25 Displays Of Wealth That Reminded Ordinary People Of The Difference In Their Experiences
The inequality of wealth is a sore point that is gaining more and more attention with time. Where once only a handful of people had access to accumulate land, education, and money, every day the number of people who feel they too deserve to have adequate sums of money to spend on their wants and needs is getting larger, insistent, and more convincing. Especially when we see how some people with more money than they know what to do with are spending their riches.
The obscene and wanton flaunting of moneyed folks is completely unhinged when considering how some folks can’t even afford to feed their families. That someone could so blatantly throw away money on things like paying for a helicopter to track police activity while driving, or a dad paying extra to buy a high-end luxury vehicle in record time so the neighbours won’t realise his 17-year-old daughter was a bad driver, is completely unhinged. But it’s also the sad reality we live in, according to Redditor’s observations of the most ostentatious displays of wealth they have been subjected to, which made them pause in disbelief.
#1
His personal racetrack was being re-paved, so this guy paid for a helicopter pilot to watch out for cops while he and his buddy raced on side streets in supercars.
Let that sink in.
#2
Image source: Zamochy
Computer teacher in high school said he donates his entire paycheck to various charities.
#3
Image source: Unzbuzzled, Prostock-studio / Envato
My buddy’s dad:
* After parking his yacht in the slip in Key West, he handed each dockworker a $100 bill and handed the harbormaster $200. He would do this every time he took the boat out.
* In Key Largo, he insisted on taking the same yacht out during low tide, despite several warnings against it. He ran the hull alongside a rock, causing several thousand dollars worth of damage. He insisted he didn’t like the control setup at the helm, sold the yacht at a huge loss, and bought a new, bigger boat the next day.
* He bought a twin prop airplane to fly between his offices, even though it takes an hour longer than driving to prep the plane and hangar it.
* He bought an Audi R8 for winter driving.
He’s also one of the nicest people you’ve ever met.
#4
Image source: BlakeClass, freepik
I once had a father personally pay me $1000 (on top of my commission and in addition to the vehicle cost) to find and deliver [same day] a BMW 5 series identical to the one that he bought from me the week before.
His 17 year old daughter totaled it that morning and he didn’t want the neighbors to know.
#5
I went to boarding school with a bunch of ultra rich Russians. A really good friend of mine was one of them. A couple things I remember are :
– Whenever I would go out to the mall etc and I’d always ask him if he wanted anything from town ( it was a pretty secluded school) he would ask for something simple like a pizza and toss me a thousand ringgits or more of ” loose change” so I could get something nice for myself too. I’d always give him his change back.
– on his 18th birthday we walked out of class towards the dorm rooms and a beautiful Laborghini Gallardo was sitting with a big bow in front of the entrance. Everyone was gawking at it but he just looked at, shrugged his shoulder and just said ” that’s not the model I wanted. Got on the phone with his dad and had the right one delivered within the end of the day.
Lots more stories but those are the two that stand out to me atm.
#6
My roommate ripped off 4 sections of paper towels. I guess we’re millionaires.
#7
Image source: IAmWhatTheRockCooked, freepik
I used to landscape in a very exorbitantly wealthy area of Toronto’s suburbs. One of the customers was a retired investment banker and for his wife’s birthday he bought her an art gallery in downtown Toronto.
*an art gallery*.
#8
Image source: MentalFracture, freepik
Buying an election.
#9
Image source: Helanore, freepik
My best friend lived in a huge mansion, at least 15 bedrooms. An upstairs kitchen and a downstairs kitchen that was always stocked. They had an infinity pool overlooking a lake. She went days without interacting with her family. She siad the house always felt cold and lonely on reflection.
Her mom died when she was 10. Her dad remarried a few years later and stepmom moved them out of the mansion to a 5 bedroom house. It was still a really nice house, but smaller. It was a hard adjustment on her and her siblings, but she also thinks it saved her relationship with her family. Step mom was best thing that happened to them.
#10
At my college music professor’s recommendation, I was invited to play piano for a very upscale cocktail party at a wealthy person’s residence (black tie/tux).
When I arrived, there were 2 Steinway *concert grand* pianos (9 feet long in elegant veneers, and each worth perhaps $140,000) on either end of the room, so that I could entertain guests equally on both sides by moving from instrument to instrument during the course of the evening.
One concert grand by itself is far more than most pianists see in a private residence, let alone two!
#11
Image source: rooflyss, freepik
Clients in the lobby of a place I used to work:
Mom to 16yo daughter: “Do you want to fly to Greece next week, Dad has a business meeting there and I thought we’d rent a villa by the ocean.”
Daughter: “What?! No! Katie and I are going to a concert next week!”
Mom: “Oh….okay well what if we bring Katie and you two can stay in your own villa.”
Daughter: *sigh* “Fine. Whatever. I’ll ask her. But you owe me if I’m missing that show for another trip.”.
#12
Image source: Felicity_Badporn, freepik
Guys daughters macbook had some minor issue. He just bought her another one moments later and got rid of the old one.
#13
My parents. Sent three kids to college with no debt.
#14
Before I finished my doctorate, I was teaching high school in a ridiculously wealthy area of a major Canadian city. At the time I was driving a pretty basic, 5 or 6 year old Subaru Legacy wagon. The kids all had better cars than I did, and the boys knew I was a car enthusiast, so they all made fun of my sorry vehicle. Not in a cruel way, it was just a running joke, especially when they were rolling new BMW’s, Audis, and even a Lamborghini Gallardo.
One day one of the boys from Hong Kong told me that he was going to give me his car at the end of the school year. Now I knew he had some money, as he was driving a less than a year old BMW Z4, but he wasn’t ostentatious, and in my world nobody just gives anybody a car, especially one with resale value. So I treated it like a joke, “Ha, ha, yes, I’m looking forward to having a convertible this summer, ha, ha.”
Well graduation rolls around, and the kid’s dad shows up in my room, looking exactly like the movie image of a Chinese zillionaire. He thanks me for being so helpful with his son’s education, and then he gives me the title to the car! I fought through my shock, stammered out some thanks, and we shook hands and that was that.
On that day I realised that the type of favour I would do for my friends (“Sure, you can just have my spare bicycle wheels, it’s not worth it for me to try and sell them.”) scales up to the point where you can give away cars. The rich are truly different.
#15
Image source: mcrackin15, freepik
Imagine having enough space that you could unbox all of your hobbies and possessions and basically have them ready to go / on display all the time. That’s what luxury living is like.
Wine stored in a cabinet? No. Put that s**t on display in its own room. Movie night on your firestick in your living room? No. Go to the theatre room so nobody else has to watch that superhero movie you love on repeat.
#16
My friend from college comes from a wealthy family and basically spent his 20s and early 30s partying. One day he went to a club where the bouncer didn’t immediately let him in to VIP so he walked over the competing club next door and blew 10,000 usd on it in a single night, and made it clear that the other club just lost a customer.
#17
My buddy came from a low-income family but dated a girl who’s parents were beyond rich. Father was a Dr. who had his own practice, mother was one of the head Nurse Practitioner’s at the hospital she worked at. Every time he would go over their house, her parent’s felt bad and would take him out to a steakhouse. He said the bill was never below $700.
#18
Studied in a private school and most, if not all, of us were well off. the one that i remember thinking was a whole different level of rich was this girl in my class during grade 10.
she got dropped off and picked up by practically a different car everyday. there was a driver, a nanny, and two armed bodyguards in the car with her. also, for her birthday, her parents sent the entire class to singapore for three days… all expenses paid. her book bag was a louis vuitton bag that she dragged on concrete because she thought it was heavy.
a whole lot more, tbh, those are just what i remember right now.
eta: i just remembered! we went to their house (more like a manor), which was in one of the most expensive gated communities in the city and they had no garage there so i was like, where the f**k do they park their cars? turns out, the house in the lot next door was the garage + drivers and house helps quarters.
#19
I went to a party at a surgeons home. My girlfriend of the time worked for him. His bathroom was the size of my apartment. His shower stall could easily fit ten. The shower did not function as a shower per se, it was literally raining inside this large booth. Water came from hundreds of holes in the ceiling. There was a bench running through the middle of this shower booth. The shower had a door at one end that led you through a hot tub like bath and from this tub you could go into a sauna that easily sat 20 people. What is bizarre about this guy is he is single, childless and has few friends. The rest of his house was ridiculous in its immensity. But that shower stuck out in my mind.
#20
Image source: -eDgAR-, freepik
My dad used to work as a valet for Lawry’s in downtown Chicago and would have a lot of famous and rich people give him their car. However, the craziest show of wealth he told me about was this one football player, I can’t remember which one at the moment, gave my dad $100 just for hailing him a cab. He talked with other people that worked there and apparently this guy was tipping really well to everybody including the coat check lady.
#21
I went to college with and became close friends with a person’s who’s dad is an investment banker. His parents where building a new house in ~2001. He sheepishly told me they had 2 million dollars in just the mile long driveway alone. I kinda called b******t and he was like, “Neh, you dont understand.” I was stunned later that summer when I went up to visit. The driveway was hand layed cobblestone with at least 20 year old hardwood trees every 30ft that they had tree-spaded and shipped from all over the states. Mother-f****r wasn’t lying, if anything I would say he was being a little conservative.
#22
Image source: r0b3rtab0ndar, freepik
My old band played a show for the owner of The Chapters (net worth. 600 million, basically the Canadian Barnes and Noble) and her husband (owner of Onyx Equity, 1.2 billion) in Nantucket.
They literally had a gift-shop in their basement.
#23
Image source: A-wild-comment, Syced
Only drinking fiji water. My friends mom. I’ve been friends with him for 12 years and she will literally only drink Fiji water, she even brings a bottle to restaurants so she wont have to drink the free water they give you.
#24
Back in high school, I sat next to this really, *really* rich kid in one of my classes. He lived with his grandparents who had been pulling in the big bucks for generations.
Now, I’m not the type of person to hate on you if you’re wealthy. In fact, I am highly *proud* of my counterparts in the upper classes. That being said, public displays of wealth that are notably done to show off really annoy me.
Anyway, one day, we’re sitting in class, and this kid accidentally — at least I hope so — drops a $100 bill on the ground. I point to it and go, “Man, you just dropped your money”. I kid you not, this guy looks me square in the eyes and goes, “Thanks, but it’s not like I need it,” and proceeds to stomp on it and squish it with his feet.
He eventually picked up the dishevelled bill, and put it back into his Gucci wallet. Thanks for nothing, I guess.
#25
Spending between 5-7 grand a week on c**ck, buying it almost daily. He also brought new pipes each time, which I know is cheap but you can reuse the kind he brought. The day old pipes would be all over the floor, by the way. This same guy also flew out his step-son to Amsterdam just for hookers on his 16th birthday. The old f**k is currently owner of two mansions in separate states and has a original Pac Man machine just to have.
Oh! He also spent 4 grand on poodle puppies on an impulse. He got cranky because he had to get a toy and a mini instead of two toys. They were bred for the lulz (one was almost given to the crack dealer but my SO took him instead and he’s happy and normal sized now) and were almost thrown away but his wife stopped that. And they’re not with him since he’s at one of his houses and they’re at the other one.
I grew up lower middle class, so he is the first and only rich person I have ever met. There surely were other displays of wealth but these the ones that stuck with me.
Edit: Imagine Frank Reynolds (with a dash of Dennis’ sexual deviancy and c**ck a*******n) without the charm and what makes them funny. That’s the best way to describe him. I’m sure he’s even pulled the fake-out.
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