I can’t remember the specific details of this case, but I remember hearing a story a few years ago about a lawyer who argued that his young client suffered from “affluenza”.
Basically, they were saying that this kid, who had committed some kind of terrible crime, wasn’t to blame because they grew up with a lot of money and didn’t know any better…or something like that.
What has the world come to?!?!
And in the spirit of affluenza, we want you to enjoy these stories from AskReddit users about times when they witnessed crazy examples of “rich kid syndrome.”
Take a look!
1. This is nuts.
“My friend is a commercial pilot and works for a large company that has a ‘flight department’ consisting of several jets and turboprop airplanes.
The owner’s kids, and a group of their friends, were granted permission to take one of the jets from the central part of the US to the Bahamas. Upon arriving in the Bahamas, they were meeting other friends and getting on a very, very large yacht for a week.
They realized the yacht was equipped with fine dining food, not the type of food they liked (junk food). They ordered the pilots to fly back through US Customs and to their hometown in the Midwest.
Once there, they had to pick up multiple sides of BBQ ribs, burgers, hot dogs, soda, beer, and piles of other junk food and fly back to the Bahamas — and do so within a timeframe that still allowed them to leave with the yacht on time.
It costs roughly $5,000 an hour to operate the jet they were using. And it never even struck the owners as something extreme.”
2. Quite a bill.
“Girl at work told me she h**ed her dad. I asked why.
She said he keeps asking for money since she used his credit card for a Euro trip and left him an 80 grand bill from last year.”
3. Terrible twins.
“Twins in high school.
[On their] birthday, I think it was 17, they get matching pickup trucks. Like the suped-up larger than life cool as f**k looking black ones.
Twin A is the brat, and smashes his in some remarkable timeframe, I want to say same day. It was crazy though.
Parents decide not to get him another one (though I’m sure insurance probably covered it even if it was his fault), but regardless he is going to learn a lesson.
The lesson?
Takes Twin B’s truck (he’s the responsible one) and crashes it ON PURPOSE.
If he can’t have one, neither can his brother.
So much recklessness, spite, and downright illegal in what he did.”
4. Couldn’t leave the island.
“My first teaching job was at a private middle school in one of the wealthiest enclaves in the United States.
I taught a kid who told me he didn’t finish his homework because his helicopter had stalled over the weekend so he couldn’t leave his family’s island. He was telling the truth.”
5. What a deal.
“My personal favorite was in college.
Kid down the hall from me bought a brand-new Fender Stratocaster, played with it for a day, and got bored and sold it to me case and all for $20.
I still have it and play it 15 years later. It’s a great guitar.”
6. This is incredible.
“When I was in college, a friend who was heavy in the frat life told me about a first-year who got kicked out for having a servant flown to town to do the hazing chores he was supposed to do.”
7. Have some dignity!
“There was this rich kid in our class who was literally disgusted by us buying used stuff (like computer parts) on eBay.
Once during conversation, I said I bought on eBay a memory module for my PC, and he said to me that I should have a little dignity, and if I buy used stuff I should keep it to myself.”
8. You promised!
“My college roommate’s mom gave him f**king $1,400 ‘for the weekend’ just randomly.
He blew through the whole thing by Saturday and asked his mom for more money, and was screaming at her because ‘she promised $1,400 for the weekend,’ and he spent most of what she gave him on Friday, which isn’t a part of the weekend.”
9. Spoiled.
“Funny short story.
My ex-wife used to drive a 1998 Honda Accord. She treated it like s**t, and so one day I got into it to drive somewhere, and I noticed that it was falling apart.
I had two options: junkyard or sell it. So I put it on Craigslist for $250. I thought it could go to a low-income family who had someone with some know-how who could semi-restore it, but when I met the buyer, he was not who I expected.
He pulled up in a brand-new Escalade and told me that his son was spoiled. His son had crashed a BMW, Mercedes, and an Audi, and so he was done buying him nice cars. Turns out, this guy purchased my car as a way of t**turing his son.”
10. FU money.
“‘It’s not illegal for me to park in handicap spaces. It just costs $250 if I get caught. I’d rather not deal with the rain today.’
Said completely honestly. That is what we call ‘f**k you’ money.
Remember: Punishable by fine = Legal for the rich.”
11. Clueless.
“This one is kinda mild, I guess, but goes to show how clueless wealthy kids can be, completely unaware of the disparity between them and average-income people.
Anyway, he picked me up in a new $85,000 sports car one day. The newest Corvette special edition model, fresh off the line. I said, holy s**t, dude, your car is incredible. He said he wished everyone knew he had to work a full month with his grandfather and earned it himself.”
12. Is that a lot?
“Worked with this kid who was a good kid, but completely disconnected from financial reality for most people. He’d just moved out West from another state and was trying to get on like a ‘normal’ adult.
He went to buy a new car and was shocked that they couldn’t just bill his dad for it, since they didn’t know him.
He ordered a bottle of wine at a restaurant and the sommelier said, ‘Certainly, sir.’ Then the sommelier whispered, ‘Just for your knowledge, sir, the bottle is $700.’
He looked straight at him and asked, ‘Is that a lot?'”
Have you ever seen someone exhibit “rich kid syndrome”?
If so, share your stories with us in the comments.
Thanks a lot!
