35 Times People Shared Eye-Opening Facts About Their Industry's Dark Side

Every industry has its secrets—those insider tidbits that the general public wouldn’t suspect. When someone posed the question, “What’s a little secret that you know only because you work in that industry?” on Reddit, the responses poured in, ranging from shocking to hilarious to mildly concerning. Here are some of the best confessions that will make you see certain jobs—and the people who do them—in a whole new light.

#1

Image source: DeeplyTroubledSmurf, Brian J. Tromp / unsplash (not the actual photo) I don't work for Wendys, but they actually have higher standards for their food than anyone else we distribute to. Their beef is actually never frozen, and they'll send them back if they get packed with frozen items. They turn away shipments for things like meat (in boxes) touching produce (in boxes), like they should but no one else does. They send back expired or off-batch produce (ex: their tomatoes are usually picked a couple days before the store actually recieves them), which they should, but no one else does. I still don't eat fast food, but I like to see food quality taken seriously. A lot varies by region because that's how food distribution works.

#2

Image source: sfbiker999, Getty Images / unsplash (not the actual photo) Your call isn’t really important to us.

#3

Image source: unshodone, Getty Images / unsplash (not the actual photo) TV commercials really ARE louder than the programs.

#4

Pharma industry. We actually are trying to make the best medicines, we don't want you to stay ill, and we're not hiding cures. Image source: MrLangfordG

#5

Work in pharmacy. We get calls every day from patients asking for ways to make their medications last longer, skip doses, etc. Because they can't afford their meds until they stop calling because they skipped 1 too many doses. And we know this is happening and there is nothing we can do about it. I've taken one of those calls told a patient that if they don't take their medications as directed, THEY WILL DIE only for them to ask what their odds are of living without food. Only to go back to the register and continue getting patients their medication. It sucks a lot. Image source: Bjork-BjorkII

#6

Image source: BLClark1919, Kübra Arslaner / unsplash (not the actual photo) The reading level of most teenagers is far, far worse than most of the country (US) realizes. Teacher.

#7

As my old head chef Frank used to say "the only difference between a $15 plate and a $30 plate is a half stick of butter." He was right. Image source: sleepytipi

#8

I work in product development. No one is bringing manufacturing back to US from China. If they’re forced to leave, they’re going to Vietnam, Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, Mexico etc. Image source: FunctionBuilt

#9

This one will be obvious to most people, but it wasn't to me at the time: **Not all doctors are good at their jobs.** I use to assume that doctors were held to such a high standard that they were all fairly competent. This isn't true. I would recommend asking someone in the field who they would recommend for their own family before picking a surgeon. Image source: lifestop

#10

Image source: HoboJerreey, Ivana Cajina / unsplash (not the actual photo) A lot of commercial garden centers pump their plants full of fertilizer before they sell it so it looks the best. Usually so much so that they die or it severely causes harm after a while. Buy locally or go to a legit nursery where they actually care about the quality of their products. Environmental Technician at a Native Plant Nursery.

#11

Image source: anotherlab, elnaz asadi / unsplash (not the actual photo) Turning it off and back on again will fix 95% of all software issues.

#12

Chewy will send you flowers and a card in condolences for your deceased pet when you cancel their food prescriptions. Image source: Hannu_Chan

#13

Image source: GMSaaron, Pat McArdle / unsplash (not the actual photo) Things that you buy that come in “eco-friendly” packaging are first removed from their regular plastic packaging and then put back into the new packaging. It’s actually a double waste. The places they get their inventory from overseas are not using eco friendly packaging. Go to a container shipyard, everything is shipped to minimize cost.

#14

Image source: TheBuzzSawFantasy, Adam Nowakowski / unsplash (not the actual photo) Anyone giving stock advice is basically reading a horoscope. If they had the ability to pick superior investments, they'd do it themselves and not talk about it.

#15

Image source: irosion, Sigmund / unsplash (not the actual photo) Sometimes when a job is posted and the requirements are unrealistic, that’s because they already have someone that needs to be promoted to that specific position and they simply tailor that job ad so only that person qualifies even if hundreds of people apply.

#16

Image source: MrMythiiK, Ian Taylor / unsplash (not the actual photo) This is not a secret but isn’t well known: Getting an ambulance ride doesn’t get you seen at the hospital faster. They just triage you (sort you by severity) like everyone else. You can get an ambulance ride for a broken finger and then sit in the waiting room for 6 hours, having just wasted the money on an ambulance. Call an uber or get driven/drive yourself. Edit: Yes people, if you’re having an emergency definitely DO call and ambulance, and you probably WILL get seen right away. However, you’re not being seen right away BECAUSE you took the ambulance, you’re being seen right away because you’re critically ill/injured. If someone were to drive you while you’re having a heart attack (which I DO NOT recommend) then you would be seen right away as well. It’s an injury severity thing not an ambulance vs taxi thing.

#17

In d**g commercials, that huge long list of potential side effects is meant to offer fair balance to the positive claims in the ad. ANYTHING that happened to the people in the trial has to be listed. I once worked on a d**g given to people after they've had liver transplants. Liver transplants are often necessary because of the damage of hepatitis, which can be a consequence of illegal d**g use and needle sharing. Ergo, many of the patients in the trial had led rough lives. Three died during the trial period, which means "death" had to be listed among the potential side effects. Except one was shot and two died in car accidents. Nothing whatsoever to do with the d**g. Image source: ZweitenMal

#18

Image source: Slagree92, Callum Hill / unsplash (not the actual photo) Carpenter here! After a 8 years of framing houses, 3 as a foreman, and now 3 years of trim carpentry, Iv realized that the vast majority of houses aren’t built to code, or are just slapped together with the cheapest products. Most inspectors aren’t willing to crawl around in the roofs, and won’t look in the subfloor, and plenty of contractors know this. They will take shortcuts, splice things together or will block off and hide s****y work. If you have an island in your kitchen that has been framed, there is a phenomenal chance that you have some pizza crusts, Modelo bottles, or a p**s bottle hidden inside. Drywallers seem to hate walking their trash to the dumpster. 100 year old houses are a thing of the past.

#19

Image source: perpetualmotionmachi, Stephanie Berbec / unsplash (not the actual photo) I work in visual effects for tv and film. Most people that assumes big explosions and such, which it is, but a lot of it is cosmetic fixes and de-aging for the stars.

#20

In the storage industry the staff have to go through abandoned units and check for any dangerous or illegal items and remove any personal possessions before the unit is sold. Not only are there no surprises, cash is also removed to recover the debt before the unit is sold. Storage wars style shows are fabricated on lies ? Also 95% of units have very little of value in them, if someone had thousands in value in storage they would come and pay their bill. Image source: Nymphomanius

#21

Image source: BoobieDixon1, Mehrshad Rajabi / unsplash (not the actual photo) I work at a milk processing plant. All milk is the same regardless of the brand. It comes out of the same tank…we just change the labels.

#22

Nurse patient ratios are too high in most of the country. Lower nurse patient ratios are associated with shorter length of stay, lower readmission rates and lower mortality rates. Nurses who have less patients give better care and their patients are literally less likely to die. But there are only a few states in the US that have legally mandated nurse patient ratios. (I think only California and Oregon.) In other states, many nurses have too many patients. They have too many tasks to complete in too little time; and this is why nurses are burning out in droves and leaving the profession–because they feel like they are drowning. They are performing complex, technical tasks under significant time pressure with a high degree of liability and it is highly stressful. 17% of nurses quit within their first year. 56% quit within five years. Also medical error kills somewhere between 250,000 - 400,000 people a year in the US. No one knows the exact number as medical errors tend to be underreported. Because who wants to admit they may have killed a patient and throw away their lucrative career that they slaved away in school for many years to achieve? People are horrified when a single jumbo jet crashes and 500 lives are lost. And it is a big news story with lots of coverage when it happens. But the conservative estimate of 250,000 lives lost each year due to medical error is the equivalent of 500 jumbo jets crashing every single goddamn year– and no one talks about it. Not a peep. It is happening silently in hospitals all over the country, including the one in your town. This issue is highly underreported. Image source: mom_with_an_attitude

#23

Image source: schaudhery, Clay Banks / unsplash (not the actual photo) Worked at Best Buy. We were trained to categorize customers into segments. If someone was rich and older they were referred to as Barry. His wife was Jill and she was all about spending his money. There was the “empty nesters” group that were old folks who thought technology was too difficult. Then of course the “urban” couple which was always portrayed as black people were identified as “wants to keep up with everyone but doesn’t have the funds of Barry” Edit: forgot to mention this was hard coded into your account. So let’s say someone came to return something out of the return policy. If I put in his phone number it would say BARRY 5 which means he’s the highest type of spender at the store and that I could make the exception for him. So yes, the store basically has a social score.

#24

Corporate consultant here. Probably not that big of a secret, but most executives are unqualified for their jobs and were placed there due to cronyism or nepotism; most job titles and roles in the middle are b******t, and nearly all work in a company is done by individual contributors. In other words, the people making the stuff are getting robbed by the people who don't know how to make anything. Image source: KingCrabcakes

#25

Almost every company that gets an 'award' basically paid to get it. Look closely at industry awards and you'll see award lists where each of the winners either sponsored one of the other categories, or is a major client of one of the sponsors. Image source: JeffSergeant

#26

I work at the Hershey factory. This place is really clean and does better in that regard than Lindt and other manufacturers most of the time during inspections but we have occasional dings. Some of those dings can be pretty bad (like standing water in a wash pit which is a big nono) so it makes me wonder how much worse those others are sometimes. But really, if you ate chicolate lately that wasn't homemade, we probably have the most sterile and clean candy. Even if the ingredient quality isn't the highest. We also dont use spoiled milk of any kind. We take raw milk and turn it into Sweet Condensed Milk and the process of cooking it scalds the milk for a very slight sour taste that some claim to taste. Also, yeah, all our incredients are quite cheap, but our milk is really high quality and locally sourced when possible. They usually dont have enough capacity, though, so we have to get some from Indiana. And the caramel in Rolos is 100% legit. It's one of the few things we dont skimp on at all. Also that little number on the wrapper of each bar you can call to complain or praise is real. And management and factory workers see everything thats posted and what we need to work on to be better. So if you have any complaints or well wishes we actually see those even down to the rank and file. Image source: BelligerentWyvern

#27

Image source: BB-biboo, Curated Lifestyle / unsplash (not the actual photo) That you can’t trust the "Made in x" label on items. A lot of companies have stuff made in china, change the label, then resell it as if it was made localy. It's not legal, but nobody knows or care.

#28

Working as an data analyst across multiple industries. If you want bring the world to its knees, fix a way to k*ll Microsoft Excel. If Excel were ever to blow up or stop working for a bit, goodbye almost all departments across multiple companies. Image source: yikester20

#29

The largest US manufacturer of eyewear is a total scam. They are insanely overpriced and mostly all of the eyewear in the US is made using the same labs and they just slap a different brand name on them to create diverse product. The markup is anywhere from 500-1000% or even more. Image source: deadbear224

#30

Professor here. I’ve never taken any classes on how to teach. None of us have. Trial by fire. Image source: -Economist-

#31

Image source: MkultraPsyop, Getty Images / unsplash (not the actual photo) Don’t get in hot tubs unless it’s your own, just don’t do it.

#32

When financing a car at the dealership (this includes leasing) they can and will mark up the interest rate almost certainly. Unless you, the consumer, specifically ask them “is this the best rate I qualified for?” then they technically don’t have to give you the best rate. They can add as much as they feel they can get away with, then act like they’re doing you a favor by “discounting the rate”. The Truth in Lending Act states that if asked, they must disclose, but only if asked. Image source: GetFitDriveFast

#33

IT will absolutely slow walk tickets if you're an a*****e. Image source: fluidmind23

#34

Image source: mthwkim, Mohamed hamdi / unsplash (not the actual photo) Accountant here at big 4. We are still to this day cooking the books. When we get audited, there are times where we have no way of tracing it back so we make s**t up.

#35

Image source: Unnecessary-Theory, Getty Images / unsplash (not the actual photo) Teachers do in fact have favorite students.