The idea of working for wealthy individuals may sound nice on paper. They have plenty of money, so they’ll be generous tippers and provide plenty of benefits, right? Plus, they expect to be treated like kings, so surely they’ll want to treat their workers kindly too.

Well, unfortunately, that’s often not the reality. Apparently, working for people who have extreme amounts of wealth can be an absolute nightmare. Employees who work in high-end, luxury settings have been recalling the trashiest things they’ve ever seen affluent people do, so we’ve compiled a list of their stories below. Enjoy reading through these stories that might make you want to eat the rich, and be sure to upvote the experiences that would make you quit your job!

#1

Managed a very niche, high end retail store in nyc in my 20s. tight margins and perpetually understaffed. one afternoon this fifty-something guy came in and my 21 yr old sales associate was helping him and someone else while i helped two other customers.

i was coming out from the stock room with something for my customers and he was BERATING my lovely sales girl, with a raised voice, for not exclusively helping him and she was almost in tears. i went over and said, “there’s only the two of us in this store, we’re doing our best to help everyone. if you cannot be civil and treat my staff with respect, i will have to ask you to leave” and he immediately stormed out. i was shaking but very proud of myself. i think i was 25?

we’d somehow gotten his name and we looked him up later and he was a tech billionaire. my boss was a bit unpredictable but was always 100% down for us standing up for ourselves and when he came in that evening and we told him what had happened he was like “good, f**k that guy”.

#2

Refusing to pay their contractors and threatening them with lawsuits.

#3

Had a high profile client bring their family to buy a car and the daughter’s bf acted like an a*s the whole time. He tried telling me to go get him a sparkling water while helping the buyer. When I told him no, he asked what do you mean no. I informed him that NO, is a statement, and if I have to explain what the word no means, then he’s probably not a very good person and he can go sit in his girlfriends family car while we help them. He made a snide comment and I looked at the buyer and asked for them to get him out of the showroom, otherwise we can stop the deal right now and they can go try to find the car they wanted elsewhere (spoiler alert, it was a one of a kind vehicle, 2009 Brooklands, only 50 made in the world, none available with the exception of ours on the west coast). They sent the daughter and her bf to the mall.

#4

Poshy resort restaurant, very exclusive. A diaperless young child s**t on the floor during dinner. It was on an outside dining patio. The family did not clean up the feces until a manager with his tail between his legs politely asked the parents to pick up. The manager brought a stack of cloth napkins for the deed. Parents picked it up and handed the soiled napkin back to the manager.

#5

Threatening to use their wealth and influence to destroy someone over a very minor inconvenience.

"I know people in high places, senators, judges. I will absolutely ruin your life if you don't give me a discount on this."

The sad thing is, people who are wealthy and well-connected CAN get you fired from your job where you're barely making enough to survive as it is - and they absolutely do not care - those kinds of people LOVE having that sort of power over everyone. All it takes is a single complaint from a person with influence and you're gone, no matter if you were in the wrong or not.

#6

After the Fires in Maui- wealthy visitors/part time owners were demanding their luggage be flown to different locations so they could continue their vacations- while the staff wasn’t even sure if family and friends were alive… amongst other things.

#7

Not really *trashy* trashy, but I worked the bar at a venue that hosted an annual party for a charity run/mostly funded by a wealthy heiress/philanthropist (family had billions, she personally was in the 100s of millions range iirc). She herself wasn't particularly famous but some others in the family were, she was somewhat known locally. She was probably in her 60s or so at the time.

Anyway she's actually a lovely person, nice to the staff, throwing a big party (on her dime, not the charity's) for everyone who worked for the group and their families (not a huge organization, maybe 80-100 people total?), with a top shelf open bar package. We'd had a big latin music event earlier in the weekend and ran out of nearly all of our top shelf tequila and a lot of our midshelf tequila, and as it turns out pretty early in the evening the only reposado we had left was our well... good ol' Jose Cuervo. Well, a ticket comes in for a round of reposado shots, we pour the Cuervo, goes on a tray, server takes it straight to the heiress' table, she's throwing back a tequila shot with some of her employees.

A few minutes later she personally comes up to the bar and asks my coworker "hey, I just wanted to ask, what tequila was that you poured for us?" and we're thinking "oh s**t, she paid a ton of money for top shelf and we gave her s**t, we're about to get yelled at" and my coworker, bless her heart, says with a perfect poker face "That was the Cuervo Gold, ma'am."

"Thanks so much! I think it'd be nice sipping tequila, I'll have to pick up a bottle."

"It'd be a nice sipping tequila" became a meme every time anyone mentioned Cuervo for the rest of my time there.

#8

I live in a small town and we have one or two big fish in our little pond.

There is one who consistently likes to park in the handicap spaces. She doesn’t care about the fines because they mean nothing to her. In any other town she would be towed, but we don’t have a local tow truck.

One time I saw someone with a handicap placard just park her in. Which seems to be the most effective way to handle her.

#9

I worked at a very fancy hotel that had a semi private golf course. After the member guest tournament, former yankee pitcher David wells went to the bar( hosted for the event) and ordered a drink. He tasted it and then threw it at the bartender because she didn’t make it strong enough. I as the manager, intervened and rushed her to the back of house as he chased us , calling her a stupid effing b***h.

I then went back out to tell him he was cutoff and to tell his member sponsor that they should leave. Wells then started screaming at me calling me every terrible word you could imagine. I honestly thought I was gonna fight him. I’m a pretty bug guy and he was pretty hammered, so it would’ve been awesome, but at the time I needed the job, so I kept trying to de escalate. His host was completely defending his actions even as he was screaming in the middle of the room.

#10

I was a waitress at a really nice restaurant in LA and Tim Allen was AWFUL on many occasions. Treated staff like s**t, we weren’t allowed to make eye contact with him, terrible tipper and just so difficult to wait on. We would all take turns waiting on him and I started to refuse because he made me so uncomfortable, not in a creepy way but just the lack of care for me and my friends as human beings.

#11

I'm not in the industry, nor am I the wealthy (for definition, the wealthy can sign one check that makes someone rich), but I have been wealth adjacent too often. The most egregious things, in view of the wealth they hold, is the use influence and power to not pay for services and goods they have received, to the detriment of people who will never have the wealth they have. To withhold the one thing you can do with ease, that to others means more than it possibly can to you ... that is vile, that is the definition of trash.

The visual for me, is of a fat drooling dirty shirted king stuffing his face with a piece of meat while kicking away the starving servants from the table for eating the scraps that fell ... this is how I see them, in all of their glory. I've covered the tip of one such piece of trash, just to spite her.

#12

I worked briefly many years ago as a valet at a high-end resort hotel. A regular brunch patron - whose claim to fame was that her grandfather had been a military dictator somewhere in Central America - never pulled her vehicle into the drop-off correctly. She always rolled in against traffic. Every. Freaking. Time. And always with an “omg lol did I do it again??” She also never tipped us, and her car was easily the filthiest I’ve ever seen. Not long ago, I was having coffee with a friend on a restaurant patio and watched a giant SUV pull up and park facing the wrong direction… mostly on the sidewalk. Guess who got out?

#13

When I delivered pizza I quickly discovered the biggest houses with the flashiest cars tipped the worst.

#14

I was brand new to F&B, bartending at an airport, and one day I wound up alone FoH (serving, waiting, bussing) when a pretty notable foreign celeb came in & they had a whole posse with them... family, bodyguards, agents, etc.

Things at airports cost more, and for pretty good reason. The amount of background checks, and the process of getting stuff past TSA is insane.

... anyway. I had a good dialogue with the handlers. I recommended 'better' places in the area & even offered to call for them in advance, but they chose to eat/drink with us.

My chef did an amazing job of catering to them. We nailed everything & they were served way above our standard.

The celeb/pop-star started asking me questions about why I was the only person working and how much I must be getting paid. I was polite and courteous... but, eventually admitted that I was only paid $1.00/hr and their whole group started making fun of American tipping culture.

That's when their requests started getting sorta nutty (and, illegal).

We did not have an off-site liquor license, but they wanted to take their opened bottles of booze, to-go.

When I told them I couldn't technically allow that, but that I'd bring them a plastic bottle inside a paper cup and walk away for a couple of minutes... they mentioned how well they'd be tipping me.

On a $280 tab. They left $224 cash, with a handwritten note, 'doing the math' telling me to "get a real job". They took the booze, too.

... It was their tab, with 20% deducted. Which i had to cover out of my paycheck. I made like $24 off of an 80-hour pay period, because of those f***s.

#15

This is kind of what you might expect, but I had an ongoing service relationship with a wealthy evangelist whose public facing image was a humble man of god put on this earth to do good. Off camera he was a filthy-mouthed drunk who gorged on the absolute most lavish cuisine and treated everyone around him like total s**t.

#16

Not HEL setting, but product. I worked for the US office of an european high-end home component manufacturer - they made the finishes for super fancy homes, hotels, etc.

One time the delivery truck from factory 1 to factory 2 was involved in a crash, all stock is basically lost (they have very strict standards, so a slight bend or off-set s***w voids the whole product), the driver is in the hospital (he ended up being fine, I specifically checked).

the number of assistants to interior designers that cussed me out was *insane*. not a single one of them asked if the driver(s) were ok.

like, its just stuff, you will survive if [insert a-list celebrity] doesnt have a gold faucet or whatever for an *additional week*.

how entitled do you have to be to scream at a customer service rep over fixtures that aren't even delaying the project? when i hear, "there was a wreck" my first thought will always be, 'is everyone ok?' not, 'ugh my s**t will be delayed?'.

#17

Floyd Mayweather used to come with a bunch of adult workers. I work at luxury retail…. Anyways, he would always buy them a gift. This one girl picked up a $3000 bag and he looked at her straight in the eyes and said b***h you ain’t worth that much. You can get a wallet. She said OK awkwardly and then put the bag down.

#18

I work in a country club for millionaires and billionaires.

Every single party or event, there's several people pissing themselves, puking in the dining room, or passing out and scaring someone.

Rich people are trashy, sloppy drunks like the rest of us!

#19

Wealthy person myself, I see all kinds of things. Usually it comes up when paying for “extracurriculars”.

Example- I go to a country club and whenever our quarterly spend is raised, all hell break loose. Toddlers.

Throwing things, name calling, Karen’s, threaten to cancel membership, insult everyone and the establishment but still want to remain members.

We even had one guy try to start a rival country club and leave bad reviews on the Google page for our country club and urge people to join his in the reviews. He did this everyday for about 2 months straight.

He said he would not be silenced and fight for his rights….

His rights… at a private country club…. The right he claimed was being violated was having to spend $100 a month on food and drinks per quarter…

The other members, we made a go fund me for his extra $100 and that made him more mad and he was in our members app saying he can’t believe we’re ok with “tyranny”. We told him we’d all pay extra to just have him removed and that made him more upset… I guess causing the month long review flood 🤣

There is also trashiness from new members treating staff poorly and leaving literal trash all over the place and they feel entitled to it because they say “that’s why I pay dues, clean it or I’ll cancel”.

Usually all this behavior comes from fake rich people. They actually can’t afford the lifestyle they portray and become very hostile when anything might add extra expense or they feel they’re not getting their “full money worth” they become awful and trashy like I said throwing things, yelling etc.

The people who actually have the money to afford it are just like “lol ok” then we make fun of the ones being baby heads about it.

#20

Always their treatment of staff and service workers. They tip like s**t and feel they can ask whatever the f**k they want and get it.

#21

Worked at a jewellery store for a little while. Had a guy come in who was a bit of a regular. He bought 5 identical diamond rings. One for his wife, the others for his girlfriends.

#22

A highroller pissed in the hallway outside Prime steakhouse at Bellagio. I let the restaurant know and they just had someone come clean it up and let him continue dining.

Edit: This is by far my highest rated comment and its my Bellagio p**s story. LOL The best part was the guy pulled a power move and was maintaining eye contact the whole time.

#23

They trashed millions of dollars worth of rare books because they wanted to change the focus of their collection. They viewed selling or donating the books as a waste of their time and resources to properly oversee because they didn't trust anyone to handle the job properly.

#24

I don't know why this frustrates me the most but I have worked for some VERY wealthy families aboard superyachts.

Throwing their wet towel on the bed after they have a shower and waiting for someone to replace it. It is a TRUE sign that they've never had to hang up a towel in their life. Because out of all the places to put a wet towel. On your bed is not the place for it.

Also wiping their a*s with a towel instead of toilet paper.

#25

I was doing a renovation in a certain well known hotel in Manhattan that just had an event. After the event, carts full of food were taken away and all of it, completely untouched, was thrown out. If the staff were to dare to take anything, they would be fired.

#26

I was playing drums in a wedding band, and we played a wedding gig for a wealthy family at an exclusive private social club. We had just finished playing the cocktail set, and while the guests were moved into the main hall, the band were allowed, as is the custom, to partake in the cocktail buffet. I was standing with the bass player at the buffet enjoying some veggies and dip when one of the family walked over, gave us is a s**t-eating grin then dragged two fingers through the bowl of dip before jamming them in his mouth. He said "Ooh, that's good!", then walked away.

That's the only time I've had anything like that happen with a wealthy customer.

#27

When I was a maid at the Marriott (just out of school) I had to clean up after the New York Jets. I don't know how many guys were in each room but the (party?)room I got had vomit everywhere, even in the draperies. All the bedclothes were vomit-y and rolled up in a ball and thrown in a corner. It would have been 1975 so you guys can figure out the team members cause I have no idea.

They were in town to play the Patriots.

#28

Not a customer service kinda person but was in Vegas with my silver spoon GM and he was annoyed our rideshare driver took a call in a foreign language. I got the vibe he was going to stiff the bill so sat in the car until I saw him pay it. Only one of many small and douchey interactions witnessed over years.

#29

S******y harassed the two female staff members and proceeded to take a nap on a blanket he brought into the guest lounge of the Ritz Carlton, Chengdu.

#30

I used operate the service elevator in a high end NYC apartment building. One of my responsibilities was to gather the recycling from each floor. One resident used to put his hard core f****h p**n mags (it was the 1990’s) in the recycling area out in the open for any one to take. He was asked by other tenants and the superintendent to be more discreet, as there were many young children in the building, but he kept doing it.

#31

Leave a champagne bucket full of p**s outside their hotel room.

#32

Throw garbage in the floor even though they were approaching a trash bin.

#33

Worked in private aviation. A famous pizza maker flew in, had a younger gal meet him, brought her to the jet and b**ged her, and then returned her to (presumably) her father. He bragged about it in the lobby with his pilot.

#34

Exposed himself to a housekeeper in his room while his wife and kids were at the pool.

#35

25 years ago the sales force of many luxury retail outlets were the children of parents usually more wealthy than most of our customers. Hiring the kids of wealthy/influential ppl is a fun favor for good customers. I was working one summer in a luxury leather goods place…and this lady was screaming to my friend/co-worker about not doing a 5k return. The store manager was called; still no return. First she said she was Usher’s mom (idk maybe she was? Her client notes would usually mention that but….We could see she spent money in the store but the return had no proof of purchase and didn’t seem real. We didn’t recognize the bag she just wanted 5k from her memory of the purchase.) Then she started dropping a Senator’s name that was her “personal friend” and one call would cause a huge investigation because somehow my friend/coworker was being accused of theft?? It was a crazy outburst and at the end of it all while she was on a flip cell phone pretending to be on hold with the Senator’s office waiting to speak with him I said “Please stop. She is Senator XYZ’s granddaughter. This isn’t going to work. Just go.” I was dying of 2nd hand embarrassment.

Then “Usher’s mom” doubled down (of course she did!) and said my friend/co-worker was lying because she KNEW this senator didn’t have ANY grandchildren.

#36

I worked private jets for many years. The price tag on these planes range from 10 to 80 million depending on size and age. These wealthy executives traveling on the planes are absolutely disgusting. First they arrived in high end BMW,Mercedes type cars and drive right up to the aircraft so we could load the bags. Then we would drive the car back into the corporate hangar to park it and the inside of these $90,000 cars was absolutely inconceivable. I’ve seen the inside of dumpsters cleaner. The jets would return in about the same condition. Like toilets not flushed. Food and trash everywhere. One particular executive would trim his finger nails every time he was onboard and just leave the clippings in the carpet. Another well known brewery heir would return his jet looking like a pack of toddlers had a food fight inside of it.

#37

I didn’t see it, but a friend of mine is a manager at a super high-end hotel that Diddy stayed at. He said it took them 3 days to clean the room.

#38

My previous employment I worked as a consultant with business folks at the highest level of global business. A wildly wealthy Chinese woman was visiting UPenn’s campus for some executive education courses. We all got b*mbed at The Barnes (I hosted an event that cost $125k for the night). If you’re not familiar with the concept of ganbei, look it up. It’s the great business person equalizer where everyone gets bottoms up drunk af and there’s no way to respectfully decline the call to ganbei. We all go back to the hotel and she got stuck (🤷🏼) in the bathroom and couldn’t figure out how to get out of the room. Her phone was in the bedroom so she decided to use her lighter to set off the fire alarm to get attention. Then, gallons of dookie brown water that has been sitting in the sprinkler system rained down on this woman for 10 minutes. Her room was on the third floor and the water damage went all the way down to the ceiling above the main lobby on the first floor. The damage was covered by the hotels insurance, but totaled something around $125k.

It’s the only night of my life I somehow spend $250k.

#39

Drank their liver to s**t - our team had to carry them off their private jet multiple times and get rid of the many expensive empty bottles. They either travelled alone or with a very young woman (40yrs+ his junior). Eventually needed a liver transplant. Used his *status* to get a volunteer to donate and then continued all over again. AND he was a d**k to everyone who worked there. His pilots and driver were so sweet though. I dunno, I saw lots of terrible entitled behavior but he sticks out as at the top due to his behaviors.

#40

Courtney love ordered 50 books of matches and half a banana at 3 am and we had to get it for her.

#41

Changing a baby’s diaper on the table. Pretty gnarly s**t. There’s been leftover bags of blow plenty of times too. Miami and Vegas high end sushi restaurants.

#42

Throw a laundry hamper at the locker room attendant.

#43

I spent a year as a concierge at a high-end resort. The weirdest part was handling requests like chartering a last-minute helicopter because someone forgot their favorite sunglasses at home. Most guests were fine, but a few acted like the staff existed just to fix every minor inconvenience on the spot.

#44

I work for a company that books luxury holidays for rich people. We’re talking everything from when they touch down in the airport to when they leave.

Had one client say yes I’m disabled I’ll be in a wheelchair for seats at this very lucrative show, we start rebooking everything as this is news, turns out he’s just disabled for the show…

Glad I’m leaving that industry.

#45

Just two examples: Requesting several chocolate cakes backstage only to nibble off the frosting. Like, maybe ask for a bar of your favourite instead?! I also had folks wanting different bottles of [expensive brand] of fruit juice just to take a sip or two out of each. Why? Yeah, we'll bill your management but what's up with all that waste?

#46

I managed property for high net worth individuals. For one client the housekeepers told me when the kids (adult) stayed in the guest house they would just toss dirty diapers on the floor for the HK team to pick up later. Let their dogs s**t wherever for the HK team to clean later and would just leave anything out anywhere. Most of my clients wanted pristine homes but those guys were just nasty.

#47

Well, not exactly what they do, but what they will accept. During holiday season people will gladly pay 300+ euro for a cheapest meal course, or up to 1k+ per person for the bigger ones. And then they are squeezed like sardines. The restaurant usually seats around a 100, and that's already rather tight. But on Christmas it's 200-250 people dining for the whole night, sitting shoulder to shoulder. You maybe get 15x15 cm square for your plate, glass and cutlery. And a "fancy" DJ playing "last Christmas" every 4th song. Oh, and trying to get up and visit the restroom means you have to squeeze past like 20 people.

First year I worked on holidays I was shocked. The conditions were worse than in my school canteen, shortly after the fall of soviet union. Don't know why would anyone pay ridiculous prices for such "experience".

#48

Lots of p**p stains on their toilets and floors. Also pass out unbelievably drunk in a toilet stall, drive into an building drunk, driver off of a very high curb wasted. For some reason over serving them is ok when it's their own alcohol. Very sad alcoholic behavior.

48 People Who Work Around Extreme Wealth Recall The Trashiest Things They’ve Witnessed

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