was too much, but the kid insisted his dad asked him to give a tip."
22."I have family friends who were having marital issues. Their marriage counselor figured out a lot of their problems began over the issue of cooking meals. The counselor reminded them that they are rich and they can have all their meals catered... After all, it would be cheaper than getting a divorce. They listened to the counselor and now are happily married."
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23."Teacher here. One of my students gets dropped off at school in a helicopter."
24."I was with my ex-friend, a trust-fund baby. We were out to lunch, and the waiter accidentally spilled water on the rich girl's blouse. He apologized profusely, but she just kept screaming bloody murder, screaming things like, 'This outfit is worth more than YOU are!' She kept screaming and making a huge scene until the manager came out and comped her meal just to shut her up. I wanted to crawl under the table!"
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25."My dad's boss was the billionaire CEO of a Fortune 500 company. We were invited to his private 4th of July party at his home in Corona del Mar. He had his own fireworks barge anchored in the water just beyond the house. The fireworks alone cost more than $300K. I wouldn't be surprised if the whole party cost a half-million dollars."
26."I was living in Costa Rica and got a nanny job for a very, very rich Canadian couple. They had one daughter who was 7. My 'job' was to take the 7-year-old to the beach every day. That's it. Just pick her up after lunch, go to the beach, and bring her home for dinner. They bought me a golf cart specifically for the job, and I made full-time income doing this. It was the best job."
27."An old college roommate of mine used to treat clothes, bed linens, and appliances as completely disposable. For example, we'd just get a new deep fryer when the old one would need to be cleaned."
28."A family I know bought the $3 million house next door so they could knock it down and build a tennis court."
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So, what's the most excessive display of wealth you've ever seen? Tell us in the comments below.
Note: Responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.
