Admit it — when you were a kid, you dreamed about what it'd be like to have tons of money. You'd probably own your own pool, eat candy for breakfast, and have housecleaners take care of any chores you had. But what is it really like to be wealthy?
Thankfully, one Redditor posted the question on the AskReddit forum, hoping to get information from those who may have seen pure wealth from a different perspective. User NeighborhoodTrolley asked the question of, "People who cater to the super rich; What things have you seen?"
And of course, Reddit delivered. Some of the stories are so ridiculous that you might not even believe them. But it'll definitely change your view on what a wealthy lifestyle really looks like.
A lot of people seem to know wealthy individuals who enjoy yacht life.
You might not even know what a yacht actually is. (OK, I looked it up — it could be as small as a medium-sized sailboat, but they always seem to be tied to the rich and famous.) While you, yourself, might not own one, plenty of Redditors know people who do. Like Redditor clovisson.
They mentioned a client who asked to have their yacht anchored at a specific location and to prepare a lunch spread for 50 people after that happened. "They got there and set up the food," they said. "The guy never showed up. Turns out he was having a rich dude party in a building overlooking the harbour and wanted to be able to point down and say 'that's my boat'. He wanted the lunch just in case he decided to take his rich friends down to his yacht, but he didn’t feel like it that day."
That means food for 50 just went to waste. It seems a little cruel.
Sylvester Stallone and his art collection also got a mention.
Did you know that Sylvester Stallone owns a lot of art? But all of his pieces have something in common — they're all reportedly based on him. "A friend did some work on Sylvester Stallone's home," wrote CaravelClerihew. "Apparently there's a ton of statues and art of himself, some of which are naked and very well endowed." Yikes.
Useroftheinternet99 admitted that they're a budding artist and once worked a job as a gardener in a wealthy community. "Some customers are really eager to show me their collection of artworks that they have hanging on their walls once they find out that I study it," they said. "I remember one time standing in a bathroom, with my dirty gardening clothes and there was a Picasso above the toilet." That must have felt a bit intimidating.
It seems like the rich often take exceptionally good care of their pets.
At least, according to a Redditor who used to work as a housekeeper for someone with plenty of bucks. "The best thing I have ever seen is the wife of a rich guy, or something of that sort, had custom suits of armour made for her cats," they said. "She had them displayed along with tiny suits of armour for mice."
Not going to lie, if I came across a cat who'd tolerate a suit of armor, that cat would be my new best friend.
It's especially interesting when the money is technically in your family. Undefined_protocol talked about their wealthy great uncle, who happened to have a guest mansion for his kids when they visited. But the best part was his cannon.
"He bought a cannon," they wrote. "He used it to shoot the mountain behind his house. He shot brand new special bowling balls out of it. They cost 100 bucks per ball."
One of the scariest stories involved kids of the rich and famous.
You'd assume that kids would be living pretty well when they had rich parents. But that's not necessarily true. As harpejjist pointed out with their comment, the rich kids they knew were constantly fearing for their lives. Those kids likely came with a lot of anxiety, which is pretty heartbreaking.
With their own eyes, they witnessed a child have to hide in a dog crate to get rid of someone who broke in.
"One kid I worked with was the kid of a big hollywood player," they wrote. "And people would stalk the kid in an attempt to get to the parent. So this nutjob wielding a screenplay broke in and cornered the kid. Here I am thinking I am going to have to throw myself physically between them but the kid dove into a nearby dog kennel and locked themselves in."
They mentioned that the child always had to think of how to escape.
"He couldn't get out but the nutjob couldn't get in either," they continued. "So the nutjob just threw the screenplay at him into the kennel! Meanwhile I had called the cops. I was so impressed by the kid's quick thinking and asked how he got the idea. But he said that he always keeps an eye out for a way to escape."
Those trying to break into Hollywood? Keep a note, this isn't the best way.
But one of the craziest has to be the couple who can't stand each other but don't want to divorce because of the money. So they did the next logical thing — they bought a house with enough distance between them.
"They had separate elevators installed so they would never worry about ever having to see each other!" wrote EstimatedProfits, who told the tale.
But, of course, there were some wealthy people who were ridiculously frugal.
There are always two sides of the coin. And sometimes, people with money don't necessarily like to splurge. They still like a free deal every once in a while, like a client that Redditor sunlitglo once had.
"Client was a mega millionaire in the 60s so even richer when I met him," they wrote. "He'd ride the bus to the office to have free coffee. Every day."
And that makes sense, too. Who doesn't like a free perk, or spending money when they don't have to?
No matter what, the thread was a reminder that there's all kinds of people out there. Some don't understand whether or not $50,000 is enough for an allowance, while others will make sure to pick up every penny and nickel they see on the street. But it begs the question: How would you live if money weren't an issue?
These stories are based on posts found on Reddit. Reddit is a user-generated social news aggregation, web content rating, and discussion website where registered members submit content to the site and can up- or down-vote the content. The accuracy and authenticity of each story cannot be confirmed by our staff.
