Finally, his curiosity got the best of him and dad asked how they made their money. The guy said he used to drive a truck and got tired of needing to carry around bottles of ketchup. That’s how my dad met the creator of the ketchup packet.
Some of his students had a “fake home” that they would take new friends or potential partners to in order to test their loyalty or find out if they knew about their wealth.
Later, I saw her giving those bites to their dog — a purebred little diva who had her own room with a tiny table and a gold bowl.
- I worked as an assistant for a family everyone thought was perfect. One day, they asked me to help with some old files in the attic. I came across a folder with my name on it.
Inside were notes about everything I’d said and done, plus a list of people I knew, marked with things like “under observation” and “gone for three weeks.” That’s when I realized that behind all their wealth wasn’t happiness — it was total control. And now I know: I’m being recorded too…
- I worked as a personal assistant for a billionaire. He was delusional.
But his wife was something else. She would have breakdowns, screaming and crying in her glass office for the whole floor to see and hear. It could be over something as simple as her lunch being late or incorrect.
Luckily, I was not her PA; she went through a few of them quickly. One time, she was supposed to speak at a company event, but it was raining. I was told that we had pushed her time slot to avoid the rain, so I called her hairdresser, who was doing her hair at a rented mansion.
She showed up at the original time anyway and had an absolute meltdown about the rain and mud and her slot being pushed back. My boss was angry with me and didn’t want to hear about me calling ahead. I just took it and said sorry.
He told me, “Sorry is for losers.” Okay, bro.
- I’m an electrician, and I worked on the home of a famous professional wrestler. We were adding a 1,200-square-foot bathroom to the guest house on his property. That should give you an idea of how wealthy this guy is.
The main house was basically a castle—easily 30,000 sq. ft.—and they had six Great Danes that would defecate all over the place. They’d just let the giant piles sit on the marble floors of their ostentatious mansion until the cleaners came every day to clean it up. They’re not the only wealthy people I’ve known like this.
- I changed some home security equipment for a very wealthy older couple.
The wife was incredibly kind, and she would appear totally normal if encountered in the wild. It was the little details in their home that blew me away. Everything was handcrafted.
They even sent me and my team home with lots of produce from their garden.
- My niece married an absurdly wealthy man. He was quirky in that he did everything possible to hide his fortune. He wears simple clothes, drives a normal car, and lives in a decent but not lavish house.
He literally hates his fellow multi-millionaires. He told me that when he was really into Formula One, his dad bought him a go-kart track. Long story short, he got really good, won several small championships, and earned a spot in a training camp with some current Formula 1 pros.
As soon as they realized he came from money, the trainers and other kids started treating him differently, basically saying he wasn’t good enough and that he would be “paid for” to become an F1 pilot. This story repeated itself many times, from Oxford University, where the guy earned a scholarship without paying, to pretty much every business deal, where people tried to take advantage of him simply because he’s filthy rich and can afford it. There were gold diggers, etc., etc.
Instead of becoming a cynical version of Scrooge, he and his family hid their wealth. They wanted normal lives and honest human interactions.
