12 Employees Who Spilled the Dark Secrets of Their Jobs

Every workplace has its secrets, but some are darker than others. From shocking company policies to behind-the-scenes workplace tricks, there’s no shortage of jaw-dropping revelations from employees brave enough to share the truth. Whether it’s unethical practices or bizarre workplace rules, these insider stories expose the realities that often go unnoticed.

• Expiration or best-by dates are all about statistical avoidance of lawsuits. For an affluent neighborhood, they’ll set the expiration date to make sure like 99% of food is still good by that date. The 1% that’s not good, hopefully doesn’t get bought, or doesn’t make anyone sick, or doesn’t get anyone sick and file a suit.
  So when it passes, maybe the next expiration date is like 50% of food is still good by then. Same story goes for those people, except the likelihood of a lawsuit from people who aren’t exactly flushed with time or money drops drastically. © ArmadilloNo1122 / Reddit
• If you’re established and well-connected, it’s very easy to coast and be a TV writer for YEARS and do very little actual writing. Most of TV writing is just talking in a room with other writers spitballing.
  This is why there’s so many old, unfunny dudes still “writing” on TV shows. They’re hired by their friends and in TV, a lot of writers don’t actually do much “pen to paper” writing. Plus, everything gets rewritten to death. © GardenChic / Reddit
• My dad worked in a canning facility when he was younger for a short time where they packaged the name brand and off brand vegetables. Literally same goods, packaged in the same can, with a different label. One sold for more, and one sold for less. © NoahChyn / Reddit

• A ton of high schools are now doing “non-zero” grading. Which means that the minimum score on any test or assignment, even if the student doesn’t do it, is 50%. This means you can do 20% of the work in my class and pass it with a C-, or really go all out and do 35% of the work for a B.
  Some of my students are still failing with 55%, complaining to parents about how hard the class is, and it makes me want to scream into the void. © Unknown author / Reddit
• All those lines on the road in cities that aren’t painted that last a real long time? Arrows, exit points written on the road surface etc. All thermo plastic. Well over 2 tons of it per km. Constantly being replaced, and every time there is new asphalt on the road, a couple more tons goes down.
  All slowly being worn away into microscopic particles of plastic that go everywhere every time a car/ truck goes over it and weathering. Poisoning the planet with microplastics. Getting into your blood stream and having completely unstudied and unknown side effects on human populations. © manygungans / Reddit
• If you’re one of those people who can’t stand the idea of people touching your food with their hands, do not order anything in a restaurant that contains bread. That means toast, the bread that comes with dinners, croissants, Danishes, etc. Just don’t. © jeremyxt / Reddit

• Your luggage gets thrown from one side of the pit to the other. 9 times out of 10 they fall out of the cart on its way to or from the plane. But the biggest secret? Nobody in aviation makes good money except pilots who have been with the same company for 10+ years. © bpanio / Reddit
• Used to work in a life insurance call center. After about a year, I came to the realization that universal life policies were basically invented by insurance companies to get rid of older customers to avoid risk of a huge payout.
  Here’s how it works: Most people buy term policies when they’re young (which is advisable because they’re relatively inexpensive), but eventually those term policies will non-renew after 10, 20, 30 years. At that point you can either get re-rated for a whole new policy (which will be more expensive because you’re older), or keep the same health rating and covert it into a universal policy. © podslapper / Reddit
• Cinemas have bugs living in the soft furnishings that eat the tiny leftovers we miss when cleaning. Even with vacuuming, we can’t get the tiny pieces of food or spilled drink. Cockroaches and other small critters aren’t easy to spot in the dark, and they hide when the lights are on. Think about that next time you get comfortable. © SomewhatAnonamoose / Reddit

• Delivery driver, we add 10–15 minutes on the estimated delivery times so we seem speedy and not seem late if we’re stuck in traffic. We also charge delivery fees that most people don’t notice or ask about. © EggyBene / Reddit
• It costs no more to make a long distance call than any other call. © Really_Special_K / Reddit
• If you’re at a grocery store that’s part of a chain, and you look at a shelf and there’s an item that’s approximately at eye level, I guarantee you that a lot of money was paid by the company who makes it to put it there. There are lots of weird psychological tricks that go on in terms of how stores are laid out. © blueeyesredlipstick / Reddit

Here are 7 red flags to spot in a job posting.