“I went to high school in a very economically mixed area in New Jersey. There are areas that have insane amounts of money and others nearby are section 8 housing. So there were a bunch of kids that had a gilded perspective on reality. Most were not spoiled per se, but there were the outliers. The one that comes to mind is this kid in my class I’ll call ‘Tim.’ Tim always wore the most expensive designer clothes. He often showed off several thousand dollar watches. Junior year of high school, his father bought him a new BMW 6 series for getting a B in math. Since only his circle of cronies were impressed, he made his dad buy him a new Porsche. He would try to race people after school. Mainly seniors.
Well, he picked a fight with this one senior who was in my circle of friends. This other guy dressed goth and looked like one of the section 8 residents. He drove a beat up old Honda Civic. It all came to a head, and they raced down the straightest rode we have. My friend lost. At the rally point, he got out and Tim was all in his face, talking smack about how he never had a chance. My friend ignored him and called his mom. He talks for a little bit then hangs up, and had the biggest grin on his face. He goes up to Tim to shake his hand and said good job, enjoy it while you can.
Fast-forward to two months. Tim was screaming and ranting at my friend. Most of it was cursing, but I pick up that Tim’s father not only lost his job but is being indicted for fraud and embezzlement. As it turns out, my friend was from old money. He lived in one of the estates that’s set so far back in the forest, that you don’t know it’s there. His mother pulled the strings and bought a majority share of Tim’s father’s company. She then had her people look through all the finances and noticed a huge discrepancy. She found out that not only was he misleading his investors, but was embezzling a ton of money. Tim’s family’s assets were seized or frozen, and they had nothing after his father was indited. They had to sell the cars, their house, and every asset just to make by. Tim’s mom eventually got a job as an interior decorator, and they moved into the worst apartments in town.
I learned that day that there are two types of spoiled. Flashy ‘in your face I’m better than you’ spoiled, and ‘forget you’ spoiled.”
