Most of us have no idea what it’s like to be wealthy, but I imagine the life of the extremely rich to be a little something like this: purchasing the fanciest vegan products at the store without even glancing at the price tag, snagging that expensive vintage coat you’ve been eyeing online without a second thought, attending every festival and concert you like because money is no object, and owning a home or apartment that actually has a dishwasher. Okay, maybe those are just the things I would do if I had all the money in the world, but there’s nothing wrong with dreaming, right?
Unfortunately, it’s a two-way street, and most rich people have no idea what it’s like to be middle class or poor either. Because of this, affluent people have a tendency to ruin things for the rest of us. One curious Reddit user reached out last week asking for examples of things that rich people have ruined, and readers did not hold back.
Below, you’ll find a list of some of these things that just aren’t as fun or as accessible as they used to be, so be sure to upvote any of the responses you wholeheartedly agree with. Let us know in the comments if anything else has been ruined for you by the upper class, and then if you’re interested in checking out another Bored Panda article that might make you want to eat the rich, look no further than right here!
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The easy answer: Everything. The harder answer: Interclass solidarity and quality of life. They've worked so hard to separate the have-nots into their own little groups, we're too busy fighting each other instead of taking the fight, politically speaking, to the rich and the 1 percent. You have more in common with your fellow man than you EVER will with a Bill Gates or Elon Musk.
RENTING
The over abundance of air bnbs and $2000 studio apartments in rural/suburban places is outrageous and ruining the possibility for low income and working class people to have a roof over their heads. I live in New York State, and ever since covid all these city richies are buying up all the cheap places in the country to try and make a profit - as if they need any more money!
Environment. Ah yes I will just turn off the light in my living room when I'm not using it, I'm sure it will combat the billions of tonnes of co2 created by those private planes
The middle class family’s ability to live comfortably on a single wage
Music festivals….used to be a bunch of hippies having a good time and doing drugs. Now its rich kids taking selfies dressed as hippies and doing drugs.
Sadly accurate. A big part of why I've shifted to working events; now I'm at least being paid to be there, I know when the specific shows are that I don't want to miss (and often have backstage access), and more often than not the pre/post parties for crew are a lot more fun than the ticketed thing people buy into
Every single piece of water with accessible waterfronts.
Bonus points for privately owned water-front properties on public waterfronts trying to close off public access points.
College. The rich killed the market price for low income students, then gutted tuition assistance programs and turned them into for profit loan sharking.
Theme parks.
Gone are the days when everyone was equal and you all had to queue, regardless of your income. And even until recently some theme parks gave fast passes periodically throughout the day. Now if you've got deep pockets you can queue jump, making your day a little better and everyone else's a little worse.
Jeans. Used to be cheap, durable, wear them for years doing hard labor. Now they’re expensive, poor quality and come made with holes already in them, to ape the aesthetic of the working class.
I was shopping in a name-brand jeans store and the guy pulled out one ripped pair of jeans after another to show me. Finally I said "Look at me! I'm a 65 year old grandma. Do you really think that's what I need?"
Housing - used to be the only people buying houses were those that were intending to live in them. Now you have rich people looking into investing in real estate, and guess what rich houses are poor investments. So rich people are buying up all the affordable housing driving up the price and creating scarcity.
Yes. Not only that but the costs are so high, especially in cities, that the people living there are moving to 1-3 hours away and commuting to work. It used to be hard to do that but now with podcasts and technology to listen to you fav music, etc, it's made a long drive more bearable so more people are willing to do it. This is causing landlords in our areas to hike up rent, too. An area that was reasonably priced for the average income bracket before is now completely out of budget for the people actually living there. There really needs to be some kind of rent regulations based on the type/condition of the building and area to stop people from other places in the state from taking our living options because they can't afford theirs.
Concerts….. you can’t even buy a beer at one for what a general admission ticket used to cost and people still pay for it
It was only $10 Cdn to see a good rock concert at Maple Leaf Gardens back in the day(1980's). Now ppl are paying $300 for nose bleeder seats.
Cheap foods - donuts, cupcakes, hamburgers, wings - that have all been given the "foodie" treatment and went from good cheap eats to gourmet pricing without a corresponding increase in quality.
Democracy.
Democracy was never intended to be for the masses. In ancient Greece only upper class males vould vote. It remained this way for most countries until the late 1800's. For instance, it wasn't until the 1800's working class could vote in the UK and then decades further for women. There was a brief period there where something like true democracy was achieved but politicians then got too greedy and politics became the domain of self serving twats again.
There used to be a really nice big park in the center of the city where I live.
Everyone would go there, it was a nice open space, take your kids, take your dogs, enjoy the fresh air.
Then some people from the rich part of town along the edges of the park decided they didn't like the noise coming from the park and pulled some b******t to buy it out and walled it off so you couldn't go to the park unless you lived in that specific neighborhood anymore.
The worst part is a ton of money was spent when they first bought it building it up, adding fountains and childrens play areas and redoing the flower beds, and then no money or attention was given to it again and the whole place feel into disrepair so now even if you live in the neighborhood you can't go there because everything is falling apart and over grown.
So the aasholes took the really nice park from everyone else and then neglected it until it became a s**t hole in the middle of the city
Food trucks used to be a way to get good food for cheap, now it's a premium without any of the advantages of a restaurant. Not to mention that they all expect a 20% tip for handing you food from a window.
Tipping a food truck always gives my angst. I don't think I should have to tip the owner and I am not sure the workers, if any, are getting my tip.
Old school ski mountains with family vibes and stoner lifties rocking to music. We always watched those silly “ski patrol” movies about the big corporations coming in and making them yuppyville and then it happened…
Living near the coast used to be a poor people thing a long time ago.
I didn't actually know that. I've always assumed living near water is a rich people thing.
I’m going to just say it, as it’s the season- Christmas! Corporations really did a number on Christmas. Plastic junky decorating starting as early as Halloween, REALLY dated irritating songs playing in every store starting November, all the consuming and now this ‘buy gifts for yourself’ narrative, the more you can ignore all this the more meaningful the holidays are.
100% agreed, it's a marked up tacky obligation. The most meaning I've found in it is to use the holiday as reason to go break bread and share supplies with our outdoor neighbors without seeming condescending and without the "law" interfering (and it's probably the most f****d up thing in wealth inequality that makes it illegal to feed the hungry)
The American Dream
Socioeconomic mobility has been completely perverted due to a “rigging of the system” by the ultra wealthy over the past few decades. When someone is born into poverty, now more than ever are they likely to stay impoverished. 400 families control more wealth in this country than the bottom 50% of Americans
We have re-created the middle ages feudal system. Why didn't we learn ??
*gestures at everything*
EDIT: Thank you kind strangers for the awards.
I stopped going to professional sports because I can only afford s****y seats. Not worth the effort any more.
Or seeing all the empty seats because corporate bought the tickets and no-one would leave the hospitality bar.
theater- used to be the entertainment for the masses and now it's ridiculously expensive and inaccessible to most people.
Collecting
In the past few years the price of little collectibles and things of that sort have gone insanely high. Cards, action figures, you name it, just look up any sub for a hobby and you'll see people dropping your entire salary in 1 day
The UK's economy...
Or at this point the UK. Just...all of it...
Send help/politicians who don't hate their people. Please.
Video games. They've found a way to sell unfinished games while also maximizing microtransactions in some.
Some companies are better about this but the big ones are all about the money with as little effort as possible.
Note: this post originally had 75 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
I'm surprised there isn't an entry labeled "justice". In the US, at least, we've been given repeated proof that if you've got enough money, you definitely aren't subjected to the same laws or consequences as everyone else.
Rich people ruin their children. The WORST people I have met were raised in privilege. Zero clue about the real world, zero clue how to treat people, with zero ability to handle adversity.
Only 75? ... BTW, my SIL yesterday enjoyed a gourmet picnic meal in a field of llamas for her day, which pretty much is the most ... so, yeah, the rich *are* different. She sees no conflict between that and her alleged leftist values. Feel free to facepalm here as she and her 7-figure income-making hubby travel 1st class by private helicopter to their next destination...
I'm surprised there isn't an entry labeled "justice". In the US, at least, we've been given repeated proof that if you've got enough money, you definitely aren't subjected to the same laws or consequences as everyone else.
Rich people ruin their children. The WORST people I have met were raised in privilege. Zero clue about the real world, zero clue how to treat people, with zero ability to handle adversity.
Only 75? ... BTW, my SIL yesterday enjoyed a gourmet picnic meal in a field of llamas for her day, which pretty much is the most ... so, yeah, the rich *are* different. She sees no conflict between that and her alleged leftist values. Feel free to facepalm here as she and her 7-figure income-making hubby travel 1st class by private helicopter to their next destination...
