61 People Reveal “Dirty Little Secrets” About Their Job That Others Aren’t Supposed To Know

World-renowned tech companies like Amazon, Google, and Tesla have managed to keep huge secrets from the public eye, whether they're about products, partnerships, or upcoming projects.

But there are businesses in other sectors that also keep their lips tightly sealed when it comes to their inner workings.

To find out more about the practices that take place behind closed doors, one Redditor asked other platform users: "What dirty little secret does your profession hide that the consumer should know?" And the answers came pouring in.

As of this publication, the post has 11.5K upvotes and 9.2K comments, many of which reveal what we common folks aren't supposed to know.

#1

The larger the menu at a restaurant the greater the chance your food was frozen and just reheated.

Image credits: MathewMurdock

#2

Pilot here

The whole "turn off the cell phone" thing doesn't matter 99.99% of the time. HOWEVER, it's that .01% of the time that we worry about. Most cell phones nowadays, like iphones and androids, dont operate on the same frequency as the equipment we are worried about, but its that one guy with the cell phone made in mongolia in 1996 thats going to ruin it for everyone. Could we spend more time going through everyone's electronics and saying "You can use this, this, this, and this but not that unless we are over 14,500 feet." We could , but A.) it would take forever and B.) You wouldn't remember it or get it right. So please, turn the damn thing off when we're landing the plane.

Image credits: CaptValentine

#3

Plumber here. There are so many things all of you are capable of doing/fixing around the home. I can't tell you how many toilets ive fixed, shower drains unclogged, leaks stopped etc. that took no tools/ or a simple tool, in literally 2 mins. A 15 minutes educational video on how most of the plumbing in your house works would lose me maybe even a few thousand a month.

Image credits: Liteheaded24x7

#4

There is a reason why your bar has loud music on. If you can't keep a conversation going you are going to be drinking faster and more likely to order another round.

Image credits: stop_being_ugly

#5

High school teacher here: after a month of summer, I've already forgotten 90% of students' names.

Image credits: anon

#6

Healthcare has become more oriented to customer service and satisfaction than patient care. Providers are at constant odds with administrators to balance profitable care with quality care which are polar opposites.

Image credits: doctorhillbilly

#7

You don't have to be an Orthodontist to do orthodontics, just a dentist. Don't subject your kids or yourself to braces/treatment unless the provider actually is certified in Orthodontics. It can make the difference between 7 years of treatment that reverses itself immediately and 11 months that lasts a lifetime.

Image credits: qpgmr

#8

Planetarium operator:

Nobody in the space sciences cares about constellations. They're used to help define the location of astronomical objects, but I bet most astronomers don't know the names of more than 5 or 6 constellations. I only talk about them because the general public finds them interesting for some reason - I would skip them if my boss would let me.

Image credits: Deadmeat553

#9

I.T. When we can't figure out why the servers crashed, we just turn them off and on again.

#10

Hotel manager. Most of the time the comforter is only changed when visibly dirty. Always take off the comforter and use the blanket in the closet, or ask them to bring you one.

Image credits: ACOE_PWKE

#11

The tops of your beer cans are gross. You should always wipe a beer can clean before drinking out of it, and preferably just poor it in a glass. They get s**t all over them during storage/transportation. They get walked on if someone needs to climb over the pallet they are loaded on. And don’t get me started on some of the s**t I’ve seen inside beer coolers. Disgusting.
Cans also don’t transport well on pallets. Cans pop/puncture and then that beer attracts flies which in turn create maggots.

-former beer delivery guy

Image credits: anon

#12

I'm a freelance copy-editor/proofreader.

A large portion of the books in my portfolio were previously published and "edited". Meaning, the author paid someone to edit it already.

Why then, did they still want/need to hire me? Because they were still absolutely filled with errors, to the point where reviewers would comment on the poor editing.

In the freelance editing world, there seems to be no shortage of people who will take authors' money but not do a good job. Typically these are random people on Fiverr and similar sites.

To avoid this, you should hire editors that come recommended by people you trust.

If that is not practical, then you should at least get an editor to do a sample edit (of 1000-2000 words). Perhaps throw in some errors on purpose.

If they catch those errors, or even errors you didn't put in deliberately, then they're good.

#13

Never. Ever. trust tripadvisor restaurants and their food safety just because they got high ratings.

Image credits: failkitten

#14

If you’re unnecessarily rude to your barista, you’re probably getting decaf.

Image credits: Ser_Laughing_Tree

#15

The teacher's breakroom? That mysterious land of wonder that no student dare enter? Its a table and chairs with a counter with a sink and microwave. The teachers don't have fun in there. For their 15 minute lunch break, they just plan or grade.

Image credits: anon

#16

My old job was at a grocery store. They sells ground chuck for 2.49 /lb and ground sirloin for 2.89 /lb. They're both the same cut of meat

Image credits: alfadog77

#17

When you ask for your drink 'strong' at the bar but refuse to pay for a double, we will just reverse the order of how we make your drink. Mix will go in first then liquor last. You think you are being slick by not having to pay for a double shot and you think we are a great bartender.
Moral of the story: don't try to be slick with people who make your food or drinks.

EDIT: All of you who are stating that when you say 'strong' you want less mixer, are in the 1% of the entire population that expect 'less' mixer and the same amount of alcohol. The other 99% of people who use the term 'strong' want additional alcohol in the drink for free. That's a fact!

If you wish to order a drink with less mixer in it, order the drink 'short' and we will make it with the same amount of alcohol and will use less mixer than usual.

If you wish to order a drink with more mixer than normal, order the drink 'tall' and we will make it with the same amount of alcohol and will use more mixer than normal.

Image credits: Analytica0

#18

HVAC work, the amount of black mold in nursing homes is outrageous. If you're considering putting an elderly family member in one, glance inside the a.c. unit or look at an air vent, you can see it too.

Image credits: 4quil0n

#19

Ramp agent here, I deal with airplanes from them coming to a stand, until they depart.

Your bags get manhandled. We can have 150 bags off then on in a 15 minute window, they have to get from the cargo door all the way to the middle. Bags with 4 wheels are the greatest thing since sliced bread since they just roll. Sports bags with no wheels are literally hurled down. (We mean no I'll intention but there is no choice when you fly with the budget airline that rhymes with "Dryin hair"

Image credits: anon

#20

I work at a living facility for special needs people. There's honestly a very slim chance that your family member would be abused by the staff. However, depending on where they are placed (based on a number of factors) it's highly likely they could be abused by their roommates and the facility won't do a damn thing about it unless forced.

Image credits: PrettyBird2011

#21

Furniture delivery man here

When items are damaged I'd say that 99% of them happen before they get to the dispatch warehouse.

In addition every time you force employees to take safety footwear off or cover them most companies won't cover any injuries caused as a result and the worker is out of pocket.

Image credits: Cult-Promethean

#22

Mattresses are marked up usually around 100%

#23

Screen printing shops are dirty as f**k and you should ALWAYS wash new shirts before wearing them.

Image credits: Cookforfun

#24

Your nurses and doctors talk about you in the break room.

Image credits: anon

#25

There are some really bad dentists out there. And you probably don't even realize it.

Most people stick with a dentist based on their insurance, chair-side manner, and how painful the injection is. Otherwise, they have no idea the quality of work that they are getting. I have seen some absolutely abysmal work, and ethically/professionally, I can't tell the patient, "Hey, Dr. So-and-so did a real crappy filling and now you need a root canal because he screwed up." Instead I tell them that 'things happen' and I'm the bad guy because the filling only lasted 1 year.

If you're in a new town and looking for a new dentist, call a local endodontist and ask who he goes to. They see all the work from local general dentists and you can bet your a*s they're going to the best one.

#26

Not my main profession, but did some technical writing as a freelancer. Many companies actually pay people to post on social media and review sites and write positive fake feedback. So, when you're on amazon and find someone writing a review about a skillet for example and they say "This is a great product, I really enjoyed it and the instructions were clear", you know it's a real person profile but with fake review.

#27

Having surgery to remove a tumor/diseased tissue? Hospitals will hold on to that tissue (in the US) for a period of 10 years because they are legally obligated to do so. After 10 years, they want to get rid of it asap. It's not cheap to store or dispose, so they "give" it to a company like mine and then we sell it for a hefty price to a pharmaceutical company to run experiments on. We look the other way when it comes to these experiments but tell the hospital we know what's going on and no way are will this tissue be used to extract DNA. Basically, yeah. I'm not proud of this work (left last month) but f**k is it lucrative.

Image credits: mwearqiaasm

#28

Your city doesn't spend nearly enough making sure the infrastructure is decent.

Image credits: Richard-Hindquarters

#29

Sign Language Interpreting. A huge amount of them are underskilled and uncertified. When they don't understand a Deaf person, they will simply make up a translation and the deaf person never hears it.

It leads to a lot of hearing people thinking a lot of Deaf people are morons, and a lot of Deaf people distrusting and being frustrated by hearing people patronizing them.

#30

Flight simulation engineer here: until Sully landed his Airbus in the Hudson, the average chances of surviving a commercial jet water "landing" were less than 5%. Highest recorded survival was the Ethiopian 767 with 29% survival. The seat back safety card and life vests were simply placebos for nervous passengers.
Follow-on: Sullenberger's technique is now part of pilot simulator training so chances have increased. However if it happens in the ocean you might survive the crash but will almost certainly die of hypothermia, drowning or exposure.

Image credits: chrisell

#31

Teacher - it's that time of year to make class placements for next year. Every year there are two or three teachers in the school (elementary) who are so awful, we cry over which students we have to 'sacrifice' to them and hope they are strong enough to survive a year with Mr. or Mrs. So-and-So.

Image credits: PicklePucker

#32

I used to be a janitor. We cleaned the sinks and the urinals with the same brush.

Image credits: boogog

#33

All the freshly baked (but come premade) bread/pastries are generally baked the night before and left on roller carts with plastic bags on top overnight. This doesnt seem like much of an issue since you dont see the fat rats that roam the store overnight, but I think we both know why theyre fat now.

#34

Lots and lots and lots and LOTS of animals die in the process of making your medicines. Get used to the idea.

Image credits: mt0622

#35

I work in dry cleaning. One of the spotting agents we use is called digest, which is made of powdered cow stomach. The enzymes in the digest literally eat organic spots. It's extremely effective.

You can DIY digest by applying saliva to food spots. I've removed blackberry jam from white cotton by just repeatedly spitting on the spot and scraping it clean. Warning: It takes a whole lot of time and saliva, and the process is disgusting--but free!

#36

New Furniture. Find out where that stuff is from. Even the expensive Chinese or Vietnamese stuff is cheaply made junk. They will claim things it’s made out of ‘whatever wood’ but it’s all just press board with a fancy veneer. Also, the upholstery is riddled with formaldehyde.

#37

I work in the car insurance industry. I have a few.

I know every body shop in the area, and I know which ones are good and which ones are bad, honest or shady, quality or poor work, etc. The moment a customer tells me his shop of choice, I know exactly what’s going to happen with their car, whether they get ripped off or not, and whether they will walk away happy or not. Because of strict anti-steering laws in my state, I’m not allowed to comment on any of this. All I can do is, if a customer asks for a shop recommendation, is tell them about the benefits of our partnership program.

A lot of people are suspicious of insurance partnered shops. They shouldn’t be. Yes, we do get a discount, but we also vet all our partnered shops and warranty it, so we also make sure they do quality work. Even if a shop isn’t on my companies program, they are still usually much easier to work with and much more professional than other shops.

If a body shop offers to waive your deductible, they aren’t just being nice. The money has to come from somewhere, and your deductible might be their entire profit margin, or possible even more. If they waive it, it likely means that they did something shady at your expense. They might be repairing things that should be replaced (that the insurance paid them to replace), or simply covering up hidden damage and pocketing the money. In my area, they enhance damage, literally taking a hammer or a screwdriver to the car to further damage it, to inflate the cost of the repairs, usually cosmetic items they can cover up and pocket the money on. You aren’t getting a good deal, you are getting ripped off. If a shop offers to waive your deductible, stay the hell away. Also, in my state it’s illegal to even offer to waive it, not event counting the fraud that goes on behind the scenes.

#38

Not really a dirty little secret, but I know some people would throw a fit. A lot of use by dates for food are arbitary. By the time the people who sell you the food directly get it in, we have no idea when it was plucked/killed/prepped etc and have to trust our vendors kept it to certain standards. Often the salad my store sells goes bad before the expiration date, but the sandwiches are good for a week+ longer. Water bottles and honey all have expiration dates on them despite the product not actually expiring, and many fruits we get in are pulled when they look bad, not X days after we get it in (others are pulled X days after prep, despite still being perfectly fine to eat). And some food that's good until X day hets prepped X-1 day and stays on the shelf/bin for a week with a different expiration date.

#39

The "3 second rule" is used with most prescription medications.

Image credits: Pdawg311

#40

I Google probably 30%of what I fix. The only reason you can't do it, is somehow the ability to Google well is difficult.

#41

Your landlord is likely making more money from the property values rising than from actual rent. Profit from rent may be just $100 a month yet the property value is going up $1000 a month. In fact, you could easily refuse a rental increase that's imposed on you and your landlord will agree not to raise your rent.

Image credits: caem123

#42

As a photographer, 99.9% of what I do is common sense, anybody who took a couple moments to look at a situation, with an understanding of their equipment, can take a great picture.

Most of the time ... you just don't have the right equipment.

#43

If you’re getting blown insulation installed in your attic, ask for the spec sheet on the material they plan to install. It will tell you the number of bags your job will require. Ask the installer to confirm how many bags will be installed. Count the empty bags.

Unethical folks can turn their blowers way up and close the material gate. We’re installing extra fluffy insulation in your attic (mostly air). It’ll settle a lot over time. You got ripped off.

Get a quote by the bag...not by the inch.

#44

jewelry retail here. most jewelry chains will make their employees wear the jewelry/watches in their stock, and then just put it back at the end of shift. check your s**t before you buy it. look for scratches.

I don’t know if this applies to high end places like Cartier.

also, if you don’t want to purchase something bc it’s the display item, chances are that the previous stock items weren’t any better. because, again, we wear it daily.

#45

I work at a pizza place, the more toppings you order the fewer of each you actually get while still being charged the same price per topping.

#46

Teacher's aide here,

A surprising amount of teachers I know actually hate kids.

It doesn't seem like it when they actually teach though, so I find it so f****** weird

#47

IT support nowadays = how to Google.

#48

Planes are actually super safe. Virtually all crashes are caused by pilot error. Often times we start fixing them and find stuff that *should* have caused a major problem, but somehow didn't. Like there is no logical reason why some aircraft are still in the air but they come back every day.

Image credits: xxkoloblicinxx

#49

Animal shelters lower the age of animals, usually of those over 6 because that's when it's hardest to adopt them out. Also no-kill doesn't mean NO kill, it means less than 1 in 10 animals are put down.

#50

Not dirty but something everyone should know. I work in the music industry and guarantee that if there's an option to submit your music -- at a label, management company, whatever -- someone WILL listen to it. Guaranteed.

#51

Anybody can claim to be an SEO expert. Seriously anybody.

Image credits: stopitwob

#52

All the bigwigs of Canadian telecom companies meet every so often to make sure they each keep a stranglehold on their own little piece of the market. Everyone will offer almost exactly the same service for the exact same price, so there is no competition. They all stay rich and we all get f****d.

Highest MRP for telecom services in the world here. At least it was a few years ago. May have dropped to 2 or 3 now.

#53

Paralegal here. Was your attorney able to settle your car accident case for a decent sum of money from the other driver's liability policy? No they didn't. The f*****g paralegal did.

#54

Regarding video game with post-release support (usually online), especially ones which are not that crazy popular - if you are very vocal member of the community who keeps talking and talking about a given game, you might be an inside-company meme. I've seen it few times. Of course smart, nice people who give constant actual feedback are respected and often mentioned by the devs when they talk to each other, but people who keep complaining and hating, are targets of jokes in such company.

#55

I'm a mortgage underwriter.

99% of the decision making was made by data analysts and actuaries long before you ever applied for the loan. Most of what I do is make sure the data that got entered into the underwriting automated system was keyed in accurately by making sure the supporting docs say what the loan officer/processor says they say.

I very, very rarely have to make an actual eligibility decision beyond "this appraisal is/isn't c**p."

#56

I work in mortgages. The fees are not "hidden", you just signed a bunch of paperwork without reading it. The fee schedule is not even that much. 3-4 pages, 14 point font, properly spaced, saying if you do X, we charge you Y fee. But people get surprised when they incur fees. So many just can't be bothered to read the mortgage paperwork before signing it, it's amazing.

Also, I have the discretion to waive (or just not charge) a lot of those fees, if the client just asks me. But some people would rather b***h and scream at me. If a client behaves like a decent human being, I may cut them a break. If the client would rather yell at the first person that speaks to them, the fee gets charged.

#57

They care about your computer's security and then have developers in foreign countries including Russia and China handle the code and security as well as your data. They will fire a sysadmin with root access and tell them they have to continue working there. They'll also have one person in charge of a major infrastructure system and then, when the system crashes affecting millions of people and that sole employee is unavailable, blame the employee instead of realizing they should have at least three people available to do that work.

#58

There's literally a quote in a software engineering book that says "when trying to get a contract, you can put the price a little down, and after you have it, renegotiate".

#59

I design building structures. It’s amazing the number of existing building and industrial plants I’ve gone into where they are newly renovated and about ready to fall down.
One chemical plant in particular they had run high voltage (4160 V) through the main structure supporting ethanol lines. They cut out the structure to run the electrical conduit.

#60

Worked for 12 years for a fuel company... Here is something everyone should know:

1. Some cars in Canada and the states say you must run premium fuel in them in the owners manual. This is not true. This is part of an economic stimulus agreement between major car manufacturers and fuel companies. Running 87 instead of 91 does not make a difference. "engine knocking" as is often described as a side effect of running low grade fuel is a high grade vehicle is a myth.

2. This one may be Canada specific, but: heating oil (that you run in your home to heat it) is nothing special. It is diesel. Heating fuel is sold for about 1.50 per liter, clear diesel is sold for 90 cents per litre. It's the same thing. There is also a produxt called colored diesel. It is clear diesel with a small bit of red dye added to it, to distinguish it from clear diesel. It is always 16 cents cheaper per litre than clear diesel because it excludeds a 16 cent per litre government road tax and is only to be used in non-road vehicles----like construction equipment. It is the exact same product, but if you get caught with it in your tank instead of clear diesel you can get a huge fine and so would the station and attendant that sold it to you. You want to save money? Put colored diesel in you heating fuel tank instead of heating oil. It's the same thing.

3. While working for this fuel company i was paid 20$ cash per fake email account I opened and used to write positive reviews of the company on social media and Google. I have like 35 Gmail account I was paid to open and use to bury true but negative reviews of the company. This happens alot. All over the world. Don't put too much weight into online reviews, they are very easy to forge. Note: I needed the money, I was young.

#61

I work in a hospital pharmacy. The price of everything is insane. Chapstick? 40$ before insurance. A small vial of epinephrine. 90$.



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