11 People Tell How They Suddenly Learned Their Close Friends Were Incredibly Rich

Rich people don’t always show off their wealth. Many prefer to hide their financial status: some do it due to their shyness and habits of having a certain lifestyle, others due to concerns that their close friends will start to see them as a walking wallet.

We at Bright Side want to entertain you with stories from people who didn’t even have a slight suspicion that undercover millionaires were hanging out right next to them. Don’t you wonder what little mistakes revealed who they really are?

• I was in college and I had a friend who was really nice and down to earth. He never spoke about his family or what they did. One day, I was with him in his car and he told me he needed to drop by his home to pick something up. We drove into an 8-story building, took an elevator to the fifth floor where I said hi to some of his family members. Later that week my friends and I were bored and somehow our pointless conversations went to assessing how poor or rich each of us was. We started counting all the people we know, and when we reached to my above-mentioned friend, one dude just gasped.
  Dude: “Oh, we can’t even come close to how loaded this guy is...”
  Me: “Whaaaa? I was at his apartment a few days ago... it was nice, but hardly a rich man’s apartment!”
  Dude: “You went to the 5th floor of the 8 story building, didn’t you?”
  Me: “Yeah...”
  Dude: “Man... you were in their family living room. The entire fifth floor is their living room. The entire 8-floor building is their house.” © Samer-Costantini / Quora
• I once logically deduced that a dude was wealthy because he didn’t have a job and was utterly unconcerned about this, and I thought that he might like to be a detective, you know, for funsies. He also owned a house and was renovating it. I was like ok, there is no way this guy can be this chill, without also being loaded. I pressed him into admitting it. He didn’t want to admit it because then people would only want his money. © faoltiama / Reddit

• I had a lady that worked in the floral department of the grocery store I worked at, that paid minimum wage to everyone. Every week, I’d pick up my check out of a box behind the counter. One time, I noticed that this lady had like 8 checks sitting in the box, so I got them and brought them over to her and said: “Hey, I think they broke your check up a bit.” And she said, “Oh yeah, I’ve been meaning to pick those up for months now.” I just stared at her in disbelief for a few seconds, and she said that she really doesn’t use the money she makes here unless she and her husband go on trips and need spending money. She just loves to work with flowers and this was the closest place she could do it. © KillerDJ93 / Reddit

• My wife and I met while she was in grad school and working a part-time job for not that much money. We dated for 2 years, then I met her parents who were both in their mid-60s and had retired recently. They flew coach, wore t-shirts and jeans/khakis with old sneakers. When we had dinner, I paid — which isn’t saying much since they would usually ask for Thai food take-out. 4 months after my wife and I were married, I inherited $60,000 and, once, I said to my wife that with this extra $60K it might be a good time for us to make a down payment on our own condo in the city, or perhaps on a house in the suburbs. My wife said, “That’s okay. Hold on to your money. I was talking to my dad recently and he said he can give us up to a million dollars to help with that.” © John-Matthews / Quora
• One random day, I just realized after 3 years of friendship that my friend never talked about work, and I then immediately realized he never mentioned anything about going to a job, or working, or bosses, or co-workers, or just anything even remotely work-related... ever! Anxiously — I asked him how he paid his bills. He explained that his “family just has money and that he just checks on his account a couple of times a year when he needs to pull out some cash.” This all came from the mouth of my friend who drove a 10-year-old Ford Ranger pickup truck with dents and scratches all over and who wore discounted clothing until it fell completely apart. © Engin Ayaz / Quora

• I grew up attending a private school in a developing country. Whenever we’d be swimming in the school pool, one friend of ours in particular would always remark that swimming is more fun if the pool has a current or waves. To which I had no idea what he was talking about and generally thought he was just being imaginative. One day he invited me over to his house to go swimming and... He had a 50-foot indoor pool that generated currents/waves. © huazzy / Reddit

• My friend lives in France. She saves money on everything and tells me off for every penny spent. We met each other online and once she invited me to visit her. Right before my trip, she wrote that she wouldn’t be able to meet me at the airport, but would send a driver instead. I thought, “A driver?! Really? You are a housewife with 3 kids who buys hair dye in a supermarket for €1.” So I arrive, and there is a driver who meets me at the airport, he takes me to her home, which turned out to be a castle full of maids and a 10-acre garden. Her husband appeared to be a hotel business magnate but since she comes from a poor family, she still hadn’t gotten over her old habits.
• My acquaintance who lives in England was dating a shy girl from Ukraine. One day he proposed to her, but she turned him down. She said she liked him, but won’t marry him because he won’t be able to provide her with a good life. Turns out, her ex-husband was a lord and he still provides her living expenses, and if she gets married again, she will have to say good-bye to her finances.

• I have a very good friend who used to drive a very, very old second-hand car. Also, he used to never tip waiters and would always search for cheaper options for everything. Once, I started a business and needed some investment money. I had already received help from 5 of my friends, which was seemingly enough to start the venture, along with my own money. When my cheapskate friend found out about my idea (I never told him myself), he came to me and said he would like to invest in my venture because he loved the idea. Then he offered me an amount which was almost double the combined investment of the other 5 investors! © Anonymous / Quora
• Didn’t realize how wealthy some casual acquaintances were until we were at a nice bar at a resort and as soon as the staff saw their credit card, they started getting really, really good service. It was a nice place and they were great to everyone, but suddenly these 2 people were like the only ones in the room. © spidermilk666 / Reddit
• When I was first dating my current husband, he wanted me to meet his parents. He asked if I wanted to meet them on ’their boat.’ The only boat I’ve ever been with family on was a canoe. I was thinking rowboat at this point... because I would be meeting his brother and sister on this boat as well. I was uncomfortable with the idea of being stuck on a boat with people I didn’t know.
  
  “How long is this boat ride?”
  
  “Maybe half the day.”
  
  “What if I have to use the bathroom!” I was thinking this was a terrible idea at this point.
  
  “There are 2 bathrooms on it... you’ll be fine.”
  
  2 bathrooms, 2 staterooms, 2 decks, a bridge... No. This was not a boat. This was a yacht! © FlatteredPawn / Reddit

Do you have stories about down-to-earth acquaintances, or even close friends, who suddenly turned out to be incredibly rich? How did you find it out?