Usually, criticizing your employer while you're still working for them is a bad idea. Whether internally, grabbing a coffee with colleagues, or externally, turning to social media, taking jabs at your low salary or bad boss can damage your future opportunities. Even if the complaints are legitimate.
However, once you're out and have secured a comfortable position elsewhere, you may feel much more liberty to share your experiences and highlight the issues you faced. So Reddit user Mave__Dustaine asked all people to reveal a secret about a company they no longer work for that the general public wouldn't know. And since they received thousands of replies, we collected the juiciest ones to save you some time.
#1
My family owned Veterinary hospitals.
Now, I know the price has gotten nuts but that is not what this post is about.
Most vets truly care and I have seen some do anything, literally anything to help your animal. I remember wanting to leave after closing, so tired and my Dad (the Vet) telling me he wasn’t leaving yet, he wanted to sit with this one dog all night.
Now, I know the price has gotten nuts but that is not what this post is about.
Most vets truly care and I have seen some do anything, literally anything to help your animal. I remember wanting to leave after closing, so tired and my Dad (the Vet) telling me he wasn’t leaving yet, he wanted to sit with this one dog all night.
184points
#2
I worked for a very popular fast food chain and was shocked to find out their hygiene standards were actually high and everybody followed them. Like. everyone really did their job and the place was really clean and safe.
140points
These stories vividly illustrate the grim reality that many bosses are unwilling to listen to employee feedback. Even though it might be in the company's best interest, workers often believe they can speak up only after they've left.
For example, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) poll showed that while the majority of UK workers feel supported by their superiors, 35 percent don't think their manager treats them and their colleagues fairly.
Furthermore, more than two-fifths (45 percent) of the 2,100 individuals surveyed for the Improving Line Management report said their manager did not help morale at work.
#3
Nursing homes are ALWAYS understaffed and overworked. The worst one I ever saw was 3 caregivers to 72 residents. That's 3 people who are responsible for feeding, toileting, and showering 72 people every day. Mistakes and abuse are incredibly common due to the sheer burnout that is rampant. Imagine being told after a 16 hour shift that you aren't allowed to leave (because of abandonment laws) for another 16 hours because someone didn't show up for their shift, and doing so while making barely above minimum wage.
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125points
#4
Here's an open secret: IT workers are really good at Googling your problem.
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113points
#5
Working for Tesla was one of the worst jobs I have ever had. Elon Musk was such a prick and treats people subhuman. That's not an exaggeration, I've seen it personally.
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109points
Frances O’Grady, general secretary of the TUC, says having a good manager is crucial for workers, but businesses are not investing enough in training them.
“It’s shocking that so many workers feel afraid to raise issues with their boss. If we want better and more productive workplaces, we need to step up investment in training, including for managers,” she explains.
#6
If it seems as though your health insurance claim is being processed by a bunch of gorillas in heat throwing darts...you aren't far off.
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99points
#7
I’ve worked for Bank of America and Wells Fargo and both banks screw over customers constantly but there is a difference in how and why they do it.
Bank of America will screw you over because they are huge and disorganized and no one has a clue what’s going on so customers get screwed over when people don’t know how to do their job and no one knows how to fix it when things go wrong.
Wells Fargo will screw you over and they know exactly what they are doing and how they are going to do it. They will intentionally design a process to take too long forcing the customer to pay additional fees.
Bank of America will screw you over because they are huge and disorganized and no one has a clue what’s going on so customers get screwed over when people don’t know how to do their job and no one knows how to fix it when things go wrong.
Wells Fargo will screw you over and they know exactly what they are doing and how they are going to do it. They will intentionally design a process to take too long forcing the customer to pay additional fees.
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93points
#8
・A lot of the stuff you donate to Goodwill goes straight into the garbage.
・No, the clothes aren't washed before going to the sales floor and most of the items are not cleaned; please be careful and clean/disinfect if you decide to purchase it.
・Yes, they are raising prices to give more to the higher-ups while not giving anything to the people actually doing all of the work.
・Goodwill pays disabled employees significantly less than minimum wage.
・Most of the "nice" stuff that you donate is going to e-commerce to be sold at an inflated auction price and not to a local person who might want it.
・No, the sales/donation associate can't give you a receipt with a cash value for all of the junk that you just threw in the bin, stop asking. The receipt just shows a rough estimate of what you donated, it's up to you to determine the value of your donation if you're that much of a tax-rat.
・No, you can't _sell_ anything to Goodwill; that's not what the word "donation" means.
・Yes, this _is_ all somehow legal.
・No, the clothes aren't washed before going to the sales floor and most of the items are not cleaned; please be careful and clean/disinfect if you decide to purchase it.
・Yes, they are raising prices to give more to the higher-ups while not giving anything to the people actually doing all of the work.
・Goodwill pays disabled employees significantly less than minimum wage.
・Most of the "nice" stuff that you donate is going to e-commerce to be sold at an inflated auction price and not to a local person who might want it.
・No, the sales/donation associate can't give you a receipt with a cash value for all of the junk that you just threw in the bin, stop asking. The receipt just shows a rough estimate of what you donated, it's up to you to determine the value of your donation if you're that much of a tax-rat.
・No, you can't _sell_ anything to Goodwill; that's not what the word "donation" means.
・Yes, this _is_ all somehow legal.
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84points
Also, some researchers suggest that employees are withholding information about problems or ideas for improvement at work due to a sense of futility.
In fact, one study found that futility was 1.8 times more common than fear as a reason for not bringing things up with direct supervisors in large multinational corporations.
As one respondent in that study said: “I think it would help if you saw them take your suggestion back to whomever and actually consider it, rather than just throw it in the trash bucket as soon as you walk out the door. I think that’s the way a lot of people feel — you can speak in a meeting, you can tell your manager. It doesn’t go any further…”
No wonder so many don't even bother and share their stories just to amuse the internet instead.
#9
As a former compliance director for tele health mental health agencies I would urge people to RUN from agencies like Better Help, Talkspace, Charlie Health, Guideline healthcare, EllieHealth , etc.
These are started by tech corps and other $$$$driven corporations and have little interest in protecting you-whether it's your mental health, confidentiality, or ethically driven care.
These places are unacceptable and have low quality treatment providers. You are best to find a local MH agency or individuals on Psychology today.
These are started by tech corps and other $$$$driven corporations and have little interest in protecting you-whether it's your mental health, confidentiality, or ethically driven care.
These places are unacceptable and have low quality treatment providers. You are best to find a local MH agency or individuals on Psychology today.
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83points
#10
Worked as a cook at a Chilis in CA, and I can say confidently that it was one of the *CLEANEST* kitchens I ever worked in.
We scrubbed it spotless every night.
We scrubbed it spotless every night.
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77points
#11
College bookstores are a f*****g racket. The used books that are sold for a high cost were likely bought back for a fraction. The only people that got the "Good" price for book buyback were the first 5-10 people selling that book back. I saw a book be bought back for $200 and the next person through with that exact same book got offered $50. The add-ins for things like clickers were obscene. Books that were OK'd for the school year would regularly get "new" versions that could just have 2 chapters flipped, but the "new" version ment that nobody could buy used, and the prof that wrote it gets a huge payout. The few "good" profs that gave away their materials were few and far between. The notion that digital books would be cheaper is laughable. Sure, they're charging $100 vs $200, but that's a $100 PDF.
It's a racket and i'm glad I don't need to mess with it anymore.
It's a racket and i'm glad I don't need to mess with it anymore.
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73points
#12
I used to work in the marketing team for a large recruitment company. About 99% of the jobs posted on their websites (the company owned about 35 web domains) and shared on other websites are fake. The marketing and SEO department was tasked in creating super optimized job listings, that out performed real job listings. To apply to these job listings, you would have to register an account. This would inflate our candidate database and we would have loads of CVs. The sales team would then take this information and contact companies to get them to pay to put their open vacancies on our websites, because we had one of the largest candidate databases. I remember getting so annoyed by this practice I started reporting these vacancies as fake, even on LinkedIn. But LinkedIn rejected my report saying it was legitimate. It wasn’t, and I know this because I created that fake vacancy.
What makes this even more alarming, is that so many recruitment companies do this. If you want to apply for a job, you’re better off going to that companies website instead and not using a third party. I left that place and swore I would never work in recruitment again.
What makes this even more alarming, is that so many recruitment companies do this. If you want to apply for a job, you’re better off going to that companies website instead and not using a third party. I left that place and swore I would never work in recruitment again.
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69points
#13
McDonald's is one of the cleanest fast food restaurants, as strange as that may sound.
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69points
#14
I worked for a bunny farm. Were where raising bunnies for laboratories. They investigated my identity for weeks to see if I was some sort of Green peace agent. I found it weird at first but then I understood why. They kept 7-8 bunnies in a sq meter cage and didnt give AF about them. They were using metal scrubs to scrub the cages and brake baby bunnies legs while doing it. some smaller bunnies were falling out of the cage in a section that all their poop/trash was crushed by a machine and would make a little squeak before getting crushed. I quit after 4 days. Worst experience in my life.
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64points
#15
Your child’s daycare worker is extremely over worked and underpaid. parents would complain all the time about how much day care cost, but it’s less expensive than a babysitter. I always wanted to ask the complaining parent how much they would charge to watch 13 children they were not related to.
I worked in the US we litterky had to have a plan on what we would do if an armed gunman broke in.
I worked in the US we litterky had to have a plan on what we would do if an armed gunman broke in.
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60points
#16
Alcohol companies stay afloat because of alcoholics. Our research showed that almost 90% of the alcohol we sold was being consumed by about 12% of our consumers. It was talked about in meetings along with comments like “we’re just selling poison.” The industry is as evil as the tobacco industry; they just have so much money in lobbying that they’re not thwarted by regulation nearly as much.
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60points
#17
Every competition we ran in my old magazines was won by either the editor's family or one of his friends. Every single one.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of prizes.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of prizes.
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57points
#18
For years we manufactured/processes thousands of component incorrectly that substantially increased the probability of sudden and catastrophic failure.
The component? Well it’s the main attachment points for various missiles/bombs for the US military.
Discovered this shortly after working there. Notified the operations manager, who ignored it. Notified the president, who kind of acknowledged it but refused to address it or notify the customer. Finally notified the ownership who promptly had me replaced lol.
The component? Well it’s the main attachment points for various missiles/bombs for the US military.
Discovered this shortly after working there. Notified the operations manager, who ignored it. Notified the president, who kind of acknowledged it but refused to address it or notify the customer. Finally notified the ownership who promptly had me replaced lol.
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55points
#19
Excel. No matter how fancy your tech systems are, your boss just wants a half decent excel sheet to keep track of everything.
52points
#20
Almost every President, CEO of CFO I worked for was an egomaniac who was cheating on his wife, usually with an employee that works for them and were compulsive liars. In one specific company the CEO was sued several times by former employees for sexual harassment, but kept doing it anyways and the CFO lied about the company financial status to lay off about 70 employees, when in actuality all they wanted to do was more than double his and the CEO's salaries.
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52points