Weird. That’s the only way I can describe it.
I had met a friend of my girlfriend, when I was about 19 or so. Beautiful girl - like stunningly so. Nothing about her screamed “Money”. We hit it off as friends. We talked about all kinds of things, she spent a fair amount of time in my quite humble home.
One day she calls me and says “Hey, are you free for lunch today? My dad asked me to take a friend to our gym for lunch.” I agreed, though I found it strange that A) her dad asked her to go to a gym, and B) for lunch - what kind of a gym serves lunch?
She comes over to my apartment, we hop into a cab, and go to her “gym”, which happens to be the most exclusive “Athletic Club” in my city. No beefy guys lifting deadweights in this place. This is a squash, racquetball, sauna & massage kind of place. The attached bar and restaurant were elegant, beautifully appointed, and insanely expensive.
“Do you want a drink?” She asked. I said sure. The waiter comes, she points at me and says “He will have an 18 year old Islay single malt - make it a double. I will have a double Grey Goose. “
Like ok, that’s like $70 bucks right there.
She ordered for both of us - steaks, jumbo shrimp, etc, etc.
I asked “look, this is gonna cost like $300 or $400 …can you afford this? I have some money on me, but not that much.” “Don’t worry about it,” she said.
As we are walking out she asks “Do you need smokes?” she turns to the concierge “He will have a carton of Dunhills… and a club tie”. She smiled at me. She was handed a chit, she signed it, and we walked out.
“How much did that cost?” I asked. I felt bad.
“About $500. And my dad is not gonna be happy.”
My eyes went into the back of my head. “But you ASKED me to come!” She laughed. “No, it isn’t that: I was supposed to spend at least $700, because my dad gets billed that every month whether he spends it or not.
Later on, I saw her house (read mansion) in the most exclusive part of the city, and accidentally saw $500k in uncashed checks sitting in a drawer while looking for a pen….
Like I said: it was weird. Mostly because she was so normal, when I expected the very wealthy to be so different from me.
Edit: Thank you all for taking the time to read my answer, and for all of the upvotes. It’s appreciated.
C.