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“Who Knows What They Put In These Things”: 30 Industries More Shady Than You Might Think

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All that glitters is not gold might be a cliché, but it’s a cliché for a reason. Reminding us that not everything is as good as it might seem, it can be fitting to describe nearly everything, including all sorts of industries. While some appear to be nothing but positive, they can bear a hidden dark side, typically not well-known to everyone.

Members of the ‘Ask Reddit’ community recently discussed such industries, after the user ‘attilabodnar’ asked them which ones are a lot shadier than they seem. Fellow redditors shared their views, covering everything from cosmetics and wigs to hearing aids and nursing homes, among other things. Scroll down to find their answers on the list below to learn more about what industries people consider shady and why.

This post may include affiliate links.

#1

“Who Knows What They Put In These Things”: 30 Industries More Shady Than You Might Think Funeral Business. Guilting little old ladies into spending money they don't have to give their husbands a funeral "they deserve".

JaxJim , Pavel Danilyuk Report

Final score:

132points

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#2

“Who Knows What They Put In These Things”: 30 Industries More Shady Than You Might Think Department of human resources in every industry. Despite the name, they are not there to help the employees. They are there to keep the employers out of trouble.

EngineerMinded , Andrea Piacquadio Report

Final score:

119points

General Anaesthesia 1 year ago (edited)

Human resources, like natural resources, are there to be exploited in corporate processes and the waste products disposed of as cheaply as possible. That's what the HR department is for.

34points

María Hermida 1 year ago

Very good definition!

2points

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Ray Carrillo 1 year ago

Human Resources exists to protect the company, not employees.

8points

Bexxperience 1 year ago

The term "human resource" did not tip you off?

7points

BrownTabby 1 year ago

I enjoy the fact that some non-English-speaking corporations straight up refer to their employees as “our human resources” for reasons that are actually a linguistic thing but it sounds like they’re saying the quiet part out loud.

2points

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Sussy painting 1 year ago

My mom is in HR and she does not do that. she supports and makes sure people dont want to Kill themselves.

3points

TheBlueBitterfly 1 year ago

Because killing themselves hurts the business.

0points

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madbakes 1 year ago

While they are there to protect the company, they do also help employees.

2points

Sussy painting 1 year ago

My mom is in HR and she does not do that at all. She supports and listens to workers and makes sure they dont want to kts.

2points

Sussy painting 1 year ago

It is sad that most people see Hr a*s that, as somtimes they have to do their job People are getting angry at them because they somtimes have to make workers get in line. WOrking is not for mucking about it is to... well work, and Hr does that

1point

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Ace 1 year ago

Nothing in the name would suggest otherwise, and who ever, in all of the years of Personnelle, HR or the new one "People Operations", has ever believed that their function was to help employees?

2points

Beachbum 11 months ago

This is just a known fact

1point

Leigh James 1 year ago

"Human Resources is neither human nor resourceful, discuss." Old SNL skit.

1point

David Paterson 1 year ago

Don't have one in Australia.

1point

Judy Chandler 10 months ago

So incredibly true!

0points

Bruce Horton 1 year ago

Two things can be true at the same time. HR protects the employee and the company, anyone who has worked at a reputable organization knows this.

0points

Captain Panda 1 year ago

Eff HR and the jerks that work there!

0points

Christof Irran 1 year ago

I think the term "Human Resources" makes it pretty clear that you are being viewed as having no value beyond what can be extracted from you. Who is doing the devaluing of your person may not be the people working in HR, but investors in the company's stock and the company's board that is answerable to them use HR as their tool to suppress and instill fear in the workforce. Yet HR plays a key roll in advising on how to go about dumping the older members of the workforce so as not to expose the firm to too many lawsuits that need to be settled.

0points

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#3

“Who Knows What They Put In These Things”: 30 Industries More Shady Than You Might Think Recycling. A lot of stuff gets shipped to Asia or just dumped in a landfill.

javanator999 , Sigmund Report

Final score:

104points

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#4

“Who Knows What They Put In These Things”: 30 Industries More Shady Than You Might Think College book industry

Begood18 , Pixabay Report

Final score:

98points

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#5

“Who Knows What They Put In These Things”: 30 Industries More Shady Than You Might Think Insurance. Life insurance, car insurance, health insurance, whatever.

People tend to trust insurance companies, which is nuts. Nice-seeming people wearing nice business clothes, sometimes in a nice office, with nice, neat forms to fill out and nice, long contracts to sign. Everything seems proper. Everything seems fair.

These companies DENY claims at every opportunity. That makes up a lot of their profit, the denial of valid claims. The more you pay per month the happier they are and nicer they seem, but that doesn't make them any more likely to give all your money back (and then some on top) when something supposedly insured-against happens.

If an insurance company CAN deny any claim, they WILL. It's pure profit. Then they'll often raise your rates, seemingly as punishment for daring to file a claim.

professorjaytee , Andrea Piacquadio Report

Final score:

93points

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#6

“Who Knows What They Put In These Things”: 30 Industries More Shady Than You Might Think Fine art dealers. Apparently it's a massive unregulated "grey market" that is largely about money laundering.

Yellowbug2001 , Clem Onojeghuo Report

Final score:

92points

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#7

“Who Knows What They Put In These Things”: 30 Industries More Shady Than You Might Think Healthcare (at least in the US).

AverageInsult , Antoni Shkraba Report

Final score:

80points

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#8

“Who Knows What They Put In These Things”: 30 Industries More Shady Than You Might Think Nursing Homes

Outrageous-Echo-2199 , Matthias Zomer Report

Final score:

75points

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#9

“Who Knows What They Put In These Things”: 30 Industries More Shady Than You Might Think Clothing donation bins . It all gets sorted and separated and sold . The trash gets donated at the very very bare minimum required .

12 years ago my old warehouse landlord had a $50 million dollar business just sorting the clothes .

Vintage/ designer stuff got sold for top dollar .

Medium quality sold in bulk

S**t quality sold in bales by weight

Garbage quality donated

They had 20 employees just sorting belts he told me lol .

Same goes for book donations ( better world books , thrift books ) . It all gets sold on Amazon and the trash recycled or exported to 3rd world countries . Less than 5% of PROFITS got donated and since they where non profits executive pays where sky high and corporate profits beat zero

Productpusher , Thomas_H_fot Report

Final score:

71points

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#10

“Who Knows What They Put In These Things”: 30 Industries More Shady Than You Might Think Cosmetics. The industry is highly unregulated and there’s not a lot of consequences for making false or misleading claims about products. Who knows what they put in these things.

lemontreetops , Dan Cristian Pădureț Report

Final score:

60points

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#11

“Who Knows What They Put In These Things”: 30 Industries More Shady Than You Might Think Not exactly shady, but the restaurant/bar industry is pretty wild. Everyone is on drugs and sleeping with each other. Highly recommend, it was a great time.

SylviaKaysen , Robin Stickel Report

Final score:

57points

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#12

“Who Knows What They Put In These Things”: 30 Industries More Shady Than You Might Think The wig industry. There are pretty much only 2 wig makers in the world and they repackage the wigs according to what company you buy from. So a Beyoncé at one company, might be another company's Auburn blonde. Also when I worked for a company we had a lifetime guarantee on the wigs, so people would have it for a few years then return it. All we did was wash it in an industrial washing machine, restyle it then sell it as new.

Minimum_Water_4347 , Seva Kruhlov Report

Final score:

56points

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#13

“Who Knows What They Put In These Things”: 30 Industries More Shady Than You Might Think The addiction treatment industry. Trust me, there are some good program, but a lot of very greedy, evil people that capitalize on providing you treatment, then you relapsing, and getting you into the cycle of treatment/relapse/treatment. Very shady.

bigbubblegumballs , cottonbro studio Report

Final score:

56points

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#14

“Who Knows What They Put In These Things”: 30 Industries More Shady Than You Might Think Anything related to eye glasses.

TedIsAwesom , Ksenia Chernaya Report

Final score:

55points

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#15

“Who Knows What They Put In These Things”: 30 Industries More Shady Than You Might Think The defense industry. The largest defense contract ever, the F-35 joint strike fighter, is a cost plus contract. Meaning there was no fixed price. Lockheed gets paid whatever they spend plus a percent as profit. Trillions of tax dollars will be spent on it.

No-Wallaby-5568 , Sipal Photography Report

Final score:

51points

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#16

“Who Knows What They Put In These Things”: 30 Industries More Shady Than You Might Think Car dealerships including both sales and the service department. When my car was still under warranty I used to take it to the dealer for service. Every single time I'm there for an oil change they do their scare tactics; we recommend this service. Whenever I ask, do I really need it they always say if you skip it this and that bad thing will happen. One time they did a brake job on all 4 wheels. The following appointment they again said I need a brake job on the rear. I was so livid and asked them, what do you mean I need a break job? You just did it on my last appointment! So, what did I pay for the last time I was here? I caught them with their pants down. The service manager apologized (didn't really work, I was still mad) and said they'll do the rear brake job for free. I never did get a proper explanation but it this happened years ago so I don't remember. That was the last time I went to that place for service.

drooln92 , Pixabay Report

Final score:

51points

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#17

“Who Knows What They Put In These Things”: 30 Industries More Shady Than You Might Think Realtors.

Own-Veterinarian8193 , RDNE Stock project Report

Final score:

49points

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#18

“Who Knows What They Put In These Things”: 30 Industries More Shady Than You Might Think Automotive repair and it is getting worse. What we need is investigators that take vehicles in with known problems and prosecute the criminals that misdiagnose or just plain sell parts and services not needed. In the 80's California shut down all of Montgomery Wards service departments in the state for abusing customers.

Weird-Individual2155 , Andrea Piacquadio Report

Final score:

48points

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#19

“Who Knows What They Put In These Things”: 30 Industries More Shady Than You Might Think Hearing aids. Lots of unqualified people selling hearing aids with a 500% markup or more.

weisblattsnut , Mark Paton Report

Final score:

45points

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#20

“Who Knows What They Put In These Things”: 30 Industries More Shady Than You Might Think Property management

Icy_Marionberry1866 , MART PRODUCTION Report

Final score:

42points

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#21

“Who Knows What They Put In These Things”: 30 Industries More Shady Than You Might Think Many nonprofits are extremely Shady. I was program manager for one of the larger nonprofits in America. I didn't know at the time, my real job with teach corporate Executives, how to make millions using the non-profit system. Worst job I ever had. I left after 6 months. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying all non-profits are shady and bad, they're not. Most are not. However if you want to make an ungodly amount of money, nonprofit is great for that. Just make sure to give up your morals, your conscience and your values.

lets_talk2566 , Viacheslav Bublyk Report

Final score:

41points

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#22

“Who Knows What They Put In These Things”: 30 Industries More Shady Than You Might Think Most consultancies.

It’s very rare you get a specialized service. They come up with a common method for doing things, apply it to most projects, and charge thousands a day for it.

PurahsHero , Gabrielle Henderson Report

Final score:

39points

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#23

“Who Knows What They Put In These Things”: 30 Industries More Shady Than You Might Think Universities and Colleges.

apat85 , RUT MIIT Report

Final score:

39points

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#24

“Who Knows What They Put In These Things”: 30 Industries More Shady Than You Might Think At least in Toronto Canada, the Towing industry is really dark and run by organized crime groups. There’s basically a turf war between the few companies that had lead to assault and murder of competitors, and fire bombing of tow trucks.

the_junglist , ifer endahl Report

Final score:

38points

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#25

“Who Knows What They Put In These Things”: 30 Industries More Shady Than You Might Think Fertility industry

Alarmed-Part4718 , Pavel Danilyuk Report

Final score:

37points

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#26

“Who Knows What They Put In These Things”: 30 Industries More Shady Than You Might Think Almonds. They suck California dry of water.

perfect-horrors , cottonbro studio Report

Final score:

37points

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#27

“Who Knows What They Put In These Things”: 30 Industries More Shady Than You Might Think High end sports memorabilia and high end used cars. Just legalized money laundering that often times is never reported. Game used Brady jerseys sell for $500k.

jammastergeneral , Ricky Esquivel Report

Final score:

26points

#28

“Who Knows What They Put In These Things”: 30 Industries More Shady Than You Might Think The 'financial services' and 'financial advisors'. They portray themselves as organized and honest but they're stealing a lot of us blind.

RicksterA2 , Scott Graham Report

Final score:

26points

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#29

Academia

brojopatrimac Report

Final score:

25points

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#30

“Who Knows What They Put In These Things”: 30 Industries More Shady Than You Might Think The Non-Profit Industrial Complex.

Turns out, a lot of do-gooder liberal types are shady hucksters just like right wing grifters.

They do funny things like acknowledge the original natives of the land they're on while intimidating and pressuring employees not to form a union.

Puzzleheaded_Heat19 , Andrea Piacquadio Report

Final score:

22points

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Miglė Miliūtė

A writer here at Bored Panda, I am a lover of good music, good food, and good company, which makes food-related topics and feel-good stories my favorite ones to cover. Passionate about traveling and concerts, I constantly seek occasions to visit places yet personally unexplored. I also enjoy spending free time outdoors, trying out different sports—even if I don’t look too graceful at it—or socializing over a cup of coffee.

A writer here at Bored Panda, I am a lover of good music, good food, and good company, which makes food-related topics and feel-good stories my favorite ones to cover. Passionate about traveling and concerts, I constantly seek occasions to visit places yet personally unexplored. I also enjoy spending free time outdoors, trying out different sports—even if I don’t look too graceful at it—or socializing over a cup of coffee.

Kotryna Br

Kotryna is a Photo Editor at Bored Panda with a BA in Graphic Design. Before Bored Panda, she worked as a freelance graphic designer and illiustrator. When not editing, she enjoys working with clay, drawing, playing board games and drinking good tea.

Kotryna is a Photo Editor at Bored Panda with a BA in Graphic Design. Before Bored Panda, she worked as a freelance graphic designer and illiustrator. When not editing, she enjoys working with clay, drawing, playing board games and drinking good tea.

What do you think ?

Heather Lambie 1 year ago

Why was The Dairy industry not in this list!? Let's see, forcibly impregnating cows, then as soon as calves are born, taking those babies away from their mothers to either be slaughtered for veal or pet food or put right back into the system, then stealing the milk that the mother ciw produced for her stolen baby just do it can go into coffee cereal etc, continuing this horrid cycle for approx 4 more years at which time the cow is so spent and broken that many times they are literally dragged into a truck to be carried to slaughter! The average lifespan of a dairy cow... 5 years. Cows can live to be 20!! Not the happy looking industry they WANT you to think about!!! Also, many cows are slaughtered when extremely pregnant!! Those unborn babies are then also slaughtered and used for high end calf skin leather!! F*****g awful and cruel industry!! Stop using dairy!!!

2points

PeepPeep the duck 1 year ago (edited)

What country is this, I’m staying in a cattle and dairy farm and babies get to be with mothers all day expect working hours for the mums, babies get to play in the baby paddock with retired cows 🐄 it’s clean and there’s nothing shady in any QLD it NSW dairy I’ve stayed at. There’s is also no rain atm and dam shave dried up and barely any food, but the farmer is in day and night getting water and food transported constantly so no one is affected health wise too

1point

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Will Cable 1 year ago

Companies and policies that claim to be 'green' but when you look into them you realise they are far from environmentally caring

1point

Jaguarundi 1 year ago

Organized religion, televangelists and Mega-Churches are all selling pipe dreams for real profits.

1point

Bruce Horton 1 year ago

Typical dystoporn fro BP, lots of generalizations from what is suspect are from people who have zero real world experience to back up their claims.

0points

El Dee 1 year ago

This feels like it's all, or mostly, one single country. I think most other countries don't have this level of lawlessness..

0points

Admiralu 1 year ago

Therapy

0points

TMoxraaaar 1 year ago

The guys who work at the transfer station (dump) in my town LOVE their jobs. They always look like they are laughing at an in-joke. I am 99% sure all that stuff we separate gets thrown in a landfill together. I had to laugh when they put a pro-Trump sign up. I can't think of a better place for it than the dump.

0points

Heather Lambie 1 year ago

Why was The Dairy industry not in this list!? Let's see, forcibly impregnating cows, then as soon as calves are born, taking those babies away from their mothers to either be slaughtered for veal or pet food or put right back into the system, then stealing the milk that the mother ciw produced for her stolen baby just do it can go into coffee cereal etc, continuing this horrid cycle for approx 4 more years at which time the cow is so spent and broken that many times they are literally dragged into a truck to be carried to slaughter! The average lifespan of a dairy cow... 5 years. Cows can live to be 20!! Not the happy looking industry they WANT you to think about!!! Also, many cows are slaughtered when extremely pregnant!! Those unborn babies are then also slaughtered and used for high end calf skin leather!! F*****g awful and cruel industry!! Stop using dairy!!!

2points

PeepPeep the duck 1 year ago (edited)

What country is this, I’m staying in a cattle and dairy farm and babies get to be with mothers all day expect working hours for the mums, babies get to play in the baby paddock with retired cows 🐄 it’s clean and there’s nothing shady in any QLD it NSW dairy I’ve stayed at. There’s is also no rain atm and dam shave dried up and barely any food, but the farmer is in day and night getting water and food transported constantly so no one is affected health wise too

1point

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Will Cable 1 year ago

Companies and policies that claim to be 'green' but when you look into them you realise they are far from environmentally caring

1point

Jaguarundi 1 year ago

Organized religion, televangelists and Mega-Churches are all selling pipe dreams for real profits.

1point

Bruce Horton 1 year ago

Typical dystoporn fro BP, lots of generalizations from what is suspect are from people who have zero real world experience to back up their claims.

0points

El Dee 1 year ago

This feels like it's all, or mostly, one single country. I think most other countries don't have this level of lawlessness..

0points

Admiralu 1 year ago

Therapy

0points

TMoxraaaar 1 year ago

The guys who work at the transfer station (dump) in my town LOVE their jobs. They always look like they are laughing at an in-joke. I am 99% sure all that stuff we separate gets thrown in a landfill together. I had to laugh when they put a pro-Trump sign up. I can't think of a better place for it than the dump.

0points

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