45 Shocking Secrets From Hospitals, Airports, And Hotels, Told By Their Employees

Hospitals: how disgustingly dirty they are. Especially if you work in a non-patient area, it’s even worse. If the general public is going to be seeing an area they at least attempt to keep it somewhat clean looking. But I highly encourage you not to walk around barefoot, I’ve seen that far too many times 🤢.

No matter where a hotel is located, it can be in the nicest area and it’s still full of weirdos. Something about hotels attracts the nuts.

I was a chef for many years and nothing crazy in the kitchen but from other departments… Housekeeping is so overworked. It is hard to stay at hotels now. Knowing they probably clean all with the same rag.

I work in IT for a massive hotel chain, and previously designed 911 system infrastructure (so not hospital, but adjacent).

It's honestly breathtaking (terrifying) how antiquated some of the massive core systems are that run these industries. Southwest Airlines crew scheduling system outage was a great example of this a few years ago.

Back when I worked in 911, I saw systems still in operation that actually made me nervous. There was a lot of "we don't want to invest in upgrading yet and it still works, so our most important task is to make sure that it never shuts off." And we're talking about the MOST CRITICAL communications network in the country. Granted, the level of antiquity varies by region/locale. But still lol.

Edited to add: I've seen phone systems almost as old as I am still landing active 911 calls - and I'm almost 30 lol. Now the larger, better-funded municipalities have moved to E911 with SIP trunks and whatnot, but old copper landlines are definitely still out there.

I worked as a front desk agent for a little while at a large conference and airport hotel (Marriott chain). Two points.

If the hotel requires a deposit or full payment on arrival try to use a credit card, not a debit card. Not even as "credit". Debit cards will pull the cost twice, which means you will see two charges - the first charge & the real charge - and it can take up to two weeks for the "not real" charge to drop off your account. A credit card will pull a single charge up, adjust the charge as needed (drop the deposit, add incidentals charges, whatever) and that will be the one that sticks. This was a *constant* issue with visitors. Constant. This can put you thousands of dollars in the hole for your entire vacation. Pay with a credit card if at all possible!

ALSO, IMPORTANTLY: if you are coming in on a work conference or similar at a Marriott, Hilton, etc. in the US: PLEASE make sure your company has filed the credit card authorization form with the hotel for their company card so that THEY can be charged, not you. This was a *huge* problem at the hotel I worked at. We had a lot of teacher conferences and they were the *worst* about this. Do NOT take Debbie in Accounting's word for it, please. Make sure they have filed the authorization. All hotels that do this kind of thing know exactly what you mean when you ask for it. A few extra minutes of work will save you a ton of problems later.

Worked at a hotel one summer when I was younger. We were told to
- Just rinse the glasses in the bathroom.. I said hey can we please buy some dish soap? It took them 2 weeks to buy us dish soap
- We were told to only wash the comforters if there was a stain 
- We never spray disinfected any of the upholstered seats/couches 


You can imagine how I feel when I have to stay in a hotel hey? .

We are all miserable and hate being there.

As a past waitress for years I can tell you most ice machines have cockroaches in them so check your ice cubes.

Airport.

The number of buzzing bags in the bag room after they tumble their way down the baggage conveyors.

Pax claim they are "electric toothbrushes" nine out of ten times.

When we are short of staff, the lav guy also does the potable water. The good people do the potable water first.

Saw on tiktok a woman washes her underwear in the kettle when she travels!

Hospital: maybe this isn't surprising and perhaps on par with other mid-to-high stress professions, but sooooo many staff are sleeping together/having affairs.

That being said...the hospital I worked at was staffed by highly competent and caring people from cooks and security guards to nurses and doctors.

Many hotels don’t have a 13th floor. I mean, they do, but the elevator goes from 12-14.

When you come in to the ER at 3am because your foot has been hurting all week, and you chose now to come in, yes I am judging you and your life choices!

In every patient room literal poo has been all over the floor, walls, equipment and sometimes even ceiling….

Comforters even in high end ski resorts are not washed after each guest checks out.

At a Hospital, one of the reasons we slap that wristband on you is for morgue ID purposes. Have a nice day.

Our tech is years behind current availability. It is hella slow and outdated, but they look fancy and new.

Hotels spy and make it easier for others to spy on you.

The morgue is next the the kitchen.

House keeping uses the bath towels and other kinds of towels to wipe EVERTHING while cleaning the whole room.