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31 Insider Secrets From Various Jobs That You’re Not Supposed To Know, But Are Industry Standards
Every job is its own weird little universe, with its own set of unbreakable rules and unspoken truths. It's the "common knowledge" that professionals learn on day one that the rest of us are completely, blissfully unaware of. It’s the secret menu of every single industry.
An online community threw open the doors and asked people from all walks of life to share one of these secrets. The responses are a mind-blowing peek behind the curtain, revealing the things we were never supposed to know about our food, our health, and even our pets. Prepare to look at some jobs in a totally different way.
More info: Reddit
Discover more in 43 Insider Secrets From Various Jobs That You're Not Supposed To Know, But Are Industry Standards
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#1
I don’t know about the “average person,” but as a former consular officer, it never failed to surprise me how many American citizens are shocked to learn that they have no special privileges overseas, that they are fully subject to local laws even if something is legal “back home,” and that the most a consulate or embassy will likely be able to do for you if you get in trouble is visit you in jail some time in the first few weeks and bring you a list of local lawyers.
If you’re really lucky, we’ll bring along some fresh fruit and a couple of old paperbacks, although that’s getting rarer.
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#2
That an ungodly amount of people in big fancy office buildings have their usernames/passwords on a sticky note on their monitor.
I’m a janitor.
#3
Animal rescue and vet tech: People will give up a dog they've had for years and not shed a tear. They treat it like an errand. Some people don't stay with their pet when it gets euthanized. In the first instance, the dog will not want to leave the lobby and will watch you walk away, confused and try to follow. In the second, they look expectantly around the room for their person before they fall asleep.
Ever seen an expert look at you like you have three heads because you don't know something that's incredibly obvious to them? There's a name for that brain glitch: the "Curse of Knowledge." As the experts at The Decision Lab explain, it's a cognitive bias where someone who knows a lot about a subject forgets what it's like to not know it.
They can no longer imagine seeing the world from a beginner's perspective. This is the reason so many professionals in the online thread were genuinely shocked by what the public doesn't know. To them, it's just a normal Tuesday; to us, it's a mind-blowing secret.
#4
Any Naval vessel manned and maintained from the mid-1960s to the mid-2000s is likely operating with electronic components purchased from Radio Shack by desperate sailors who knew that obtaining the same parts through The System might take as long as 6 months.
Don't ask me how I know.
#5
A lot of wannabe authors pick writing because they think it's the easiest way to put their story into an artistic format. Fun fact: writing is not any easier than any other art.
#6
Half my job is basically watching people find out the hard way that “no one reads that stuff” is not a legal defense.
If you've ever felt guilty for letting a single banana go brown, brace yourself. One of the most common and shocking secrets came from people in the food industry, from grocery store clerks to restaurant chefs: the sheer, epic scale of food waste. We're not talking about a few scraps either. These insiders are talking about mountains of perfectly edible produce, bread, and meals getting tossed every single day.
According to The Restaurant HQ, a single restaurant can produce an estimated 25,000 to 75,000 pounds of food waste in just one year. This terrifying statistic also contributes to the global climate crisis, so maybe think twice next time you send back that untouched side salad.
#7
There are more people with personality disorders (borderline, narcissistic, antisocial) walking among us than most realize.
Also, your therapist most certainly has their own psych diagnosis. Your psychiatrist probably does.
#9
Many theater costumes aren't washed but are sprayed with vodka water to get rid of the bacteria that otherwise causes them to stink. It's worse if the show is double cast, and it's a 2 show day. The second performer has to wear a costume that's slightly damp with someone else's sweat. Wearing a t-shirt underneath helps. Pit pads, also known as dress shields, are sometimes used. They're snapped in place and laundered daily.
Here's a secret that will change the way you shop forever. Several retail and manufacturing insiders on the thread confirmed what we've all secretly suspected: the fancy brand-name product and the cheaper store-brand version are often the exact same thing, made in the same factory, just put in a different box.
Strategy expert Bob Caporale explains this is a genius business move because if a company can market one product under several brands, they can cover way more ground in the market but also cut their costs." So next time you're in the cereal aisle, remember that the only real difference between those two boxes might just be the price tag and the quality of the cartoon mascot.
#10
As a locomotive engineer I’m not supposed to apply the emergency brakes until after I’ve hit you.
#11
How much store brand stuff is basically name brand stuff in different packaging. It's wild how much I have learned and saved from knowing this.
#12
That big companies in charge of your money, utilities, health etc. are all useless at IT and data security.
We imagine a corporate headquarters is like Fort Knox, with firewalls, biometric scanners, and laser grids. The shocking truth? According to IT professionals and office workers in the thread, your entire digital life is often being protected by the digital equivalent of a piece of tape, with passwords simply being stored on a sticky note.
The statistics are just as terrifying as the stories. A report from Spacelift found that 45% of people still write their passwords down, and a staggering 55% use the same password for multiple accounts. The IT guy in the thread is right to be sweating because the biggest security threat isn't a master hacker, it's Brenda from accounting and her love of the password "Password123."
#13
Nonprofit (and also education):
First three quarters: spend as little as possible
Last quarter: IF WE DON'T SPEND THIS GRANT THEY WON'T GIVE US AS MUCH NEXT YEAR.
Data1001 1 month ago
Various departments in large companies operate similarly -- if they're getting close to the end of the fiscal year, and haven't spent very much of their budget, they'll spend it on something they didn't really need or want, because if they don't, the next year their budget allocation will typically be smaller.
#14
Concrete doesn’t “dry” it cures through a chemical reaction and will do so under water. The same design mix of concrete will cure harder under water than above water.
#15
Most software you use is held together with some of the worst code imaginable
Source: some of which I have written.
We look at professionals like surgeons, teachers, and engineers as infallible superhumans who have it all figured out. But the most common, and perhaps most terrifying, secret shared by insiders is just how much of their job involves guesswork, winging it, and making mistakes. According to the Niagara Institute, the average person makes about 15 human errors for every 100 opportunities.
So when a teacher in the thread admits to passing a kid who can barely read, or a surgeon confesses that a lot of what they do is an educated guess, they're just revealing the messy, human reality of every single profession. It’s a terrifying, but also weirdly comforting, reminder that everyone is just trying their best.
Do you have any trade secrets that you want to share with the layman? Share them in the comments section!
#17
Working wholesale produce , it would break your heart to know how much food you have to throw away.
#18
Working at an opticians taught me that most people have no idea how bad their eyesight actually is.
They'll walk in saying "my vision's fine", then read the chart like they're trying to guess lottery numbers.
The wild part is when they finally put on the right prescription and go, "Wow, I didn't know the world looked like this."
Happens way more often than you'd think.
#19
Most food goes to waste just because it has a dent or produce/fruit has a blemish. They refuse to donate the food because they get tax write offs for damaged goods, and even after they document it; they still lock up their garbage so nobody can have the perfectly good food that is being wasted away.
#20
Safety guy for a construction company.
You know those diagrams at a butcher shop that shows what part of the animal makes what cut off meat.
Every state work comp has what is called a "meat chart". It basically lists out what each body part is worth and how many weeks off you get if you lose said body part or if it becomes non functioning.
#21
That the 'urgent' project request you just submitted will sit untouched for three days before anyone actually starts working on it.
#23
Accounting for big businesses isn't as black and white as people think it is. There are rules for a lot of it but at the same time there is a ton of gray area that we have no idea how to navigate. I've seen multiple high level directors get annoyed because they got into accounting because they liked the strict rules of the numbers and where the numbers go, only to now be forced to make decisions for millions of dollars with very little direction or rules.
#24
Engineering and project management boils down to telling clients "no" without saying the word and finding creative ways to do so.
#25
The process of getting electricity to your house is so complex and technical, you can’t believe how cheap it really is.
#26
I actually cannot have you instantly "committed" if you say you want to hurt yourself. In fact I probably could not get you into inpatient psych treatment if you wanted very much to go and clearly needed it.
#28
That we’re horribly understaffed and always on the verge of causing people to go homeless or starve or both.
#29
If you didn't put it there, you DONT TOUCH IT. People at my work have been fired for picking up the "cool thing" they found out in a field.
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