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It’s not just detectives, wizards, and FBI agents who keep secrets at work—lots of professions have open secrets that regular folks like you and I don’t generally know about. Reddit user HannibalGoddamnit was interested to find these secrets out, so they asked the online community to share some of these mysteries with the internet.

We’ve collected the very best trade secrets, so scroll down and upvote your faves, dear Pandas. Be sure to share the open secrets from your own professions in the comments below! HannibalGoddamnit’s thread on Reddit got a lot of attention: they got 3 awards, over 11.5k upvotes, and more than 9.3k redditors left a comment.

Bored Panda reached out to HannibalGoddamnit and spoke to them about their viral thread. “As an engineering student who’s about to graduate, I have always been concerned that I may not be ‘fully’ aware of the day-to-day job details of my future position. Especially when it comes to how comfortable I will be dealing with the real professional secrets that no one would ever teach you at school and you will figure out once you start working,” the redditor told us about what inspired them to start the thread. Scroll down for the full interview.

#1

Your dog or cat is much more comfortable when you are there with them during euthanasia. It's really hard when people say, "It's too hard for me to be here with him." And leave the room for it. It is one of the hardest things ever, but they need you there with them. They look around for you sometimes.

That being said, if we do the euthanasia without you, we always have one staff member whose only job during the procedure is to cuddle and comfort your pet and tell them how much their owner loves them, and what a "good boy" they are.

leilunatic Report

#2

Vet worker here. Probably doesn’t count as a “secret” but we absolutely do pet your cats and dogs a lot when you bring them in.

J_C_Wizard49 Report

#3

I am in IT

We don't always know WHY the fix worked and we don't care.

ITworksGuys Report

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“So that made me wonder, out of mere curiosity, why can’t people just share some of whatever they have been holding back as ‘open secrets’ related to their professions? Secrets that can be interesting to know and fun to speak about, with no harm at all!” HannibalGoddamnit said.

The redditor admitted that they never expected their thread to go viral. “I was expecting perhaps to get some funny jokes about how big named professions are actually so boring, but not thousands of ‘Oh God, have mercy’ secrets!” they explained.

“I have received messages from fellow redditors saying they have spent a lot of time reading the thread, and how it was ‘a good read,’” HannibalGoddamnit shared how happy Reddit’s reaction to their thread made them. They told us that the most shocking comment for them personally was the freelance ghostwriter’s tale about how Russian and Middle Eastern men publish ghostwritten romance or erotica books under female pen names and flood the market.

#4

Bartender here: if you're cool I will absolutely bend over backwards to make sure your night goes amazing. That means extra stiff drinks, remakes if you don't like something, faster service, etc. You don't even have to tip THAT well, just treat me like a human and maybe have a funny story to make my night go faster.

If you're mean to me you get exactly what you ordered and not a mL more.

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#5

Work in telecommunications. 5G does not cause Coronavirus

jcx149 Report

#6

Former psych ward tech here.

Patients and visitors alike used to frequently complain about all of the ridiculous and specific rules that we had on the unit (patients can’t use the TV remote themselves, use a standard regular sized hair tie, etc). We don’t make those rules just because. Each and every rule has a very real story behind it that we cannot divulge to you. People are terrifyingly creative when they really want to hurt themselves.

These incidents may never happen again, but we don’t want to take that risk. And so, a new and seemingly stupid rule is born.

snickerdoodle Report

Bored Panda asked HannibalGoddamnit what would happen if everybody found out everyone else’s professional open secrets. They said that this would have a “considerable” impact on society. “I really hope that no one will take advantage of it in a bad way.”

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They added: “It was really brave of all of the people to share what has always been untold. The thread needs to [be shared] as widespread as [possible], for it is a national treasure. I thank everyone who contributed to the thread. I was just the conversation starter.”

#7

There is no cloud, it's just someone else's computer.

TheGarp Report

#8

I work in a nursing home. Your sweet little Meemaw and Pawpaw are as***es. I worked at Walmart before my nursing home and I had way fewer problems with rude, entitled, and plain malicious people than I do now in nursing. Almost all of the men sexually harass the female staff too. Including, but not limited to, sexually explicit comments and requests, grabbing, groping, flashing, masturbating, etc etc. This is, surprisingly, much more common amongst completely cognizant residents than it is amongst those with dementia. Its an extremely difficult job and no one gets paid enough, especially not the aid because we’re the ones exclusively dealing with almost all of the stuff mentioned above.

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#9

I’m a furniture upholsterer, and the amount of times other ‘professionals’ just recover the old fabric and filling drives me mental. If you’re paying for reupholstery, ask for progress photos. Nobody needs all that nasty old fabric hidden underneath and it’s not fair to the client as they don’t necessarily know any better (nor should they have to)

AliCracker Report

Some of these secrets blew our minds. As it turns out, things like dummy thermostats actually exist to stop people from fiddling about with the temperature. Not all IT specialists know (or even care) why the fixes they attempt really work. While most regular broadcast radio shows play prerecorded music and song requests from callers and the DJs have no control over what songs play: if you call in to request something, you’ll find that the lines are busy.

Some professions can be chock full of things that ordinary people know nothing about. For instance, The Guardian talked to a whole bunch of people to learn more about the mysterious things that go on behind the scenes.

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A priest told The Guardian that a lot of people “don’t really know if you’re a real human or not.” People look at you weird if you’re dating someone or when you go to the gym with your collar on. While getting professionals to listen to you is incredibly difficult during meetings because you believe in God.

#10

I worked as a retail a manger in the past. A customer’s attitude and approach is about 99% of the reason someone would help them solve a problem.

Sale ended yesterday? Your return is past the date? You want a better price on a clearance item?

Be a normal kind person and you’ll usually get your way. If you start off being sh***y or demanding then,

“Sorry, I can’t help you, it’s store policy.”

Nardelan Report

#11

Teacher here. I learned early on in the game that there are a lot of supplies we don't have to pay for if we just know where to look and how to ask nicely. Want to have a lesson about plants? Go to a grocery store/florist a few days ahead and ask if they can set aside their dying flowers for your class. Need cardboard? Ask a store for their old boxes. I've even heard of my colleagues just going to stores and asking for donations and explaining why, and getting new stuff for free. It's amazing how much people are willing to go out of their way to help educate kids.

NinjaSquirrel1996 Report

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#12

That most of those "3 people have booked this hotel today" or "4 people are looking at this prodocut right now" pop-ups on travel agency website and ecommerce sites are lies. Totally static and made up.

jyt4167 Report

Meanwhile, an undertaker told The Guardian that it’s a cut-throat business that’s very competitive. However, the job itself isn’t depressing, according to that one undertaker: they feel happy to learn so much about humanity doing the job that they do.

A judge revealed that behind closed doors, most judges (even the most experienced ones) are way more anxious about their jobs than we realize. The decisions they have to make weigh heavily on their shoulders because they’re supposed to make sure that everyone receives justice. We have a sneaking suspicion that it’s not just these ‘exotic’ professions that are full of secrets—everyone, from janitors to call-center employees is bound to have something to share.

#13

We don’t actually know how general anesthesia works at the molecular level. There are theories but nothing concrete.

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#14

Cinema theatres are full of bugs. No matter how much you clean, bugs will live off the food dropped and are very good at hiding, even exterminators can't get them all. Plus, with all kids of people coming in, they bring in bugs, fleas, lice etc and we can't refuse service just because someone absolutely stinks. Think about that next time you sir down. Not unheard of for cinema workers to keep your lost property and cash they find. Though most staff won't, one or two deffo will. High value lost property gets given to managers to 'deal with'. And yes this absolutely includes 'upmarket' fancy cinemas.

SomewhatAnonamoose Report

#15

Most people who work in IT support really aren't more tech savvy than the average user. They just know how to Google.

realme857 Report

#16

My friend is a doctor. He said that hospitals always overcharges the patient. One solution to this is to ask for an itemized invoice, and more often than not, there will be a significant reduction in the invoice.

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#17

If you ever hear your local morning radio guy interviewing someone that seems too famous to talk to a local radio guy, that's because that celebrity recorded an interview and their audio was sent to radio stations everywhere, then the local guy rerecords the questions.

notonrexmanningday Report

#18

If you see twelve different sellers for an item on Amazon, in all likelihood the total number of sellers is probably three to four, all of whom have multiple names selling the same item at different prices.

maleorderbride Report

#19

I work at a jewelry store that produces custom pieces. Diamonds and other precious stones get dropped and lost, by everyone, constantly. 3 or 4 times a day you will hear "Fu*k! Nobody move! Get the flashlight!" I saw the owner drop a whole tray of sapphires one day. Pretty sure part of his soul died. We're usually more careful with customer's stones, though. Usually.

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#20

Teachers do have favorites.

RedPhoenix42 Report

#21

The majority of regular broadcast radio shows are pre-recorded. If a DJ is broadcasting live (usually the morning shows), they still have no control over what music plays, it's all pre-programmed. They'll usually record phone requests and replay them during the voice break before the requested song is scheduled to play anyway, to make it seem like they're playing/taking requests. When the studio is empty, all phone lines are set to "busy", so no one calls and realizes there's no one there to answer.

Brookany40 Report

#22

At the airlines, we generally have no idea where your bag is at any given time. It follows a chain of events to get to the right place. If it ends up missing, no one is "looking" for your bag. Your file gets loaded in a computer and when your bag is eventually scanned somewhere, a person is notified to grab it before it moves on to somewhere else. This also means, if you jump to an earlier flight, there is a strong chance that your bag is going to fly on the original flight. The time is usually too little to go find it, retag it and get it to a new flight. If you jump to another airline and we have already retagged it/ handed it off to a different airline, it is done. We are not going to be able to retrieve it. It is flying on that flight.

Just because your bag tag shows CLT on it does not mean it was accidentally sent there. We often send bags through multiple cities as it will reunite you and your bag, hours faster than the next direct flight. Sometimes, we even send it on other airlines that you never even flew on. We may even send it the other way around the globe. Ex. LAX to DXB(Dubai). You may have flown through London on British Airways, but the fastest way for me to send your bag may be through Seoul, South Korea on Delta and Korean air.

We try our best but it's a question of volume, staffing, time, and technology.

LikeLemun Report

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#23

I can fix most people's computer issues by doing 3 things:

run a free scan from malware bytes

open up msconfig.msc from typing it in the start menu, then going over to all the services and startup items and turning off so much crap that is either a virus (says Unknown or a blank, for the manufacturer name) or unnecessary (you can google if you don't know, plus click the box that says hide microsoft to dumb it down a bit).

Make them a new user account that doesn't have admin rights (they'll need to put in a admin name and password when they really want to install things, no need to always be logged in as an Admin.. click bait will kill your pc).

Then doing a few reboots... i teach this to family

HonestCup20 Report

#24

I let my students cuss around me as long as they use it properly and it isn't offensive. They don't know this rule, only I do.

supermsb Report

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#25

Dummy thermostats are pretty common.

It basically works like a placebo where people feel more comfortable when they think they have control over the room temperature. It results in way fewer complaints.

SpicyHat Report

#26

The recycling market is way down in the US because China had stopped accepting most of our recyclables. So, a lot of what you think you're recycling is just ending up in the landfill anyway.

flowabout Report

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Shelby P
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I have yet to understand the benefits of recycling when I hear how much energy it uses and costs and whatever else. SO, why aren't we forcing manufacturers to use biodegradable materials? Why aren't we putting the responsibilities on the source instead of the consumer... Between costs of items and the increase in online shopping the consumer is the last person concerned with these materials... *duh*

nanashi
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I think I read somewhere that at the beginning they really meant to do that. but somehow they launched a campaign against littering instead, shifting the blame to consumers for "using their products and made the trash".

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Maria Rohlen
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Why not start recycling yourself instead of increasing the pollution by transporting it?

DE Ray
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Cost and localized pollution. Recycling takes a fair amount of energy, which is expensive. There are a lot of smelly, smoky or disgusting side-discharges during recycling which local residents object to. If you're not able to sell the recycled product for enough to cover the cost of the energy used and to mollify the neighbors over the foul or dirty emanations, then you can't afford to recycle.

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Shellia Ventura
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

We just learned that here in Cleveland Ohio. Mayor is still charging for pick up of recyclables only and it's going straight to the landfill! BS, I say!

Human #1,232,867
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

China was not recycling anything. Just taking the money and put in landfill.

Lama
Community Member
4 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yep, it just looks good in the city policy, makes people happy to do the gesture even if it is not recycled. Very sad but true. The best way to recycle is to not over buy, reuse and not waste food

J Rob
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

More than a lot, MOST. There is simply no market for it.

Monika Soffronow
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There will be a market for it when the producers and the consumers are forced to pay for the environmental costs. Until then we can try to prefer buying things with less excessive packaging, buy in bulk, buy larger sizes of cartons and bottles of stuff, etc.

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Steve Cruz
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I had to get on my roommate to CLEAN recycleables: remove labels, remove plastic windows from paper envelopes, remove staples, remove lids AND the little ring left on bottles (and put those in a separate baggie), remove labels and wash out cans/jars/bottles.

Martin John
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

On PBS's Frontline featuring the crazy plastics industry, one guy said that 10% of the plastic that you have put in a recycling bin has ever really been recycled. And just because it has the recycling arrows on it doesn't mean that it will be recycled, either. Talk about discouraging.

Tony Barron
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Biodegradable only helps if the item does NOT make it into the trash. Pretty much nothing degrades in a landfill.

Deborah Blair-Krosnicki
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

See I don't think that's true anymore. I saw a report on the news where recycling, especially for cardboard is up since so many people are using online retailers to ship their goods.

Pamela Scott
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yep Hubby was 6 months out from 20 years working with our recycling center when they closed it down. He worked with the highway department and was about to get that 6 months for his retirement through them luckily.

Jace
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That’s been the case for a long time but it’s worse now. Also, incinerator sellers are a direct competitor to recycling because they want those materials burned.

M Adams
Community Member
4 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is absolutely true, at least in my county.

Connie Martin
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Stop buying plastic, particularly product that come in plastic containers. There are LOTS of alternatives online.

Grumble O'Pug
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

People were lulled into thinking plastic was largely recyclable. It really isn't

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#27

The sheer magnitude of criminal cases that detectives have that will pretty much never even get looked at, much less investigated due to a massive lack of staffing.

Detective_IRL Report

#28

Most hospitals are actually crazy trusting about who they release dead bodies to when people die.

Often times I show up with just a gurney, and someone’s name scribbled on a post-it note, and they just let me walk out with somebody’s grandma without asking my name or getting ID or anything.

stevebobeeve Report

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#29

That just because something is patented doesn't make it any good. Stupid [crap] is patented every day.

ashakar Report

#30

As a freelance ghostwriter, most of my clients are Russian or Middle Eastern men who publish five to ten ghostwritten romance or erotica books a week under female pen names. They spend 10k a month and double or triple that by flooding the market. At one point one client told me he had six of the top ten Regency Romance spots on the paid best seller list.

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#31

90% of the time your computer trouble is entirely your own fault.

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#32

Master Electrician and former shop owner.

The standard household outlet has enough current to kill the largest man. It just has to take the right path across your heart to ground.

Water alone does not conduct electricity. It lowers an items resistance.

Lights flickering or turning on & off is never ghosts.

We go into conversations with clients knowing we have to let them feel like they know what they're talking about.

Average electrician goes to school and trains for 5 years. After 10 he can study to be a master. They're more educated than most people think. I'm no longer in the trade. Theres more of these. This just came to mind.

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#33

Software developer: a lot of large financial systems are held together with duct tape code and have no real documentation or specifications also there's a good chance that a large number of the staff are fresh out of uni and are just mudling along.

I did my student placement at a major insurance software company which handled billions in transactions, at one point the entire support team was a single student with no oversight.

dbxp Report

#34

Former profession: Catholic school principal. Open secret? Private schools lower their costs and increase their test scores by expelling students with special needs or low grades. Anyone with a disability costs extra because you have to spend more on support services, and private schools like to brag about being academically better than public ones. Instead of helping vulnerable kids, many such schools abandon them for better optics and more money.

wjmacguffin Report

#35

I used to work in daycare (I have worked at several, I’m American)

The law in Washington state was 14 toddlers to two staff, and most daycares try to run at the max amount which provides a terribly stressful environment for children . Even if you enroll your kid in a daycare with less children to teacher ratio, the daycare is usually trying to raise it and a couple less kids being there is temporary.

State regulations can be bizarre, and cause even less ratio of care... For example every child must have their diaper changed every two hours or more, all day, and be documented. Multiply that by 14 kids, so changing all 14 diapers/ potty training some every two hours for 8 -10 hour days..

The two staff rule is really just one person watching the kids for most of the day while the other person is changing diapers. A good environment being provided is almost impossible when one person is watching 14 toddlers.

The state taxes daycares for breaking any small rule, so they struggle to make money and pay people fairly/ hire more staff.

cheeseburgervixen Report

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#36

My family owns a peach garden.

Peaches are really delicate fruits. They’re soft and watery, perfect for any insect to lay eggs. So you need to take good care of them.

But sometimes the weather doesn’t care about that and stuff might happen so now all your peaches have bugs.

What do you do? You can’t sell spoilt peaches but you need money.

Sell them to juice companies for 5 cents a kilo. Enjoy your wor- peach juice.

souffle-pancakes Report

#37

Going to the hospital by ambulance doesn’t mean you’ll see a doctor any quicker.

paramedic11012 Report

#38

Anyone who's job is to transport a dead body has dropped one at least once or twice.

goddamnmike Report

#39

I am not a therapist myself but when I was job shadowing at a clinic, the therapists who were on lunch break would gossip about their patients and joke about how screwed up they are. I am certain that not all therapists do this but I wouldn't be surprised if this is a common thing.

jayellemm14 Report

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#40

Automotive technician here and maybe I've been extremely fortunate but the shop is usually not out to screw you. A lot of the upsells people scream about are the fact that I have to take these parts off to get to the part I have to fix/replace. The parts that came off have 100,000 miles on them, let me save you labor and replace them now instead of 6 months to a year later.

The other upsells that cause people to cry foul are usually maintenance recommended by the manufacturer at that interval.

And in my personal experience, when someone is getting screwed at a shop, it's because of a service writer or service manager trying sell un-needed work, not the mechanic.

BatteryRock Report

#41

Wash your fruits and vegetables. If a box breaks open, and produce falls out, we rebox it and ship it.

Catlenfell Report

#42

your kid did not start talking at 4 months old. a "first word" only counts as such if it is an approximation of a word in the language AND used as such.

a child saying "mama" while reaching for her mother counts. a child saying "doos" while reaching for juice counts. a child saying "daunting" while babbling does not count. they have to be intentionally communicating an idea.

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#43

Addictions counselor here: a lot of police drink too much, a lot of childcare providers use opiates.

projectMKultra Report

#44

Worked as a McDonalds Manager, and pretty much the entire store had the understanding of telling the customer that the ice cream machine was broken. When the reality is that usually the machine goes into a heat curing cycle for the ice cream mix. Its easier to say its broken than to explain this.

And during the summer days, when everyone ordering sundaes or cones, the machine goes into a lock mode until it can freeze the ice cream again. Or else you just getting lukewarm liquid ice cream mix.

SanjuPM Report

#45

Almost every elderly person living in a retirement home wants to die. There’s a grace period if the person is relatively healthy but as soon as they realize they are destined to live in the same room the rest of their life they are quick to ask everyone around them to kill them.

Just today I was asked by about 4 members if I would kill them.

Edit: to clarify, the wing I work in is assisted living where most everyone in there is unable to live on their own and requires assistance around the clock. Most people have some form of dementia and most of their families stuck them there because they couldn’t deal with it.

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#46

Classical musician - lots of us at your local symphony are drugged up on beta blockers when we perform.

Reddit Report

#47

Nurse manager here. We nurses aren’t saints.

Generally, most of us are caring, hard-working people. But we have the same people-problems as the general population: opioid addiction, affairs with married men, DUIs, timecard fraud... the list goes on.

Little_Yin_Yang Report

#48

Gallows humor is how many in 911 call centers and emergency services handle some of the [crap] we deal with.

WatchTheBoom Report

#49

Do some research before buying paint. Most companies do something called "cross pouring" where one of their more expensive paints is the exact same paint as one of their cheapest. One company, let's call them Durbin-Shilliams, sells two products, Superpaint and A-100. They are the exact same paint. The cost difference is about $20/gallon.

DeusEx-Machinist Report

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#50

It is not difficult to get super realistic details in CGI. I see people look at stuff like the stitching on shirts and how there's some fuzz on a peach or something like that in animated films. It looks impressive, but those details are super easy to make, just slap on a normal map and a particle system. Of course some details like cobwebs are more complicated but overall the tiny little things are just a texture or particle system.

The actual hard stuff goes completely unrecognized if it's done well. Compliment the character rigging every now and then, its much more difficult :')

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#51

Your doctor has literally no idea how to perform any lab test that you need. TV shows make it look like the doc just runs down to the empty lab and has results in a moment, but it takes qualified lab technologists to get the tests done. Also, 9 times out of 10 if your doctor or nurse says they need to collect a sample a 2nd time because of something the lab did, it's to cover up that they (the nurse/doc) messed up something in the collection process.

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#52

Not my profession but as someone who is interested in it, runway models are all very underweight (in other news water is wet). Usually BMIs in the 15-16s, and they're often told they're too fat getting towards the upper 16s. But they don't say weight stuff usually for plausible deniability reasons, they'll use measurements and inches. Certain other kinds of models are more like 16s-17s, high fashion/runway models are the skinniest.

If you don't know, a BMI of 18.5-25 is the "healthy range". In terms of categorizations of anorexia according to the DSM, above 17 is mild, 16s is moderate, 15s is severe anorexia, and under 15 is extreme. although the most common shock photos of anorexics are like bmis of 12 or 13, most anorexics don't even get that thin. It's a problem and adds to many people with anorexia not feeling "sick enough" because they're not so thin their organs are shutting down and they look like an actual skeleton. That level is rare, many people at higher weights are still very sick. Of course, there is more to eating disorders than just a low weight. But I am certain that a very large amount of models are anorexic, and do everything they can to hide that.

Those rules some places have put out about models having to be a healthy weight or over a BMI of like 18 are an absolute joke, because clearly none are remotely near that "high".

We're so used to this that we often don't realize it's unhealthily underweight. Even most actresses on TV etc are a little underweight or ranging close to it, though not nearly as much as runway/ professional models. The standard in hollywood nowadays is probably doing massive amounts of exercise and hovering right around the borderline between underweight and healthy (18s BMI), so that they look underweight despite being maybe not, because of being fairly muscular and usually getting some minor plastic surgeries/lipo/fillers.

Although a good amount of actresses are just plain underweight. It just depends on if they try to focus on being "healthy" or don't really care. Probably in the 1990s is when it was the most about being just skinny, but more recently there's the added pressure of maintaining both a healthy weight and standards that most people would have to be underweight to match. The underweight route is actually probably easier than staying at a healthy weight yet maintaining the standards they feel pressure to.

Fun fact just because someone is "still attractive" doesn't mean they aren't unhealthily underweight.

Not talking about instagram "models" and the like here at all though lmao, or certain "models" who have gotten into it through family connections, because those aren't real models.

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#53

Libraries throw away, pulp or otherwise recycle a LOT of old books. We get a lot of awful, tatty stuff donated. We have old, manky books that we need to get rid of to make shelf space for newer stock. And we have standards for anything we sell off at library stock sales. It's just easier to throw things out. Sometimes things go to the workroom for 'repair' or 'cleaning' - straight in the bin. We do this because if customers knew, they might damage things that they wanted to buy from us.

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#54

The sauna only gets cleaned out once a week. Twice of your lucky. Also the pools are never emptied for “cleaning” they have filters for that. Essentially a gigantic fish tank for humans. The chlorine sterilized any fecal mater or any form of bile that comes out of the human body. All we do is scoop the chunks and send y’all back in.

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#55

The amount of salt and fat in your food, especially at high quality restaurants. We kept a large hotel pan full of clarified butter behind the line, itd be empty by the end of the night.

MrGorgon Report

#56

When temperamental artists ask us to adjust the sound and we pretend to twiddle knobs.

harpejjist Report

#57

Current profession: Tabletop RPG designer. Open secret? The pay is crap. You cannot make a living this way unless you are extremely lucky. (I have a day job and very understanding wife.) What's worse is how some game companies purposefully target folks wanting to break into game design by offering them work at super low rates. $0.03/word is common (but still low), but I've seen asshats offering $0.005/word (yes, half a cent) or the scam where there's no pay because you'll receive "exposure".

wjmacguffin Report

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#58

Ex-model: If you're looking at brandless and cheap lingerie online, especially those from (country I've worked in), theres a good 60% chance that the models aren't 18.

Unsustainable Report

#59

All gallons of house paint regardless of quality cost about 5$ to manufacture.

Ashmeads_Kernel Report

#60

That reinforced glass and that security camera may not actually be unbreakable or being monitored or recorded, respectively. If you can see the monitor showing the camera feed, it doesn't actually mean it's being recorded, too.

These things can just be there to make people guess whether it actually works or not. Go ahead, roll that dice. People typically just go somewhere where there isn't a camera or glass, instead.

Surprise_Corgi Report

#61

For some reason medical device prices are inflated beyond the stratosphere against what it costs to make them. I understand there are more regulating organizations that are applicable for medical devices and not other products (automotive, electrical, petrochemical) but WHAT THE FU*K ? An item that costs us 700 USD to make is sold to our dealers in 3k, then they sell those to hospitals in 7k, then the hospital sells them the client/patient in 10k.

jmo_joker Report

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#62

This isn't a secret, but everything is Photoshopped. I am constantly pointing out to people a bad Photoshop job in an ad, and people will say, "what are you talking about? Looks real to me!" Trust me...everything is Photoshopped, put through a filter, shrunken, stretched, brightened, just to make you want to buy it.

tootmyfloot Report

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#63

Large non profit have no vested interest in solving the problem they are raising money for. There is little accountability for actual results. The larger the organization the further they are from real solutions.

k75ct Report

#64

Advertisers can show you ads that are related to what your wife / husband / girlfriend etc. has been looking at online. If you have acknowledged your relationship (I.e marital status on facebook) and are often in the same location, advertisers assume you’re talking about getting a bike or planning a trip etc and will serve you ads even if you haven’t been the person looking them up.

Edit: I should clarify it’s not down to the specific advertiser or brand that know all this information about you, and it’s not associated with you as an individual (ie they don’t know your name), but rather it’s the program that collects data and sells ad space based on that data.

min2themax Report

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#65

Nursing homes have no [friggin] clue how to order medication for their residents.

muddy1828 Report

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#66

Every electronic signal CAN be intercepted and translated. Not all of them ARE

jaybond0610 Report

#67

"Military grade" literally translates in to "the lowest bidder." A lot of military personal, especially the Marines, use stuff from the Vietnam War, hand-me-downs from the army, etc. The government spends as little as possible on outfitting its troops in 99% of cases

AndyMike9 Report

#68

Real Estate agents do not believe their job is to get you the best price.

To agents, there is an unwritten understanding that you have a realistic expectation when buying a property. They can consult you, guide you, and employ some basic negotiating tactics, but they aren't interested in wheeling and dealing at the chance of a paycheck, even if they make you believe they are hustling hard to find you a diamond deal. If you start to become unrealistic, many agents will just start to frame everything as a great deal and once in a lifetime to get you to buy, to avoid having wasted their time.

sammy0241 Report

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#69

If you buy an antique or a vintage piece it most likely went through ~5 hands, each one at least doubling the price.

kosmos-ost Report

#70

Insurance agent here, to all home buyers. Make sure you buy some sort of mold coverage. When pipes burst or you have a leaky faucet or some sort of water damage. We’ll write it off as non covered mold. Save yourself an extra hassle and get some limited mold coverage.

Heed my warning.

Edit: Also when we stress saying in the event of a “covered loss” it really means it’s a 50/50 chance of it depending on how claim adjusters see it.

CebuWolfRiceKiba Report

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#71

Construction- piss bottles everywhere

firenamedgabe Report

#72

Architecture is a LOT of copy and pasting. Creating a catalogue of details and ideas and adapting them from one project to another.

Jimbobskyline Report

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#73

The process of home installations by big companies will almost always be worse than going straight to liscensed contractor. Not the install of the items themselves(cabinets, floors, tile) but the schedualing and sales of products is terriblly orchestrated. Because they have so many clients and use 3rd partys for measurements, installation and the fabrication of products there's so much that can go wrong and nothing ever goes to plan, almost always because of the lack of communication. A company I worked for left in 85 year old woman without a kitchen for 2 months before I finally came in and installed her cabinets, she then waited another month for the countertops. If she would have gone straight to my company then she probably would have had the entire thing done in a weekend

mcshadypants Report

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#74

Your prescription drugs might be cheaper if you don’t use your insurance. This won’t be the case at most chain pharmacies (some exceptions), but an independent pharmacy might offer a generic medication at a cost significantly less than your copay as assigned by your prescription insurance company. In some states it’s illegal for a pharmacist to tell you this, so you might want to ask directly.

Also, the cost of a drug can vary significantly from one pharmacy to another because the acquisition cost can vary for each pharmacy due to a number of factors. So shop around.

FearYourFaces Report

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#75

If you take an actual IQ test, your results will rarely, if ever, be provided to you. The only information you will likely receive is whether you are in an average range or not. Whatever the number is (even when very high), the only typically meaningful results are when an individual scores below 70 IQ, or two standard deviations below the mean, which is the cutoff for a diagnosis of an intellectual disability.

Also, psychologists are unable to take IQ tests once they're trained to administer them. This might seem obvious but most don't realize this is the case; the results would be totally invalid.

rootbeerislifeman Report

#76

Grocery stores make very little money from the middle of the store. Most of the profit comes from the produce department.

Imajica0921 Report

#77

In development aid projects (by the big players), the "need" for the project and the "design" to bring about desired change, is often just crafted in drawing rooms based on assumptions. Rarely do people actually visit the sites before a project starts to ask the community what they truly need. Once the funding comes in, the communities are told that you need this and you'll benefit out of it, but TBH, the people who benifit the most are the development aid employees and few government officials. Or if it's an USAID project, those who benifit are the US corporations often at the cost of the communities' livelihood (and the environment), especially in developing countries.

nooooowhaatnooo Report

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#78

Not mine but my aunt is a teacher, the public charter schools in our area wait until after the district has counted their students to expel them and send them into the public school system. Our district has a day where they inspect the school’s attendance and allocates money for the year per child in attendance. The charter schools pocket the difference while the public schools are over crowded and under funded

blindmokuba Report

#79

Insurance rep here. Your credit score matters more than people realize. It can affect your auto insurance premium by as much as $100 a month. And if you're a renter, I can pretty much ballpark your credit score by running a renters insurance quote for you. The higher the monthly premium for your renters insurance, the shittier your credit score.

Lyn1987 Report

#80

Depending on the state, security guards can't actually detain you if they suspect you of a crime.

Ghost_of_Askreddit Report

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#81

Red light camera citations are tied to the car and not you. Change either the color or the license plate, and it's a different car.

sapphire114 Report

#82

I work at a fabrication shop and the number of times something isn’t to spec and still gets sent out is unbelievable

whatsupnorton Report

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#83

I have worked in enough restaurants that I can say with absolute certainty, that no matter where you go to eat, nearly every person in the kitchen is high as f*ck while cooking your food, I’ve even worked at places where we would sometimes go in the walk-in cooler to shotgun beers after the lunch or dinner rush. Kitchen staff do not give a single f*ck about rules other than food safety

Darth_Aracnus Report

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#84

Well, it's not a secret, but I've found some people to be surprised by this when I explain them.

The majority of technical articles you read on specialized commercial press, even interviews and such, are created by comms and marketing teams of corporations. Also, lots of similar stuff in generic press too.

Like, don't know, "Why multiplayer games are better than SP" or whatever, published in WhateverPCGaming or the like. Signed by a member of that publication. People like my overlords determined the subject and the opinion we want to form into people. THen people like me craft that text, or content or whatever, and then we send it to our press partners.

Loeb123 Report

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#85

Teachers have favorites and talk sh*t about the students they don't like all the time. I was a teacher for 10+ years and ate lunch in the teachers' lounge like 4 times because I just couldn't stand it. I'm talking about kids as young as kindergarten. Same thing with parents. Teachers talk sh*t about them. "PITA parent" is a common name given to parents who DARE to contact teachers about their kids (though parents who call and demand better grades for their kids - fully entitled and truly assh*les, usually).

DTownForever Report

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#86

If you're at at a cheap burger place in a poorer part of town or understaffed. There's absolutely a chance people don't wash their hands before cooking, or don't wear gloves. I've seen plenty of buns hit the dirty ass floor and still be used.

Germanweirdo Report

#87

We don't have time to call your references or old employers unless you're interviewing for a more prominent position.

Lie away.

TheClassics Report

#88

that remodeling only actually costs about 1/3rd of what people typically pay for and almost none of the work is actually particularly difficult or dangerous. people think its some mysterious profession frought with plumbing and electrical perils and scary equipment.

the real magic ive seen is older contractors who can bid a job within five minutes of seeing the work.

anyway, learn yourself a youtube to learn remodeling and DIY.

BadGuyLeviathan Report

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