Extreme wealth can end up putting some people in quite the bubble. Users of Reddit shared their stories about other kids who’ve come down with a case of ‘Spoiled Rich-Kid Syndrome’, here’s some of the best!
1. The more accidents, the better the gift.
A kid in my graduating high school class was very wealthy. His parents bought him a Land Rover when he was 16 and he crashed it into a school bus. They bought him another Land Rover and he lost it street racing. Guess what? They bought him a Mercedes.
NordyNed
2. What is ‘no money’?
When I was a broke bike messenger, I was dating a woman who was heir to a major restaurant fortune. One evening, she wanted to go to a club downtown, and I said I couldn’t go because I didn’t have any money. She said I should come on anyway so I figured she’s footing the bill.
When we got to the club and it’s time to pay the cover at the door, she pays for herself and starts to walk in. I’m like, “hey–I don’t have any money. I can’t get in.” She comes back out and tells me to just put it on my credit card, but of course I don’t have one. The she tells me she’ll drive me to an ATM. But of course I don’t have a bank account because I’m broke.
I’m standing there in the street with her, trying futilely to explain that I literally do not own any money. She could not grasp the concept. I ended up walking home and she went to the club.
feckinkidleys
3. The only way to get to the airport.
Fraternity did a pledge event in which we were placed in a limo.
Normal Friend: “Wow, this is awesome! I’ve never been in a limo before!”
Rich Kid Syndrome Friend: “Haven’t you ever been to the airport??”
AndTheDrumsGoOn
4. I Paid for an A!
I went to a private school for high school, so we had a lot of those “crashed one fancy car and daddy bought them a new one” kind of stories floating around. But I didn’t know any of them personally.
Then I went to a private college. Suddenly most of my classmates seemed to be these people. The worst by far was this guy my roommate dated for a while:
-Had a really nice car but had no idea how to take care of it. When it started to have trouble, he dropped it in front of a friend’s house and had his parents buy him a new one.
-Spilled a drink all over someone’s computer and when they got upset, he laughed and told them they could just get a new one.
-Told several professors that he “paid for an A so he damn well better get it.” (In poetry class, WTF dude, that was the easiest A ever.)
-Didn’t understand why my roommate went home for a weekend to help her dad after surgery. He asked her why she didn’t “have people for that.”
-Threw away his text books when he was done with them. (I dug through his trash with his roommate and we split the haul even-stevens.)
And so, so much more. He didn’t last long as my roommate’s boyfriend nor as anyone’s friend. I don’t think he ever graduated. Weirdly, he had a twin sister who was very sweet and down to earth, so I have no idea how that happened.
SalemScout
5. Someone’s gotta boost youth employment rates.
My suite mate freshman year of college would pay me, my roommate and his roommate to his chores for him every couple of weeks. He literally gave me $20 for making his bed.
frostyaznguy
6. Dorm rooms must just be so overwhelming to clean.
I went to a 50k/yr private school, I knew probably a dozen kids who had professional cleaning done on their dorm.
IM_OK_AMA
7. Not a great way to make friends
Dude would stand in a club and rip up bills of 10 euro yelling “this is nothing to me!”. Okay, how about just giving away beer instead of antagonizing anyone in sight.
owbro
8. Academic success rests on screen size.
Used to work in an electrical store in a university town in the UK. Once had a family come in shopping for computer goods for the girl to go to university with. She was wearing a big red hat (the kind you would wear to horse racing) which I thought was pretty ‘look at me with my big red hat’. ANYWAY she kicked off because her ‘Daddy’ would only buy her a MacBook Pro & iMac 21″ for her university room and not the 27″ version – She started crying and suggesting she will fail her degree until Daddy gave in and bought the 27″ iMAC.
WE88Y
9. Pretty good job incentive though
I worked in a retail park also in a uni town but since it was a toy retailer I didn’t get any good stories like this but heard from ones from people who worked around us. Sadly, you got a lot.
We always used to have the complimentary university rich kid at Christmas however, with one girl crying on the phone to her father at the interview because he wouldn’t buy her a boat if she didn’t get a job.
partlyfunctioning
10. He really did think he was helping though.
I met a kid who didn’t understand the concept of washing dishes.
Wife went back to college. New city, didn’t know anyone. Started a Movie Night thing to meet some people and build a social circle.
We provided a home cooked meal, a fun movies that most people hadn’t seen, and a place to gather – went over great and had 6-12 people showing up each week to hang out and talk and eat our food. Generally good people, because she was going back to college – a lot of college kids came. All good.
I knew this one guy was from a rich family, his first night there he’s bragging to everyone who’ll listen about this 30k+ truck his parents just bought him and telling everybody how awesome he is.
After everything is done we’re collecting dishes in the kitchen and he walks over and following me to the kitchen he walks in and puts his dish and silverware in the trash can.
“Hey man, what are you doing?” I’m assuming he brain blanked for a second, no big deal.
“What?”
“Give me the dishes, don’t throw em out.” It’s a ceramic plate, not a paper one…
“Why?” He asks, obviously confused.
“… I’m going to wash it.”
“Why?” He repeats.
…Now I’m confused. “So it’ll be clean for next time?”
“Oh! Like the dining hall. Oh. Ok. Sure.”
I find out later he basically lives off take out, restaurants, etc – he’s never cooked anything in his life, his family has servants who clean up after meals and …. and he just assumed dishes were something you threw out when you were done. College was the first place where he even saw the idea of putting dishes somewhere other than the trash (or leaving them on the table) afterward.
He wasn’t a bad guy honestly, just… I was amazed something so incredibly basic had slipped by him for years.
Allisade
11. Sacrifice for science
Girl in my highschool physics class offering her brand new iphone to be destroyed in an experiment because “my dad will just buy me a new one”. She had it for like 1 week.
sombodyprobably
12. Petty, but satisfying.
I went to a private catholic high school, so you had alot of spoiled rich kids.
My first car was a 1994 Toyota Four Runner that mom had gotten at a police auction. It was raised, had a pretty good sound system and eventually the Antenna broke off so I stuck a cost hanger in there.
This car was ‘ghetto’ and all my friends loved it, Mostly because I was one of the first people on my class who could drive.
Anyway my friend’s girlfriend at the time was spoiled and she was given a Mercedes Benz S -class as a birthday gift. She constantly talked down about my car and talked about how much better her Benz was and how she “would never be caught dead” in a Toyota. I just her to enjoy it while she could, because she was going to wreck her car and “Daddy” wasn’t going to buy another one. Fast forward to that fateful day when she did crash her car a few miles away from school. I recognized her car so I stopped to ask if she was OK, she was fine. I told her “I would offer you a ride home but YOU WOULDNT BE CAUGHT DEAD in my car now would you?”
I left her there, yeah I pulled over mostly to rub it in her face. Yeah I was petty as hell, so sue me, she shouldn’t have been so rude.
MG87
13. A nice float every month.
My friend was Chinese Canadian. She worked as an English tutor for the Chinese Uni students. Her role was to teach them functional English, help their pronunciation and work with them on essays etc. What ended up happening was her teaching these students life skills (eg. how to use a washing machine, how to grocery shop etc.) She had to call one family because they were sending the 19 year old kid US $25,000 a month for living expenses. This was back when a student apartment was like $600 a month on average (90’s.) She explained to the parents that the amount was excessive. The parents chuckled about it but didn’t stop. hehe
My_Body_The_Mystery
14. The art and magic of the family fortune.
I volunteer for Burning Man, which happens to attract some of the worst trustafarians I have ever seen. People who claim to live bohemian lifestyles of art and magic, that also have unending parental support for their magical globetrotting adventure.
It’s frustrating, because these people live in the most sheltered bubble of all. I can’t even begin to describe how infuriating it is to deal with folks who can drop $50,000 on a week at a festival.
CromulentCombine
15. When rude, untrue, and naive become one.
Worked at Trader Joe’s while going to college (as did a lot of other people working there). One day while stocking the shelves with a co-worker, a father and his daughter were shopping next to my co-worker. I overheard the daughter ask “Daddy, what is she doing?” The father replied “Honey, that’s what happens when you don’t go to college.” My co-worker cried for the rest of her shift. The father was asked to leave. I’m can’t make many assumptions about his wealth but he definitely had the mentality.
DarthRusty
16. Somebody get this guy a clothing donation box.
Classmate at university was from Qatar. Family owned large shares in a bank and was generally very deeply involved with the financial world in the Middle East. Needless to say they were disgustingly filthy rich.
First day on campus we all decide to play soccer so he goes to his room to change. When we come back from playing we all go back to his room and when we walk in his clothes were still exactly where he threw them on the floor. He lost it at the idea that nobody would clean his room for him and that he had to do his own laundry.
He ended up going shopping every 2-3 weeks for really nice and expensive clothes and would throw them out after wearing them a few times because he didn’t want to do laundry. I’m talking about a Brooks Brothers button down shirt worth over $100 only being worn once or twice before ending up in the trash.
justacuriousguy123
17. ‘It’s a beautiful view from up here of my other home’
I used to work at a wholesale kitchen appliance distributor. It was a multi-million dollar company. The CEO’s daughter was my age (23 at the time) and would often come talk with us in sales. She had a highrise condo by herself downtown, worth about $300,000. After I left, I bumped into one of my old coworkers and she came up in our conversation. I asked how she was doing, and my coworker informed me that daddy bought her another highrise condo, which was directly across from her current condo, and the only other condo on that floor. Why did she get 2 highrise condos? Well, she wanted the floor to herself. I kinda felt sorry for her because she was an only child and didn’t have many friends. She’d also never had a boyfriend in her life. She confided this in me when we were talking alone one time, and said all the guys she tries to date are intimidated by her family’s wealth. Looking back now, I think she might have been coming onto me. I still regret not asking her out…
Primitive_Teabagger
18. The injustice burns.
When I was about 17, I had recently saved up enough money to buy a new smartphone. It took forever since I was a high schooler earning minimum wage, and being told by my parents to use money on certain things. So in total, I had very little say in what my money would be used for. So when I had enough for this smartphone, I was too excited.
So, it’s been about a year with this phone. I plan on keeping it for a couple more since I prefer to use them until they’re completely useless. I’m holding it and standing outside in a parking lot, waiting for my friend inside the store. She comes out, and comes up to me (she is spoiled rotten, mind you). She’s hyped up about something, I never found out what. She grabbed my phone, and I thought she was going to make a call since she left her phone at home. I warned her to be careful with it.
No, she was not careful. She wasn’t making a call at all. She threw my phone in the air and caught it. At this point, I was flipping shit and running over to her to take it back. Back she threw it again, much higher, and tried to catch it. She did not catch it. My phone was completely shattered. I was horrified, and cradling it like she just dropped my newborn child.
I kept asking her why she did it. She just laughed and said, “I didn’t think it was gonna break.” I got angry and said that it took forever to save up for it. She replied, “Just ask your mom for a new one.”
Are. You. Kidding. Me.
I told her not everyone can ask their parents for a couple hundred dollars for a new phone. She simply shrugged and said, “It’s just $300. Not really that much.” She doesn’t work, obviously. She doesn’t know what $300 means to a teenager making minimum wage. She then asked me to tell my mom that I broke it so she wouldn’t get in trouble. Needless to say, when I told my mom how it broke, (the truth), my friend was pretty pissed. In fact, she refused to buy me a new phone when I asked, she wouldn’t tell her parents, and she never invited me over again so I could tell her mom.
So a few years later, I’m out and about and in town again, and I see my old friend’s mom. We were catching up from the last time we saw each other, which was before the phone incident. Then her mom says, “It’s a shame you two stopped talking because you were upset that you broke your phone.” Well, I quickly ended the conversation and went on my merry way.
Side note, I have an iPhone now. I don’t let anyone near it.
TangoTheMango
19. A ‘self-made’ kid.
Knew a kid that once offered to take me out on his boat. I asked if his parents would be okay with us taking it. He informed me that he had bought the boat with his own money.
What he meant is that he had bought a yacht with his allowance. At 18 years old, he had earned enough money through his allowance with his parents to purchase a $50,000+ boat. I couldn’t believe that. I used to get $20 a week to mow my parents lawn, and my friends couldn’t believe that they were willing to pay me to mow our own lawn.
ILookLikeHyde
20. How not to win points with grandma
During a holiday, my cousins came down to visit from new York. Two of them were younger (I think one was 11, the other 15 at the time) and we knew that their family had a decent amount of money. my grandmother, not having a lot to give and not knowing what these two boys could want, gave them money cards with 20$ a piece inside instead of gifts. When they opened them, the younger one laughed loudly and the older one just looked disgusted before looking up at my grandmas smiling face and saying “what the **** do you think we can buy with 20$?”
PillbugPudding
21. Stay positive. Get car.
My cousin is just graduated from high school last year. His parents are big time real estate agents in our hometown, like they both probably clear $1 million a year easily. So my cousin goes off to college and gets busted for public drunkenness and resisting arrest his first semester. Gets expelled from school, starts bumming off his folks for money. His dad just bought him a brand new Range Rover last weekend as a “reward for learning from his mistakes and staying positive when the law targeted him”
NC_DE336
22. They heard sunglasses make you look cool, AND WHAT IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN THAT?
I worked at SunglassHut in south Florida. One day a family of four came in to buy glasses. Now I am used to people having money and buying stupidly expensive sunglasses. But the Dad told the kids, who were probably 6 and 4, to get the glasses they wanted. Both grabbed 4 pairs of sunglasses that cost over $250 each. Then both kids pulled out wads of $100 bills to pay for them.
Flapadoodle
23. Doesn’t everyone has as much money as me?
A guy I worked with right out of college had a similar background. One day we were talking about buying our first homes since we were both in the market. My budget was under $200k, his was $450-$500k. He just couldn’t figure out why our budgets were so different since we had the same job for the same amount of time.
The reason why? He was still driving the brand new Audi he got for his 16th birthday so he never had to buy a car, and he was selling the $200k condo he lived in rent free all of college that his parent’s gave him as a graduation gift. But he was adamant that he was affording the house all on his own with no help from his parents.
bravo145
24. She must not have been that mad then.
Old roommate signed up for classes at the community college. Never. Not once went to class. Obviously failed. His mom got mad and over the phone he explained to her that the reason he failed was his car wasn’t good enough (2012 Ford which was fine) and needed a new one. So his mom buys him a brand new car (2016). He signs up for classes the next semester. And still ends up never going to class.
Throwawayiro
25. The art life is tough.
I have a friend I went to art school with and we both studied photo. We both coincidentally live in a large city, where I have been working and making art in my spare time for about a decade. She’s also been here about that long, but has been fortunate enough to have her father completely underwrite her life- meaning no need to work, and she even has a full in-home darkroom set up in her apartment. Well, dad finally pulled the plug on the free art life. So, now she is likely going to have to leave our city. Her response was to set up a Go Fund Me – to the tune of 11 grand– asking her friends to pitch in to help her renew her lease and pay rent, etc.
Pretty mind boggling on so many levels. I guess people who have had stuff handed to them their entire life have a very different concept of what’s owed to them, and what’s okay to ask for. The art life is tough, I know from lived experience, but there’s no way in hell I’d hit my friends up for rent money over it. The killer is, she’s had a decade of what amounts to a free art grant, and the amount of work she’s produced is ridiculously small. I personally create more work in a year, and that’s with a full time job.
NYArtFan1
26. She -seemed- down to earth
At university I met a girl who became part of our friend group. She seemed down to earth, however it became evident she wasn’t at university to expand her career prospects, but to appease her parents and have fun.
Unexpectedly, we were lumped with a bill, and all of us living together needed to find 200. I had a job, and she kindly offered to pay it and I could pay her back weekly.
She changed her mind a few weeks later, and demanded I pay in full immediately. I obviously obliged, not wanting to cause any issues, causing me to not have money to feed myself for a few weeks. A day later she had forgotten all about it and was joking with us all about how she had run out of cash, but it’s okay cos she told Daddy and he transfered a few thousand to her. She laughed the entire time.
Hilarious.
KaiherJens
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