It’s quite likely that, at some point in time, you were asked to keep a secret at work. You may have even signed a non-disclosure agreement or NDA. They are very common documents that employees have to sign… as well as people working with sensitive data and clients.
However, some of the sensitive information you’re forced to keep is beyond weird. Members of the AskReddit online community finally revealed the industry secrets they had to stay silent about. We’ve collected their wildest stories to share with you, including those from people whose NDAs have finally expired.
#41
Product “launch dates” in tech are often decided by marketing months before the product is actually ready. Engineers just sprint until something barely stable exists by that date.
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8points
#42
It hasn’t expired until she passes away.
Had a weekend fling/affair with a TV star in the 90s. Her people actually had me sign an NDA.
Had a weekend fling/affair with a TV star in the 90s. Her people actually had me sign an NDA.
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8points
#43
I had no real training or qualification as a "sandwich artist". It was just already printed on the sleeve of the tshirt they gave me and I was expected to keep my head down and just live the lie every day. Women, children, the health inspector, didn't matter.
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8points
#44
M&M's, the candy, make a huge deal that it is a trade secret how they put the M on the M&M. So let me tell you how they do it!
They use what's called a reverse offset rotogravure printer. The company that makes them was called ackley. They are about too wide and 20 ft. Long, and basically the printer puts the M&M's into these little slots and it goes across a rubber drum and that's how the M gets imprinted on it.
They use what's called a reverse offset rotogravure printer. The company that makes them was called ackley. They are about too wide and 20 ft. Long, and basically the printer puts the M&M's into these little slots and it goes across a rubber drum and that's how the M gets imprinted on it.
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8points
#45
I worked for a budget airline, we'd get a bonus for every "oversized" cabin bag a passenger had.
8points
#46
The Hot Java web browser from Sun Microsystems (1997) was not written entirely in Java, despite the company's claims.
They used system calls to functions written in C to execute capabilities impossible in Java (most notably, printing).
I do worry that this revelation could shake the industry's faith in Sun Microsystems, but the truth must be told.
They used system calls to functions written in C to execute capabilities impossible in Java (most notably, printing).
I do worry that this revelation could shake the industry's faith in Sun Microsystems, but the truth must be told.
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7points
#47
Capitol Hill is totally run by 20-year-old unpaid interns. The congressmen and their paid staff are rarely around or accessible.
Most of the constituent letters are disposed of, never even read by anyone. At most, they are skimmed by said unpaid interns.
Constituent phone calls are handled by the interns as well, and we just placate callers as best we can until they hang up. We never take notes or pass their complaints on. Only those representing super-important organizations get escalated to a (rarely-accessible) higher-up.
The press-releases written by 20-year-old unpaid interns would be printed verbatim, just with the jounalist's/congressman's/paid staff-member's name slapped on it rather than yours.
Source: Was a 20-year-old unpaid intern in a congressional office at Capitol Hill in 2009.
Most of the constituent letters are disposed of, never even read by anyone. At most, they are skimmed by said unpaid interns.
Constituent phone calls are handled by the interns as well, and we just placate callers as best we can until they hang up. We never take notes or pass their complaints on. Only those representing super-important organizations get escalated to a (rarely-accessible) higher-up.
The press-releases written by 20-year-old unpaid interns would be printed verbatim, just with the jounalist's/congressman's/paid staff-member's name slapped on it rather than yours.
Source: Was a 20-year-old unpaid intern in a congressional office at Capitol Hill in 2009.
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7points
#48
Survivor feeds people off camera.
It's not much, but if people don't get enough food it violates the Geneva Conventions and given that they went after Among Us, they clearly don't mess around.
EDIT: Chill gang, this was over 20 years ago, sorry if my brain is a bit fuzzy on the details. You're right it was not the GC (which does a fuckton more than police who can use a red cross), it was the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. While there isn't a specific line about access to food, I believe they were concerned about the one referring to tortuous conditions (starving people).
It's not much, but if people don't get enough food it violates the Geneva Conventions and given that they went after Among Us, they clearly don't mess around.
EDIT: Chill gang, this was over 20 years ago, sorry if my brain is a bit fuzzy on the details. You're right it was not the GC (which does a fuckton more than police who can use a red cross), it was the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. While there isn't a specific line about access to food, I believe they were concerned about the one referring to tortuous conditions (starving people).
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7points
#49
I worked for a car company. A major one.
A new car built by my company leaves somewhere traveling at 60 mph. The rear differential locks up. The car crashes and burns with everyone trapped inside. Now, should we initiate a recall? Take the number of vehicles in the field, A, multiply by the probable rate of failure, B, multiply by the average out-of-court settlement, C. A times B times C equals X. If X is less than the cost of a recall, we don't do one.
A new car built by my company leaves somewhere traveling at 60 mph. The rear differential locks up. The car crashes and burns with everyone trapped inside. Now, should we initiate a recall? Take the number of vehicles in the field, A, multiply by the probable rate of failure, B, multiply by the average out-of-court settlement, C. A times B times C equals X. If X is less than the cost of a recall, we don't do one.
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7points
#50
Some Lowes stores haven't cleaned their a/c units in 20 years and you breathe mold every time you shop there.
6points
#51
Signed so many in my career but two stick out:
1) Joey Lawerence can only be referred to by Joseph or Mr Lawerence on set and cannot be more than 50 yards from his workout equipment.
2) Bruce Campbell has absolutely no official riders in his contracts but he'll invent them if he doesn't like the people he's working with to be funny.
1) Joey Lawerence can only be referred to by Joseph or Mr Lawerence on set and cannot be more than 50 yards from his workout equipment.
2) Bruce Campbell has absolutely no official riders in his contracts but he'll invent them if he doesn't like the people he's working with to be funny.
6points
#52
Fishing ships don't [care] about protecting endangered species. Rare near-extinction coral? Drag that sea floor.
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6points
#53
The Ferrari 296 GTB Challenge is sold at 750k Euro while to make it cost only around 280k. The hood latches are the same you can buy for 15euro each at a local racing car part store.
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6points
#54
A major trading house in the US lost all of the recordings for phone trades for about a 5 year period.
Because they then lacked the means of refuting any claims, the SOP was to just take the client's word for it and pay them out.
This was never publicized, as it would have caused a free for all of DK trades.
Because they then lacked the means of refuting any claims, the SOP was to just take the client's word for it and pay them out.
This was never publicized, as it would have caused a free for all of DK trades.
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6points
#55
That generic and brand names are really, truly, absolutely the same things, just marketed differently.
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6points
#56
GoFundMe claims they make their money off of "tips" that patrons leave when they donate to a fundraiser. This is false.
They're really taking from the "payment processing fee" you get charged when you leave a donation. This means they profit from all the worst events, like catastrophic fires, medical fundraisers for peoples' cancers, funeral campaigns and so on. This company is so scummy. Donate directly to the person fundraising instead.
They're really taking from the "payment processing fee" you get charged when you leave a donation. This means they profit from all the worst events, like catastrophic fires, medical fundraisers for peoples' cancers, funeral campaigns and so on. This company is so scummy. Donate directly to the person fundraising instead.
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6points
#57
Starbucks hated unions back in 2015. We were told if we spoke of them we’d be fired. So I never spoke of them. I have the original manuals/training material for all things Starbucks. They also don’t embrace diversity as they claim.
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6points
#58
Excedrin Express Gels work slower than regular Excedrin, "express" is a term by the FDA for dissolving under a set time, regular Excedrin does it faster as there is no gel shell on the outside of the pill.
"passing test" means no matter what you find as long as the values are in check its good to ship, even if you find a rat in a giant sugar crystal at the bottom of the liquid sugar tank that you made kids cough syrup out of.
"passing test" means no matter what you find as long as the values are in check its good to ship, even if you find a rat in a giant sugar crystal at the bottom of the liquid sugar tank that you made kids cough syrup out of.
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6points
#59
I used to consult for banks, and all my NDAs finished expiring this year. So here's one that's top of mind:
If you live paycheck to paycheck and often pay overdraft fees, you should check with your bank about their Posting Order to make sure you're not paying unnecessary fees. Banks can manipulate the order in which they process your transactions each night to maximize the fees you pay. They're not supposed to do this in a way is disadvantageous for the customer, but there is a lot of room for play and very little enforcement. Bank examiners don't always check this so I have seen some banks get away with some pretty raunchy stuff for a long time. And even when they do get caught, the examiners just make them change the setting and there's no compensation or whatever. There's really no law behind this - it's just examiners flexing their muscle or using the almost powerless now-largely-defanged CFPB if possible.
So what am I talking about exactly?
For example, let's say you start the day with $500 in your checking account. Then let's say that you wrote a check yesterday for $300 that will come through today. You swiped your debit card a few times today for $5, $100, $15, $25, $50, $75 in that order chronologically. An automated billpay also goes out tonight for $100. Throughout the day, the bank "memo" posts those transactions but doesn't fully process them until night time. If you just summed these items up, you would be overdrawn by $170 total. A maximally honest bank would probably just charge you a single $25 overdraft fee (ODF) on top of owing them the $170 difference for a total of $195 owed as long as you pay them back within their terms (i.e. quickly). But most banks don't play quite this fairly and, if they do, they will probably advertise it as a selling point.
But what about a maximally *dishonest* bank? Well, they could reorder the posting process largest to smallest, and charge you an ODF every time a charge hits and you don't have the funds to cover it. So in this case, your check plus the 2 x $100 debits would drain your entire $500 balance first. Then you would owe an ODF for ***each*** of the other 5 smaller charges. So now you owe the original $170 balance difference plus $125 in ODFs, for a grand total of $295. Yep, they made an easy $100 more just by manipulating the processing order. A bank would probably not be able to get away with this long term, but nothing really stops them from trying. That's juicy income just sitting there, and poor people how banks make most of their money. They even have software (the most popular one is called ProfitStars) that shows them who their "best" customers are. Nope, it's not the rich guy that has a bunch of rental property loans. The bank's best customer is a single mom living paycheck to paycheck and paying $200+/mo in ODFs when the bills don't align perfectly with her paychecks. Hell, I saw one bank that processed debits first and THEN credits each night, which is about as evil as you can get. So customers could go OD, get charged a fee, then their paycheck would process and instantly cover it. That bank got shut down for doing all sorts of nefarious stuff, but I'm sure they're not the only one that tried it or something similar. I even had a bank CEO ask me if it would be ok to change it to a fairer process right before examiners arrive for their scheduled exam and then change it back after they leave. I had to tell him the truth - yeah, he could probably get away with that. Examiners aren't going to go dig through countless historical transactions to spot behavior like that. They will just ask for the bank's core configuration settings and review a few recent samples of transactions to verify in the moment. Oh, I once had a bank CEO argue with me that largest-to-smallest processing is more consumer friendly because the customer's rent and major bills are more important to pay than smaller transactions, if the bank decides to decline them.
But what if the bank was more cautious with the rules, but still wanted to make plenty of ODF income? Well, there are plenty of options in the middle ground of this that still boost ODF income without being *quite* so nefarious. For example, they can just change the Posting Order by *type* rather than individual transactions. They could process checks, ACH, wires, and billpay first, then debit card transactions last. Even without playing with the debit card item order (let's say they just post them in the order they come in), they will still generate more ODFs because checks, ACH, billpay, and wires tend to be the largest transactions anyway. They can also set it to random order. Or item sequence order (like your check numbers). I'm sure there are more options that are out there. Banks can also set a "de minimus" that doesn't ODF you for overdrafts under some tiny number like $5, but they don't all do that.
Check with your bank to see what they do. Even better, get it in writing and catch them lying to you. There are honest banks out there that don't play games like this, of course, or at least keep it to a minimum. Don't be afraid to change to a better one. Changing banks is not nearly as difficult as some people think. I used to recommend that most people just use credit unions because they are the least likely to be evil, but the flip side is that credit unions are the most likely to be run by incompetent people and have the worst technology, so pick your poison when it comes to that.
If you live paycheck to paycheck and often pay overdraft fees, you should check with your bank about their Posting Order to make sure you're not paying unnecessary fees. Banks can manipulate the order in which they process your transactions each night to maximize the fees you pay. They're not supposed to do this in a way is disadvantageous for the customer, but there is a lot of room for play and very little enforcement. Bank examiners don't always check this so I have seen some banks get away with some pretty raunchy stuff for a long time. And even when they do get caught, the examiners just make them change the setting and there's no compensation or whatever. There's really no law behind this - it's just examiners flexing their muscle or using the almost powerless now-largely-defanged CFPB if possible.
So what am I talking about exactly?
For example, let's say you start the day with $500 in your checking account. Then let's say that you wrote a check yesterday for $300 that will come through today. You swiped your debit card a few times today for $5, $100, $15, $25, $50, $75 in that order chronologically. An automated billpay also goes out tonight for $100. Throughout the day, the bank "memo" posts those transactions but doesn't fully process them until night time. If you just summed these items up, you would be overdrawn by $170 total. A maximally honest bank would probably just charge you a single $25 overdraft fee (ODF) on top of owing them the $170 difference for a total of $195 owed as long as you pay them back within their terms (i.e. quickly). But most banks don't play quite this fairly and, if they do, they will probably advertise it as a selling point.
But what about a maximally *dishonest* bank? Well, they could reorder the posting process largest to smallest, and charge you an ODF every time a charge hits and you don't have the funds to cover it. So in this case, your check plus the 2 x $100 debits would drain your entire $500 balance first. Then you would owe an ODF for ***each*** of the other 5 smaller charges. So now you owe the original $170 balance difference plus $125 in ODFs, for a grand total of $295. Yep, they made an easy $100 more just by manipulating the processing order. A bank would probably not be able to get away with this long term, but nothing really stops them from trying. That's juicy income just sitting there, and poor people how banks make most of their money. They even have software (the most popular one is called ProfitStars) that shows them who their "best" customers are. Nope, it's not the rich guy that has a bunch of rental property loans. The bank's best customer is a single mom living paycheck to paycheck and paying $200+/mo in ODFs when the bills don't align perfectly with her paychecks. Hell, I saw one bank that processed debits first and THEN credits each night, which is about as evil as you can get. So customers could go OD, get charged a fee, then their paycheck would process and instantly cover it. That bank got shut down for doing all sorts of nefarious stuff, but I'm sure they're not the only one that tried it or something similar. I even had a bank CEO ask me if it would be ok to change it to a fairer process right before examiners arrive for their scheduled exam and then change it back after they leave. I had to tell him the truth - yeah, he could probably get away with that. Examiners aren't going to go dig through countless historical transactions to spot behavior like that. They will just ask for the bank's core configuration settings and review a few recent samples of transactions to verify in the moment. Oh, I once had a bank CEO argue with me that largest-to-smallest processing is more consumer friendly because the customer's rent and major bills are more important to pay than smaller transactions, if the bank decides to decline them.
But what if the bank was more cautious with the rules, but still wanted to make plenty of ODF income? Well, there are plenty of options in the middle ground of this that still boost ODF income without being *quite* so nefarious. For example, they can just change the Posting Order by *type* rather than individual transactions. They could process checks, ACH, wires, and billpay first, then debit card transactions last. Even without playing with the debit card item order (let's say they just post them in the order they come in), they will still generate more ODFs because checks, ACH, billpay, and wires tend to be the largest transactions anyway. They can also set it to random order. Or item sequence order (like your check numbers). I'm sure there are more options that are out there. Banks can also set a "de minimus" that doesn't ODF you for overdrafts under some tiny number like $5, but they don't all do that.
Check with your bank to see what they do. Even better, get it in writing and catch them lying to you. There are honest banks out there that don't play games like this, of course, or at least keep it to a minimum. Don't be afraid to change to a better one. Changing banks is not nearly as difficult as some people think. I used to recommend that most people just use credit unions because they are the least likely to be evil, but the flip side is that credit unions are the most likely to be run by incompetent people and have the worst technology, so pick your poison when it comes to that.
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6points
#60
* The ingredients you find in your frozen pizza are basically leftovers from other products, that's why they're so cheap.
* A $5,00 t-shirt and a $500,00 t-shirt came from the same place and cost about $1,00 a piece to be made to the brand and about $0,25 to the factory. That said, a $,025 true cost can end up as high as $500,00. Logo stitching included. But I guess most people knew it, yet, they keep "giving away" those extra $495,00 for status. In my opinion that kind of status is just idiocracy.
* A $5,00 t-shirt and a $500,00 t-shirt came from the same place and cost about $1,00 a piece to be made to the brand and about $0,25 to the factory. That said, a $,025 true cost can end up as high as $500,00. Logo stitching included. But I guess most people knew it, yet, they keep "giving away" those extra $495,00 for status. In my opinion that kind of status is just idiocracy.
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6points
