Turns out you don’t need to work for the CIA to have secrets.
This article is based on the AskReddit thread “What insider secrets does the company you work for not want its customers to find out?” Link at the end of the article.
1. If you order just a cheese pizza at pizza hut it already gets extra cheese for free. This is important ladies and gents.
-suicidesage
2. Pest exterminator is a bit dramatic. We should be called something along the lines of pest sort-of-got-rid-of-them-but-they-seem-to-come-back-every-few-months.
-MooseKingCloud
3. Your flight didn’t get cancelled due to weather. There’s an equal chance it got cancelled because of maintenance issues, staffing, or scheduling problems.
If there’s a cloud in the sky at either airport they will just code it as a weather cancellation so the airline doesn’t have to buy you a hotel room/meal vouchers.
-alexia2
4. Our Chinese manufacturers will be more than willing to supply us with a certificate assuring us and our clients that the cardboard and paper packaging for our new line of electronics is 100% recycled and eco friendly. 100% inaccurate.
-jpegjockey
5. I used to work for IBM. It was well known within IBM that all projects would be significantly understaffed. This meant that the people working on those projects would work their assess off.
We were all salaried employees so we made no more money by working 80 hours per week compared to the normal 40 hours per week. IBM did make more money however since most of our projects were billed as time&materials (effectively hourly).
-UniqueConstraint
6. I worked in child care. Your art project may not be your kids. Things get swapped, kids trade projects and we can’t catch it every time.
-wrestlingisgood
7. You don’t have to get a GED. It’s just one type of high school equivalency, but GED is synonymous with that concept so people don’t know there are other options.
Pearson likes it that way because they can charge $120 per test, with most of that money going to Pearson. Pearson doesn’t want you to know that, depending on availability, you can also take the HiSET or the TASC battery of tests for half the price or less.
-pteridoid
8. I work at a VERY large farming company that grows and packages a certain vegetable (Hint: Bugs Bunny)
The store brand and the private label brand right next to it are from the same field and there is no difference between the product in it.
-clumsymax
9. A military insurance company – you can only lose your membership if you fail to pay your bills. Other wise its your option to come and leave. Also the have a savings account that’s your MONEY.
NotIdrisElba
10. If you’re being foreclosed upon and can afford an attorney, fight it. The number of foreclosures that could have been invalidated if the borrower did something (as opposed to not showing up at all, which is what most do) is higher than one would think.
-throwin_it_away821
11. That Sabre printer you have? It will catch on fire.
-Rockerblocker
12. I worked as a delivery driver for a few pizza places, and while they check to make sure your car has insurance, personal insurance doesn’t cover use of cars for business purposes.
Essentially, unless drivers are carrying very expensive commercial insurance, they would have no coverage if in an accident. To add to this, one of the nationwide companys I worked for had a policy in place to combat this: if you’re in an accident, policy was to remove your car topper and uniform and be off the clock.
-zigsa053
13. Anesthesiologist here.
A large part of my job is to protect you from the surgeon who doesn’t care about your 5 heart attacks, unstable angina, and the fact that you ate breakfast when instructed not to.
If your case is cancelled or delayed there is almost always a good reason. The surgeon will make it seem like it is the anesthesiologist’s fault but it is because they likely didn’t care enough to ask about your medical history, didn’t do the proper preoperative work up, or just don’t care.
-l1vefrom215
14. It is currently illegal to autodial a cell number from any equipment capable of autodialing (even in manual dial mode) without expressed written consent. Get name and address of dialling company and have a lawyer send a notice. You’ll settle for a few grant per incident.
-tw*tchops
15. I used to work for a Tax service. I don’t want to get in trouble, so lets call them Tiberty Lax Service.
The people that they hire to do your taxes have AT MOST two weeks of training. When I was there, I knew people who didn’t even have that- usually only a week. They will charge you 99$ PER FORM for your taxes by the way.
-Black_Hipster
22. I work at a big store in The Netherlands and at the end of every advertisement week we have to make sure the shelves are almost empty so it will look like almost everything sold out and the products we sell are popular.
In reality we still have a lot in the stockroom but this way people will buy it faster because 1) it’s on sale 2) it’s almost sold out 3) it’s a popular product 4) they think the company as a whole is doing a great job.
-imjohnk
16. Scientist here. About 50% of all published results cannot be reproduced in another lab. A lot of statistics are tweaked with to get results that are ‘statistically significant’, which is skimming the edge of what’s legal and what is not.
-Holdin_McGroin
17. This is true of academia in general but you have no idea how much money textbook companies spend on wooing professors.
Just to give a couple examples: the last time I went to the big conference in my field, which was held in Atlanta that year, Bedford-St. Martin rented out the Atlanta Braves stadium, bused everyone at the conference there (about two thousand people), gave us a free buffet that stretched through three rooms (we were up in the box seats) with an open bar and they opened up all the games in the back hallways for us to play.
-schnit123
18. The USA famous brand MyPillow and its “official pillow of the national sleep foundation” means nothing since the owner created the group.
-MinnesotaYeti
19. Big technology companies providing really slick services, especially where you buy things online, make it look like they really have their things together.
Most of them don’t. Their back end systems are held together by virtual rubber bands and glue and their staff stumble from one fire to another because the management teams never stop trying to develop new features to allow technical debt to be repaid. They public facing end is just fancy enough to hide that all from you.
This is as true for AWS as it is for Ticketmaster.
-seamustheseagull
20. I worked at Subway, which is franchised, so I doubt this is the same for every Subway you visit, BUT: When the meat is defrosted to be used, we had like 3 days to sell it. After that we’d have to throw it away. The franchise owner and area manager would often intimidate staff into keeping the meat on sale for up to 7 days to cut costs.
I reported them to corporate of course.
-A_Sad_Frog
21. I’m an EMT. We are legally obligated to take you to any hospital, anywhere, you want. Any. Single. One.
-The_MadCalf
23. I worked for CineMark. The brand of butter used is called Real. So, when we say we use Real butter on our popcorn, it’s technically true.
-rinfected
24. I worked for a major investment company, I won’t say their name but lets just call them uh “something-ity”, and for absolutely no reason I’m trying to remember the brother of Raul Castro’s first name.
Well they worked side by side with a Chinese company that was complicit in the genocide in Darfur.
And we were informed that if an investor asked about this fact, we were to tell them in corporate speak, “If you don’t like it, take your money elsewhere.”
-cokevanillazero
25. At Applebees, we have five microwaves. That’s pretty much what does all the cooking.
-PapaOctopus
26. Used to work at a waterpark. Nine times out of ten when the pool is shut down for “maintenance” or “low chlorine levels”, it means that someone actually pooped in the pool.
-Insane_Pigmask
27. As a manager for PLATO’S CLOSET (franchise) for a year in Texas… If you are rude, they are not going to buy your clothes. If they see something of yours that they want, they will give you a shitty price for it, as they want to buy it extremely cheap. Employees get dibs on EVERYTHING. And can stash items in smart places as to keep them on hold for however long. And just remember to go through the bag/purse as to not leave cash just laying around, probably won’t be there when you pick up your items. Probably a good idea to question about specific items as things go “missing” all the time or clothes don’t even get looked at.
loverofaltmedicine
28. I work for a nationally-known police / fire / EMS uniform & equipment company.
I try to handle customer orders FIFO.
It’s disturbing how often the boss (or even the sales guy who’s been at the store the longest & thinks he’s the manager) will mess this up:
Bumping a recent order to the head of the line, while officers who have been waiting in some cases nearly 2 months for their carrier (“bulletproof vest”) are put off even longer.
I don’t think it’s right, but I’m at the bottom of the food chain.
Apparently if you want your order done sooner, call & check on it frequently.
(Oh, and walk-in orders almost always get done before whatever is on the to-do shelf.)
MKEgal
29. Work at a major airline catering company; ALWAYS request alternative meals (kosher, halal, vegan, gluten-free, w/e) as those are most likely made by a third-party/ certified companies in smaller quantities- otherwise youll get what is cooked in bulk and chances are it didnt follow most of the sanitary requirements as everyone is always rushing against the clock.
To be honest, most of the meals wouldnt pass a health department/ FDA inspection, which is why most food companies bribe them in order to be able to operate. To put it in perspective, imagine that a regular restaurant cooks ~1k dishes a day whilst catering companies can cook as much as 30k a day, so remember that filthy local joint that popped up on the news as being unsanitary? Well, multiply it by a 1000 and you will know exactly what youre eating.
Even though I fly about 2~3 times a month I dont remember the last time I ate anything on the plane: I always bring my stuff and if I cant Ill ask for the vegan option.
TheCatsMeow17
30. I worked at a surveillance software company, and recently left that job. The main recording engine of the software was not developed by the company instead it was OEM from another company. Later they purchased another VMS company in Germany and there recording software. They simply rebranded the software and released here in the US as our own. So really the company never developed their own recording software. Although if you dig you can find this information, but I was explicitly told not to tell customers.
draiman
31. That Retirement homes will bend over backwards for your money and tell you heaps of blatant lies so that you’ll move in. Also, the people in charge of selling a room to you know nothing about how the building runs aside from the layout of the suites. My advise? ask to talk to the floor staff not managers, they’ll want to appease you so they won’t tell you no (doesn’t mean a manager won’t be looming nearby). The floor staff will keep it real and give you actual info. Another tip, go in unannounced, there’s less time for them to ‘set up’ an experience for you.
conurecrazy
32. I worked at a dealership. Even if you are a little bit rude, or if you look weird, we will talk bad about you. Even the managers. The technicians also take pictures of the inside of your car if it’s disgusting and share it with everyone. Also, heat case = angry customer. (I’m sure this is true for every place though.)
DrTomCruiseMD
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