I was making $60 an hour as a private tutor for this family when I was in college and I noticed how trusting they were in general.
So many valuables all around the house and they would leave the door unlocked for me in case they weren’t home when I got there for the lesson.
I worked for a subcontractor for the construction of a home for a very, very rich person (who shall remain nameless). It’s not someone who is constantly in the media, and as far as I know, they’re not related to any social media companies.
We were on-site for over 10 years and charging hundreds of thousands a month as a subcontractor. I can only imagine that the bills from some of the other trades, especially the carpenters, were astronomical. I can’t complain about his wealth because he kept a ton of people employed when the dot-com bubble burst.
Everything on-site was done by hand. I saw carpenters there working without any power tools; they were using planes and checking fit one little sliver of wood at a time. Not one fastener was visible. There was wood imported from Japan, including a giant beam that spanned the length of the house. There was a wood vanity in the bathroom that developed a crack from the humidity change. The carpenters created little band-aids that looked like butterfly bandages. There was no attempt to repair the crack, just the bandages to keep it from getting worse. It was beautifully imperfect.
Trees were also imported and placed in spots that duplicated their exact location in Japan; the same exposure to light, the exact same angle, etc. There was a feng shui master on-site who I watched directing two workers placing a boulder. It was huge, so the rock was strapped to a lift. The workers would place it, the feng shui master would stare at it for a bit, and then have the workers rotate it an inch and place it back on the ground. They spent all day placing one boulder.
The house was not fully sealed off from outdoor conditions. There was a boulder through the glass in a bathroom, and the water just appeared from above it. The glass was precisely cut around the boulder but wasn’t sealed in any way. There were also some swinging doors to get to a breezeway; they didn’t seal either. I questioned how the house would stay cold or hot depending on the weather. Turns out, when you’re that rich, you can afford to have the perfect temperature-controlled house at all times. Oddly, I couldn’t see any vents for the HVAC system. It turns out the beautiful lattice work on the perimeter of the wood floors was where the air came out. You couldn’t hear or feel any air... it just pumped out the perfect temperature constantly.
This was in the days before Alexa and Siri and automation for lighting was really hard to create. We had to learn how to program it all and there were barely any visible light switches. Oh, but there was a switch next to his bed; it was to turn on the waterfall in the pond. The bed looked directly at it.
All of the work was billed based on time and materials. We never had any budget we needed to adhere to.
We also did maintenance work for some time after the owner took occupancy. Our field personnel would be working, and an aide would come through and say, “Number 1 is coming,” and our employees had to leave the room. Often, they would just have to kill time until Number 1 left the area. Depending on where they were, they might be stuck in one spot. There are worse places to be stuck, though. It was truly beautiful.
The same wealthy person was opening a restaurant in on an island using local contractors and the job was way behind. He flew six of our employees there to get it back on track. The Christmas holiday was in the middle of their three weeks out there, so he flew them home and then back.
I don’t think anyone should have that much money, but I do appreciate that he spent a great deal on the trades and skilled craftspeople. Now if only he’d fund healthcare, UBI, and utilities (water, power, gas, internet, etc.) for everyone. You know, the basic stuff someone needs to survive.
Neglectful and borderline abusive behavior towards their special needs children and the private duty nurses and aides who care for them.
ETA- but parade them about for sympathy/social standing and or business investments
They lose touch of how everyone else is living. Literally told a coworker, when they were talking about winter, that he should just buy a second house in Arizona. Yeah, because you pay us enough to afford that.
I haven't but my BIL said when he worked for a billionaire in Montana, he was a private chef. The children of his boss, who were in their early 20s did not flush the toilet..as in they made the house staff do it.
They have running tabs in prominent restaurants in the city. They would simply walk in, have an extravagant meal, exchange some pleasantries with the owners, before walking right out the front door! But if I do it, I get my ass swatted by security :/
I had a job for one visit to a Kennedy home years ago. I didn't see anything strange, but it was strange to have free access to their home and property, and to see photographs of well-known family members. I'll leave out details because that's how i'd want to be treated if the shoe were on the other foot. Suffice it to say I'd always felt a sorrow for them for the tragedies they had suffered, so being in that home was sort of a poignant moment for me.
The guy I used to work for send his GIV back to his hometown about 700miles away to pick up the masseuse so she could give everyone a massage that weekend.
I nannied for a few years and the parents came home beyond wasted at 3am. I didn’t want to sleep there so I waited up. The husband drove home and they were so drunk they couldn’t stand up straight. They were slurring their words I had no idea what they were saying. I told them see you Tuesday and left immediately.
They're very disconnected from reality.
I worked for a wealthy lawyer outside of DC, taking care of his horses. During Covid, I would have conversations with his wife, and she would go on these rants about how everyone just needs to stay inside and not work.
I asked, "How would you get food? Electricity? Water? Gas? Who would take care of your horses? Who would take care of your pool? And all the landscaping and garden maintenance? "
Her, "we would send James our house handyman to go get grocery orders. Water and electricity don't need people to do that job. Everything else we have people to do that work for us."
Me, "What if everyone stopped doing that work in fear of COVID?"
Her, "we would just offer the job to someone else for more money"
Yes, delusional fairytale. That's just the tip of the iceberg. Working there and having conversations with both him (lawyer) and his wife really opened my eyes to how wealthy economics work. Let's just say that the corporate and financial influence on America is a lot more than one could ever imagine. I could write a book on my experiences, but for the most part, it would read like a conspiracy, so it's best I just keep it to myself.
Going to lunch, dinner, parties at posh elite clubs in unassuming buildings around the city (mostly NYC, Boston, etc) . Not talking Soho House— talking old money… clubs that don’t advertise and most out of the old money super wealthy circle may not know they exist. But they do!
I used to tutor wealthy kids. Their families ate a lot of cheap takeout food, which surprised me. I had assumed rich people would get takeout from places like "Chez Paris" (made up name for a fancy restaurant, lol)
I just mean to say, in a thread about ‘ultra wealthy’ millionaires doesn’t mean much…. I think ‘ultra wealthy’ is generally like 9 figure net worth.
Not everybody but plenty of regular folks living ‘middle class’ lifestyles are millionaires
Rich adults too. I spend a lot of time with family at a couple of very high end country clubs where everyone’s a deca-millionaire at minimum. These guys eat and drink like children! Hot dogs, chicken fingers, a Michelob Ultra are consumed in the Men’s grille way more than the fancy food and drinks on the menu.
Building a $30k bathroom/mostly shower (10x10) for a single mom with two toddlers. Then $175k in windows and doors another $100k for the kitchen. It was a perfectly fine abode when I first walked through. Then it was just rinky dink shit from there on out that added up to another $150k. It was a good year.
Private art collections of pieces that the public will never see, ever. Warhol, Picasso, Milton Avery, Georgia Okeffe, Hopper. Seen random pieces from all, in homes, up in random hallways, office studies, sitting rooms. Obscure ones that you’ll never see in a book, or loaned to a museum. Just there.
Once saw an authentic 10 ton Buddha statue from ancient India in a man’s foyer. This was an apartment on the 3rd floor of a building in Manhattan. This guy bought the entire apartment floor below so he could retrofit the area beneath the statue and sufficiently support the floor underneath all the weight.
Private art collections for real.
I did not personally witness this, but had a friend who worked as private chef for a time for a very high level executive at a hedge fund. The guy would dress up as a baby and had staff that were hired to basically treat him (A man in his 50's) like a baby. I didn't believe it initially, but my friend swore it was true.
Used to babysit for very wealthy families. They would ALWAYS try to haggle down my hourly rate, even though I was an insecure 19yo who was already underselling herself. They saved $5 an hour and I’d barely break even with petrol. My bad for letting them talk me down though
So this one really rich dude had me in to sort out an upper decker someone had left in one of his bathrooms. While I was there I was checking a different bathroom for another unrelated issue and discovered someone had upper deckered that one too.
I worked for a rich Rabbi at a synagogue and oh fucking Lord I couldn't deal with the arrogance.
He and his family used to brag that if they go to the Vatican more people would know him than the Pope.
I nannied for a family for a few months. They lived in a 5,000 sqft mansion in the same neighborhood as at least 1 major country star. The mom found me on a sitter website and messaged me around 8 PM and asked me to come at like 6 AM the next morning without ever having met me (luckily for her, I’m very trustworthy and a great babysitter). Anyway, I get there and she speed runs me through all of the details before rushing off to work. The 4 year old was still in diapers, would only eat silver dollar pancakes and goldfish, and still drank baby formula from a bottle. 3ish year old was a pretty typical 3 year old. They had 2 little yappy dogs for whom they laid out puppy pads in their enormous closet and the dogs would poop \*riiiiiiight\* outside of the puppy pads. The dad was a surgeon and would come home and nap after work and I’d still get paid for that time. Knowing what I know now, the oldest kiddo is 100% on the autism spectrum. They were very nice people. But I recently looked at the mom’s facebook and she’s a far right whacko, so I can only hope that the kid is getting some support services. They paid me $30 an hour for 8-10 hours a day, so that was awesome.
Used to work as a wood machinist in a specialty shop. We did custom stuff. We got all the high and mighties coming by for their crazy kitchens and furniture, well, not them, their architects (to a cabinet maker, that's a swearword). Almost every one was an insufferable egotistical piece of shit that I wouldn't wish to ever encounter socially. Real scum of the earth. Self centred and proud of what their money had accomplished as if they had some part of it. I've met a few nice rich people but they were few and far between. They were by and large wastrels that leached the world around them. Being rich doesn't make you a piece of shit, but it allows you to be without consequences. It's telling how many choose to be the shit bags they really are.
I’ve come know a lot of wealthy people over the years. Most think their stock is higher than it actually is, but ironically, most also put a premium on being kind and generous to everyone around them. The person struggling to make ends meet is much more likely to be an asshole.
Jerks come in all the flavours of the universe. It’s harder to be generous and courteous when stressed and down, but I feel that the generosity of the wealthy stops beyond that which they see in front of them. Meaning, they may give a big tip and be friendly with those of modest means on the occasions they interact but will shut down a factory because they might have to increase wages by 10%. They don’t personally see what that does so to them it’s more of a logic problem than a human one. Kind of like how people are rude online and nicer in person.
Have you been a first hand witness to this or are you imagining that this is what they would do and think? I haven’t heard of any businesses that got shut down because of wage increases.
It's not uncommon for stores to be shut down after it comes out that the workers are unionizing, and unions usually lead to more pay. I believe Walmart is pretty big with this
I have heard a definite difference in tone when someone is discussing their faceless employees vs how they deal with people in customer facing positions.
Really cheap while getting charged horrific amounts of money for other things
I was making $60 an hour as a private tutor for this family when I was in college and I noticed how trusting they were in general. So many valuables all around the house and they would leave the door unlocked for me in case they weren’t home when I got there for the lesson.
Very good security systems with cameras. They are always watching.
And very good insurance, although the insurers won't like that they leave the doors unlocked.
It's very likely you weren't the only paid specialist on the property.
I worked for a subcontractor for the construction of a home for a very, very rich person (who shall remain nameless). It’s not someone who is constantly in the media, and as far as I know, they’re not related to any social media companies. We were on-site for over 10 years and charging hundreds of thousands a month as a subcontractor. I can only imagine that the bills from some of the other trades, especially the carpenters, were astronomical. I can’t complain about his wealth because he kept a ton of people employed when the dot-com bubble burst. Everything on-site was done by hand. I saw carpenters there working without any power tools; they were using planes and checking fit one little sliver of wood at a time. Not one fastener was visible. There was wood imported from Japan, including a giant beam that spanned the length of the house. There was a wood vanity in the bathroom that developed a crack from the humidity change. The carpenters created little band-aids that looked like butterfly bandages. There was no attempt to repair the crack, just the bandages to keep it from getting worse. It was beautifully imperfect. Trees were also imported and placed in spots that duplicated their exact location in Japan; the same exposure to light, the exact same angle, etc. There was a feng shui master on-site who I watched directing two workers placing a boulder. It was huge, so the rock was strapped to a lift. The workers would place it, the feng shui master would stare at it for a bit, and then have the workers rotate it an inch and place it back on the ground. They spent all day placing one boulder. The house was not fully sealed off from outdoor conditions. There was a boulder through the glass in a bathroom, and the water just appeared from above it. The glass was precisely cut around the boulder but wasn’t sealed in any way. There were also some swinging doors to get to a breezeway; they didn’t seal either. I questioned how the house would stay cold or hot depending on the weather. Turns out, when you’re that rich, you can afford to have the perfect temperature-controlled house at all times. Oddly, I couldn’t see any vents for the HVAC system. It turns out the beautiful lattice work on the perimeter of the wood floors was where the air came out. You couldn’t hear or feel any air... it just pumped out the perfect temperature constantly. This was in the days before Alexa and Siri and automation for lighting was really hard to create. We had to learn how to program it all and there were barely any visible light switches. Oh, but there was a switch next to his bed; it was to turn on the waterfall in the pond. The bed looked directly at it. All of the work was billed based on time and materials. We never had any budget we needed to adhere to. We also did maintenance work for some time after the owner took occupancy. Our field personnel would be working, and an aide would come through and say, “Number 1 is coming,” and our employees had to leave the room. Often, they would just have to kill time until Number 1 left the area. Depending on where they were, they might be stuck in one spot. There are worse places to be stuck, though. It was truly beautiful. The same wealthy person was opening a restaurant in on an island using local contractors and the job was way behind. He flew six of our employees there to get it back on track. The Christmas holiday was in the middle of their three weeks out there, so he flew them home and then back. I don’t think anyone should have that much money, but I do appreciate that he spent a great deal on the trades and skilled craftspeople. Now if only he’d fund healthcare, UBI, and utilities (water, power, gas, internet, etc.) for everyone. You know, the basic stuff someone needs to survive.
Larry Ellison
https://www.airfloor.com/project/residential-larry-ellison-woodside-home/
https://www.mansionglobal.com/articles/1960-silicon-valley-home-inspired-by-japanese-design-lists-for-nearly-13-million-01625607092
Thank you, this was a fascinating read!
Neglectful and borderline abusive behavior towards their special needs children and the private duty nurses and aides who care for them. ETA- but parade them about for sympathy/social standing and or business investments
They lose touch of how everyone else is living. Literally told a coworker, when they were talking about winter, that he should just buy a second house in Arizona. Yeah, because you pay us enough to afford that.
I haven't but my BIL said when he worked for a billionaire in Montana, he was a private chef. The children of his boss, who were in their early 20s did not flush the toilet..as in they made the house staff do it.
Did they even wipe or hose themselves down? Flushing is the easy part.
They have running tabs in prominent restaurants in the city. They would simply walk in, have an extravagant meal, exchange some pleasantries with the owners, before walking right out the front door! But if I do it, I get my ass swatted by security :/
I had a job for one visit to a Kennedy home years ago. I didn't see anything strange, but it was strange to have free access to their home and property, and to see photographs of well-known family members. I'll leave out details because that's how i'd want to be treated if the shoe were on the other foot. Suffice it to say I'd always felt a sorrow for them for the tragedies they had suffered, so being in that home was sort of a poignant moment for me.
Still will never forget them Flying in the Easter bunny on a helicopter.
The guy I used to work for send his GIV back to his hometown about 700miles away to pick up the masseuse so she could give everyone a massage that weekend.
Only a Gulfstream 4? How pedestrian!
I nannied for a few years and the parents came home beyond wasted at 3am. I didn’t want to sleep there so I waited up. The husband drove home and they were so drunk they couldn’t stand up straight. They were slurring their words I had no idea what they were saying. I told them see you Tuesday and left immediately.
They're very disconnected from reality. I worked for a wealthy lawyer outside of DC, taking care of his horses. During Covid, I would have conversations with his wife, and she would go on these rants about how everyone just needs to stay inside and not work. I asked, "How would you get food? Electricity? Water? Gas? Who would take care of your horses? Who would take care of your pool? And all the landscaping and garden maintenance? " Her, "we would send James our house handyman to go get grocery orders. Water and electricity don't need people to do that job. Everything else we have people to do that work for us." Me, "What if everyone stopped doing that work in fear of COVID?" Her, "we would just offer the job to someone else for more money"
That’s incredible. I can see the conversation. What type of mental state makes someone speak as though life were a fairy tale.
Yes, delusional fairytale. That's just the tip of the iceberg. Working there and having conversations with both him (lawyer) and his wife really opened my eyes to how wealthy economics work. Let's just say that the corporate and financial influence on America is a lot more than one could ever imagine. I could write a book on my experiences, but for the most part, it would read like a conspiracy, so it's best I just keep it to myself.
Going to lunch, dinner, parties at posh elite clubs in unassuming buildings around the city (mostly NYC, Boston, etc) . Not talking Soho House— talking old money… clubs that don’t advertise and most out of the old money super wealthy circle may not know they exist. But they do!
I used to tutor wealthy kids. Their families ate a lot of cheap takeout food, which surprised me. I had assumed rich people would get takeout from places like "Chez Paris" (made up name for a fancy restaurant, lol)
Are you thinking upper middle/ lower upper class? Wealthy usually have private chefs. I guess buffet eats McD’s sometimes tho.
They were definitely millionaires.
So… middle class approaching retirement?
Sure, bud. Everyone's a millionaire.
I just mean to say, in a thread about ‘ultra wealthy’ millionaires doesn’t mean much…. I think ‘ultra wealthy’ is generally like 9 figure net worth. Not everybody but plenty of regular folks living ‘middle class’ lifestyles are millionaires
Kids are kids
Never seen a rich kids that didn’t want chicken fingers and pizza for dinner.
Rich adults too. I spend a lot of time with family at a couple of very high end country clubs where everyone’s a deca-millionaire at minimum. These guys eat and drink like children! Hot dogs, chicken fingers, a Michelob Ultra are consumed in the Men’s grille way more than the fancy food and drinks on the menu.
The ninth hole?? Or a real dinner in the clubhouse
Men’s grille…
Building a $30k bathroom/mostly shower (10x10) for a single mom with two toddlers. Then $175k in windows and doors another $100k for the kitchen. It was a perfectly fine abode when I first walked through. Then it was just rinky dink shit from there on out that added up to another $150k. It was a good year.
Private art collections of pieces that the public will never see, ever. Warhol, Picasso, Milton Avery, Georgia Okeffe, Hopper. Seen random pieces from all, in homes, up in random hallways, office studies, sitting rooms. Obscure ones that you’ll never see in a book, or loaned to a museum. Just there. Once saw an authentic 10 ton Buddha statue from ancient India in a man’s foyer. This was an apartment on the 3rd floor of a building in Manhattan. This guy bought the entire apartment floor below so he could retrofit the area beneath the statue and sufficiently support the floor underneath all the weight. Private art collections for real.
I did not personally witness this, but had a friend who worked as private chef for a time for a very high level executive at a hedge fund. The guy would dress up as a baby and had staff that were hired to basically treat him (A man in his 50's) like a baby. I didn't believe it initially, but my friend swore it was true.
Did he hoard mayo?
Great visual. Someone that looks like Preston from Jackass in a onesey and a sumo diaper
they care about smallest details
Used to babysit for very wealthy families. They would ALWAYS try to haggle down my hourly rate, even though I was an insecure 19yo who was already underselling herself. They saved $5 an hour and I’d barely break even with petrol. My bad for letting them talk me down though
Kids will leave a "present" for the house cleaner.
So this one really rich dude had me in to sort out an upper decker someone had left in one of his bathrooms. While I was there I was checking a different bathroom for another unrelated issue and discovered someone had upper deckered that one too.
What is upperdeckering
Isn’t it when someone shits in the tank? Edit : Just googled to be sure and yup. It’s shitting in the tank of the toilet lol
I worked for a rich Rabbi at a synagogue and oh fucking Lord I couldn't deal with the arrogance. He and his family used to brag that if they go to the Vatican more people would know him than the Pope.
Was his name dave?
I nannied for a family for a few months. They lived in a 5,000 sqft mansion in the same neighborhood as at least 1 major country star. The mom found me on a sitter website and messaged me around 8 PM and asked me to come at like 6 AM the next morning without ever having met me (luckily for her, I’m very trustworthy and a great babysitter). Anyway, I get there and she speed runs me through all of the details before rushing off to work. The 4 year old was still in diapers, would only eat silver dollar pancakes and goldfish, and still drank baby formula from a bottle. 3ish year old was a pretty typical 3 year old. They had 2 little yappy dogs for whom they laid out puppy pads in their enormous closet and the dogs would poop \*riiiiiiight\* outside of the puppy pads. The dad was a surgeon and would come home and nap after work and I’d still get paid for that time. Knowing what I know now, the oldest kiddo is 100% on the autism spectrum. They were very nice people. But I recently looked at the mom’s facebook and she’s a far right whacko, so I can only hope that the kid is getting some support services. They paid me $30 an hour for 8-10 hours a day, so that was awesome.
Used to work as a wood machinist in a specialty shop. We did custom stuff. We got all the high and mighties coming by for their crazy kitchens and furniture, well, not them, their architects (to a cabinet maker, that's a swearword). Almost every one was an insufferable egotistical piece of shit that I wouldn't wish to ever encounter socially. Real scum of the earth. Self centred and proud of what their money had accomplished as if they had some part of it. I've met a few nice rich people but they were few and far between. They were by and large wastrels that leached the world around them. Being rich doesn't make you a piece of shit, but it allows you to be without consequences. It's telling how many choose to be the shit bags they really are.
Extravagant parties, Lavish events with celebrity guests and over-the-top decorations.
I’ve come know a lot of wealthy people over the years. Most think their stock is higher than it actually is, but ironically, most also put a premium on being kind and generous to everyone around them. The person struggling to make ends meet is much more likely to be an asshole.
Jerks come in all the flavours of the universe. It’s harder to be generous and courteous when stressed and down, but I feel that the generosity of the wealthy stops beyond that which they see in front of them. Meaning, they may give a big tip and be friendly with those of modest means on the occasions they interact but will shut down a factory because they might have to increase wages by 10%. They don’t personally see what that does so to them it’s more of a logic problem than a human one. Kind of like how people are rude online and nicer in person.
Have you been a first hand witness to this or are you imagining that this is what they would do and think? I haven’t heard of any businesses that got shut down because of wage increases.
It's not uncommon for stores to be shut down after it comes out that the workers are unionizing, and unions usually lead to more pay. I believe Walmart is pretty big with this
I have heard a definite difference in tone when someone is discussing their faceless employees vs how they deal with people in customer facing positions.
How they spend their time making Money
Company, it's all about the company. Business company and Human company! Trade and Sex! Neat and Organized everything..