1 month ago
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You really don't know how an industry works until someone who's actually been on the inside lets you in on all the secrets.
That's why user Acrobatic_News_9986 on Reddit asked, "What was an industry secret that genuinely took you aback when you learned it?" and some of these left me speechless:
1. "Once I entered the world of work, it surprised me in general to learn how disorganized things are behind the scenes, even at the biggest of companies. From the outside looking in, it always looks super official and clean-cut, but really, it’s just a lot of people behind the scenes fumbling around and not really knowing 100% what is going on."
2. "The use of microwaves in mid-range restaurants. I knew it was common in fast food, but seeing all the hot sides in a steakhouse with $50 entrees being cooked in a microwave was a little jarring."
3. "As an electrician, I'm amazed more houses don't burn down every day. I do my best, but many others just work as fast as they can and leave behind shoddy work that (sometimes literally) falls apart when you touch it."
4. "Musicians can buy their own records in bulk. 500,000 units sold is almost platinum — then they can turn around and sell them back to distributors."
5. "College admissions here: We absolutely discriminate when we read applications, and your chances of getting in are not equal. Some of the ways are legal, some aren’t, but good luck proving any of it. Most selective options will let you know about the legal ways (in broad terms, not in specifics), but plenty goes on behind the scenes that won’t make it to the information session."
6. "For most of us, vegetable cans and pop cans are the only things that will ever have the chance of being recycled. Everything else goes into the incinerator or landfill, even though a huge chunk of the public pays for recycling that doesn’t exist."
7. "When I was in car sales, I learned real quick that the actual car itself isn’t where the real money is. It's the backend — so, like, warranties, getting work done, etc. Most dealerships will still put up a fight on the actual price of the car, though, because they know most people are focused on the car itself. This is also done to help wear you down so you’re less likely to fight on the backend when they say they’ll discount the car price down to X amount, but you have to get a warranty or two with it. More often than not, people will cave."
8. "As a former cashier at a major superstore chain, a lot of people were surprised when I told them that we were given a two-minute time limit per customer."
9. "I started professionally developing software back in 2011. Every website, application, and program you use is held together with toothpicks and duct tape. If buildings were built like software, nowhere would be safe."
10. "When a political campaign texts you, anything you respond with gets read by an actual human. So continue with the funny, cheeky, and even mean responses. But the death threats will get reported to the police."
11. "Online betting places artificially lower the odds or shut down accounts for people who win too often. It seems dishonest to me."
12. "I don't know if the rule has changed since I left, but you can 100% bring in candy at the movie theater. I worked at a major American theater, and one slower day, I was tearing tickets. I was chatting with my manager when a lady came in with a grocery bag full of snacks. I tore her ticket, directed her to her room, and asked the manager about the candy. She said, 'It's OK.' You just aren't allowed to bring in 'hot food.' I believe it's because it's a health code violation. So stop doing that stupid shit, like using a huge bowl to pretend you are pregnant. You aren't a fucking rebel. You are basically jaywalking. No one cares."
13. "Guess how much of your vet bill goes directly to the vet’s salary? About 22%. The rest goes to operating costs and staff salaries (which are never as high as they deserve)."
14. "I work in IT security for a vendor. I am constantly surprised by how terrible so many organizations’ security practices are. There’s outdated equipment, no accountability, and most of it is run on Excel."
15. "Greeting card companies discard all the cards after the holiday is over. Leftover cards, the ones that cost you $6–$10 each, are simply thrown in the dumpster the day after Mother's Day, Father's Day, etc. They often don't ship them back or recycle them."
16. "My grandfather used to work for a popular gas chain and said that Plus and Premium were the same gas. At the time, all gas stations had three caps that a truck would use to fill the tanks: green, red, and white. Green was Diesel, red was regular, and white was both Plus and Premium."
17. "I had a friend who worked as a mechanic at a fancier car dealership. He told me that most of the parts he used and ordered were just regular old parts, but priced at like three times as much for the name-brand."
18. "The milk in stores is produced by forcibly inseminating cows, then separating them from their young, repeatedly, until they stop producing enough milk, at which point they're killed despite having quite a few years left to live. Does it make ice cream taste any worse? No. But I definitely eat less of it now."
19. "People don't know how rough surgeons can be with someone’s body while they’re performing surgery. I think the phrase 'surgical precision' is kind of an oxymoron now, unless you’re talking about vascular or neurosurgery."
20. "Those judge TV shows are just game shows, and the show pays out the winnings. It's not really court; it's more of a game show at that point. Plus, those shows fly you out and pay you to be on them. So both sides get paid."
21. "I work in law school admissions. Applicants seem to think that we want to know their standardized testing scores, their GPA back until kindergarten, and all of their extracurriculars. But I really only need to know one number: your LSAT score. Extracurriculars kind of matter, but typically only in close cases, or if you have some truly outstanding achievement."
22. "If you are asked to rate someone's customer service (e.g., your bank lender, salesperson, etc.) out of 10, anything less than a 9 in some places may as well be a zero."
23. "Billboards promoting TV shows are not for the consumer, but for the advertisers we want to sell time to."
24. "A lot of aisles in grocery stores are sponsored. The soda aisle, for example: The store didn't buy that merchandise; it's stocked by a vendor."
25. And finally: "Some pharmaceutical companies actively prefer to treat symptoms rather than a cause. I’m a pharmacology graduate)."
What's an industry secret that you were shocked to learn about? Let us know in the comments or via this anonymous form!
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.
English (US) 