29 Secrets and Juicy Bits of Info Spilled By Former Industry Insiders
Nathan Johnson
Published
04/09/2024
in
ftw
It can be easy to feel like everyone else knows something you don't. Usually, this goes away with age once you learn most adults are just winging it, but there are certain truths to life people only learn once they've experienced them firsthand.
Now, we aren't leaking any nuclear codes here (I think that's illegal), but we are dishing on the secrets Walmart cashiers, TGI Fridays cooks, and television producers are privy to. If you didn't know by now, Judge Judy is a reality show and not a real courtroom.
Sometimes knowledge can be a curse but today knowledge is your best friend, that is if you're planning on ordering guacamole at TGI Fridays any time soon.
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1.
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. -
2.
99% of web traffic to a client’s commercial that they upload to YouTube is fake.That 1,000,000 views within the first few days for that new Bud Light commercial? Most are BoTs paid for by the ad agency that made the commercial. -
3.
That if you are asked to rate someone's customer service (eg your bank lender, salesperson etc) out of 10, anything less than a 9 in some places may as well be a zero. -
4.
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 There’s outdated equipment, no accountability, and most of it is run on Excel. -
5.
As a former Walmart cashier, a lot of people were surprised when I told them that we were given a 2 minute time limit per customer . -
6.
When I found out 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 $500 to be on them. So both sides get paid to be on them. -
7.
The guacamole that you eat at TGI Friday’s is a giant envelope of dry stuff, mixed with a 5 gallon bucket of sour cream. And it’s pretty freaking good. -
8.
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. -
9.
Whenever you fill out a survey like "how did you like our website today", most of the time an *actual human* does read your response, and it doesn't disappear into a black hole -
10.
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. -
11.
The software industry is in shambles. I don't know when it happened, but certainly before 2007. Either it's been like that forever or happened before that year. -
12.
Lots of musicians buy their records in bulk. 500k units sold is almost platinum, then they turn around and sell it back to distributors. -
13.
Not sure if this counts, but when I was in car sales I learned real quick that the actual car itself isn’t where the real money is at, but the backend is. So like warranties, getting work done, etc 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 2 with it. More often than not, most people will cave because they got 2-3k off on the car and don’t realize the warranties are adding on 2-5k and warranties are often straight profit.Different dealerships tweak the above strategy to their market but generally they all play it to some degree. -
14.
I work at Waffle House & im a vegetarian so there’s not much I eat there. Money is taken out of my check for food. It doesn’t matter if I eat or not they’re still gonna take it out. Doesn’t matter how much or little it’s still taken out. The price varies on how many hours you worked that day I think. -
15.
A lot of bands, I mean a LOT (including your favorite) use prerecorded tracks in their live show. Even ones you would never think. In fact, I would say MOST do today to some degree. -
16.
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 an AMC and was tearing tickets one day, a slow day. 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 aren't allowed to bring in "hot food". I believe it's because it's a health code violation.So stop doing that stupid s**t like using a huge bowl to pretend you are pregnant. You aren't a f****n' rebel. You are basically j-walking. No one cares. -
17.
Warranty work is purposely delayed.Lets say you have a product that has a manufacturing defect and is covered by warranty. Companies accept the warranty repair work yet sit on ordering the actual part needed to affect the repair until financials support that part purchase. Often it's better to use money (or on hand parts) for new customers as that's more profitable than fixing their mistakes/error.Personally, I always thought supporting your existing customers was more important than getting new ones, but that's not how most businesses operate. It genuinely surprised me when I found out. I see it all the time in construction, manufacturing, and retail. -
18.
From a nursing home with fractured leadership:CNAs often times have to speed run their cares which is abusive at times.Patients will spit on and hit staff and face no consequences.Patients will call black staff the N word with no consequences.Morbidly obese patients will require routine cleaning of all their yeasty folds by up to 4 staff and will reject weight restriction diets. They'll request a commode at the bedside so staff have to rinse their p**s and s**t into a toilet multiple times a day.Mentally ill patients in general will abuse staff and face no consequences. Only thing taken seriously is if a "vulnerable adult" is hurt or afraid.EMS professionals who wanted to save lives become cab drivers for anybody who falls on the floor or they take calls to pick fat people off the floor. EMS > HOSPITAL > NURSING HOME cycle becomes a way to drain taxpayer dollars from government. It can't be plugged cause a death/injury will be made into a big deal to necessitate caution.There are rich people who seem to just move around the country and be piles of s**t instead of changing themselves.Majority of salary people do about 8 hours of work a week and keep employment by "BEING POSITIVE!" and sucking up to power.Staff will disable call lights on problematic residents with mental health problems and inability to communicate because otherwise the alarms beep 24/7 and all the mentally ill patients start going psycho. Out of touch HAPPY salary people will cry wolf and point fingers while doing their 8 hours a week. Meanwhile direct care staff do 70 hour weeks contracting life altering fungal diseases from all the morbidly obese folds and a*s cracks.The point where nursing homes, software, hospitals, EMS, bureaucracy, pharmacies, colleges, and federal reimbursement intersects is a weird mess of power struggles, failures, apathy, and lies/omissions that piled up for decades to the detriment of direct care staff and residents. For example see the opioid crisis for an extreme example but similar stuff is everywhere.Then covid happened and it guess what, the people doing all the shady stuff were unscathed while many hardworking decent people got sick and developed morbidities, died or lost family members. -
19.
Cable TV “customer service” the “Assumed Close”Basically I was told to interview customers and ask if they thought that they might like to have this product or that product, and then this service or that service, what ever service they said they responded positively to I was to make a check in the corresponding sales order and have them sign before I left the house. Then in a day or so tech would show up at their house with their order and their signature showing that they did indeed order it.Never could bring myself to do it. Scummy as could be. Time Warner Cable for those curious. -
20.
I feel like it just surprised me in general once I entered the world of work to learn how disorganised 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. -
21.
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. -
22.
A large majority of "loading screens" in commercial software and to a lesser extent games are fake. In the modern world most software tasks happen almost instantly, but older/less technical users assume if it was done quickly it wasn't done well, so artificial loading bars are put in to appease those people. Really common in all kinds of "corporate software" that older people are likely to use. -
23.
Billboards promoting tv shows are not for the consumer but for the advertisers we want to sell time to. -
24.
I don't know if it's a secret, but I remember hearing someone ask a doctor why they specifically say to "turn your head" before coughing, when assessing for a hernia.The doctor said there wasn't a medical reason, but "it's so you don't cough on me.". -
25.
That financial institution don’t buy the stocks I give them money to buy on my behalf. They only say they do and that most institutions owe 65 billion in assets (each) called “Sold not yet purchased” where they owe that much in stocks to people but have zero obligation to really buy it. All together they owe trillions and the entire system is rigged. -
26.
Ranch dressing is a lot of mayonnaise. The first time I made buttermilk ranch I was like, “Excuse me, the whole fugging jar?!” Buttermilk and spices, stir. I’ve been eating spiced up mayonnaise milk for 30 years. -
27.
Optometry is a scammy business in the United States. Profit margins are enormous. -
28.
A lot of IT hardware is metal on metal. Thermal paste is "too expensive". Your switches are ticking time bombs. -
29.
Pharmaceutical reps who go around pitching the latest prescription to doctors.. yeah they will often stiff the doctors. -
30.
All 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.
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