The wealthy don't live lives like the rest of us. Their lives are full of glam and glitz, not to mention some seriously disgusting garbage! These people worked so closely with their rich employers that they practically became part of the family, which means that they became privy to certain secrets that these loaded people would pay any amount of money to keep hidden.
Content has been edited for clarity.
She Was Called For An “Urgent” Matter
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“My sister is a nanny for an NBA player and his wife. The wife called my sister at 9 pm to come to their house for an ‘urgent’ matter. When my sister gets to their house, the wife tells her take the trash out. That’s it. My sister drove an hour round trip to take out the trash.
She has so many ridiculous stories about this family, but that one is my go-to.
My sister signed an NDA, so let’s just say he’s in his 20’s and he seems like a decent guy – his wife is just an entitled, raging lunatic. My sister does make $50k a year plus full benefits, not too shabby, but I’m still not making house calls for that.”
A Little Too Close For Mother And Son
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“I babysat a few times for a friend of my lawyer uncle. She was an insanely wealthy widow who lost her husband to a freak helicopter accident. She would sleep with her then 10-year-old son, both without a stitch of clothing, in the same bed, and then would walk around the house the next morning in the buff.
I understand them needing time to grieve and even occasionally sharing a bed. However, the whole no-clothes thing threw me off and I only did it a few weekends. The kid was great and loved me, but was a little too touchy and cuddly and there was no way I was going to be around him while he’s in his birthday suit. This was about 14 years ago so now he’s probably a 22 year old frat boy with incest fantasies.”
They Weren’t Allowed In The Basement
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“I helped my mother-in-law who was a maid once with a very large mansion in NC. Beautiful house, amazing architecture. They traveled the world all the time. Despite this the kitchen had old appliances from the ’70s and the wife’s bathroom had a broken toilet seat that was duct taped together. The weirdest part though was that the wife did not re-wear her underwear. We were also told not to go in the basement. After a while, I couldn’t stand it. I peeked down there and there were clothes three feet deep in the basement where she took off her clothes and just threw them down there. Thousands of pairs of underwear. Very weird people.”
The Kids Were Locked In Their Rooms At Night
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“I was a nanny for a really wealthy family. Their public face was polished and put together. My second day on the job, I noticed that there were really intricate alarms and lock systems on each of the kids’ bedroom doors. It turns out the dad was a registered offender. The alarm systems would turn on and lock the kids’ doors at 9:30 pm. The mom had to use a special code to open them if the kids needed her during the night. I then found out he had touched one of his children. He got off with a very light sentence, but one of the terms of his parole was the locks on the children’s doors. The really messed up part was that it wasn’t his biological child. It was a child that they had adopted. It was all messed up of course, but that part was really upsetting. I had to meet with his parole officer. He was only allowed in the house if I was also there. He basically had his own side of the house, and part of my job was to make sure he didn’t go to the side that had the kids rooms. Each of the kids’ rooms had a full bathroom and a balcony. If there had been a fire, they could go out on the balcony. If he went over to their side, I was supposed to call his wife and/or parole officer. It was not a good situation. He wasn’t allowed to hug or kiss them. They were all fairly young, and I think they had lived this way for so long they thought it was normal. When the mom traveled, I had to stay the night in a room close to the kids. I had to stay up until the dad was in his room and asleep, and I had to be up before he was. At first he seemed like an okay guy, but as time went on he got more and more skeezy. I didn’t feel very safe staying the night alone, so I would have my boyfriend stay over with me. The mom lived on pills and diet soda. The kids had some major issues. The dad was a complete slime ball. I made really good money, but even that lost its appeal after a while. Eventually I had to quit. I felt bad leaving the kids because I don’t think they had very many stable influences in their lives, but it all just got to be too stressful and toxic for me.”
Too Many Rules, And Products, For Kids So Young
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“I used to nanny for a number of families. The most bizarre was this newly rich young family in Vienna. The bedtime routine for the kids (aged 3 and 7) included basically a spa treatment for both. I haven’t seen that amount of products in a child’s bathroom (they each had their own) in my life. The poor 7-year-old girl had next to no hair on her head but I was required to slather her in the most expensive adult shampoo, conditioner, hair mask, hair oil, and some other things I didn’t recognize – every night.
They only had one tiny box of toys and time spent playing was set up for 30 minutes after they brushed their teeth. Dinner was normally a bland fish fillet and a ton of salad. Not a grain of sugar anywhere in the house. Hot cocoa was made with skim milk and pure high quality cocoa – no sweetness to it whatsoever, it tasted awful.
They had time to explain EVERYTHING to me the first time I was there and I received an inch thick file with lists and procedures to follow. What they didn’t mention was that the older girl was still wearing diapers at night. It made for a very awkward conversation with the child and I only hope I was sensitive enough to not cause her any future trauma.
Very, VERY weird.”
He Called His Lawyers Over THAT?!
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“My friend works for a tax lawyer for the obscenely wealthy. Their firm is one of those go-to places when you want to take advantage of tax havens. Think Panama-Luxembourg.
He tells me one of their clients had an issue and called the people he always turns to for help: his lawyers.
The problem? He bought a new private jet and only just realized its entertainment system doesn’t have a blu-ray player (this was 5 years ago). ‘Find someone that can fix it. Today.’
He had lawyers at three different firms searching for a solution that afternoon. They all billed him for it, of course.”
Rich In Money, Poor In Sense
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“Gosh, where to start?
1) The wife was driving through the home improvement part of the city and saw a sale on bathtubs. So she popped in and bought three. As she was leaving, she saw another tub she liked and simply had to get that one too. She wasn’t renovating a house at the time.
2) They refuse to throw away food. Used by and best before dates are completely ignored, to the point where I found a tin of seafood marinara which was 15 years out of date.
3) They have a holiday home in the South Pacific and have a housekeeper clean it three times a week yet they only visit 3-4 times a year. When they’re not visiting, no one lives there.
4) When the family goes out for dinner, the father will happily pay for the expensive meals but not the drinks. The kids (who are all teens or older) have to pay him back for the drinks and he will send reminder messages about the amount. Yet when any of the kids offer to pay for the meal, he won’t accept.
5) The wife is a hoarder and will often take way more samples than any normal person. She always makes sure to take all the shampoo/soap etc from hotel rooms and if she passes the housekeeping trolley, will grab as many as she can from there too. Yet she never uses them. They have a whole bathroom cupboard dedicated to samples.”
His Investigations Uncovered Plenty Of Interesting Information
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“I’m a fire investigator, I’ve been in a couple really rich people’s houses who have had fires.
One is a semi famous boxer and he had two world championship belts just sitting on his kitchen table. The weird part was he had pictures of himself hanging all over the house. Not with his kids or his wife in the pictures mind you. Just of him. It was weird. It was just like printed and framed selfies.
And another couple full on screamed at their kid because he allowed smoke to get into his trombone case. Not sure how he was supposed to prevent that but whatever. They also lost their minds because the insurance company wouldn’t pay to get them brand new ‘handmade cabinets imported from Italy.’
One family lived in the middle of nowhere. Huge house, had a hot tub room, every bedroom had a walk in closet and a bathroom suite, crazy stuff like that. But this guy absolutely loved his four wheeler. He told me he paid to add an attached garage specifically for his four wheeler. And the four wheeler was the only thing allowed in the garage.”
The Rock Star’s Dog Groomer
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“I’m a mobile dog groomer. I went to an older rock star’s house to groom his dog. He was never home, but his wife was always there.
Always.
She wanted me to drive my mobile grooming van (with tub, shampoos, dryers, A/C) all the way to her house, which was 30 miles away, get out of the van, go into her house (I had to wear those glove booties that go on your feet like you see in hospitals). Then I was to use their shampoo (which was just human shampoo from Whole Foods), use their hair dryer, but only on low and never on hot. I had to use her brushes and combs (which were human ones and didn’t work on the dog) and wash the dog in her sink. Meanwhile, she would randomly go through the house with her housekeeper, cleaning a house that was already clean and reorganizing the same 10 book shelves. She would randomly sneak behind me and watch me groom her dog, which was mostly just me standing there with a hairdryer for an hour trying to dry the dog.
I wasn’t allowed to touch the dog’s toys. If he brought me one, I was to ignore it. The dog was being over-washed and they were using a shampoo that was making it worse. They blamed allergies and replaced their backyard grass with fake grass. Then when I was finished, I would wipe everything down and wait at the door. She would write me a check for $40 (no tip) and then try and talk to me about whatever for an hour.
The best day ever with her was when she was going to the airport and let me in and said, ‘Just ask the maid for permission to go when you’re done,’ and then she left for the airport.
The maid wandered in 10 minutes later and was like, ‘The hag is gone for a month, I’m going home. Lock the door after yourself. Bye.’ So I took the dog to my van, actually got it groomed in about 20 minutes, returned it, and then wandered around their house. I saw the original art for some of the dude’s albums. I took a wee in his toilet and then looked through his medicine cabinet. Otherwise it was kinda empty and sad. Few family photos, nothing exciting.
I tried to fire her as a client but the owners were too starstruck that they got to groom a rock star’s dog (even though it was actually me doing the grooming). She was obviously mentally ill and needed help, but years of money and fame and no one telling her no have ruined any chances of that. I mostly felt bad for that dog. They over-washed it and that’s what was causing 90% of the problems.”
He’d Only Been In A Non-Convertible Once
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“I’ve only babysat one time and it was for a friend of my grandparents. All I really had to do was hang out with their 8-year-old grandson for a night. Overall, it was a pretty cool night. All we did was play video games, so it wasn’t bad.
But anyway, this family wasn’t like billionaire wealthy, but wealthy enough to where they left me an envelope with $500 in it and told me whatever I don’t spend on food, I could keep. Wealthy enough to have sped off in a Maserati for the dinner they were at. Wealthy enough to have a pool, jacuzzi, and nice BBQ built-in to the yard out back. You get the idea, they were just an old couple with some money.
Left with $500, I think to myself, I might as well splurge like 30 or 40 bucks on a meal for two and pocket the rest. I was like 17 or 18 at the time so I can’t say it was a negligible amount of money. Anyway, I take the kid outside to my car across the street, which, at the time, was my older brother’s 2005 Toyota Corolla.
He gets in, takes a look around, and goes, ‘Where’s the button that moves the roof back?’ Sorry kid, no convertible here. He tells me that his parents only have convertible cars and that he’s only been in one other car that isn’t a convertible, and that ‘he isn’t my friend anymore.’
I thought that was pretty weird. Throughout the night, he did also make some interesting ‘rich kid’ comments, such as asking if we could go to a restaurant that had steak on the menu.
I then learned that the kid’s mom and dad divorced about a year later. Felt bad. He was a cool kid, didn’t really have that spoiled vibe. More like a curious innocent, steered wrong by his parents’ vibe.”
All Studying And No Play Makes Helena A Dull Girl
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“I was an au pair for a British-Spanish couple in London. They raised their daughter trilingual and even sent her to a German school. BUT because the school finished 2-3 hours before British schools, the mum thought it was ok to make little Helena study at home. So each day, I would have to take a sheet of paper and document the times and how well Helena did at the following tasks:
-German reading
-German writing
-English reading
-English writing
-Guitar
-Exercise
-Lunch: what she ate, how she behaved
-Play time
Once I was finished with her, it was bedtime and mum would take her to her room and make her read in Spanish. Her weekends were filled with acting school, ballet and so on.
Her parents planned to send her off to a private school in Germany within 1-2 years and the mum told me she plans to send Helena to Oxford University.
Helena was never allowed around a friend’s house but she was allowed to have a friend over on a Friday for a few hours. Aside from this playtime, her whole life revolved around getting good grades.
We lived in Putney which is just a bus ride away from all the famous museums. Yet, Helena was not allowed on public transport.
The worst part was:
The parents would literally not acknowledge her until she had finished all her tasks. Several times, the mum worked from home and would – I AM NOT EXAGGERATING – push Helena away if Helena wanted a hug! Why? Well, because we were in the middle of one of her many tasks.
One day mum wanted me to teach Helena how to write essays. Helena was only 7 years old.
She had difficulty integrating into the school because she was quite literally the only non-German pupil as far as I knew. She had no sense of identity and was just a little psycho who was so attached to anybody who gave her attention (me), that I would have to tell her off and get her parents involved because she wouldn’t let me go to the toilet! Like a puppy, she would wait outside the door (once we had managed to get her to let go off my leg).
It was an absolute freak show. I lasted 4 months before I gave up (Helena had a big mental breakdown when she saw her mum at home and mum didn’t acknowledge her). So I went up to her bedroom /office and told her I quit.
Then I texted my previous au pair mum and she came to pick me up within 3 hours. This previous au pair mum is still my close friend, 10 years on.
Helena should be 18 now and I really wonder how she has turned out!”
“I’ve Always Wanted Eurasian Children”
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“I worked for a billionaire family in Europe.
Once the Mrs. could no longer have children biologically and had used donor eggs for her youngest. She cornered me one day and said, ‘I’ve always wanted Eurasian children. I think they’re the most beautiful people.’ She goes on and on about wanting them and thinking about finding an egg donor. I’m Asian American. It was one of the most uncomfortable 15 minutes of my life, there is no way I would be a donor.
To give you a better idea about her, in her spare time (which was all the time), she studied many subjects. One of them was gemology. One day, while on a trip to a poor country rich in gems and minerals, she decided to go shopping for gems. The pricing for these gems would have been a fraction of retail. The Mr. gave her a budget of $50K. Immediately, she tells him that she did NOT go to gemology school for just $50K. Immediately, he upped her budget to $120K.
Oh, and there was this one time she spent $8,000 on ONE order for solid white playtime t-shirts for her toddlers.
That being said, they compensated their staff quite well. I received a decent salary, medical/vision/dental insurance, a 401K, and a clothing allowance in case I needed anything for work.”
Maid Life
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“My overseas friend Koko is a maid in Japan to a rich guy with a giant mansion. She is in charge of the other maids (so…the head maid?). She told me that he makes them wear cosplay maid uniforms and cat ears instead of real maid uniforms. They have to ‘nya’ like a cat at the end of every sentence and he must be addressed as ‘Master Okihara.’ He also makes them gather around him before he sleeps for him to talk about his day to all of them. There are like 8 or 9 maids total. When guests come over, they are to change to a standard Japanese uniform and drop the cat-girl act. I honestly thought it was fake until she sent me a video.”
A Day In The Life Of A Groundskeeper
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“I was a live-in groundskeeper for a wealthy eccentric for a while. He had three cars from old movies in his garage. One was from a Bond film. They were covered in layers of dust and trash. One of them was a convertible that had the top caved in by trash. Awesome cars, just totally neglected and forgotten.
He also had a favorite dog kept frozen in a meat cooler, surrounded by decades of old frozen food items. I know about this stuff because the garage is where my equipment was. I only saw inside the proper house once (I lived in the keepers’ housing). It was full of all this crystal, pewter, and silver tableware and decorative stuff. Easily hundreds of thousands of dollars in items just laying around in piles, like a pirate movie.
He was rarely there anyway. Once every three months he would swing in to pay bills and take care of other stuff, then go back to France where he lived with his wife.
A lesser man than I could’ve made out like a bandit just taking things here and there. The guy wouldn’t have even noticed. I just did my job though.”
It Was A Mutually Beneficial Situation For Everyone
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“Throughout high school, I worked for a guy that was worth over 2 billion (according to the internet) every summer. The very timid rich man would leave every day as soon as I arrived and I would always be terrified to talk to him… Until the first time he initiated a conversation with me and I soon realized he was far more nervous than I was, which I found odd. After that, he stopped leaving for work until an hour or two after I arrived. I thought nothing of it until one day I was close enough to the house to see him and his wife, both in the buff. She was fondling his junk while they were both just looking out the window at me. And out of denial (I guess?), I stopped paying attention to the windows as it likely happened for the following 2 years I was there. But at 14-18, it’s hard to turn down $1,000 a week, cash, And to be honest, I didn’t even mind if they did it everyday. Apparently, it was mutually beneficial to everyone involved.”
That’s Not How Dogs Are Supposed To Be Cleaned
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“Growing up, my mother would clean houses for wealthy individuals. There was an elderly widowed woman with large all white poodles. She insisted that my mother clean them with bleach. She would provide 2 gallons of bleach each week.
My mother never did bleach them, she just poured out the bleach in the tub.”
The Dragon Lady
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“During the summer while I was on vacation from college, I helped my mom at her first landscaping/greenhouse job. We went to this particular lady’s house in the rich part of town, big Antebellum home, she was a realtor and all that jazz. We called her Dragon Lady because:
a) She looked like a wrinkly old Dragon and…
b) She hoarded the most ridiculous jewelry and always wore it. Even in her ‘pajamas.’
We were taking a job to fix up (replace nice shrubs and flowers that she was just tired of) her back yard. She was a terrible excuse of a human. Mean spirited, snide comments, the works. But she had an inordinate amount of fresh young men always in and out of her house. Like the entire time we were there. Quite the variety. And if we ran into one she always introduced them as her ‘cousins’ and we were like, yeah ok sure, you old crusty bag.
She would flounce around in sheer robes with little to cover anything underneath. The guys followed her around the house like they were on a leash, it was like she WANTED us to see her because she was always in her sun room being doted on by her ‘cousins.’ Putting lotion on her reptilian skin, bringing her drinks, food, etc.
Then when she was done with them a slick nice Mercedes would pick them up. Man she was weird. And gross. She’s probably a fossil by now I guess. She was a relic then and that was only like 7 years ago.”