No wait, that's not true. There was this awful girl I used to work with. She was the WORST. A walking caricature of the worst example of the trophy generation that you can imagine.
Then I found out that her parents are super rich. It kind of made sense, then.
Post by lobstertail on Feb 14, 2014 22:25:09 GMT -5
During the first couple weeks of college, I asked my roommate some question about the financial aid office and it turned out she didn't know because she wasn't on financial aid. This was at a $40K/year university and her dad was also paying prep school tuition for her two other siblings, too. She and her whole family are all super sweet and grounded.
Post by marylennox on Feb 14, 2014 22:39:06 GMT -5
We have some friends that whenever we get together, the first thing they do is show or tell us about all their expensive, fancy new stuff. The first few times this happened I thought they must be much wealthier than I realized. Then I got to know them and realized they are just hood rich.
I didn't know my parents were loaded until one day my mom came home freaking out that she'd lost 20k. Then I knew.
I guess I could have put it together before that, second home, private school for my brother, but I hadn't because I didn't feel very well off at all, not compared to my classmates.
I swear if you ever left Connecticut you would be so much happier.
When some that I knew in college had no concept/sympathy for those who did not have family who could offer housing or care after 18yrs of age. Getting that seemed pretty good to me.
The concept that the strain of paying back college loans was expected of families. (Not due to scholarships).
Extra odd: The surreal moment when a friend ordered the wine from her own French winery at $800 a bottle in the 90s. Also later that night, when Paparazzi followed her as we left the restaurant and I hid in the doorway.
Post by amberlyrose on Feb 14, 2014 23:35:14 GMT -5
Not super rich, but I never realized how big of a political name MIL was around here until DH told me he was tired of the media calling when she passed away.
At our friend's wedding when her dad's name was all over the synagogue for basically buying and building the place and donating the money for upkeep. We then found out he bought 2 city blocks in an expensive area for re-development. She is so down to earth that we just never knew, plus her DH gets his suits at goodwill and is very frugal.
When I found out my best friend's husband's dad was CEO of a major tv conglomerate. Lol.
Lordy, I completely glossed over my HS friend, whose father and uncle owned a string of television and radio stations. As in "when taken over, they sold for $$$" newsworthy. She was not poor.
Another friend is does entertainment law and is frequently a commentator about various cases in the news. Every time I see him on television I chuckle. There were a lot of platinum members of the entertainment community that flew out from Cali to his daughter's wedding in bumfuk, PA for the ceremony. He's not private plane rich but there are a lot that circle him that are.
I went to visit a college teammate over the summer. She typically dressed in clothes from the thrift store, cheap flip flops, or chucks when it got cold.
She picked me up in a Porsche and drove me to her gated home (part of the historical register in L.A.), where her staff proceeded to wait on me for the duration of my visit. William Shatner had filmed something in her back yard the week prior.
Post by W.T.Faulkner on Feb 15, 2014 1:19:57 GMT -5
My parents.
We shopped at Goodwill and Walmart and ran cars into the ground, and I worked all through high school. Then, my dad paid my private-college tuition and bought a vacation home in cash, and I was like, WHAAAAAAAAT!?
Post by BunnyMacDougal on Feb 15, 2014 1:47:51 GMT -5
Here's mine, memory sparked by littleduck. In college a fraternity brother of the kid I was dating left his convertible top open and the car filled up with snow over a weekend.
He had a brand new car (a nice one) by the next weekend. And no discernable punishment. His dad visited sometime shortly thereafter and was shooing away conversation about it at a dinner, "we buy his cars at auctions" to mean that it hadn't been any big expense to replace the car.
SHE LIES. I paid for my $5 ratty tee with pocket change while she was hauling fluorescent bag after fluorescent bag. She sure put me in my place. (wilted)
P.S: We both shop at F21. I think we lose at being wealthy.
We lose at taste, that's for sure. But we did handle a teeny tiny Prada bag for like a minute. That has to count for something, right?
You should be used to handling teeny tiny things by now.
When I went to visit her parent's country house that ended up being a huge estate with a caretaker. Then I was reading Newsweek a couple months later and it had an article on her dad's latest business venture.
I had no idea. She is one of my best friends and no one would know that she grew up in luxury.
Post by sailorgray on Feb 15, 2014 14:19:53 GMT -5
I knew my ex-BF was from a well-off family, but I didn't realize how well-off until I went to his parents' house and it was an actual castle that they had shipped to the US from God only knows where. I wasn't allowed to park in the driveway bc they feared my POS car would leave oil spots :/ I decided to then Google his step-Dad (this was in the late 90's and Googling wasn't an instant thing we did yet) and learned that he was a bigwig in the production part of pretty much every major concert tour.
More recently, I looked up a friend's address for directions and right away saw how much she and her H paid for their new house. I swear I wasn't being nosey. It was right there. That's when I realized that not everyone in my new circle of friends had the same financial situations. It's funny because she's the first person I'd run into at the Goodwill.
Post by sailorgray on Feb 15, 2014 14:26:18 GMT -5
Oh, I just thought of another one! My good friend in LA had gotten engaged around the same time as me. I was sharing all of my budget bride tips with her. She kept talking about some girl named Mindy who was helping her. Turns out it was Mindy Weiss, celebrity party planner. She was my friend's planner. My friend was getting married at a beautiful hotel on the beach and her dress cost more than my whole wedding. I kinda felt silly.
H and I used to be members of a car club. One of the couples gave us a $500 check as a wedding present. I was a bit stunned. H told me the guy owned his own business and his wife had a very wealthy family. He was surprised by the amount they gave us though.
A while later we went to a Christmas party at their house. They had hired a valet and two bartenders for the party. Their garage had two levels and was full of antique cars and hot rods. And they owned large section of the mountain their house sat in front of.