As consumers, we often only focus on the final product. But wouldn’t you like to know if the meal on your plate is actually fresh, or if the mechanic fixing your car is being completely honest?
The unsettling truth is that many industries operate on hidden tricks. For instance, some auto repair shops will easily convince a panicked driver to spend thousands on unnecessary car parts just to make a quick buck. Unfortunately, that is far from the only line of work keeping things under wraps.
When people online were recently asked to spill their professions' secrets, their responses were seriously eye-opening. Someone revealed that many doctors use Google to diagnose tricky cases, while a radio jockey exposed how they handle live callers.
Scroll down to read some of the most startling insider truths — unless you’d prefer to keep living in blissful, expensive ignorance.
At the root of these secrets lies a simple mix of corporate greed and weak rules. Companies routinely rely on a massive knowledge gap, knowing everyday consumers simply lack the expertise to spot a scam or call out a lie.
But the tables are turning, and the internet is giving power back to the workers. Platforms like Reddit, LinkedIn, and Glassdoor give employees a platform — and crucial anonymity — to blow the whistle on hidden practices.
We all need to pay a bit more attention to this list, our neighborhood spots, and those giant brands. Because, at the end of the day, it’s our hard-earned cash funding their dirty little secrets.
#22
Politicians rarely know what they are saying in conversations and they rarely write their own speeches. I do it for them.
Report
9points
#23
Hospice has basically become pokémon - just buying/selling NPIs and quickly becoming more and more private equity.
You think pharmaceutical sales are/were sketchy, all those bad actors are in geriatrics now, praying on the elderly and on people passing away.
NOTE: not the nurses and clinical teams, but their management and leadership are entirely focused on getting as much from insurance as possible.
You think pharmaceutical sales are/were sketchy, all those bad actors are in geriatrics now, praying on the elderly and on people passing away.
NOTE: not the nurses and clinical teams, but their management and leadership are entirely focused on getting as much from insurance as possible.
Report
8points
#24
The military knowingly used carcinogenic firefighting foam on ships for decades, poisoning god knows how many veterans.
Report
8points
#25
I got a couple in regards to movie theaters:
People are gross. We constantly find toenail clippings, used diapers, bones from chicken wings people snuck in, saliva-crusted lollipop sticks, etc. stuck on seats and inside cupholders. I've also seen people stumble out, puke into the garbage cans, then go right back in. And we are not given enough time to do a proper deep-clean after every show due to studios forcing us to shove in as many screenings as possible and people insisting on showing up outlandishly early for their showtime.
Literally every single time someone has complained their popcorn is "stale", it's always popcorn that was freshly popped within the last 10 minutes. Every. Single. Time. It takes a few minutes for it to cool down, stop being spongey and gain that classic popcorn "snap." In those cases, we usually will just give them the "emergency popcorn" that was made the night before that's kept in the back. (We make it in case people wanted a refill after we closed.) And without fail, every single time they'll take a bite of the day-old popcorn, smile and walk away, convinced they got the "fresh stuff."
You'd genuinely be shocked and disgusted by just how many men in their 40s, 50s, 60s+ hit on the underage 15-17 year old female employees. You'd also be shocked at how many full-grown adults do things like intimidate and even threaten the workers (often the same teenage workers) over things like corporate policies that we have no control over, and how often we have to call the cops for it.
People are gross. We constantly find toenail clippings, used diapers, bones from chicken wings people snuck in, saliva-crusted lollipop sticks, etc. stuck on seats and inside cupholders. I've also seen people stumble out, puke into the garbage cans, then go right back in. And we are not given enough time to do a proper deep-clean after every show due to studios forcing us to shove in as many screenings as possible and people insisting on showing up outlandishly early for their showtime.
Literally every single time someone has complained their popcorn is "stale", it's always popcorn that was freshly popped within the last 10 minutes. Every. Single. Time. It takes a few minutes for it to cool down, stop being spongey and gain that classic popcorn "snap." In those cases, we usually will just give them the "emergency popcorn" that was made the night before that's kept in the back. (We make it in case people wanted a refill after we closed.) And without fail, every single time they'll take a bite of the day-old popcorn, smile and walk away, convinced they got the "fresh stuff."
You'd genuinely be shocked and disgusted by just how many men in their 40s, 50s, 60s+ hit on the underage 15-17 year old female employees. You'd also be shocked at how many full-grown adults do things like intimidate and even threaten the workers (often the same teenage workers) over things like corporate policies that we have no control over, and how often we have to call the cops for it.
Report
8points
#26
software developer here. nobody knows what they're doing. the projects are so big and there is so much abstraction that it's basically impossible to get a full picture of whatever you are working on.
Report
7points
#27
How the price you are paying for something online can be completely different than someone else based on the amount of data they have on you.
Report
7points
#28
As an educator, we take a training course to learn how to defend ourselves against the kids who hurt us.
Report
7points
#29
Academia has far more profoundly stupid, mean and insecure people in it than smart, enlightened ones. PhD’s are tenacious, not geniuses. And those who make it to the upper echelons (deans and up)…eek.
Report
7points
#30
9 out of 10 restaurants are horribly disgusting behind the scenes. And in small town midwestern america, most of the health inspectors are friends with the owners and look the other way instead of enforcing code.
Report
6points
#31
A very significant chunk of research funds goes into university internal politics, unnecessary meetings and admin.
Report
5points
#32
Speeds over fibre aren't limited by anything other than equipment, in the exchange and at home. Your service provider is actively choosing to limit your speeds to force you to pay more.
Report
5points
#33
Currently a quality manager of a large industrial food plant...
You simply don't want to know some of the things I know
However I will say this much -- Most best-before dates are simply the latest reasonable date that the company verified their product can last to a lab. It's cheaper to say"eh test it after 28 days and hopefully that's enough" than to say "test it every day until it's over the limits". So you can probably rest easily on a lot of best-by dates, they aren't nearly as concrete as many believe -- although that's all at your own risk
You simply don't want to know some of the things I know
However I will say this much -- Most best-before dates are simply the latest reasonable date that the company verified their product can last to a lab. It's cheaper to say"eh test it after 28 days and hopefully that's enough" than to say "test it every day until it's over the limits". So you can probably rest easily on a lot of best-by dates, they aren't nearly as concrete as many believe -- although that's all at your own risk
Report
5points
#34
Your safety equipment is as safe as your repair technician is competent. Unfortunately there is a competency drought
Report
5points
#35
This is common with anyone in my line of work.
I’m self employed. I own a pressure washing company (and do odd handyman jobs). How much I charge to clean your driveway or house or fence or whatever, is almost purely determined by how much money I think you have.
I’ve cleaned 600 sq ft driveways for people I think are living paycheck to paycheck or close to it for $150 and I’ve cleaned 600 sq ft driveways for people living in 6+ bedroom homes with $100k cars in the garage for $500+
Same goes for work I pickup. I’ll paint a bedroom for $300 to $800 depending on how much money I think you have.
I’m self employed. I own a pressure washing company (and do odd handyman jobs). How much I charge to clean your driveway or house or fence or whatever, is almost purely determined by how much money I think you have.
I’ve cleaned 600 sq ft driveways for people I think are living paycheck to paycheck or close to it for $150 and I’ve cleaned 600 sq ft driveways for people living in 6+ bedroom homes with $100k cars in the garage for $500+
Same goes for work I pickup. I’ll paint a bedroom for $300 to $800 depending on how much money I think you have.
Report
5points
#37
indie game developer: how many games are full of bugs on release day that only get fixed after reports in the forums. a lot of indie game devs don't even test their games and just release them in a broken state and fix them after release, since the first wave of players is like free testing. so for best results if you are going to play an indie game, don't play it on release day, play it a week or two later after the first post-release patch. big companies don't deal with this issue as much because they can afford to pay testers.
Report
4points
#38
Airline pilots are perpetually exausted, and usually one of us is napping on the flight deck at any given time during cruise, (which the rules allow)
Report
4points
#39
IT guys use google all the time to find solutions to problems if they don't already know how to solve it.
This happens constantly.
This happens constantly.
Report
4points
#40
I used to work in the food industry, 8/10 people don't wash their hands after going to the restroom.
Report
3points
