These mega wealthy people live in a completely different world that normal people do. Apparently this different world forgot to teach them any manners. If I ever get this rich and have to treat people this way, I'd rather just be poor. Content has been edited for clarity.
He Finally Found A Reason To Be Upset
“I used to work at a ski resort that sits at the top of a steep canyon. The geography is pretty extreme and people don’t want to drive through the snow, so everyone with enough money stays directly at the resort. Our rooms generally weren’t over the top luxurious, but we had probably the second or third nicest hotel in the resort area and saw some rich clientele.
One time someone in sales or reservations messed up with a conference which caused the significantly larger and more 5-star luxury style place up the hill to become oversold. So naturally they bumped some of them down to our hotel.
Normally this isn’t a big deal. We’d comp them enough stuff, like free spa passes at the 5-star place and a meal, and they’d be happy. They’re coming for some random conference that sold a huge block of rooms. They probably didn’t even know what hotel they were at or what type of room they were in.
As someone who works at a higher end hotel you get really, really sensitive to peoples’ body languages and you can tell when people are grumpy. Normally they’re just tired from a long trip or miffed at their spouse or something and it has nothing to do with you, but you can see it 100 yards away.
This guy walked through the door and was broadcasting his terrible attitude like there was a giant lighthouse light strapped on his head. Not only was he mad, but he kept making eye contact with me to let me know he was angry about the move and ticked off that he had to wait in line to check-in. I knew when he walked up that he was going to go off.
He gave me the typically arrogant attitude interrogation, ‘What’s going on? Why did this happen? Are you incompetent?’
It was really unpleasant but I’m a pro. I was doing pretty good at the hospitality verbal kung fu and not giving him anything to be angry at me about. He started asking about the amenities of the hotel, looking for an opening.
Do you have a pool? Yes, sir we do. Here’s your key.
Do you have a restaurant? Yes, sir. Its really fantastic. Here’s a voucher for a meal on us. Would you like me to make you a reservation?
Do you have a spa? Yes. We have steam rooms, sauna, and a masseuse on contract. We also would be happy to take you to the 5-star spa at any time. Here’s the number for our valet driver. What time would you prefer your appointment?
It’s also worth nothing that we’re like 100 yards away from the other building. We even had 24 hour valet to come pick them up and drive them around literally on call if they didn’t want to walk through the snow. We have a better restaurant than the 5-star place at normal prices, a nice gym, nice pool, the whole 9 yards. This was a wipe-your-behind if you ask nicely kind of hospitality environment that most people really enjoyed.
He couldn’t really find anything to complain about but he was still interrogating me. Then he asked me about the ski lockers.
‘Do you have ski lockers?’
‘Yes, sir. The ski locker is on the first floor, just across the walkway from the tram center so you can unload without having to walk up any stairs. The locker number is just your room number. Here’s your combination.’
‘Do you have boot warmers?’
‘No, sir. We do not.’
He’d finally found something to go off about. The dude threw his head back and let out a big, ‘Oooooh.’
‘You don’t have boot warmers? What kind of place doesn’t even have boot warmers in the locker room. You expect me to put on my skis when they’re frozen cold in the morning. What am I supposed to do, put them in my room where they’ll get all smelly?’
Dude proceeded to unleash on me for a good three or four minutes all the pent up rage he’d been building for the last hour or so, except his target was how ridiculous it was that we didn’t have electric boot warmers in his private ski locker at the luxury hotel. I worked in high end hospitality for ten years, and probably the second worst chewing out I ever received from a customer was over our lack of boot warmers.”
Thanks I Guess
“Had a business dude rent one of our apartments for 3 weeks at this fancy hotel I worked at. Second day, we get a maintenance call, he wants us to remove to the TV. Not replace it, just remove it entirely.
As housekeeper I head up with maintenance to clean up any mess from the move and got to see it all. The guest is removing our TV – because he’s gone and bought his own. Bigger. Flashier. Brand new. There was also a brand new (I cleaned up the packaging) PS4 he was hooking up to his new TV. We had no idea if this was against policy so we left it. Guy’s paying for the room, he hasn’t broken anything, I don’t care.
At the end of his stay, he leaves it all behind. Maintenance dude took the TV (easier to smuggle out the service entrance for him), I took the PS4 and sold it for more traveling funds. Thanks, ridiculously rich business dude! You paid for 2 weeks of traveling!”
She Wasted What Little Energy I Had
“I worked at a ridiculously upscale steakhouse in Manhattan while in college as a hostess. We have some of the most demanding and exclusive clients come in daily and I have a lot of stories. Our guests range from Michael Cohen, Steve Madden, Anderson Cooper to lesser known Real Housewives stars and just filthy rich business men and women.
Last winter while at work, we had 3 hostesses at the podium. 1 for seating people, 1 for checking in, 1 for checking coats. I was checking coats (tips are unbelievable) when it was around 7pm, our busiest hour and we usually do around 300 covers per night and we have an entire bar apart from the restaurant side so it is always hectic. Well a lady checks in with her husband and hands me her coat, I hand her the ticket number for her coat then proceed to hang it up and mark it with all of the other coats in the closet. In the closet was mainly mink coats during the winter (easily upwards of $15,000 and more) Moncler, Burberry, Gucci etc. Her coat was a Moncler coat, it’s easy to remember in the moment who had what coat but after checking in 200 other coats I totally forgot what kind of coat this woman had and she was not a regular client so I didn’t make a special note.
Fast forward 2 hours later when they’re leaving, she hands me her ticket and I go to get her coat and hand it to her. She looks at my absurdly and goes, ‘That’s not my coat,’ with her drink glass in her hand.
I go, ‘Oh okay, are you positive? What did your coat look like by chance?’
She snuffed and said, ‘Seriously, isn’t it your job to know that?’ So I asked her to come to the coat room with me so we could locate her jacket. She wrinkled her nose and told me I was a joke for not being able to do such a simple job! I apologized and walked her to the coat closet. We searched high and low for about an hour for her coat and at that point she was screaming at me, calling me every name in the book. I stood there calm as could be because the money is worth it – I finally decided to get the manager because I just did not know what to do.
He didn’t know what to do either, he said we would reimburse her for the cost of her coat and we would write a check but she refused. She must have tried on all 200 coats in our closet and claimed that all of them were not hers. I was petrified at this point that I had given her coat away to someone else just because so many look the same. She had told me she had a mink jacket (there were hundreds of minks in the closet that night) and I didn’t remember she actually had a Moncler. Well, she told me I would be getting a bill personally from her lawyer and I was actually scared because I knew how expensive those coats were. She berated me and degraded me in front of the manager and told him I need to be fired!
Finally SHE had enough and said well since you gave my coat to someone else, give me the cost you initially gave me because I can’t go outside without a jacket. At that point I was like, ok take someone else’s coat I don’t even care anymore. So she takes the coat I initially gave her, puts it on and says, ‘Wow, it fits perfect.’ She reaches in the pockets and says, ‘How did this coat happen to have my wallet and keys in it, too?’ I looked up and literally had no words. I wasted about 2 hours now being belittled by the woman when I was right the whole time.
The lady was like ‘I don’t know what to say’ and my manager said ‘You owe her [me] an apology’ and the lady handed me her glass and a $1 tip, no apology and left like nothing happened!
I sat down on the closet floor and poured my eyes out, I had been awake since 5 am for school and was the closing host that night which meant I wouldn’t be leaving until 2 am and getting home around 3 am and waking back up at 5 for school! She wasted what little energy I had left and made me feel so worthless. My coworkers were awesome though, the bartender made me a drink and they all gave me a hug.”
The Irony Was Off The Charts
“I don’t even work at that nice of a restaurant, but last month I got chewed out over the phone because some lady left her baby’s actual silver spoon on the table, and we didn’t know where it was so obviously one of us had stolen it.”
We Should’ve Known Better
“I worked at a nice restaurant in downtown Portland and one day a lady called to make a dinner reservation for a large group. But first she starts asking all these questions about ‘security’ (we had none) and how I thought the staff and patrons would handle a ‘celebrity’ dining there. Is there enough space to be private? They like to be private. Would it be okay if they brought their own security, to stop people from taking pictures and such? But of course, she couldn’t name names. I rolled my eyes, told her whatever they need to do, and booked the date and time.
Yes, I was super curious who it would be, and stayed past my shift to see who walked through the doors when the big night came. The group arrived, and it was… no one. Not one of us who worked there recognized a single member of their party. They sure acted like they were someone, but all we saw was a loud group of snobby-looking 20-somethings. They actually did bring a ‘bodyguard’ who stood in the corner with sunglasses on the whole time. The only attention they got from other diners was the occasional side-eye because they were being such rude and obnoxious idiots.
Shock of shocks, they treated our staff horribly, and tipped even worse. Will never know who that person thought they were.”
A Standard Room Was Too Good For Her Chauffeur
“I was working nights at a hotel many years back – not super high class, but certainly no budget hotel either – a lady came in to reception. I say ‘lady’ because she definitely was – she just reeked of old money. She had a guy in tow, wearing a grey suit – as this was about midnight on a Friday, I immediately clocked him as a chauffeur/aide type deal. No problem, I’ve seen that before.
She asked if we had a room for the night. ‘A decent one, please. A suite, ideally.’ No problem, we had a suite available. I told her the price – as night manager I had the freedom to charge pretty much whatever I liked, if it meant making a sale. But for her I charged full price, she looked like she could afford it. She didn’t bat an eyelid.
Then it came to her chauffeur guy. ‘Do you have a servant’s quarters for my driver?’
‘Um, no, sorry madam. Just the standard rooms.’
I gave her the price for one of our standard rooms, and she scrunched up her face. ‘Oh no, that’s too much. Don’t you have, like, a staff house or something he could stay in? I’d really rather not spend money on an actual hotel room for him.’
All this with the guy standing right next to her. I felt really bad for the poor guy and wondered if this was usual for him.
After a few more questions and her considering whether to have him sleep in the car (yes, really), we eventually settled on him having a standard room for rock bottom price (I think about £30 or so) – that was as much as she was willing to spend on him, and less than a tenth of what she was paying for her own room. To be honest, I’d have given him a room for free rather than having him sleep in the car – but clearly I had more compassion for the guy than she did.”
I Tried To Warn Her
“Worked at a grocery store in uppity Gold Coast Chicago when I was a teen. We sold soup for lunch and when bagging them, we put it in a paper bag followed by a plastic bag to make sure it’s secure. One lady buys a soup, I proceed to bag the soup and she says no, I’ll just put it in my bag.
I say, ‘Ma’am are you sure?’
Mind you she has a Louis Vuitton bag that looks brand spanking new.
15 minutes later she comes in raging that she has minestrone soup all over her Louis Vuitton and demands to speak to a manager.”
Weird Flex But Ok
“I work at a luxury property in California and we had the co-founder of a large payment processing company stay with us a while back. He only liked to sleep on his own bed, so when he woke up that morning, he paid a team to load his bed into a truck and have it delivered to our property. We then removed the bed in his luxury suite and setup his bed that his team had brought us. He only stayed with us one night and the process was done to send the bed back home the following day. It kind of blew my mind that he went through all that trouble, just so he could always sleep on his own bed. To each their own, I guess!”
She Had To Have Her Cookies
“I’m three years into being a Sous chef at a private resort in Upstate New York. Most of our guests are returning from generations before them. Wealthy. Very wealthy. We get some congressmen, actors getting away from the daily noise. But mostly families that are crazy rich, and four generations deep into annual visits. It is insane the amount of requests.
One that stands out is a 60 something year old woman crying as loud as she can because we didn’t have the cookies she wanted. You would’ve thought she was just told someone died. Made a huge scene in the dining room. Her husband has the backbone of a jellyfish and just sat there trying to console her. ‘It’s ok honey. I’ll get you cookies. Don’t cry.’ The owner went out and bought cookies from the store because we do not have time for that. WE DID NOT TELL HER THEY WERE STORE BOUGHT.
She was happy by the end of the night. Yay? Fast forward to dinner the next night. Same stuff, ‘Where’s my cookies?’ We gave her the same store bought cookies. Same package. ‘These aren’t the same. The Baker used too much butter this time.’ Next night? ‘Oh, these are much better.’ IT’S THE SAME PACKAGE!! She comes every year. We all know ahead what week the ‘cookie lady’ is going to be staying with us. So we can get her crummy grocery store cookies.”
Her Gourmet Friends Will Be So Disappointed
“Not a high class restaurant or hotel, just a nice little shop selling fresh house-made pasta and sauces to take home and boil/heat up yourself. We got the stereotypical rich people due to the location smack in the middle of Marin County, CA. This was in the late 80’s and food trends were plentiful and rapidly evolving. Many people were very interested in being on the cutting edge of the latest trend, be it the latest hot restaurant or that month’s fabulous must have menu item. Not that they were actually into food, but just to be ‘in the know’ and brag about how you simply must try the most fabulous tiramisu at (latest hot restaurant). We actual restaurant folk would stoically refrain from rolling our eyes in their presence and carry on.
So at the pasta shop one evening, a typical Marin Matron arrived in her jeweled slippers, clattery jewelry and a cloud of perfume. She pushed past the other patrons in front of her and said she needed some squid ink pasta. ‘I’m sorry,’ I replied, ‘we don’t actually make a squid ink pasta, but you may be able to find it at (fancy grocery store in the same plaza), they carry several very good imported items.’
She gaped at me and started moaning, ‘OHHHH NO NO NO NO NOOOOO!’ Of course now everyone in the place was staring at her. She then told me that she HAD TO have squid ink pasta because she had her ‘gourmet friends’ coming for dinner and they HAD TO have squid ink pasta. I apologized again, explaining that we didn’t make squid ink pasta and again suggested the fancy grocery store, only to be cut off by her loud wailing, ‘OHHHH NO NO NO….’ again. I just stood and watched along with everyone else in the place as she paced up and down before the display case, clutching her head and repeating ‘Squid ink pasta…gourmet friends! SQUID INK PASTA…GOURMET FRIENDS!’ over and over at the top of her lungs, as if this incantation would magically call forth a hidden cache of squid ink pasta.
Needless to say, we could not provide said SQUID INK PASTA so I don’t know what she served to her GOURMET FRIENDS that fateful evening. The whole thing was just so bizarre and over the top. Anytime we encountered some delusional, entitled weirdo, we’d mutter ‘Squid ink pasta!’ and cackle to each other.”
Cool Dude
“I used to work in a luxury hotel. A colleague of mine got a call from an in house guest, asking for a car to take him somewhere. Naturally, he offered him what options we had, and the guest got annoyed and closed the line.
A few minutes later, the guest came down to the front desk and asked for my colleague. He then proceeded to show him a cardboard bag literally overflowing with cash, and started saying, ‘You dare ask me which car just because of different prices? Can’t you see how much money I have? Why do I care, just get me a car ready.'”
Of Course They Didn’t Tip
“I worked in a fancy shmancy lobster pound/restaurant on the water where had a lot of outdoor seating. These very very wealthy people who came to eat demanded a table outside for dinner. It’s just before sundown in the middle of summer in Maine and we’re on the water, so mosquitoes are definitely not scarce. These people sit down and order a $200 bottle, a massive lobster each, and some appetizers.
They seem to enjoy the meal, up until the sun sets and the bugs come out. These people were not happy and complaining and complaining about it and the ‘awful restaurant not paying for mosquito spraying.’ The waitress gets a couple candles to light and asks if they need anything else and these idiots asked her to stand next to them with a flyswatter. She laughed thinking they were joking and the man said, ‘What ever happened to good service nowadays?’
Then they left no tip on a $350 bill.”
No One Should Have To Deal With This Guy
“I worked at a restaurant in the lobby of a rather nice hotel. There was a rich dude that basically lived there. He would eat in our restaurant every night. Our chef had to hand-pick his steaks from a local butcher. The steaks were absolutely massive. It was always specially prepared just for him. Every time this idiot would take two or three bites and complain to everyone in ear shot that his steak was terrible. Every. Time.
This dude was odd. He would only drink our cheap drinks that we served by the glass. However, he would request that you open a fresh bottle just for him. He couldn’t possibly drink a glass out of a bottle that was first opened for someone else. Even if I just opened the bottle and poured a glass to the person next to him. That bottle was considered ‘tainted’ to him. If you are that picky, just buy your own dang bottle. Oh, and one last thing. He parked in the handicapped spot out front, even though he is not handicapped. But because he spent so much money at the hotel, the managers refused to make him move his car or have it towed.”