The truth is always better than living surrounded by illusions. However, once you learn how the metaphorical sausage is made, you can’t unlearn it. There are always going to be ethical transgressions and shady things happening to some extent, no matter the job industry. But some are worse than others and need to be called out—loud and clear. Meanwhile, other things that are kept hushed up are surprisingly pleasant.
Prompted by user u/Typical_Affect8207, the r/AskReddit crowd opened up about the top industry secrets that they know. Their insights offer a shocking glimpse into how some businesses work. Scroll down to read what they had to say.
Marketing psychology speaker Matt Johnson, Ph.D., shared his thoughts wit us on the advantages of secrecy in business, as well as what consumers can do if they've been tricked by products or services. Johnson is the host of the branding and human nature blogs. Scroll down for Bored Panda's interview with the expert.
#21
If you give one website your name, another website your number, and another website your email, there are services that merge info together by scanning the web and build a profile of you for ad targeting and sales. Some of you may assume this already but it is standard practice and utilized more frequently than you might think.
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82points
#22
The blue flakes in your laundry detergent are just the white flakes dyed blue.
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79points
#23
There are some *massive* defence contracts given out to certain companies that objectively should never (a history of overbudget and under-delivery) have been given, but politicians hijacked the bidding process and made it quite clear that "facts" weren't considered and anyone of the bidding team that disagrees will be sideways "promoted" off it.
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79points
#24
Some plus size models get liposuction on their face and necks to be more aesthetically pleasing
73points
#25
Teachers ROUTINELY fudge kids' grades upward. Sometimes it's because a kid is nice. Sometimes it's because administrators pressure us. Sometimes we're afraid of being sued.
That high graduation rate at your local HS? It's most likely due to the books being cooked.
ETA: I've said this before but this whole situation is a prime example of Goodharts Law in action. When a metric becomes a target it loses all meaning.
The HS I teach at touts a low number of suspensions and no expulsions this year. And yet, it is almost guaranteed that a student will tell me to "go f**k" myself when I ask for his phone tomorrow.
ETA Again: for all the people talking about kids getting held back....that doesn't happen anymore really. I've been teaching 20 years and I can count on one hand the number if students I've seen get held back. It's exceptionally rare.
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73points
#26
The stuff that makes movie theater popcorn taste like movie theater popcorn is called Flavacol. It's a salt-like additive that you can buy yourself and add to your popcorn at home. A carton lasts forever because you only need like a teaspoon of Flavacol per cup of kernels, and it's indistinguishable from the popcorn you get at the movies.
72points
#28
I’m a makeup artist based in Los Angeles. I cater primarily to A and B list actresses and high end models. None of them and I mean NONE of them use the skin care that they are spokesmodels for.
If they claim they use some d**g store or department store brand or even their own brand (which is just private label bought from a factory) they are completely lying.
They all use the same one or two brands which are in the know, exclusive and beyond expensive. The kind of skin care that’s made individually in a private luxury lab and not in some industrial factory in San Bernardino.
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70points
#29
Pst. The cloud is just someone else's computers. Usually Amazon or Google. And those computers are sitting in those huge warehouses on the outskirts of town that you always drive past and wonder what's in them.
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68points
#30
No matter how high up the chain you get, nobody *really* knows what's going on... everyone is winging it for any work that falls outside their very specific area of expertise.
63points
#31
Most of the bugs found in video games weren't missed by the testers. There was a production decision not to fix them.
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62points
#32
The military typically disposes of old vehicles by parking it somewhere on a large base, and abandoning it. Sometimes they use them as training targets. It's cool but eerie to see.
I know where there's a lake that's full of Sherman tanks. They drove them out there in the late 50s in the winter and left them to fall through.
61points
#33
Nutrition labels on small, not well-known brands can be inaccurate, and nobody would ever know.
Once you send your food product out to a lab to have a nutrition label created for it, that is the last time anyone is ever going to check it. It would take someone to pay for a new analysis at a lab to see if the percentage of qwar gum, for example. is still accurate, and nobody is going to do that.
56points
#34
Most fitness models, coachers and influencers are using anabolic steroids or did it once at least, and among competitive bodybuilders everyone does it, but almost no one admits it.
53points
#35
If you’re an a*****e, you get quoted higher labor rates. Nothing vindictive, but at the end of the day your job will take longer to complete if you’re breathing down the crews backs and trying to nitpick and micro manage. It’s the only way to accurately quote and schedule.
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47points
#36
Recipe for Coca Cola
Ingredients:
Citrate Caffein 1 oz.
Extract Vanilla 1 oz.
Flavouring 2.5 oz (detailed below)
F.E. Coco 4 oz
Citric Acid 3 oz
Lime Juice 1 quart
Sugar 30lbs
Water 2.5 Gallons
Caramel sufficient
Extract Vanilla 1 oz.
Flavouring 2.5 oz (detailed below)
F.E. Coco 4 oz
Citric Acid 3 oz
Lime Juice 1 quart
Sugar 30lbs
Water 2.5 Gallons
Caramel sufficient
Flavouring:
Oil Orange 80
Oil Lemon 120
Oil Nutmeg 40
Oil Cinnamon 40
Oil Coriander 20
Oil Neroli 40
Alcohol 1 quart (let stand for 24 hours)
Oil Lemon 120
Oil Nutmeg 40
Oil Cinnamon 40
Oil Coriander 20
Oil Neroli 40
Alcohol 1 quart (let stand for 24 hours)
These are all in US Imperial measurements and the flavouring units are in minims or mins. One min is literally one drop of liquid.
That flavouring section, combined with the Vanilla extract is what is collectively known at the company as 7X - the ultra secret 7 things which make the flavour - the alcohol is only used to extract the flavours and doesn't end up in the final drink.
45points
#37
Healthcare IT is held together with duct tape and twine. Related, pay attention to the treatment release forms. Your health data is being sent EVERYWHERE and there’s not s**t you can do about it. No sign, no treatment.
Edit: apparently it is possible to opt out of your state’s health information exchange but it must be done with the exchange itself. The process varies by state and can be painful.
43points
#38
Depending on the specific deal and artist, Ticketmaster splits all those “fees” with the artist, sometimes at 100%, in addition to the face (door) price. Plus the artist gets a guarantee. The fees are part of the price of the ticket, and Ticketmaster takes the “heat” for the high prices so the artist can look good for the fans.
Source: built the software live nation used to book these deals.
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42points
#39
Many high-end perfumes use a tiny bit of whale vomit, also known as ambergris, for that luxurious scent—proving that one person's trash is another's olfactory treasure
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42points
#40
If you got a business or product idea, keep it to yourself and work on it alone. Once you have a working model, get trustworthy investors.
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41points