«زَي صَيَارِفِ الرِّيفْ يِعِدُّوا بِالْأَلْفْ وِيْنَامُوا عَلَى الِانْخَاخْ»

The image sets a rural collector who handles great sums of money against the thick, rough mats of poor households that he sleeps on, because none of that money belongs to him. Passing wealth through one's hands does not make one wealthy.

Applied to people, the saying describes anyone who deals with money that belongs to others while personally staying poor, keeping nothing from what passes through their hands.

Apply it to a person whose work puts large sums belonging to others into their hands while they themselves remain poor, gaining nothing of their own from the wealth they count.