People Who Work For The Ultra-Rich Share Wild Things They've Witnessed, And It's Unbelievable

There's rich, and then there's ultra-wealthy. Most people will never experience what it's like to have unlimited resources, private jets, or houses in multiple countries.

But the people who work for the elite, the personal assistants, housekeepers, chefs, drivers, and staff who keep their lives running smoothly, get a front-row seat to a lifestyle most of us can't even fathom. And from what they've shared, the contrast between their own lives and the ones their employers lead is often surreal.

An online thread recently asked people who've worked for the super-rich to spill the tea on the wildest examples of excess and indulgence they've personally witnessed. The responses didn't disappoint.

From jaw-dropping spending habits to absurd requests that defy all logic, these stories paint a picture of wealth so extreme it stops feeling real.

Some of the behaviors are funny, some are deeply wasteful, and others are just flat-out bizarre. But all of them offer a rare glimpse into how the 1% actually live when nobody's watching, or at least when only the hired help is around.

We've gathered 21 of the most interesting, shocking, and hard-to-believe stories from people who've seen it all firsthand.

Whether you find these tales fascinating, infuriating, or somewhere in between, one thing's certain: working for the ultra-wealthy gives you a perspective on money and privilege that most people will never understand.

Keep scrolling to see what goes on behind closed mansion doors.

1. When a billionaire family hires someone just to bake desserts at set times

Worked for a summer cleaning boats at a yacht club so I could get free sailing lessons. One very rich pharmaceutical family had a person hired specifically to bake cookies and brownies. Nothing else. Warm cookies and brownies for certain times of day. They had an entirely separate culinary / pastry staff for other food preparation. She was a public school teacher who loved to bake, so it was a great summer job for her, but still…blew my mind to conceive of enough wealth to hire staff for such specificities.moonphased239, Beytullah ÇİTLİK

2. $75K for a round trip to Aspen… just to get your dog groomed

Private air charter. Once saw a woman fly herself and her dog up to Aspen, Colorado, because she liked the groomer there. The dog groomer ended up being out sick when the woman arrived. She then flew home empty-handed and flew back a few days later once the dog groomer was available.All said and done, she spent about $75,000 on a private jet to fly her and her dog out to Aspen and back twice so she could get the person she wanted to bathe her dog.Once watched a woman fly from FL to CA to spend the day shopping in Beverly Hills because she was annoyed at her husband. She shopped all day and flew back the next morning. She dropped about $100,000 on the last-minute flight, plus whatever she bought that day. She bragged that she used his credit card for everything. She had armloads full of clothes and purses. The next day, we found a price tag for one of her purses in the airplane, and it was over $10,000.ZeroPt99, Oov

3. First-generation wealth: quiet, cash-paid, no flashy flexes

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4. A wealthy couple adopted a four-year-old girl, spoiled her for months, then returned her like a store item

My mom worked for a very wealthy man. He and his wife had 2 boys and she decided she wanted a girl. So she adopts a girl, probably about 4 years old. She wasn't old enough for school yet. So it's a done deal and she finally has her girl. They spend their days going shopping for clothes and fun stuff for the girl. A few months later, the wife decides she doesn't want a girl anymore and RETURNS HER, like a dog from a pound. She told the girl to keep the clothes if she wanted them.MonkeyUndefined, Josh Maddocks

5. Closet bigger than your first floor, but you’re still underpaid

I was a nanny for about a year for this rich family. The mom's closet was as big as my entire first floor. She never paid attention to her four boys, and all she did was shop all day, everyday, for like 8-10 hours. And I mean, helping her carry in carloads, everyday ( all clothes for her). Thousands and thousands of dollars worth of clothes, each day, for a year. Mid year, I asked for a raise from 9.00 an hour( for four boys) to 11.00 an hour. She said no. I quit that day.Significant_Most5407, Chastity Cortijo

6. When your weekend plans include checking a property you forgot you owned

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7. Paying to renovate a hotel floor just for your stay, then restoring it afterward

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8. A hedge fund family trashed a brand new $120,000 party space because the wife didn’t like it

My son is a contractor. They just finished an outdoor “party barn” for a wealthy hedge fund manager. One room for $120,000. They followed the architects plans to the smallest detail. It turned out beautiful. When the guy’s wife saw it she said she hated it and ordered it torn down immediately and replaced. That kind of waste and attitude sickens me. To top it off, they’re out of state and may spend two -three weeks a year there.hikerjer, Getty Images

9. Billionaire surprise: $100k pizza delivery for a bachelor party

I know of somebody who got married to a very wealthy girl in the 90s. Talking multi billionaire family members. She was down to earth and totally chill. At their bachelor / bachelorette party weekend, they each had them in separate family estates. His in Colorado, hers in Connecticut. Earlier in the day, he mentioned to somebody how there wasn’t any good pizza in Vail, where they were partying. She had her assistant call his favorite pizza place in Boston and had them close down for the night, put their two cooks and owner all on a private charter to Colorado with their supplies, closed down and rented out a local pizza restaurant in Vail with a pizza oven, and surprise him with a dozen pizzas from his favorite pizza place for his bachelor party guys.Total cost of everything was over $100k, in 1990s money.They are still married now over 30 years later, with adult children. His favorite pizza place closed down when the owner retired so he hired one of the cooks to be his private chef for a few years.gaqua, Tadahiro Higuchi

10. Only on Billionaire’s Row: a butler whose entire job is managing dog schedules

My girlfriend was a mobile dog groomer in San Francisco. She groomed dogs at several homes on "Billionaire's Row". With most of her clients, she interfaces with the owner of the dog (normal, right?). At one house on Billionaire's Row, she didn't interface with the owner or even the butler - but with the "dog butler". The dog butler didn't groom or walk the dogs - he would just coordinate the schedules of the dog walkers and the dog groomer. He reported to the butler.BladeBronson, EyeEm

11. Early success turned into isolation and self-destruction for a once-smart entrepreneur

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12. A Dubai bank department that hand-delivered half a million dollars on demand

I did some work for a bank in Dubai. They had a department for the elite, which consisted of people sitting around waiting for a phone call along the lines of "I need $500k in New York". The person in the office would then sort the paperwork and the cash, jump on the next flight to wherever the money was wanted, and hand deliver it.MiddleAgeCool, Getty Images

13. New car every 10,000 miles, because regular maintenance is too much work

My wife is an attorney. All of her clients are those Arrested Development style rich people who are completely detached from reality.One of her clients gets a new car, every 10,000 miles, rather than "going through the trouble" of having somebody take the car in for regular maintenance.morose4eva, Alberto Frías

14. Private jet for a half-hour garden tour

I used to manage the personal properties of a super-rich farmer/developer.One morning, he was trying to explain to me about a garden he saw in San Antonio that he wanted to emulate. He got frustrated trying to describe it, so he got on his phone….An hour later, me the gardener and were with him on a flight in his private jet. From Idaho!We were picked up by a private car service, taken to the garden, spent a half hour walking around, and went back and got on the jet. Didn’t even stop for lunch.The fuel for that flight was two months of me and the gardener’s salary!rufuckingkidding, Francois Joubert

15. A $3 million wedding with a $480K flower budget

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16. Saudi princes who rent entire airports and multiple mansions for a single weekend

My aunt is a retired high-end realtor. She got roped into helping this service arrange housing for wealthy F1 fans.These “Saudi prince” types are from another planet. 1 mansion for a week isn’t enough. They need 6-8 mansions next door to each other for a month to accommodate their private medical staff, legal teams, chefs, airplane mechanics, etc. They fly in on multiple private jets and rent entire airports for the weekend. Once a guy even paid to have a helicopter pad constructed on a property he rented, and then paid to be removed when he was done.All of this for a WEEKEND GETAWAY.Sometimes_Stutters

17. A pilot shares the shocking luxuries his clients treat as normal

ApatheticSkyentist

18. Receiving thousands of dollars in gifts as if it’s a casual favor

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19. A snow room, a shark tank, and a weekly 50k fish restock

I've got friends who work on superyachts. They've told me a few stories, but one that sticks out is the guy who worked on a yacht with a fancy fish tank. The yacht also had a "snow room" where they had a snowmaking machine, and people could go in at any time and just...play in the snow, I guess. But this fishtank ran the entire height of the staircase in the yacht. You could go up and down the stairs and there'd be fish all the way. It sounded pretty amazing. The problem was that one of the fish they had in there was a shark. So, every week the shark would eat all the other fish, and they'd end the week by spending 50k buying more fish to put in with the shark.gilestowler, Alex Surd

20. Million-dollar infinity pool and a $50k countertop that didn’t make the cut

I installed tile for a major city-developer in his personal house.45,000 square feet on ten acres in coveted forest land. Needed two different satellite dishes for TV service because one wouldn’t cover the whole house. Had two different tile crews, one for inside and one for outside. Decided to add an infinity pool after construction started, just a cool impromptu $1,000,000 addition.But the wildest note is that the wife ordered a massive ($50,000) natural darkwood countertop from Cameroon, Africa. This sounds like a joke. It took months to be delivered, and when the wife saw it in the house’s lighting, she decided she didn’t want it and sent it back.These people flew in a private barber from across the country to get their hair cut. Exorbitant wealth is ridiculous.anon, EyeEm

21. When a headache means a private flight to Aspen just to "breathe better air."

My friend's wife flies to Aspen when she has a headache. Not for a headache treatment, just to ‘breathe better air.’ Meanwhile, I treat my migraines by turning off the lights and putting a wet facecloth over my forehead.anon, R photography Background

If these stories prove anything, it's that wealth on this scale operates by entirely different rules. What seems extravagant or wasteful to most people is just Tuesday for the ultra-rich.

Whether you find these accounts entertaining, disturbing, or a mix of both, they reveal just how wide the gap between everyday life and life at the top is. The people who work for the elite see it all up close, and these stories are just the tip of the iceberg.

Have you ever worked for someone wealthy or witnessed excess on this level? Share your experience in the comments.