23 "Rich Kid Syndrome" Stories That Will Leave You Both Fuming And Baffled At How These People Live

At some point in our lives, I am sure we all have found ourselves interacting with someone who is completely out of touch because of their wealth. And while the person might not be trying to be malicious or trying to flaunt their wealth with what they're saying, it can still leave you with a not-so-great impression of them.

A few months back, Reddit user WaterWire was interested in just that, in particular with people who grew up wealthy, when they asked: "What’s the worst case of “rich kid syndrome” that you’ve ever seen?"

The thread got over a thousand responses. Below are the top and best comments — which will probably make you roll your eyes a few times:

1."I used to work with someone who proclaimed to be an environmentalist. She was very preachy. Once, I had a can of Coke on my desk. She said, 'You're going to recycle that, right?' She used her father's personal jet all the time. Once, just to fly from NYC to Boston to see a baseball game."

2."A girl I went to school with crashed and totaled six cars in three years, and her parents continued buying her better and newer cars 'cause every accident 'wasn’t her fault,' and if she had stuff like a backup camera and sensors, they 'wouldn’t have happened.' She got into a fender bender in the school parking lot, and her dad showed up with a wad of cash and paid the other student off."

3."A former friend stamping her foot and crying because 'dad sold the jet and I have to take a commercial flight to our ranch.'"

4."An 'influencer' wondering why other people in their home country don't spend their life traveling like them."

5."Not me, but a friend of mine was an assistant trainer at a Panera store. They hired a teenager who was only working there to meet people. One day, a group left a huge mess in the dining room. Apparently, the teen turned to my friend and said, 'Should we get the help to clean that?' And my friend had to explain that they were the help. He apparently quit not long after."

6."A senior rich kid in my high school was driving his dad's Jaguar when his buddy asked him what would happen if he threw into reverse at 60mph. So they tried it and essentially blew the transmission and the motor up. A few months later, he got a Porsche for Christmas."

7."Had a guy work for me in the military. He thought he didn’t have to do anything because his parents would just 'call their friends.' He ended up getting kicked out for LSD and cocaine use."

8."I have a lot of extended family out in California who I’ve never met, but I sometimes hear stories from my parents, who keep in touch with a few relatives out there. One of my distant cousins, who was, like, 17 at the time, intentionally totaled the new BMW his parents bought him because he wanted a Mercedes instead. Can't remember if they ended up buying him that Mercedes or not, but they probably did. Sadly."

9."Had a pet-sitting client once ask me if I'd ever been to Italy. He gave me the blankest look when I said no. Dude, if I could afford to vacation out of the country, why would I be taking care of your dog for a living? His wife also couldn't understand why I didn't have a house cleaner of my own. Their house cleaner was my childhood friend: I'm the one who recommended her to them."

10."Rich dude in my high school chemistry class flat-out asked how big of a check his dad could write to get him out of taking a major test. He was serious. Nothing happened to him."

11."I had a friend who worked as a counselor at an American summer camp somewhere in Pennsylvania. He said that these kids would leave so much of their belongings because they couldn’t be bothered packing them up, and they would just expect their parents to replace what they had left. He came away with Beats headphones, brand-new shoes (although a few sizes too small), and gaming equipment."

12."In person? I used to work at a company whose graduate program was a hotbed of nepotism and classism. I once overheard someone freaking out (and being comforted by her friends) because her Dad bought her a house in the 'wrong part' of London. It wasn’t in Chelsea, [but instead] it was in the nice part of Battersea."

13."An extremely wealthy girlfriend of my friend asked me what my favorite Spanish island that I visited as a child is. I told her I never got to go on a family trip, let alone to a Spanish island."

14."In person, someone I vaguely knew heard that I was looking at buying a house and wanted to show off her 'expertise' because she'd already gone through this process before. I was complaining that everything was too expensive and my budget wouldn't allow for much, and she was super confused and told me to tell my parents it was an investment...she thought that my parents would buy it for me."

15."A 10th grader spilled nail polish in her purse and started screaming in the middle of class that it was a $4,000 bag, and that her dad wasn’t going to buy her another new one. First of all, don’t be trying to paint your nails in English class. Second, so this is not the first designer bag you ruined by being a careless dolt? Excuse me while I continue along teaching Frederick Douglass, because some people have real problems."

16."Once, I was explaining to my college roommate how I was working overtime so I could afford airfare back home for the holiday break. Later that day, she had a meltdown because her parents told her they were going to Cancun for Christmas — she said, 'But we went to Cancun last year! 😭'"

17."I had a student who never showed up to class or turned in any assignments. They failed. They complained to daddy, who was a well-known rich person in our community. He complained to the president of my university, and I had to go to a meeting to justify the student's failure."

18."This is secondhand, but a coworker of mine used to work as a nanny to an extremely wealthy family in LA. The oldest daughter would drive her car around until it ran out of gas, then call home for the help to come get her. She'd leave the car wherever it was, and the help would have to fill it up and drive it home for her. This happened regularly."

19."A friend of a friend didn't understand how her credit card worked. She was 28 at the time and lived in a $2.5 million apartment in Manhattan, and hearing her attempt to explain what happened after she used her card blew my mind. She thought that the bank handled transferring money to pay for things and that because it was bought on credit, it was discounted [from her account]."

20."I'm going with my best friend’s older sister. My best friend doesn’t care for materialistic shit or her rich upbringing, but her sister is a different story. One day, we asked her to pick us up a rotisserie chicken. She came back upset and without chicken, 'cause she couldn’t understand why it was so cheap. According to her, it should’ve been $40. She thought something was wrong with it for being $7."

21."A sexist trust fund baby in college regularly FedExed his dirty laundry home for his mother/maid to do because laundry is 'women's work.'"

22."Low stakes, but I used to work with a guy who voluntarily told us that he didn't know how to tie his shoes til he was 15, because his nanny or maid always did it for him. I was like, my man, I cannot believe you just said that out loud."

23.And lastly, "Trust fund baby [I knew] would throw iPhones in the toilet and flush whenever he wanted a newer phone or different color. Every time a plumber was called and the treasure trove was found."

You can read the original thread on Reddit.

Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.