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People Describe The Most Obscene Displays Of Wealth They've Ever Witnessed

Man showing off expensive, chunky jewelry
Photo by alan King on Unsplash

Money is one of those things that many people find themselves wanting more of, simply for the sake of security and safety.

But for those who have money in multitudes, it's almost baffling how willingly they will throw large quantities of it away.


Already cringing, Redditor DefinitelyNot203Eels asked:

"What is the most egregious display of wealth you've ever personally seen?"

Unique Employment Opportunity

"I have a friend who was employed by a very famous old pop star. She lived on-site in his mansion (which itself was a very cute cottage) and was paid more than I am with no rent or bills for said cottage."

"Her job? To open the curtains of his bedroom in the mornings, put on classical music, and gently wake him up for the day."

"That sounds sexual, but it wasn't sexual; it was more like, 'Hey, hey big star, I know you're still sleepy but it's time to get up,' etc."

- princessflubcorn

Flaunting Cars

"My boss who owns his own plane likes to do s**t like flaunt the keys to his cars... Like, flick them round up close to the camera on a call to show off the logo."

"I think it really bugs him that I don't 'ooh' and 'aah' because I don't give a f**k about fancy cars."

"What does p**s me off is that there's an item I brought after much saving, and it means a lot to me. He heard about it and just went and brought two so he could comment about it."

- 10191AG

Her Annual Salary

"The company owner got a divorce, went on a shopping spree, and showed a receipt for tens of thousands of dollars to our receptionist as a way of showing off."

"What he spent was 80% of what she makes in a year. She was really uncomfortable and brought it to me as the HR (Human Resources) person."

- b***himgandalf

A Yacht for Your Yacht

"The first time I saw a support vessel, I was blown away."

"It's a yacht that accompanies your main yacht, and it stores your toys in its garage, it houses some of your staff, stores your supplies, etc."

- Eafeaturerequest

The "Just in Case" Staff

"I once met a woman while I was living in Singapore who was a full-time live-aboard chef for a super rich European who had several vessels, but only took a holiday on the one she worked on maybe once a year, but sometimes even more seldom."

"A full staff lived aboard full time, year-round, just in case this guy wanted to board, in which case they would sail to the port where he wanted them to pick him up."

- kiki_deli

The Biggest Cabin of Them All

"I worked in construction project management. We were building a log cabin for a very wealthy individual using western redwood. We had the piles, and foundation in place, the first floor completed, and about 25% done building the second floor."

"The largest base width of the redwood logs we were using was 44 feet, and the two-story fireplace that included 12 hearths was clad in architectural stone."

"The owner found out that the owner of a car dealership on the other side of the lake had just completed his log cabin with the largest logs being 46 feet in width. The owner got one of his employees to sneak onto the property at night and take measurements of the logs to confirm they were in fact bigger than the logs on his cabin."

"Once it was confirmed that the logs across the lake were bigger, he instructed us to take apart what has already been built, and source new, bigger logs with the smallest log being no less than 48 feet in width."

"He also instructed us to remove the architectural stone from the fireplace and replace them with actual stones. This required us to modify the foundation, as the weight of the fireplace increased by 1500%."

"After about 1.5 years, with no limit on overtime spending, the cabin was completed, with the largest log being 68 feet in width, and smallest being 48 feet."

"I ran into the car dealership owner at the lake town market one day and told him about the cabin we were building and how we had to pretty much start from scratch due to the size of his logs (and my boss's ego)."

"He simply replied, 'I had no idea your boss even owned a cabin here.'"

- ExaminationDouble240

So Humbling

"I had an amazing side gig instructing tech nerds how to drive their fancy cars at the racetrack (it's called an 'HPDE' or a High-Performance Driving Event)."

"A rich tech nerd shows up with a new McLaren 12C, delivered in a McLaren trailer and staffed by an entire crew of McLaren techs and engineers."

"Why?"

"The driver was complaining about how the $12k brakes would burn up after just one day at the track and escalated enough for McLaren to wonder if something was terribly wrong with the car."

"After one session, he huddled around a laptop with the engineers and found what was wrong: he was just that terrible of a driver."

- incomplete_

If You've Got It, Spend It

"A dude just kept grabbing stuff and having me ring it up. At first, I was like, 'You sure?' Then it eventually clicked that this guy was on a shopping spree."

"The shop had no human necessities. I don't remember the total by the end but it was close to 5 figures in USD."

"He pulled out his black AMEX that weighs like a pound and boom, a mile-long receipt."

"That was one of the few days I wished I made commissions."

- blippityblop

Rent Potential

"When I worked at Blue, Justin Beiber spent a stupid amount of money just to ski. He tried to rent the whole resort to make it private, but they wouldn't let him (which I still think is hilarious)."

"This area also has dozens of houses that are all valued well over $10 million, that all sit empty. They're just buildings that billionaires bought on a whim."

- stonedfishing

A Library Belle Would Envy

"I'm a custom metal worker. We did the penthouse at the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan, off of Central Park (the owner lived there). The floors were made of titanium plates."

"The wife had her own massive library and we had to make a rolling staircase that an old woman could move. We did, and it cost $80,000."

"We delivered it and she said, 'It’s too steep, can you make another?'"

"$80,000 later, she’s happy, and my buddy has a rolling staircase at his workshop."

- Denki

Holy Mansions, Batman

"I once toured a mansion under construction in Dallas that was about 45,000 square feet. It was about 80% complete when I visited and the interior finishes were amazing."

"When I was there, the artisans were hand-carving the front door details and the indoor-outdoor pool was being tiled."

"There was a bowling alley, a gift-wrapping room, a two-story master bedroom closet with a spiral staircase, and other over-the-top amenities including a ten-car garage with an oil change bay."

"Shortly after I was there, it burned down under mysterious circumstances, and its demise made the national news and a cover story in the Wall Street Journal."

- centexgoodguy

Wasteful Living

"A kid in my daughter's sorority drives a 2022 Lamborghini Urus. Every time I've visited my daughter, I see this car."

"It's filthy and covered in dings and scratches. My daughter says the owner has had it towed repeatedly by leaving it parked illegally in the street even though she has a space at the sorority."

"She'll just leave it on the street near the bars, Uber home when drunk, abandon the car until it gets impounded, and then pay to get her car back. Basically every weekend."

"In addition, my daughter says this girl's room is full of designer stuff that the girl bought for tens of thousands of dollars, wore once, and then threw on the floor."

"I should note that there are apparently several girls in this sorority with similar lifestyles."

- hiro111

It's Just a Parking Fee

"My boss had to impromptu get a new license to travel. When he was at the DMV, they said he had to pay like $100k in back parking tickets. He just set a card down and paid it."

"Apparently, he couldn't get a parking permit to be able to park in front of his house for some bulls**t reason, so he just parked there anyway, and just accepted that they were ticketing him like $100 per day for years."

- melodyze

Respectful Tipper

"I work at a Zipline in Hawaii. One time we had a couple of people come in, and one of them was a Saudi prince."

"Any time someone helped, or even talked to him, he had his 'assistant' count out hundred-dollar bills and give them to them. He tipped his guides $3000 a piece. It was wild."

- Jorjott

Paying It Forward

"While at a breakfast place I went to a lot in my hometown, I went to pay for my meal, and the waitress was like, 'Don't worry, it is covered.'"

"The next day, I went back. Once again, my meal was covered."

"Repeat for the rest of a week, and I was baffled."

"Apparently, some rich dude liked his breakfast a week ago and bought all orders for the following week and tipped all the staff $10k to keep it a secret and to cover the loss of tips for the week."

"It was a small mom-and-pop shop, but that still has to have cost him 100k or something. For a meal."

"There was intentionally no hype, and the other regulars and I were never told who it was."

- GoodRighter

While there were a few kind and generous people among the fold, the Reddit community could not believe the amount of money many people would spend simply because they could, even in support of bad habits, like terribly wasteful spending.

Having money certainly doesn't buy you manners or values.

People Reveal The Weirdest Thing About Themselves

Reddit user Isitjustmedownhere asked: 'Give an example; how weird are you really?'

Let's get one thing straight: no one is normal. We're all weird in our own ways, and that is actually normal.

Of course, that doesn't mean we don't all have that one strange trait or quirk that outweighs all the other weirdness we possess.

For me, it's the fact that I'm almost 30 years old, and I still have an imaginary friend. Her name is Sarah, she has red hair and green eyes, and I strongly believe that, since I lived in India when I created her and there were no actual people with red hair around, she was based on Daphne Blake from Scooby-Doo.

I also didn't know the name Sarah when I created her, so that came later. I know she's not really there, hence the term 'imaginary friend,' but she's kind of always been around. We all have conversations in our heads; mine are with Sarah. She keeps me on task and efficient.

My mom thinks I'm crazy that I still have an imaginary friend, and writing about her like this makes me think I may actually be crazy, but I don't mind. As I said, we're all weird, and we all have that one trait that outweighs all the other weirdness.

Redditors know this all too well and are eager to share their weird traits.

It all started when Redditor Isitjustmedownhere asked:

"Give an example; how weird are you really?"

Monsters Under My Bed

"My bed doesn't touch any wall."

"Edit: I guess i should clarify im not rich."

– Practical_Eye_3600

"Gosh the monsters can get you from any angle then."

– bikergirlr7

"At first I thought this was a flex on how big your bedroom is, but then I realized you're just a psycho 😁"

– zenOFiniquity8

Can You See Why?

"I bought one of those super-powerful fans to dry a basement carpet. Afterwards, I realized that it can point straight up and that it would be amazing to use on myself post-shower. Now I squeegee my body with my hands, step out of the shower and get blasted by a wide jet of room-temp air. I barely use my towel at all. Wife thinks I'm weird."

– KingBooRadley

Remember

"In 1990 when I was 8 years old and bored on a field trip, I saw a black Oldsmobile Cutlass driving down the street on a hot day to where you could see that mirage like distortion from the heat on the road. I took a “snapshot” by blinking my eyes and told myself “I wonder how long I can remember this image” ….well."

– AquamarineCheetah

"Even before smartphones, I always take "snapshots" by blinking my eyes hoping I'll remember every detail so I can draw it when I get home. Unfortunately, I may have taken so much snapshots that I can no longer remember every detail I want to draw."

"Makes me think my "memory is full.""

– Reasonable-Pirate902

Same, Same

"I have eaten the same lunch every day for the past 4 years and I'm not bored yet."

– OhhGoood

"How f**king big was this lunch when you started?"

– notmyrealnam3

Not Sure Who Was Weirder

"Had a line cook that worked for us for 6 months never said much. My sous chef once told him with no context, "Baw wit da baw daw bang daw bang diggy diggy." The guy smiled, left, and never came back."

– Frostygrunt

Imagination

"I pace around my house for hours listening to music imagining that I have done all the things I simply lack the brain capacity to do, or in some really bizarre scenarios, I can really get immersed in these imaginations sometimes I don't know if this is some form of schizophrenia or what."

– RandomSharinganUser

"I do the same exact thing, sometimes for hours. When I was young it would be a ridiculous amount of time and many years later it’s sort of trickled off into almost nothing (almost). It’s weird but I just thought it’s how my brain processes sh*t."

– Kolkeia

If Only

"Even as an adult I still think that if you are in a car that goes over a cliff; and right as you are about to hit the ground if you jump up you can avoid the damage and will land safely. I know I'm wrong. You shut up. I'm not crying."

– ShotCompetition2593

Pet Food

"As a kid I would snack on my dog's Milkbones."

– drummerskillit

"Haha, I have a clear memory of myself doing this as well. I was around 3 y/o. Needless to say no one was supervising me."

– Isitjustmedownhere

"When I was younger, one of my responsibilities was to feed the pet fish every day. Instead, I would hide under the futon in the spare bedroom and eat the fish food."

– -GateKeep-

My Favorite Subject

"I'm autistic and have always had a thing for insects. My neurotypical best friend and I used to hang out at this local bar to talk to girls, back in the late 90s. One time he claimed that my tendency to circle conversations back to insects was hurting my game. The next time we went to that bar (with a few other friends), he turned and said sternly "No talking about bugs. Or space, or statistics or other bullsh*t but mainly no bugs." I felt like he was losing his mind over nothing."

"It was summer, the bar had its windows open. Our group hit it off with a group of young ladies, We were all chatting and having a good time. I was talking to one of these girls, my buddy was behind her facing away from me talking to a few other people."

"A cloudless sulphur flies in and lands on little thing that holds coasters."

"Cue Jordan Peele sweating gif."

"The girl notices my tension, and asks if I am looking at the leaf. "Actually, that's a lepidoptera called..." I looked at the back of my friend's head, he wasn't looking, "I mean a butterfly..." I poked it and it spread its wings the girl says "oh that's a BUG?!" and I still remember my friend turning around slowly to look at me with chastisement. The ONE thing he told me not to do."

"I was 21, and was completely not aware that I already had a rep for being an oddball. It got worse from there."

– Phormicidae

*Teeth Chatter*

"I bite ice cream sometimes."

RedditbOiiiiiiiiii

"That's how I am with popsicles. My wife shudders every single time."

monobarreller

Never Speak Of This

"I put ice in my milk."

– GTFOakaFOD

"You should keep that kind of thing to yourself. Even when asked."

– We-R-Doomed

"There's some disturbing sh*t in this thread, but this one takes the cake."

– RatonaMuffin

More Than Super Hearing

"I can hear the television while it's on mute."

– Tira13e

"What does it say to you, child?"

– Mama_Skip

Yikes!

"I put mustard on my omelettes."

– Deleted User

"Oh."

– NotCrustOr-filling

Evened Up

"Whenever I say a word and feel like I used a half of my mouth more than the other half, I have to even it out by saying the word again using the other half of my mouth more. If I don't do it correctly, that can go on forever until I feel it's ok."

"I do it silently so I don't creep people out."

– LesPaltaX

"That sounds like a symptom of OCD (I have it myself). Some people with OCD feel like certain actions have to be balanced (like counting or making sure physical movements are even). You should find a therapist who specializes in OCD, because they can help you."

– MoonlightKayla

I totally have the same need for things to be balanced! Guess I'm weird and a little OCD!

Close up face of a woman in bed, staring into the camera
Photo by Jen Theodore

Experiencing death is a fascinating and frightening idea.

Who doesn't want to know what is waiting for us on the other side?

But so many of us want to know and then come back and live a little longer.

It would be so great to be sure there is something else.

But the whole dying part is not that great, so we'll have to rely on other people's accounts.

Redditor AlaskaStiletto wanted to hear from everyone who has returned to life, so they asked:

"Redditors who have 'died' and come back to life, what did you see?"

Sensations

Happy Good Vibes GIF by Major League SoccerGiphy

"My dad's heart stopped when he had a heart attack and he had to be brought back to life. He kept the paper copy of the heart monitor which shows he flatlined. He said he felt an overwhelming sensation of peace, like nothing he had felt before."

PeachesnPain

Recovery

"I had surgical complications in 2010 that caused a great deal of blood loss. As a result, I had extremely low blood pressure and could barely stay awake. I remember feeling like I was surrounded by loved ones who had passed. They were in a circle around me and I knew they were there to guide me onwards. I told them I was not ready to go because my kids needed me and I came back."

"My nurse later said she was afraid she’d find me dead every time she came into the room."

"It took months, and blood transfusions, but I recovered."

good_golly99

Take Me Back

"Overwhelming peace and happiness. A bright airy and floating feeling. I live a very stressful life. Imagine finding out the person you have had a crush on reveals they have the same feelings for you and then you win the lotto later that day - that was the feeling I had."

"I never feared death afterward and am relieved when I hear of people dying after suffering from an illness."

rayrayrayray

Free

The Light Minnie GIF by (G)I-DLEGiphy

"I had a heart surgery with near-death experience, for me at least (well the possibility that those effects are caused by morphine is also there) I just saw black and nothing else but it was warm and I had such inner peace, its weird as I sometimes still think about it and wish this feeling of being so light and free again."

TooReDTooHigh

This is why I hate surgery.

You just never know.

Shocked

Giphy

"More of a near-death experience. I was electrocuted. I felt like I was in a deep hole looking straight up in the sky. My life flashed before me. Felt sad for my family, but I had a deep sense of peace."

Admirable_Buyer6528

The SOB

"Nursing in the ICU, we’ve had people try to die on us many times during the years, some successfully. One guy stood out to me. His heart stopped. We called a code, are working on him, and suddenly he comes to. We hadn’t vented him yet, so he was able to talk, and he started screaming, 'Don’t let them take me, don’t let them take me, they are coming,' he was scared and yelling."

"Then he yelled a little more, as we tried to calm him down, he screamed, 'No, No,' and gestured towards the end of the bed, and died again. We didn’t get him back. It was seriously creepy. We called his son to tell him the news, and the son said basically, 'Good, he was an SOB.'”

1-cupcake-at-a-time

Colors

"My sister died and said it was extremely peaceful. She said it was very loud like a train station and lots of talking and she was stuck in this area that was like a curtain with lots of beautiful colors (colors that you don’t see in real life according to her) a man told her 'He was sorry, but she had to go back as it wasn’t her time.'"

Hannah_LL7

"I had a really similar experience except I was in an endless garden with flowers that were colors I had never seen before. It was quiet and peaceful and a woman in a dress looked at me, shook her head, and just said 'Not yet.' As I was coming back, it was extremely loud, like everyone in the world was trying to talk all at once. It was all very disorienting but it changed my perspective on life!"

huntokarrr

The Fog

"I was in a gray fog with a girl who looked a lot like a young version of my grandmother (who was still alive) but dressed like a pioneer in the 1800s she didn't say anything but kept pulling me towards an opening in the wall. I kept refusing to go because I was so tired."

"I finally got tired of her nagging and went and that's when I came to. I had bled out during a c-section and my heart could not beat without blood. They had to deliver the baby and sew up the bleeders. refill me with blood before they could restart my heart so, like, at least 12 minutes gone."

Fluffy-Hotel-5184

Through the Walls

"My spouse was dead for a couple of minutes one miserable night. She maintains that she saw nothing, but only heard people talking about her like through a wall. The only thing she remembers for absolute certain was begging an ER nurse that she didn't want to die."

"She's quite alive and well today."

Hot-Refrigerator6583

Well let's all be happy to be alive.

It seems to be all we have.

Man's waist line
Santhosh Vaithiyanathan/Unsplash

Trying to lose weight is a struggle understood by many people regardless of size.

The goal of reaching a healthy weight may seem unattainable, but with diet and exercise, it can pay off through persistence and discipline.

Seeing the pounds gradually drop off can also be a great motivator and incentivize people to stay the course.

Those who've achieved their respective weight goals shared their experiences when Redditor apprenti8455 asked:

"People who lost a lot of weight, what surprises you the most now?"

Redditors didn't see these coming.

Shiver Me Timbers

"I’m always cold now!"

– Telrom_1

"I had a coworker lose over 130 pounds five or six years ago. I’ve never seen him without a jacket on since."

– r7ndom

"140 lbs lost here starting just before COVID, I feel like that little old lady that's always cold, damn this top comment was on point lmao."

– mr_remy

Drawing Concern

"I lost 100 pounds over a year and a half but since I’m old(70’s) it seems few people comment on it because (I think) they think I’m wasting away from some terminal illness."

– dee-fondy

"Congrats on the weight loss! It’s honestly a real accomplishment 🙂"

"Working in oncology, I can never comment on someone’s weight loss unless I specifically know it was on purpose, regardless of their age. I think it kind of ruffles feathers at times, but like I don’t want to congratulate someone for having cancer or something. It’s a weird place to be in."

– LizardofDeath

Unleashing Insults

"I remember when I lost the first big chunk of weight (around 50 lbs) it was like it gave some people license to talk sh*t about the 'old' me. Old coworkers, friends, made a lot of not just negative, but harsh comments about what I used to look like. One person I met after the big loss saw a picture of me prior and said, 'Wow, we wouldn’t even be friends!'”

"It wasn’t extremely common, but I was a little alarmed by some of the attention. My weight has been up and down since then, but every time I gain a little it gets me a little down thinking about those things people said."

– alanamablamaspama

Not Everything Goes After Losing Weight

"The loose skin is a bit unexpected."

– KeltarCentauri

"I haven’t experienced it myself, but surgery to remove skin takes a long time to recover. Longer than bariatric surgery and usually isn’t covered by insurance unless you have both."

– KatMagic1977

"It definitely does take a long time to recover. My Dad dropped a little over 200 pounds a few years back and decided to go through with skin removal surgery to deal with the excess. His procedure was extensive, as in he had skin taken from just about every part of his body excluding his head, and he went through hell for weeks in recovery, and he was bedridden for a lot of it."

– Jaew96

These Redditors shared their pleasantly surprising experiences.

Shopping

"I can buy clothes in any store I want."

– WaySavvyD

"When I lost weight I was dying to go find cute, smaller clothes and I really struggled. As someone who had always been restricted to one or two stores that catered to plus-sized clothing, a full mall of shops with items in my size was daunting. Too many options and not enough knowledge of brands that were good vs cheap. I usually went home pretty frustrated."

– ganache98012

No More Symptoms

"Lost about 80 pounds in the past year and a half, biggest thing that I’ve noticed that I haven’t seen mentioned on here yet is my acid reflux and heartburn are basically gone. I used to be popping tums every couple hours and now they just sit in the medicine cabinet collecting dust."

– colleennicole93

Expanding Capabilities

"I'm all for not judging people by their appearance and I recognise that there are unhealthy, unachievable beauty standards, but one thing that is undeniable is that I can just do stuff now. Just stamina and flexibility alone are worth it, appearance is tertiary at best."

– Ramblonius

People Change Their Tune

"How much nicer people are to you."

"My feet weren't 'wide' they were 'fat.'"

– LiZZygsu

"Have to agree. Lost 220 lbs, people make eye contact and hold open doors and stuff"

"And on the foot thing, I also lost a full shoe size numerically and also wear regular width now 😅"

– awholedamngarden

It's gonna take some getting used to.

Bones Everywhere

"Having bones. Collarbones, wrist bones, knee bones, hip bones, ribs. I have so many bones sticking out everywhere and it’s weird as hell."

– Princess-Pancake-97

"I noticed the shadow of my ribs the other day and it threw me, there’s a whole skeleton in here."

– bekastrange

Knee Pillow

"Right?! And they’re so … pointy! Now I get why people sleep with pillows between their legs - the knee bones laying on top of each other (side sleeper here) is weird and jarring."

– snic2030

"I lost only 40 pounds within the last year or so. I’m struggling to relate to most of these comments as I feel like I just 'slimmed down' rather than dropped a ton. But wow, the pillow between the knees at night. YES! I can relate to this. I think a lot of my weight was in my thighs. I never needed to do this up until recently."

– Strongbad23

More Mobility

"I’ve lost 100 lbs since 2020. It’s a collection of little things that surprise me. For at least 10 years I couldn’t put on socks, or tie my shoes. I couldn’t bend over and pick something up. I couldn’t climb a ladder to fix something. Simple things like that I can do now that fascinate me."

"Edit: Some additional little things are sitting in a chair with arms, sitting in a booth in a restaurant, being able to shop in a normal store AND not needing to buy the biggest size there, being able to easily wipe my butt, and looking down and being able to see my penis."

– dma1965

People making significant changes, whether for mental or physical health, can surely find a newfound perspective on life.

But they can also discover different issues they never saw coming.

That being said, overcoming any challenge in life is laudable, especially if it leads to gaining confidence and ditching insecurities.