Money can be a blessing and a curse. Especially if you didn't have to work hard and just happen to have it.
According to clinical psychologist Dr. Tian Dayton, children of wealth often begin life with prescribed identities and a sense of social and financial superiority.
The absence of struggle and adversity can hinder their development of resilience and empathy, leading to a distorted worldview where entitlement replaces gratitude.
Interested in real-life examples of this, Reddit user ThrowRAmagicia posted a question on the platform, asking people to describe the worst cases of "rich kid syndrome" they had ever seen. Here are some of the most memorable replies.
#1
Not sure if this is worse case... but... actually a rich kid being nice.
In college, there was a Saudi Arabian kid who's father bought him a new Jeep Grand Cherokee SUV. Paid in full.
I was casual friends with him and his roommate.
His roommate was a year behind him, and just an average dude from the US.
He graduated and is in process of moving back to Saudi Arabia, to work at his father's company.
He just handed the keys to his roommate and gave him the Jeep, signed the title over to him. The roommate didn't have a car.
He said his roommate was a good friend to him and wanted to give him a goodbye present.
The roommate drove that Jeep until he couldn't drive it anymore, many years.
166points
#2
Me: You can't park here, it's a handicapped space!
Them: That just means it costs $250 to park here
And that's when I realized fines should scale to income
150points
"Those born into wealth do not necessarily learn the lessons of climbing the ladder towards success," Dr. Tian Dayton, the author of Emotional Sobriety, told Bored Panda. "The necessity to work can develop self-discipline and doggedness, it is normalizing in that one is thrown in with others who are also trying to move forward in life. One has to learn to work with others; to get along, to take the lead, or to follow and be a team player."
According to the psychologist, "wealthy people can sometimes afford to isolate themselves in a world of privilege that doesn't develop these traits." She also added that wealth can set high standards of what we think of as achievement, making a child born into it feel that nothing they do will ever measure up to their family's.
"This can be debilitating," Dayton said. "If the family values equate money with achievement, they may feel that acquiring wealth is one of the only ways to feel successful."
#3
Barbie and her daughter. I worked at a bank and a young girl came Into the bank complaining her credit card wasn't working. I told her it was maxed out and she needed to make a payment. The absolute look of shock and confusion on her face... you can tell she had absolutely no idea what the f**k we were talking about. "What do you mean a payment?? This is my money! I go shopping and put it all on this card what am I supposed to do? You need to figure this out!" When I tried to explain that credit cards aren't free money she said I was a liar and to figure it out cause I'm obviously new here. The manager gets Involved and she's so pissed she calls her mom... Barbie to come in. She literally looked like Barbie and that was also her name. SAME ISSUE! had no idea what we were talking about. Cards just pay for things! She has never paid a bill in her life. Hers has always worked... I explained that her card was set up that her husband would automatically pay it in full each month and she didn't understand. Long story short finally the husband comes and tells them to go to the car. Asked me to make it so all the daughters bills come out of his account. Worst part is she came back in and gave me this "see told you you're an idiot" look. The bill was f*****g wild too... She got this card a month ago and put over 10k on it. The wifes card was so outrageous I wouldn't even believe anyone could support that. What I dont get is how neither lady even understood the concept of money... It was just "I get whatever I want and this card does it"
Report
105points
#4
I worked at an upmarket boarding school for a while, living in the girls dormitory as a dorm matron. One of the girls was (we suspected) the daughter of a Russian oligarch and was obscenely wealthy and badly behaved.
One of the biggest social events of the school year was a winter ball, and the girls had their dresses planned months in advance. The oligarch's daughter had a designer gold dress that she told everyone who would listen about how it cost 6k. Bear in mind she was just barely 14.
Anyway a couple weeks before the ball she did something truly heinous, and I ended up grounding her from attending the ball. Oh boy, the tantrums and attempted manipulations the next two weeks were absolutely bonkers, but I'm not budging.
She ended up cutting the dress into ribbons and throwing it in the dumpster in order to "punish me". Unfortunately for her I'm not her real mum and didn't pay for it so I didn't care.
80points
We also got in touch with the person who started this discussion, Redditor ThrowRAmagicia.
"I live in a college town where there is a pretty significant population of rich, entitled families and also students," they started, introducing the origins of the post. "So I am aware of some students whose families pay $2,000/mo for their rent during college and I was curious to learn more about these types of people/families."
The Redditor said the common theme amongst the replies was "just a completely skewed and sheltered worldview that rich kids have."
#5
Worked at a mine in Northern Canada. Owners delayed the cargo boat for 5 days, at millions of dollars in penalties, so that they and their friends could come and watch it come in. Disrupted everyone's leave because of it. When they finally got there, they decided to get drunk and missed the boat coming in. So millions of dollars down the drain, disrupting everyone's family life, just to act like morons and miss it.
Report
78points
#6
I had a roommate in Uni who threw her change away. Anything under 5£ would go straight to the bin.
I put a "change drawer" in the hallway outside her room, and we threw an end of year party with the funds. One can hope it taught her that even coins have value, too, but I doubt she changed her ways entirely.
Report
64points
Dayton agrees that wealthy kids can be seen as those who have it all, which can also present a fair chunk of challenges. "This can mean that people don't judge them for who they are but for what they have," she explained. "Peers may turn their natural envy into judgment, or they may choose to be with them not only because of a natural affinity but for the inevitable perks that surround being connected to wealth."
"There is no more serious form of this than in marriage," the psychologist highlighted. "A wealthy young person may have someone who wants to marry them to attach themselves to wealth rather than basing the marriage on true love. This is an injustice to the wealthy person and a danger wealthy young people may face."
"Another function of status is that it can get comfortable, and it is bestowed on the wealthy person simply because they share a family status. The status can have the effect both of making them feel overly secure because of the way they are seen or insecure because while they do have status, they have no sense of having earned it," Dayton said.
#7
Encountered a bunch over the years directly and second hand, but the most recent one that sticks out was from a friend who's a drum teacher at a fancy private school. He's not technically employed by the school, so he bills the parents directly. Went to check his account and found a few more 0s than there should be in his teaching account. Turned out he'd accidentally billed one set of parents 40'000 instead of 400 and they just paid it anyway.
Report
61points
#8
Guy in my family was doomed from the start. His grandpa left him a 200k trust just for being the first born and before you know it, he's got an unwarranted sense of self importance. Went on to squander that 200k because he refuses to do an honest day's work, preferring the impossible dream of becoming a CEO immediately and having millions at his disposal. Despite having an MB in business management, he's run 6 endeavors into the ground to avoid getting a job while conning his parents into enabling him.
Now he's 50 and has no prospects. But still refuses to just work. Every time I feel sad about not having enough income to realistically retire, I remind myself I could always be him, 50 years old with a 30 year gap on my resume. At least I'm TRYING.
55points
#9
When I was at university I was friendly with a guy who lived on my floor who was from a rich family, like his family had villas in Spain and Italy as well as a big house in the countryside in the UK.
He was actually quite a nice bloke, but he regularly came out with things that only a rich kid could say.
He once tried to be relatable by mentioning how annoying it was when you didn't realize your cleaner or gardener were in the house and how awkward it was.
Like, brother, most people just clean their own homes.
As I said, he was quite a nice bloke, he wasn't being malicious but he was just so sheltered from what the average person has to go through.
54points
Views of why people are rich have changed significantly over the past years, with a growing share of Americans (65%) saying the main reason someone is wealthy is because they possess more advantages than other people. Far fewer think it's because they have worked harder than others (33%).
ThrowRAmagicia shares this sentiment and thinks that because of it, the rich and the average folk can never truly understand one another, either. "Rich people are either born into their lifestyle or they had a ton of luck. They will never comprehend what it's like to never be able to get what you desire," they said. "Getting everything they want is just a given."
#10
When the heir to a fortune threw a fit because his personal chef was on vacation and they had to settle for a takeout order
Report
54points
#11
Saw a post about a kid who was angry because his parents bought him a new high end BMW instead of a Mercedes. He intentionally wrecked the BMW.
Report
48points
#12
I worked for billionaires a few years ago as a nanny. I sat in for story time @ the kids private school. We were reading a children’s book about African students who go to school in mud huts. Basically, we learned that the kids need to work together to rebuild the school after every rainy season because the mud hut washes away… or something like that.
The teacher asked if any of the kids had questions after we finished the book. The first question was “is this about public schools?” The children were 8 years old.
Report
48points
However, Dr. Tian Dayton is more optimistic. "Underneath it all we all have very conventual, human needs, the need to be seen and accepted, and valued, and loved for who we are."
"If these values are placed before others, understanding follows," she said.
#13
Ex friend of my wife, daughter of fairly wealthy business owner. This girl threw a hissy fit at a friendly gathering, complaining about how her father (CEO) had given her (VP of operations-honorary title) a $200K yearly bonus… after she had already prepared her taxes. She was now going to have to go back to her accountant.
43points
#14
I saw a kid who threw out his clothes after he wore them. He legit didn’t understand the concept of washing clothes. When he came to college he had a copy of his parents Amex platinum card. He would literally stop by a store after school and buy clothes for the next few days.
39points
#15
John F. Kennedy didn't know the depression was going on while growing up. (could be apocryphal)
"Kennedy later claimed that his only experience of the Great Depression came from what he read in books while attending Harvard University. For John, this privileged childhood was interrupted repeatedly by chronic bouts of illness."
39points
#16
Me and a buddy were in our PC tech class senior year talking about how cool it would be to get Alienware gaming laptops. A junior that had class with us piped up and unironically said "why don't you just tell your dad's so they'll buy them for you". We had to explain that our dad's couldn't afford to do that and he truly didn't understand. Apparently his father is a chemist and helped invent the main component in luminol that makes blood glow.
Report
38points
#17
I went high-school in a working class neighborhood. Most of the students were middle class, and most of my friends were on the lower end of that scale. One girl I hung out with was smoking hot, but dumb as a post. She started dating a guy from a near-by private school. One night a bunch of us went to Pizza Hut and she brought him along, first time most of us had met him. He had no idea what Pizza Hut was or what they served. We had to explain the place to him and he actually said, "I've heard of pizza, never tried it." Dude was in high-school and never had pizza, Apparently, the only restaurants he had ever been to were high end fine dining places.
Report
38points
#18
My old job did this event in Minnesota, where all accountants had to attend to learn about the company’s culture and stuff. So we were all sitting down into tables, and they decided to do a workshop exercise where they scattered all accountants into random groups, and gave us these cards with questions we had to answer; as a fun exercise.
Everything was fine up until one girl pulled out the question, “What was the worst thing you have experienced, and how did you handle it?” So accountants at the table were going in turns to talk about different things, passings of parents/spouses, addiction, sickness, divorces…..etc, and I kid you not, this 21 year old Kyle said this when it was his turn, “Yeah my dad is a pilot and my mom is a surgeon and I’m a lonely child. So on my birthday, I usually travel the world, and one time, when I were in Japan, I tried Kobe Beef for the first time, and it was amazing. When I went back to the US, I had an argument with a restaurant owner because they were also serving kobe beef but I knew he was scamming the customers because actual Kobe Beef is not legitimate unless they are prepared in Japan. They kicked me out of the restaurant and I was never kicked out from anywhere.”
Everyone was quite and speechless, and one lady said she is not in the mood to continue the game after he was done lol.
Report
37points
#19
Not sure if this fits this question entirely (maybe more so just entitled here but still want to share) — We are currently on vacation in Mazunte, Mexico and one of the nights we went out to dinner, a huge American family came in from Michigan and just started being obnoxious. They were so loud, rude to the waitress, and just annoying — the grandparents (or maybe parents) were basically fighting the whole time, so it just helps paint a good picture of what was going on in a tiny restaurant and their party of about 17. One of the younger girls (maybe mid to late twenties) was just saying the craziest s**t the whole dinner. One of which included her stating that anytime she goes out with family (and they are paying) that she makes sure to order the most expensive things on the menu. Fast forward to her needing the bathroom — we had seen someone else go and we knew you needed a key and the bathroom was around the corner, I tried telling her but she either didn’t hear me — or chose to ignore me — she got up— kind of poked around a little bit and then opened a random closet. We saw her disappear into it and we through for SURE she would come out quickly because we knew she would have to realize quickly that she wasn’t in the bathroom. Unfortunately not the case — this girl stayed in there for a good amount of time — made some loud noises falling over miscellaneous metal material / typical shed things and came out a bit later. She came out unfazed. When another member of her party quickly asked where the bathroom was — she clearly stated you needed a key and told them it was around the corner. At this moment we were pretty sure she used the bathroom in this shed.
The audacity of this girl. She knew exactly where the bathroom was and just completely disrespected and intentionally disregarded using the actual restroom knowing where it actually was.
We quickly ate our meal and got up to leave, but I we just needed confirmation that what we thought happened happened — so I went into the shed and sure enough — she went to the bathroom on the floor. We were just in shock — I came out and just stared at her. She wouldn’t even look our way.
We couldn’t believe it. Can’t even imagine what type of person would do something like that as a visitor to another country while she knew she did something terrible and wasn’t bothered a bit.
We informed the owner as we paid and pointed her out in front of the entire restaurant and her whole family.
Literally insane.
Report
37points
#20
An international student at my university had never been exposed* to even the _idea_ of porn. When he was informed of its existence, he bought three more computer monitors so he could take in as much “content” he’d missed out on as possible while simultaneously doing his homework, gaming, and/or watching (non-porn) movies. He wasn’t even jerking off to it, just immersing himself in the experience.
And the aftermath? None. He absorbed it and continued being the same cheery, respectful, accepting guy. After graduation he returned to his home country and inherited a hazily-defined company worth more money than god.
*He was _horrifically_ sheltered growing up: When asked if his family had a house or apartment, he replied that the closest translation he could find was “compound”, and that he’d only left for weddings and funerals.
Report
36points