Originally published at: A comparison of how rich people and very rich people order food at a restaurant | Boing Boing
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This is totally correct. I used to work for a custom shirtmaker back in the 80s:
Very rich people: Hey, please replace the cuffs on these 5 white shirts, and I’d like 12 more white shirts in the same pattern; anytime by next month. You look great today!
Rich (& wannabe rich people): Uh, how much per shirt? $125? Okay, one white shirt, and one in this striped pattern, but I want it sideways like I saw on Wall Street. Listen sweetie, make it fast; I want my money’s worth!
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Some very good examples of what not to do while dining out.
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To a billionaire the idea of considering the cost of a meal—even a super fancy meal—is kind of like the idea of considering the cost of an individual glass of tap water would be for the rest of us.
Yes, I know in an abstract way that I pay for each glass of water that comes out of my faucet, but I also know that even if I drank myself almost to the point of bursting every day for the rest of my life I could never drink enough for that water to amount to a big enough portion of my budget to bother worrying about.
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the mispronunciations on ‘kobe’ and ‘wagyu’ were chefs kiss
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I’ve always said money is just a personality enhancer - if you’re an a-hole, then having money makes you an insufferable a-hole.
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The “new money vs old money” tag is the crux of the whole matter here, correct?
“I didn’t actually crawl up from the middle class, all this money is inherited, whatever. Plenty more where that came from.”
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The Haves vs the Have-Yachts.
(What if there’s a gunshot and the bullet knocks the Samurai sword off the wall, cutting him in two?)
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All that money and yet they can’t imagine what would increase the likelihood of being served tainted food.
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I spent years bartending in ritzy places in the Hamptons.
And same deal.
Most of your hereditarily actually rich folks, and decades long career grade celebrities were nice enough. Came by weekdays or before the rush, kept to themselves, didn’t run up insane tabs. And left. Easy enough even if they didn’t tip particularly well.
It was the just rich enough, tech and finance bros, and wannabes that were a terror. Like try to skate on the $25k tab cause the 14 year old bus girl wouldn’t give them her number bad.
And since this was about 15 years ago, it was absolutely shocking how many of those people were living almost entirely off debt. Split the check over these 10 high limit credit cards, all in the same name. Or wave around your American Express Black card, but try to settle up with a personal check.
Whole thing was bizarre.
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This is spot on. My “rich” pals are kinda-sorta uptight about a lot of things, and tend to be really image conscious in annoying ways. The very few “really rich” acquaintances I have tend to not give one single fuck about what people think about them, and perhaps counter-intuitively, this makes them pretty laid-back and easygoing (*).
I see this as exactly parallel to the new-money vs old-money dichotomy.
Where do I fall in this spectrum, you’re probably not asking yourselves? I’m merely a man.
(*) Your milage may vary; past performance is no guarantee of future results
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“Don’t come back to this table unless you hear gunshots”? My good man you entirely misunderstand the nature of this transaction. You getting shot at my work would be an inconvenience, your whole kind becoming extinct is a necessity.
PS if you don’t die still leave a tip. I’ll be back when it’s safe.
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Hard pass; I’m already annoyed at people of excess wealth & privilege fucking up the world just so they can live ‘blissfully…’ so clicking that won’t help improve my mental state.
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That and the near-bottomless amount of capital they have. Really rich people and old money know they have absolutely nothing to prove when they’re shopping or dining.
Exactly. They’re so insulated from privation and judgment that they can literally afford to be nice to other people. When they’re mean and vicious they reserve it for their class peers.
That’s true, but smart old-money parents tend to teach their kids who are trending that way not to be ostentatious dillholes. It’s a kind of self-preservation tactic.
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a bit easier for most of us (and the wait staff too). Hi, cheeseburger, medium please. side of fries. do you have unsweetened iced tea? great, i’ll have that. thanks.
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What’s a good term for the not-so-sweet-spot between ‘filthy rich and don’t need to prove it by being a jerk’ and ‘I’ve been on that side of the table before, and being a jerk is Bad Form’?
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So… very rich people have middle-class tastes and are completely down-to-earth/unpretentious?
Even if they are secure enough that they don’t have to flaunt it, wouldn’t they still expect/demand “the very, very best”? (And, by “very rich”, it’s implied to be “old very rich” and not “new very rich”.)
[re-edited for clarity]
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They’re so insulated from privation and judgment that they can literally afford to be nice to other people. When they’re mean and vicious they reserve it for their class peers.
Agreed. However, I’m far from rich, can’t afford all that much, and not insulated from anything. I also tend to not give a fuck about what people think about me (aside from close family and friends). I’m not an asshole about it, and I always try to be cordial to everyone I encounter, but the saying “what other people think about me is none of my business” is my mantra.
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Yeah, I should have added that they can afford to be nice despite the corrupting effects of having a huge amount of money.
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Pretty much. Old money isn’t so into conspicuous consumption, or being noticed. Like the Illuminati.
I wouldn’t say “down to earth and unpretentious”, just as I didn’t say that these people were routinely actually nice.
Just self aware enough to mostly keep it to themselves, and cloistered enough to not give a shit.
Missing context on the videos is this all goes down at a place you’ve never heard of, and aren’t allowed to go to. Where the two beers are $18 each and the burger is $150 and comes with no sides.
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