20 Things Straight From The Mouths Of The Uber-Wealthy That Will Make You Cringe To The Point Of Literal Pain
If it feels like sometimes the super-wealthy live on another planet, it's because they sort of do. To prove it, someone on Reddit asked, "What's the most out-of-touch thing you heard from rich people?" Here's what they said, including some responses from members of the BuzzFeed Community.
1."I was dating a guy who owned his own CPA company. He was divorced, and he made a comment about how he missed a painting his wife got in the divorce. I asked why they fought over a painting. It was worth $80,000."
2."Our boss emailed into the office on December 27 from home to get us to guess what she’d got as a gift. I jokingly said, ‘a jag,’ and she responded, 'No, I already have one. A miniature schnauzer pup,' and then proceeded to send photos of her at home with her family enjoying Christmas while we were working as we were denied annual leave."
3."Being told by a guy who has not worked a day in his life and living off of inherited money that poor people are poor because they don't invest their money right."
4."A friend of mine from a wealthy family complained once that 'people think it is really great having five houses, but do you know how much we have to spend on cleaners?'"
5."A rich girl I went to school with asked me at the reunion how much money I made and was flabbergasted and said, 'That's not even enough to buy a purse, how do you manage?' For me, it was enough to rent an apartment, take two vacations per year, and save 30% of my salary. I actually thought that I was doing very well for myself three years out of uni, but alas."
6."A very privileged but oblivious student asked me seriously whether making $300,000 per year would be enough to live comfortably."
7."A woman once told me how proud she was of herself for taking public transport to work. She took a taxi."
8."This girl I went to college with was shocked that I had student loans. She said, 'Why don't you just ask your parents to pay for it?' Then proceeded to tell me how she's 'independent' because she pays for her own manicures with her trust fund money."
9."I had a friend whose parents were very well off (living in Silicon Valley and all that). Once, I was complaining to her that I wanted to travel but didn't have the funds. She said, 'Well, all it takes is saving $100 a week or so.' I responded by telling her I hardly had $20 left from my paychecks, and even that gets spent most of the time."
10."'Why do you buy cheap clothes? They are going to wear out after a few months. Why don't you get something tailormade? Good quality clothes last for years.'"
11."We had a roommate who grew up wealthy. She was a lovely woman, humble, sweet, not arrogant at all, but very sheltered. We were getting frustrated with her messy habits (having grown up with house staff) and created a chore system..."
12."Back when I was in my early 20s, my beat-up old car broke down in my company's parking lot when I was about to drive home. I was getting paid $10 an hour as a pastry chef at a catering company. This was barely enough to cover my rent. I was obviously pretty distraught over my car dying. My boss (company owner) ended up saying to me, 'Why are you so upset? It's just a car! Just buy another one!' I couldn't even respond. I just looked at her like she was crazy."
13."When I was discussing the trials and tribulations of having a newborn and an 18-month-old, my OBGYN asked, 'Why don’t you just hire a house manager?' Right, like I can afford to pay a full-time salary for someone to take care of my chores and household responsibilities."
14."I had a boss who didn’t believe me when I said salaries often assumed you had a (minimum) 40-hour work week... He had never had a job before his dad gave him several million dollars to start a company. He thought I was making up the concept of the 40-hour work week because he’d never heard of this and loudly told me I was bad at math. He had a business degree from Wharton. His error ended up working in my favor, so I just went with it."
—Anonymous
15."'Oh you can't afford to come on this spontaneous trip to the Mediterranean? No problem, you can borrow money from me, and pay me back next month.'"
16."A friend had her soon-to-be husband book flights for their honeymoon. She got upset with him for booking their tickets in economy. She's only ever flown business with her family, but she was in for a rude awakening when she saw the price difference when paying for it herself."
17."'Just don't go to restaurants to eat as much. A couple times a week should be enough to dine out, and that will save you money!' Sir, I don't go to restaurants because I cannot afford that kind of luxury at all."
18."One that comes to mind: We read The Jungle by Upton Sinclair in a media and politics class. During the discussion, one person said, 'I never considered that poor people could be poor, and it wasn’t their fault.'"
19."That anyone can make it if they 'just work hard enough' (coming from someone who was born rich). No, that’s not how the world works. If you’re born with almost nothing, it takes a lot more effort and work to get to a similar starting point. And even then, you still don’t have the same starting conditions like important social connections."
20."I was on a ski lift in Jackson Hole, Wyoming when I heard a woman with her two sons tell their private ski instructor for the day that because there weren’t enough food options in the city, so they had no choice but to hire a private chef for their vacation."
Do you have something to add? What is something totally out of touch a rich person has said? Or what is a laughably ridiculous interaction you've had with someone extremely wealthy? Tell us in the comments or in this anonymous form.