Shocking Quotes: The Astonishingly Tone-Deaf Comments from the Wealthy Elite
In college, I once got a temp job working at a sorority house dinner. One of the girls was dropping off her dirty plate at the sink for me to wash. She looks at me, then turns to her friend and said, “God I could never have a job like that where I had to touch other people’s food. I can hardly stand to touch my own food when I’m done eating it.”
That was over 20 years ago and it still sticks with me. Did she think I was washing other people’s dishes because it was fun for me? I was there because I didn’t know how I was going to eat that week otherwise.
According to Investopedia, some of the things that can trigger lifestyle inflation are getting promoted at work and graduating from college. Generally, you can avoid this issue by placing more value on experiences rather than buying material things, as well as prioritizing your financial independence.
“There’s nothing wrong with upgrading your lifestyle as you earn more money; the trouble comes when you don’t increase your savings and investments at the same time. Focusing only on increasing your spending means you’re likely to still live paycheck to paycheck and struggle with creating a financial buffer to protect against future emergencies.”
I was with one of the owners of a company I worked for years ago and in a meeting for year-end bonuses, he stated, “Wouldn’t it be cool to get everyone a new car for bonus??”
Then our Finance Manager actually showed him what that would cost. His response?
“Well…I could do that if I wanted to, even if the business can’t.”
We didn’t get new cars…
Have you ever felt like you’ve said something tone-deaf when talking about spending and wealth? If you have a spare moment, we’d love to hear your thoughts! Feel free to share them below.
I once worked for a guy who took his full time nanny along on a ski trip for him, his wife, and three under 10 kids. Because of my boss’s job he was able to get high end hotel rooms comped for him and his family but even so I heard him telling the person arranging it on the phone that they could stick the nanny in any old tiny and nasty room anywhere b/c she didn’t need to be treated nicely.
Later, when discussing the trip, he said he didn’t get why the nanny didn’t enjoy herself and take time to ski. I asked if she knew how and he said no but there were lessons there for something like $200-300. Knowing my own budget, I asked if the nanny made more money than I did and my boss said no. I said there was no way his nanny could afford those lessons.
He scoffed and said if that was so it was because she didn’t budget properly. He added that it wasn’t like she had to spend her money on rent because he knew she was still living with her parents.
I just marveled at how he never put the pieces together at how much money $200 was to someone in her situation, or that the reason why she was living with her parents still was probably because he wasn’t paying her enough.
Customer: “And then, my son landed his helicopter in our yard and the grass got all messed up. We had to pay the landscapers to get it all looking the same again. Can you believe that!?”
Me: “I literally can’t imagine ma’am. Now, do you need any more adjustments to your blinds?”.
An old boss looking at buying a new car. “I thought it’d be around $180-200,000 but when I found out it was $250,000 I had a bit harder time justifying it”
Or when talking about the resort he was building in Thailand.
Moving into the dorms freshman year of college, I overheard a girl absolutely losing her s**t because her mum was “only” giving her $200/week. We lived in dorms, had required meal plans and weren’t allowed to have cars on campus, what are you spending that much money on?!
I’ve never gotten an allowance in my entire life. The very notion of someone handing their kid $800 every month is still completely baffling to me.
When I first met my GF’s aunt, we were chillin’ in her giant house, giant kitchen, freshly renovated with all the trimmings. Beautiful place. I look over and notice she’s got these real tall s**g rugs in a couple of the rooms and I ask her how she vacuums the things because, well inquiring minds want to know! She replies with “Well first of all…you’re assuming I clean my own house…”
Then I knew, ok we’re on that level. All she had to do was say it any other way that sounded less pompous.
