It's easy for children of all ages to envy friends and classmates who come from wealth and privilege.
However, their envy might subside substantially after spending a bit more time with them.
It doesn't take long for children, or anyone, to discover that being handed everything on a silver platter has a way of warping one's sense of reality and common sense.
As a result, children of privilege have a sense of entitlement which sees them behave in peculiar, if not outright offensive, manners.
Behavior which has come to be known as "rich kid syndrome."
"What is the craziest encounter of 'rich kid syndrome' that you have experienced?"
No Live-In Maid?
"I lived with 5 guys and I was the only one whose parents weren’t millionaires, not close at all."
"They never cleaned."
"About once a month I would deep clean the house but two days later there was garbage and food on the floor."
"I found out they all told their parents the poor kid made all the messes when one of their moms came by to scream at me."- clevermine2tine
You Don't All Have Pools Like This?... You Don't All Have Pools?
"I grew up attending a private school in a developing country so a lot of my classmates were in the 1% of the country."
"Whenever we'd be swimming in the school pool one friend of ours in particular would always remark that swimming is more fun if the pool has a current or waves."
"To which I had no idea what he was talking about and generally thought he was just being imaginative."
"One day he invited me over to his house for swimming and he had a 50 foot indoor pool that generated a current/waves."
"He wasn't lying."
"They are a lot more fun."- huazzy
More Than Some People Make In A Month!
"My college roommate's mom gave him f*cking $1400 'for the weekend' just randomly."
"He blew through the whole thing by Saturday asked his mom for more money and was screaming at her because 'she promised $1400 for the weekend' and he spent most of what she gave him on Friday which isn't a part of the weekend."- chuteboxhero
Don't Trust Her With Any Funds...
"Knew a trust fund girl whose dad gave her the money to start a company."
"She lost it when she went on vacation for 6 months and forgot she was supposed to pay her employees all the time."
"She assumed they would not get paid for 6 months and be there when she got back."
"I quizzed her on this for a few min and it was clear she had no idea what a job was."- Pencilowner
They're Everywhere!
"Look up Corona del Mar high school cheating scandal."
"Happened at my school."
"Parents payed around 50k a piece to have a tutor bug the school computers and change students grades."
"They all lawyered up big time when it came out and all the kids got off free and all made it into their top three schools."
"This made the news, and all the parents whined that their children were innocent and 'just had a bad tutor'."
"Had a girl I went to school with total four brand new cars."
"Think Range Rover, Escalade, etc."
"I was also in a class with this girl when the teacher handed out papers that needed to be signed by a parent, and she signed it herself and tried to turn it in the same period as it was handed out and freaked out when the teacher wouldn't accept it."
"Kids who would talk sh*t and pick fights and then turn around and say 'if you touch me my dad will sue'."
"There are a lot more."-- pipsdips
Who Needs Frequent Flier Miles?
"A friend I met at Uni flew from Auckland to London for a week to go shopping."
"Clothes were cheaper in London, so to him it made sense."
"His parents were from Singapore and had no idea just how much cheaper cars were in New Zealand."
"So when he said he needed $70k for a Toyota Corolla they gave him the money and he bought a used BMW M3."
"When he went home for the summer he asked if I could mind the car for him, given his Dad had pretty much cut him off at that point he just said I had to pay for insurance on it and I could treat it like my own."
'But as a 19yo sharing a flat and barely getting by there was no way I could cover the cost of insurance, let alone petrol."- Timinime
Seriously, What Did She Expect?
"I was in the waiting room with a very well dressed lady for our loaner cars."
"She left the waiting room to look at her loaner and came back crying."
"She said she drives a fully loaded qx80 and they gave her a qx60 with nothing in it."
"I said sorry that happened and asked how long she was going to have the loaner for."
"She said a couple of hours."
"I wanted to tell her to suck it up but instead I sat there quiet thinking how life must be easy for her to cry over a loaner car."- laughwidmee
Damaged Goods...
"A Saudi guy in the UK got in a crash, with light damage to one side of brand new Mercedes."
"He called for one of his assistants to come get him, even though the car was fully drivable."
"My friend rolled up on call with his tow truck and asked the guy where he wanted the MErc towed."
"The guy gave him the keys and said "Keep it; I don't want it'."- Aiku
Added To The Collection.
"Girl got a 2 year old Range Rover for her 17th."
"Now 20 and still doesn’t have her license."
"Sits unused in their 4 car garage."- foxaer
We've all dreamed at one point about living like the other half lives.
To never have to worry about money, and have chauffeurs, maids and private jets at our disposal.
But money doesn't always lead to a happy life.
As judging by these encounters, being flown around in a private jet one too many times, might have damaging effects in regards to keeping you grounded.
People Who Grew Up Poor Explain The Things Rich Kids Will Never Understand
Being poor is not fun, I can attest. I never went to bed hungry, but times were often tough.
And having friends who had a lot when you have little can be an overwhelming feeling.
However, it did give me a sense of how to appreciate money, when I have it, and appreciate the things I have in general.
Yes, being rich is great and having tons of cash solves a lot, but the poor kids know a thing or two about survival.
And that is priceless.
Redditor Bobtheglob71 wanted to hear from the people who know what it's like to really appreciate a dollar, by asking:
"Redditors who grew up poor, what is something that 'rich kids' will never understand?"
In an interview, Dolly Parton once said... "I've been rich and I've been poor. Rich is better. But, what I do know from being poor is that if it happened again, I'd know how to survive and be happy."
(I'm paraphrasing) I love her.
Mealtime
"When I went to school (in the '70s). At lunch time we had to stand in line in the hall before going into the cafeteria. they made those of us on 'free lunches' stand in the back of the line. It was quite humiliating." ~ BirdGuy64
Basics...
"What a luxury laundry is. Those kids i went to.school with will never understand I was so poor my family couldn't afford to use the laundry machines in our building, so often times my dad would just get a big cheap bottle of dish soap or some bars of Irish Spring, and that soap was for laundry, dishes and bathing. Also that those tv dinners were a god send. Getting 20 banquet tv dinners for 10 bucks meant eating good for a few days."
Gifts
"All my gifts for Christmas and Birthdays were something I needed or would need and had to be bought anyway. Like clothes, shoes, or school supplies. Never, never anything fun or just because I wanted it. I also had to steal my first real bra because I'd outgrown my training bra. I'd even snipped the elastic all around to provide more stretch but it wasn't working anymore and people were commenting on it." ~ freckledjezebel
Time Away
"Family vacations were nonexistent." ~ personofinterest18
"I remember coming back from summer vacation and dreading going back to school for the mere fact I had nothing interesting to share about the summer. All my classmates would talk about their vacations and I would make something up so I wouldn’t sound boring." ~ Scared_Difference_24
Witness
"Watching your mom have to put items back as there is it not enough money to pay for everything." ~ Poenkel
Well that all hits close to home.
Nevermind appreciating money, be thankful you can appreciate food.
Eat Please
"Having dinner and knowing that your Mum isn't eating, not because she isn't hungry, but because she's making sure her kids have food first." ~ DragonsLoveBoxes
Aluminum...
"Collecting aluminum cans." ~ DryMartini_Up
"I used to have a can crusher outside and one of my chores was to crush the cans. We would put them in this industrial plastic barrel that my dad got from work. When it eventually filled up, we took it to the scrap metal yard and sold the cans." ~ WeirdJawn
When to Sleep
"Sleep for dinner." ~ Leeono
"I used to do sleep for lunch. Because I’m high school some days I’d be there from 7:30 to 6:30 and counting leaving the house I actually was away from around 6:00am to 8:00pm." ~ docasj
Living on the Edge
"That it never goes away. I want from homeless growing up to having a very comfy six figure job. I still find myself acting as if I am always living on the edge of homelessness again. Thinking I can't try new foods because it I don't like it then I won't get dinner. That I'm a bad person for throwing out things instead of trying to reuse them. I get serious panic attacks I think I did bad at work because my brain still tells me I'm one paycheck from the street." ~ AsexualAccountant
Too Much Stuff
"A lifetime of clutter because it's so hard to throw anything away even when you're no longer poor." ~ HermitWilson
Moms rule.
Money helps.
There is no shame in poor.
God bless us all.
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