31 Confessions From People Who Work For The Rich

13.

“I used to do pool and spa maintenance in my 20s. I worked on one property with a mountainside, 10-bedroom, 14-bath mansion with a saltwater pool, tennis courts, a guest mansion, and a servants’ house that was 4-bedroom, 5-bath. The property had so much more stuff, but here’s the wildest thing: I worked on this property for two years, year-round, five days a week, and not a single person was ever there. The middle-aged, single woman who owned it lived in a city about four hours away and just didn’t come to the property, because she was so busy with work. A multi-multi-multi-million dollar compound, just empty. All the time.”

“Finally, after two years, my boss called me on my day off and asked if I could go to the house to put some pool floats away. He apologized, because it was my day off, but said the owner would pay me $500 for the job. I was confused as to why there were even pool floats out anyway, because nobody was ever there, but I figured why not — $500 for 10 minutes. I show up to the house, and the woman’s adult children were staying at the house with about 10+ kids between them all, and they were having a massive pool party/cookout. I awkwardly walked up and said to one of the parents, ‘Sorry, it must have been a mistake, but I was told to come put pool floats away, but you’re obviously here so I’ll leave.’ The woman’s adult son said, ‘Oh, no, we’re getting ready to leave. You can take them.’ Then, he instructed the kids to push them toward me. I literally grabbed one inner tube float and four pool noodles, brought them 10 feet into the pool house, and put them away. Then, I told them they were all set and went to leave. The son thanked me and handed me a folded mass of $20 bills; it was $400. I was expecting $500 from my boss for payment, but I figured $400 cash was still overpayment, so I didn’t mention it. The next day at work, my boss gave me $1,000. I told him the son had already paid me $400, which was fine. He said the son told the woman how great a job I did, so she wanted to pay me $1,000 instead of $500, and the $400 was a tip from her son — for 10 minutes of work. She actually called my boss the next day to ask if she should reimburse me for gas, since it was 15 minutes from my house. I told him that I was all set.” 

—u/TheApprenticeLife