Poor People Who Dated Someone Rich Share Their Experiences

There used to be a feature in a pop culture magazine during the 80s called "Celebrities: They're Just Like Us." Maybe it still exists.

Anyway, the premise was photos of celebrities doing mundane things like grocery shopping. But the uber rich really do live differently.

There's a liberty that comes from not having to worry about money day to day.

Reddit user OffStockMan asked:

"Poor people here who have dated rich people, what did you learn? How was the contrast?"

Artistic Freedom

"She was a full time professional fine artist (oil painter). Dad was a pioneer in green energy; whole family is loaded as a result."

"She was able to focus on school, earn her MFA, travel the world on residencies, etc... She was wonderful, and goes to show you that when you have a well adjusted upbringing, support, and the money to provide resources, you can be who you were born to be."

"Absolutely could not relate to the socioeconomic struggles of the people she dated though."

~ TheCeruleanFire

Simple Things

"I grew up very blue collar poor. The men I knew fixed cars, re-roofed their own houses, knew plumbing and electrical stuff, etc... My husband grew up very wealthy. His family had a massive house, a pool, a vacation home in Spain and maids."

"Honestly, the contrast was stark. The first thing he did after we moved in together was put liquid dish soap in the dishwasher."

"He didn’t know anything. He didn’t know the vacuum needed to be emptied. It could have been a deal breaker, but he fully embraced his ignorance and learned."

"It was a whole new world and he loved it. One of my favorite memories is of putting up our first Christmas tree. He’d never been part of that and got so much joy from it."

~ Maleficent_Scale_296

Unknown

"Never knew. She worked a normal job, lived in a normal apartment, it wasn't until someone told me after we broke up (she moved for work) that I found out her family was minted."

"Met her parents once, dad drove a normal car, no designer clothes, just seemed like normal people. When I say they are with money, it isn't just a few million."

"Bumped into her years and years later as or daughters ended up going to the same school. I still didn't understand how rich until my daughter mentioned the private jets."

~ layland_lyle

Family & Friends

"That in majority of the cases all is fine untill you met the family and friends."

"You sit there like an idiot unable to relate to anything that they say and once you think some familiar topic appears, it ends up with a discussion about 10k baby strollers, wines, or childhood memories about skiing in Switzerland or taking a trip to a seaside with their first Porsche."

"Their friends interests were mostly things outside my tax brackets, couldnt even relate to typical girly discussions about makeup and clothing because their talks were about picking Birkin over Chanel, not about cute Zara top."

"Problems starts also when comes to buying a gift because there is no way you can match the amount of what they wanna buy you and any kind of decision involving finances when you want to go 50/50, but the holiday which your partner picked are your 5 salaries."

"Lot of people make it work, I tried two times and each time I felt out of place very quickly."

~ german1sta

High School Sweetheart

"Had a girlfriend in high school. We dated until sophomore year of college."

"What baffled me wasn’t her disregard for the cost of things, but the fact that she couldn’t understand why I couldn’t just pick up and take her out for nice dinners, or buy her $400 Louis Vuitton sneakers she wanted for Christmas, especially since she was willing to buy me $250 Jordan’s (I declined)."

"She was such a sweet girl, but had no concept of other people coming from poor families. No idea how I had no money despite being 16, 17 and not having a job."

"When I got my first minimum wage job at 18, I spent pretty much everything I had on her for several years. She also took me out and bought me nice gifts, but she never had a job."

"She had a $300/week allowance from her dad, but would ask him for money whenever she wanted anything, so she wouldn’t spend her own allowance on anything."

"She had like $9k in her bank account by the time we were 18. And I had $200 to my name most of the time."

"Very nice girl. Gorgeous. She was very good to me. But I eventually lost interest because of reasons that had nothing to do with money."

~ seekingthething

Out Of Touch

"Dated the daughter of a wealthy member of parliament for my country's conservative party."

"During dinner discussions at their home, it really hammered it home how little her mother (the MP) understood about the daily reality of being poor."

~ CeterumCenseo85

Entitled

"My ex was a poor sod, but his family, I got to know, was buttered. I also got to know he was basically leeching off them which led to the strange arrangement of him not earning nearly as much money as he expected of anyone else like me."

"He would constantly talk sh*t about the way I lived an ordinary life."

"My furniture was sh*t, my clothes were cheap and my gifts were never good enough. How did I not buy my food at the gourmet store anyway?"

"According to him I didn't know how to cook either, because how could you make real Italian pasta without the real Italian recipe? Recipes that his parents brought from all of their luxury travels all over the world and none that came from him."

"His cooking sh*t was made even more hilarious by the fact this dude couldn't cook even a simple dish on his own, but his brother was a chef, so whenever he needed instructions—which was always—he would call his brother."

"I left him soon after we got together because his attitude was utterly insufferable."

"What I learned is that it's OK if you're rich. You're still dateable as long as you're not an a**hat."

~ Nyardyn

Inspiring

"When I was 26 I was making around 20k as a server. I dated a 32-year-old corporate attorney who was making 300k."

"I think the biggest thing it showed me is that I was capable of more in my life. For a long time I thought I was just going to be a server because that’s all I could do."

"She showed me to want more and to strive for more. I’ll always be thankful to her for that because she changed the trajectory of my life."

"I went back to school and have a different career now. She pushed me to want something different and it’s something I didn’t know was possible until I met her."

~ Yankees1092

Family First

"The Family was an entity in itself and had rules. Relationships are EVERYTHING."

"The Family itself is a thing—the club, the parties, the vacations, the homes, the cars, the business, it's all about The Family. The patriarch, the traditions. The schools. The business partners and the neighborhood and the club."

"It's not a bad thing, it's just different. I was raised to be independent and get the f*ck out of my parents' house. They stick together like GLUE. everyone has a role to play, but they have security, and they belong."

"I never belonged anywhere. I was raised by people who had kids because that's what you were supposed to do, and then I got the f*ck out of their house when I turned 18 and that was that."

~ reveal23414

Spoiled

"I wouldn't say I was poor, more average. But the two wealthy women I dated were both quite spoiled."

"They expected to get their way, and what was interesting for me was that they both expected their money to open doors and solve problems rather than using courtesy or charm."

My ex best friend was the same—what was very noticable for her especially was the smallest thing was a crisis. People who have never dealt with true pain or loss because they've always been shielded from it are upset by small things."

~ Gelid-scree

Unbalanced

"Yeah, I'd say the worst and most tiring thing about my ex was she would let the meaningless things ruin her (our) day. It's like her threshold for... life was shifted."

"Her expectations would never be met and everything would become more miserable as a result."

"Beside her, I know a couple of really rich people, and I gotta say, not one of them is a well-balanced person. In every single case, their upbringing and their parents are the main reason for it."

~ thebalux

Lifestyle

"He invited me to things casually like you’d invite people for a cup of coffee—things that would take lots of planning and saving on my part."

"Like 'Hey, I have to go to Vienna for work, wanna come?' And his hobbies were things like flying his own plane, and mine were free, like running and reading."

~ ms-anthrope

Unrelatable

"Partner born to wealthy family—generational subdued wealth. International trips a few times a year, live in housekeeper, best schools, NOLS, sports and art exposure. Good person, gave back with volunteering and donations."

"Contrast—could not relate to debt, fears of homelessness, or money anxiety.

"Biggest contrast: never afraid to try new things or make a 'mistake'. Took a job that didn't work out, that's OK—family will keep you afloat until you find something else. Broke a leg overseas because you took a skiing risk in Italy, no worries—we'll charter something or find a way to get you out."

"I don't have that kind of freedom."

~ 357eve

Self Doubt

"I dated a guy who’s sister is a Russian pop star and dad a Russian politician. He asked me to pick him up because his car was being delivered from overseas."

"I’m like, 'whatever, you don’t have a car I’ll drive'. Sure enough, the next day he picks me up in his brand new with the plastic still on it BMW 750i."

"I lost my purse at a club, and he had the whole place turn the lights on and find it. He took me to dinner every night and never let me pay for anything."

"He didn’t go home for Christmas, and I was too embarrassed of where I came from to ask him to come home and meet mine. That was a wild time."

~ mymilkshake666

Bargain Hunters

"I'm about to get married to one. For reference, her parents just spent $400,000 cash renovating their 'porch'. My parents live in a second-hand mobile home. There is a HUGE difference.

"First of all, my future in laws are well known in their community for being kind, charitable, and generous, and my fiancée is the same way. They are level-headed, in my humble opinion."

"When we first started dating, she asked me what I wanted for Christmas. I said some new clothes would be nice, since mine had holes in them and were old. She said, 'Well I'm gonna buy those for you anyways. That's not a gift, I mean a real gift'."

"She spent thousands giving me new clothes in the first 6 months. Some expensive, some just regular everyday stuff from Old Navy. But she literally bought me an entirely new wardrobe."

"Then gave me a 'small' $500 dollar gift for Christmas and her parents bought me an $800 dollar gift. Not to mention the fact that she gave me a pair of beats and a practically new iPhone because she 'didn't use them anyway'."

"This was obviously mind-blowing to me. I bought her a $150 gift, but she was thrilled with it because it was thoughtful. A nice lighted jewelry cabinet instead of her keeping all her jewelry in various small wooden boxes all unorganized."

"I will say that for our wedding, she about had a meltdown when she found out our budget was 'only' $50,000 (not including the welcome party, the wedding planner, or the honeymoon, which is probably an additional $15k)."

"It only lasted for one day before she accepted it and moved on, leaving any animosity behind, which I was really proud of her for."

"Overall, her or her family never judged me or mine, probably because they haven't always had money. The biggest difference I noticed is that her family bargains for EVERYTHING."

"They do trade deals with other companies, call in favors, negotiate everything, wait until stuff is on sale, buy quality buy-it-for-life stuff, etc... Probably what made her dad such a successful businessman and let's them stay rich."

~ LexB777

Have you ever dated someone from a very different socioeconomic class than yourself?

How did it go?