There are many dark secrets in prominent professions that most people don’t know about. However, that doesn’t stop some people trying to get to the bottom of these shady doings!
One such nosey person took to Reddit to ask, “What’s a dark secret/questionable practice in your profession which we regular folks would know nothing about?”
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And the question received a wide variety of responses! So, here are some of the most shocking, funny, and unsettling secrets that workers had to share about their jobs!
What Is Hiding In Your Walls
“There is at least one water bottle/soda can/energy drink/ spray paint can sitting on a piece of blocking behind your drywall somewhere in your house.” — Djdubbs
Christ, I wish that I didn’t know this, as now I will just be looking at a wall and just thinking of what is behind it.
Unclean Pizzarias!
“At a very large pizza chain restaurant that remains widely popular, we had these perforated pans for thin crust and stuffed crust pizzas. They’d get washed in the dish washer by the hundreds per day and at least half would still have burnt cheese and shit on them. Well they were just stacked to dry.
“When making new pizzas in those pans, sometimes the pans that were left to ‘dry’ overnight grew bits of mold around the burnt cheese. We were told just to put the dough on top because otherwise we’d never keep up with the orders if we rewashed everything. The manager said, ‘don’t worry, it gets cooked’.” — 69fatboy420
I always knew that takeaways weren’t clean, but just kind of put that to the back of my mind. However, reading it and thinking about it is making me question every takeaway pizza that I have ever eaten.
The Truth About Instruction Manuals
“You know the people who write instruction manuals or user guides in things you buy? Half the time, they’ve never even seen or touched the product. Some dude just sends us pictures, a rough description of how it’s supposed to work, and that’s it.” — katakago
You know what, this doesn’t actually surprise me. One other person also added, “Instruction manual writer here, although for software. You know how there are always frequently asked questions? I have no idea what’s frequently asked. I make all of them up.”
Ghostwriters
“Not currently my profession but ghost writers in fiction. John Grisham, Danielle Steele, James Patterson, Janet Evanovich etc., all those big names with an NYT bestseller every year use ghostwriters who are are never credited or mentioned. It’s barely even a secret.” — provocatrixless
I thought that everyone knew about ghost writers, but sadly a lot of people just don’t care. I cannot imagine watching my work sell like hotcakes under someone else’s name.
Teaching On The Fly
“Sometime we learn something the day before we teach it to you.” — pamacdon
There were a lot of tutors and teachers who agreed with this. One other person added, “Yup. It’s not uncommon. I always have to reassure new instructors. They always feel like they need to know the whole breath of the course before they start teaching. You just have to stay a week ahead of the students.”
Fast Food Workers
“I’ve worked in fast food, and it is a sad reality that many workers will come to work sick, because they can’t afford to lose wages. One year, the flu was going around town, and I think our restaurant was ground zero.” — TiredOldRoutine
This one is just sad in reality. And, this doesn’t just occur in the US, as one other person added, “I work in a pub in the UK and the countless times I’ve been in work full of cold/flu or had some sickness bug you get a lot of sh*t for calling in sick and half the time it’s just not worth the loss of pay/aggro from boss I’ve had managers that cut people’s hours just because they called in sick it’s a really [terrible] industry to be in”.
Vets Who Help Out Pets That Are Being Put Down
“I have worked in vetmed since 2013. I have this habit, especially when owners don’t want to be present for their pet’s euthanasia, in which I give their pets chocolate, pieces of my meal (meat, bread, cheese, even onions/garlic), or the best wet food from our pantry prior to them being given the drugs that help them pass.
“They don’t suffer from the damaging effects of those foods if they’re being euthanized minutes after. I like to give them a taste of something they would never get to try otherwise. Of course, I would never do this unless the pet was already en route to the room where the procedure would take place.” — RodentRescue
This one is painfully beautiful. I also never understood how people could leave their pets alone to be put down, it’s your responsibility and you should comfort them in their last moments. And, way to go, I just bummed myself out. Let’s move on to a funnier one!
Evil Librarians!
“Sometimes librarians read the new books before registering them in the catalogue for the public. [Evil laughter*]” — ashesthenphoenix
This is so wholesomely evil, I love it. I also know that I would absolutely do this if I had the chance!
Why Programmers Have So Many Screens
“The real reason programmers have so many screens is because one of them almost always has Google pulled up on it. No one knows what they are doing 100% off the time. Its typically always ‘hmmm this should work’ or ‘well hope this works’.” — killerhacks86
This one is actually quite reassuring, as it makes me feel less terrible for sometimes Googling things that I feel I should definitely know the answer to. Although, programmers googling things feels like it will have much more important real-world implications than me just trying to remember where Beck was born.
Double Booking Rooms
“Many hotels often sell rooms multiple times. Used to work in airport hotel. Knowing that chances are some guests won’t arrive due to missed or delayed flights so we sell more rooms that we have.
“You have guests checking out from 2/3 am due to early flights so even though the room is technically still theirs you quickly and sometimes poorly clean the room and tell the arriving unexpected guest or new booking there’s a random computer issue and to wait 20 mins and then check them into the departed guests room praying. Multiple times I’ve had to run a kettle under a cold tap to hide the fact the previous guest used it 15 mins before the new guest arrives.” — AndromedaFire
And that is why I always check the temperature of the kettle when I first get into a room! I can’t settle until I’ve done this!
Bumping Up The Bills At Hotel Bars
“I work for a hotel doing conferences and big events such as weddings. I would advise people to NEVER have a host bar i.e. all the drinks for the evening go on one tab for example the owner of the company may pay for all the drinks or the family of the bride or groom may pay for all the drinks.
“It is common practice for my bosses to come along and just press random buttons on the till to rack up the bill without actually serving any guests. If I catch them doing it I’ll immediately get rid of them as it’s not right. They don’t get any extra pay if we sell more at the bar so the only reason they do it is to be like look at me to their boss.” — hastily_named
I wish I could use this excuse for having spent too much money on alcohol on nights out, but the truth is that I just always end up buying too many damn drinks.
Working At A Pharmacy
“Former retail pharmacy technician. I received many forged prescriptions for strong narcotics for otherwise seemingly young, healthy patients. In hindsight, it’s really sad, because I’m witnessing the opioid crisis unfold before my eyes. But the pharmacist has full discretion to pretend we don’t have the drug in stock, turn people away, or straight up call the cops.
“We will literally put on our acting game and keep these people at the pharmacy until the cops arrive.” — rx6553
Companies That Take Your Personal Information
“Have you ever started filling out a form for a quote on something (insurance website, or literally anything) and then changed your mind and said ‘nah, I don’t want to give them my personal information’, and then abandoned the form before pressing ‘submit’?
“If you think that stopped them from getting your personal information, it didn’t. Most companies looking to capture leads will capture your info in real time as you enter it into a form. The submit button is just there to move you to the next step, not to actually send your information to the company.” — phpdevster
Well, that’s good to know. Make sure you take this into account when you’re next thinking about applying for something!
“Have You Got Any In The Back?”
“Retail worker here, when you ask an employee to check for something in the back we almost always know if we’re out of it but go back there anyway. We [don’t] actually check for the item, instead we go on our phone for a few minutes and act like we looked.” — hindenbob
I knew it! However, in fairness, I’m normally more than happy to wait, even if they are just going on their phones. I’ll probably be checking my phone while they’re gone, so it’s no real loss.
How Customs Actually Works
“Customs broker here. Every day hundreds of thousands of containers and air shipments arrive into United States territory. The volume of customs entries entered every day is staggering. When we get licensed to be a customs broker we are trained and tested not just on knowledge, but ethics. We even take a pledge to partner with CBP to uphold the law, and cooperate with them should we come across anything suspicious. Why so much emphasis on this?
“Customs can’t actually screen everything coming in. I’m oversimplifying but CBP basically works on the honor system. You file an entry saying what the shipment is, and they just take your word for it and release it. This happens hundreds of thousands of times a day. Maybe at best customs can screen 3-7% of what’s coming in, the rest of just waived through…” — callmeraylo
Kids Sharing Everything With Their Teachers!
“Young kids talk to their teachers/coaches/[counsellors]/principals about their parents. A lot. And kids pick up on all the dirty little secrets.” — MineralWaterMike
I can see why they would say things like this to counsellors, isn’t that the whole point of kids having counsellors to talk to? I can imagine teachers hear some quite strange things out of the blue though!
More Tales From The Pizzaria!
“When you order pizza, if you have ‘unpopular’ or toppings that are not picked often you are most likely eating a mixed bag of fresh and spoiled ingredients. Due to pizza kitchens having to refill the toppings containers every week. If the management does not force kitchen staff to empty them out and clean them you will end up eating rotten and rancid meat and veg.” — GlowingFist
Yet again, here I go telling you things to ruin that lovely pizza you have been so blissfully enjoying! This person went on toe explain in an update, “The district I worked in had management that was very intermingled and interchangeable. Where managers and gms would go from store to store on a weekly basis. The uncleanliness is more of a established tradition at this point than anything else.”
Sickly Air Traffic Controllers
“A diagnosis of virtually any mental illness… and a diagnosis of many physical conditions… is disqualifying and will end your career. For that reason, people avoid doctors like the plague.”
Well, that is sincerely unsettling! I know that for a fact I will not be able to get this piece of information out of my head when I am next in an airport.
What Your Apartment Is Held Together With
“Your apartment building is probably held together with duct tape and wishful thinking somewhere. Neither tenants nor landlords ever want to pay to fix things properly.” — Mccmangus
I think that there will be a lot of people out there who have encountered this in their personal lives. I remember moving a picture in one flat I lived in and finding a big old hole in the wall. It was like something out of a cartoon.
Body Brokering
“There is a problem in substance abuse treatment in the United States called body brokering. Substance abuse treatment can be very expensive and insurance companies pay A LOT of money for a patient to be there. Treatment centers will hire “body brokers” to find addicts with the best, highest paying insurance and entice them to check in to the specific center, the treatment center then gives the broker a commission from the insurance money.
“This can go as far as body brokers literally putting more drugs in to the hands of some addicts before they come in, bc the higher level of drugs in your system upon admit, the more and longer the insurance company will pay to the treatment center.
“Brokers will also hire other addicts in a pyramid scheme type way to check in to the treatment center, make friends with the other patients, and upon discharge encourage relapse so they come back to treatment.” — VaguelyLatina
Do you have any dark secrets about your profession that you feel brave enough to share? Be sure to let me know in the comments below if so!
