It's true - Money CAN buy happiness: A rant

In case you're out of the loop, there's some money in this city - ginormous, engulfing bags of it - and the family I worked for last night had a bunch. A rundown:
- Two-storey showpalace in the West Village (the best neighborhood in the city) , easily 3,000 sq. feet
- Huge wrap-around terrace/deck with amazing views and full-grown trees and beautifully maintained plants
- The floors were all hardwood but they'd painted them almost black and shellacked them so they were really shiny (very Designer Showhouse and totally fantastic)
- All of the cabinets in his open-air office were chrome with leather pulls
- In order for light to reach more of the first floor (because the floor-to-ceiling windows just weren't cool enough), they'd put a skylight in on the top floor and the second floor floor - directly underneath the skylight - was made of frosted glass so the light would shine into the first floor living room. All us waiters were freaking out, walking on it.
- The pantry was the size of my bathroom. Not that I have a big bathroom, but it was the size of my bathroom. We thought it was a nice touch that the marble from the kitchen continued into the pantry...

The party was supposed to be outside on the deck. The forecast called for rain but hubby really wanted us to set up. So we got out the grill, set up the bar, assembled and clothed several tables, unbagged the chairs... and it started to pour. So we had to cover the grill, break down the bar, break down the tables, fold up the chairs (we are now soaking wet) then REASSEMBLE THE BAR INSIDE, PUT UP THE TABLES, PLACE THE CHAIRS, PUT DOWN TOWELS ON THE HARDWOOD, then scramble to get the rest of the party ready before the guests got there. For some reason they had a big white rug in the entryway and the wife was freaking out that it was going to get dirty so we had to do all this in our socks.

Anyway, you get the idea. It was hell. Don't get me wrong, for rich people they were really nice (Did I mention that once the rain stopped we had to reassemble everything outside again? Did I mention that? And that the party went until 2 am and then had to load up the van and return everything to the restaurant (big, heavy tubs of food, crates of booze... neverending...) which took another 30 minutes - so no bed until 3 am? Did I mention that?!!) but it was hell.

But the man ("man"! He was, like, my age which killed me a little) knew how to tip: $100 tucked discreetly into my grubby little paw. (We earned every penny...)