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“Shadow Jets”: 42 Things Poor People Probably Don’t Know Exist
Growing up, most of us thought that money basically existed to buy things and snacks. As we started to become independent, we began to learn about things ranging from insurance to dog-walking services. So if you think you have seen it all, keep reading.
Someone asked, “Those who have worked for the rich, what is a product or service we would never guess exists?” and people shared their best examples. So if you have ever wondered, “What would I do if I was rich?” Now is your chance to update your notes. Be sure to upvote your favorites and share your own ideas in the comments section.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Shadow Jets. The empty private jet that follows your private jet everywhere so that if there's a delay or maintenance thing you don't have to wait or resort to flying in a charter. Yes this is a thing. Some ultra rich actually take 3 jets everywhere their jet, their shadow, their cargo plane for cars.
Raymond Core 3 weeks ago
There are also, 'support yachts', that are very large themselves, that carry all the fun toys like jet skis, etc. that could be enjoyed by the main yacht passengers while in port.
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#2
I used to walk dogs and the dog had his own elevator to his own apartment. Does that count?
#3
Me!
I am a house manager/personal assistant. The fact that my client pays me $60 an hour to fold her husband's underwear, cut vegetables, and handle maintenance is crazy. Obviously, I do do some other things as well, but yeah, me!
I work for lovely people and get paid well.
Nathaniel He/Him Cis-Het 3 weeks ago
There are some celebrities who are so egotistical that they refuse to flush the toilets and make their assistants press the flush. I have heard this said of Russell Brand and The Rock.
#4
You can get paid well (i.e. up to a million U.S. dollars) to NOT buy a private jet.
If you have ordered one (they can take years to get built), and yours is about to get built, someone can offer you $ for the build slot through slot brokers.
Basically a big-time "line stander".
Nathaniel He/Him Cis-Het 3 weeks ago
Presumably you have to be rich enough to be even on the list. Crack head Kev is not going to have his private jet order honoured when he does not even have a tenner to his name.
#5
Hiring world famous bands to play full sets for ambience.
Was a waiter at an event where The Killers just casually played their entire back catalogue in the corner.
#6
I worked for a mega-rich person as their dog concierge. My job was to provide everything their dog needed so that when they wanted to pet it or play with it, the dog was ready and they didn’t have to think about it otherwise.
#7
Line standers. Sometimes it’s unavoidable—you need to be in long a queue, and when your time comes, you need to be there yourself.
Enter line standers.
They literally just stand in lines for whomever pays them to hold a spot. When the line gets close, they call or text the person and tell them to come on down.
That’s the whole gig.
Apatheist Account2 3 weeks ago
Would not go well in the UK! That's pushing in, paid or not - queue properly or not at all!
#8
I worked for a billionaire as an oncall handyman style person (not exclusively him, we worked for other people too), for him but predominately it was his teenage daughters who would call us to help with stuff as he was usually overseas.
The were lovely girls but they were completely lost in terms of perspective. They would frequently call us up to do stuff like mount a giant tv screen, just for one night then fix everything so there was no evidence they had done it. I got called to capture a harmless spider for her which was in their patio area. So many other things, the list was endless.
#9
Many very rich people have large houses in foreign countries they visit once in a while when they feel like it or are on a business trip in the area. While they‘re away there is a whole staff taking care of the property throughout the year, keeping it clean for the off chance of the owner visiting. I once worked as a gardener in one of those properties. I was briefed that everything has to be perfect everyday. There was no margin for error. This was checked by a foreman every single day. I worked there for three years. The owner never visited.
#10
Chartering a private jet to take a cat back and forth from the US to Scotland.
Raymond Core 3 weeks ago
My massage client's husband came in during a massage and complained his wife was taking their Gulfstream V from Dallas to NY to get her hair done so she had to fly first class afterwards. Another time he came in and asked his wife if she would like to fly with another couple on the other couple's Gulfstream to Palm Springs but she declined saying she didn't like the decor that plane's interior so two private jets took four people to the same destination.
#11
You can pay people to name your child for you and they charge thousands of dollars to do it.
#12
Not my story but I hitchhiked with friends once & we met a driver who works for a company that makes impossible stuff possible for rich ppl.
Example he gave was planning a wedding - client wanted an old church in a park with very limited access (like natural conservation stuff) - then they wanted a priest from Argentinia, cause that’s where the bride came from. Then the church needed to be consecrated bc the priest wouldn’t do it in a non consecrated church. Then they wanted their guests to arrive by train, which not also had them renovate old rails in the park, but also public transportation was paid (a lot) for rescheduling their normal plan, so the special trains could use the rails… and so on… it always ended with the guy we hitchhiked with imitating a phone call with different people
: sir, I’m sorry it’s not possible
Our dude: no, you didn’t understand - how much does it cost?
: sir, we really can’t…
Our dude: yes, yes, but how much would it cost?
To the point where the person on the other end realized they could name any price & would just get it…
It was fascinating. Yet I hate every last piece of it. :D
Apatheist Account2 3 weeks ago
Aren't all churches consecrated by definition? Obviously I'm not religious...
#13
Some celebrities will charge the Uber rich a fee to make an appearance at their parties and pretend to know them. I knew the talent agent who booked Henry Kissinger and Whitney Houston, but only for their “personal appearances”. He mentioned Whitney got 250k to attend a party, stay for a minimum one hour, and in her contract the host must not ask her to sing.
#14
I know a family who bought a mansion… For their yacht.
They didn’t like docking their yacht in public.
So they bought it a mansion.
Nobody lives there. It’s just their private port. A couple of times per year they actually board the yacht there. Usually the crew boards there and they meet it somewhere.
I wish I had a house for my boat… Or a boat…
#15
My horse had a passport, acupuncturist, and massage therapist. The horse world is so crazy yall it's unimaginable sometimes.
Austzn 3 weeks ago
Can confirm: once had a job delivering huge quantities of de-ionized water to a race-horse breeding facility to use in the autoclaves. The front office area was as posh as a mansion. Behind that there was a laboratory that was as cutting-edge as one can possibly imagine and just huge in size. I wasn't allowed to enter the laboratory but I could see in through some windows. Everything else but those 2 areas looked and functioned like a typical horse ranch. The person in charge always made jokes that she needed the water to, "do her dishes." I laughed because I know what those dishes are used for; I could hear the horses using the collection devices during the water delivery.🤣 The facility didn't actually own any of the horses either. They just got paid big bucks to house, collect, and inseminate very expensive horses according to their owners breeding contracts. I don't know if they were actually doing anything fundamentally different or if it was all for show.
#16
I am an architect and I have designed a couple of prime properties. They all had a WC, which was bigger than a normal family bathroom and could only be accessed from outside (no door from inside the house). This was to be used by the gardeners and/or delivery drivers. They also have a chef's or dirty kitchen. This is a second kitchen (usually with no windows) where all the actual cooking is done. The other kitchen is functional, but just to show off, not to be used.
#17
A concierge who moves absent residents' local cars to higher ground when hurricanes strike for rich snow birds.
#18
I know someone who hired an interior decorator to decorate their daughter’s freshman college dorm room.
#19
There’s a person that Celebs would hire when they go to events to ensure no one is taking pics of them from the wrong angle. Like let’s say Kylie Jenner’s face doesn’t look good from the side, they’d hire a person to at least try to ensure a photographer won’t see that side of them.
#20
I know a guy who belongs to a charter air club, it’s only for people who live in our county and who have second homes in a specific gated community in another state. They can bring their dogs on the plane too.
#21
Sat next to a guy on a plane who travelled the world creating holiday plans for ultra-wealthy client. He had to go stay at each hotel to test them out and try the activities and everything. He loved travel and organizing anyway, so he just upgraded and got paid for it.
But after a few years it got lonely because you’re always on the move and in new places.
#22
The rich moms in my city hire people to get through every “unpleasant” milestone for their children. Did you know there’s companies you can hire to potty train your kids? Or teach them how to ride a bike? There’s even people they will hire to meet with their kids and find a sleep away summer camp to match their kids’ personalities.
#23
Worked for a family that was ungodly well off. Matriarch had a woman whose only purpose was to help her get dressed and manage this woman's "closet." Her office was in the closet. there had to be millions of dollars of clothing in there, so understandable.
#24
I know a family that had a high-functioning autistic child, and in order to help them function better in a normal classroom, they hired a specialist who befriended their child and escorted them around and advised him all day about which of his responses were good, and what responses would have been better.
Anthony Elmore 3 weeks ago
I'm a grown-a*s adult and I could use this. Where do I get my own unawkwardizer?
#25
Not me but a family member; they had 4 huskies and they hired 4 separate caretakers for each dog. This was in the tech boom way before crypto. They are broke now….
Nathaniel He/Him Cis-Het 3 weeks ago
Why do rich people even have pets if they are not going to look after them?
#26
I used to be a corporate pilot. The guy said he hated owning a jet, but it was worth it because Delta quit letting him smoke on the plane in the 90s. I always thought that was funny. He was actually a super nice guy. His wife was the sweet “everybody’s grandmother” type. She was always bringing me chocolates or donuts from her favorite shop.
#27
A guy I went to college with was employed for a number of years in Dubai as an automotive caretaker. His whole gig was to wash, drive, and maintain the billionaires collection of super exotic cars, motorcycles and other toys.
#28
People in the wealthier neighborhoods here pay professionals to set up their Christmas decorations.
#29
We knew a guy with a big lot of land with its own vineyard. He bought it with the vineyard and had no plans for it. Someone comes regularly to collect the grapes and turn them into wine. He gets a cut of the sales and doesn’t have to do anything.
#30
Until I met my wife, I didn’t know that rich people pay others to shop for fashion goods abroad. They get to travel, all expenses paid, to basically spend other people’s money at some of the most prestigious fashion brands.
#31
I once did some work for a couple who own a yacht building company. In their master bathroom there was a closet with seven shelves, one for each day of the week. On each shelf there was a pair of pajamas and a matching set of towels and a washcloth for each of them. It was something my middle class self would never have thought of.This was years ago and I have never forgotten it. A small example of having exactly what you want, perfectly organized by someone else.
#32
Ultra-wealthy families have a family office that takes care of everything across the globe. At the bottom end this may be a single full time person who supervises part-timers and contractors. The larger offices have multiple full-time staff who handle finances, real estate management, travel, social obligations, charitable giving, etc. There are actually trade association conferences for the people who work in this field. Wild, isn’t it?
#33
Bespoke eye glasses that are completely custom crafted to suit your face and comfort level.
It actually sounds amazing as a person who wears very strong prescription glasses that get kind of heavy ( even with thinned lenses). However aside from the cost, I change scripts too often to be worthwhile.
Apatheist Account2 3 weeks ago
I once had some made that allowed me to play snooker (similar to the Dennis Taylor style) - the focal point was at the top of the lens, so I could see the far end of the table. Not massively expensive - maybe £300 in 1985 or thereabouts (well before Specsavers etc).
#35
My uncle was a corporate pilot for most of his career. When he was a few years shy of retirement, the company axed their in house pilots and everything related to them as a cost savings. However, one of the owners(I think, might have just been a rich guy) hired him and one of the other pilots to be his personal on call crew for his personal jet.
For the next few years, he would fly for him pretty regularly to various places that were usually fairly exotic. Most of the flights were actually for the rich guys adult son and his family. The son was a "professional" sailboat racer... of some sort and my uncle would fly him to some tropical island and then get put up in a nice hotel with the copilot for a couple weeks with all expenses paid and he'd just hang out while this dude raced boats. It paid well enough he was able to retire earlier than expected.
I'm sure many people expect some rich people to have private pilots but the job always sounded ridiculously laid back and lucrative for bringing some guy to the Bahamas/wherever to play with his boats... which I'm sure had even more staff.
#36
Probably not a big shock, but I met a girl once who was a personal assistant. She was one of a team of three for a very rich couple. When she said personal assistant I assumed it was at a business, but no. It was all just personal stuff. They organised every aspect of the couple’s day-to-day life.
If you were “friends” of the couple, you even called one of these staff to invite them around to your house for a friendly casual dinner, as any group of friends might. But they went through the staff to book it. Wild.
#37
My partner's brother is a tennis coach and one of his clients is getting taught to cook by a Michelin star chef just for fun. I think he said it was £20K.
#38
Earbuds that are custom molded to your ear for greater comfort and excellent noise isolation. Not that expensive actually, but still rather unheard of. I believe Etymotic are one brand that does them.
#39
There was service which delivered current movies in the theater via a courier on a hard drive, for you to play at home in their proprietary player. I know one went belly up and another one popped up. Not sure if the new one's lasted given how quickly movies come to digital these days.
#40
I just read about a service that would help your kid get into elite colleges for $120k per year. Examples of advice they gave included nuggets like “get at least 1560 on your SAT” and “start a blog so you can say you’re passionate about environmentalism,” so all I can say is I respect the hustle.
#41
When they sell a house they get someone in to remove all personal effects and furnish it. I see so many comments online complaining about how a home for sale looks like a hotel or bland and that they couldn't live that way but people don't realise that it isn't how the owners actually lived - it has purposely been made like that for the selling process.
#42
An uncle of mine is pretty rich, not super loaded but solidly upper middle class. Back in the very early 2000s he was due for a colonoscopy, and his doctor's office offered the option of buying a recording of the procedure on DVD. My uncle was just as confused about this as I assume everyone reading this comment is. Apart from possibly being of some use as a record of the procedure, the only possible explanation for this situation is just because DVDs were still new and cutting edge at the time and it was just a novelty thing.
What do you think ?
reuben kift 3 weeks ago
I'm not a rich person, nor do I think I ever will be. But, I like to think I'm not stupid. These ultra-wealthy people are so detached from the real world. They think money makes them powerful. Money, in all reality has no real value. Sure, you can buy lots of stuff and you can have access to what most might call power, but if there was such an event that caused the world's economies to crash, they'd find out what they're really worth, which isn't much in the grand scheme of things. They'll realise that all their money, gold, houses, vehicles don't matter. Being wealthy is a means to a life of comfort, but it's fragile. If they were to lose it all, they'd break down. They don't know how to live a common lifestyle. To have to walk to work every day, to have to look for change under the couch cushions so that they can afford a loaf of bread or panic when the bills start to pile up.
reuben kift 3 weeks ago
Just in case it's not clear, I'm not saying that being rich is in anyway a bad thing. It just pays to be realistic about the world we live in and that such a lifestyle can vanish quickly. I like to think that if I ever became rich, I'd be wise about it. Not cheap, as such, but aware that paying for things life private jets, hyper-cars and yachts is a waste of money. I don't need a thirty-two bedroom mansion. Hell, I live in London, I don't really need a car, I can walk or take the bus. All this paying for extravagance and unreasonable things doesn't make sense to me. Why would I hire Beyonce to sing in my living room? This is just my point of view. Is it the wrong point of view? I would like to know.
reuben kift 3 weeks ago
I'm not a rich person, nor do I think I ever will be. But, I like to think I'm not stupid. These ultra-wealthy people are so detached from the real world. They think money makes them powerful. Money, in all reality has no real value. Sure, you can buy lots of stuff and you can have access to what most might call power, but if there was such an event that caused the world's economies to crash, they'd find out what they're really worth, which isn't much in the grand scheme of things. They'll realise that all their money, gold, houses, vehicles don't matter. Being wealthy is a means to a life of comfort, but it's fragile. If they were to lose it all, they'd break down. They don't know how to live a common lifestyle. To have to walk to work every day, to have to look for change under the couch cushions so that they can afford a loaf of bread or panic when the bills start to pile up.
reuben kift 3 weeks ago
Just in case it's not clear, I'm not saying that being rich is in anyway a bad thing. It just pays to be realistic about the world we live in and that such a lifestyle can vanish quickly. I like to think that if I ever became rich, I'd be wise about it. Not cheap, as such, but aware that paying for things life private jets, hyper-cars and yachts is a waste of money. I don't need a thirty-two bedroom mansion. Hell, I live in London, I don't really need a car, I can walk or take the bus. All this paying for extravagance and unreasonable things doesn't make sense to me. Why would I hire Beyonce to sing in my living room? This is just my point of view. Is it the wrong point of view? I would like to know.
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