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Sometimes, ignorance can be bliss. That's especially true when we're talking about other people's jobs. People visit hospitals, airports, and hotels every day, but there are lots of things behind the scenes that they don't see. Smashed luggage, poor cleaning practices, and doctors' real personalities are often for employees' eyes only.
Luckily, some folks online who work in these fields sometimes spill the tea and enlighten the rest of us. Recently, one netizen asked hotel, airport, and hospital workers to share their behind-the-scenes facts that would most likely shock the general public.
They wrote, "People who work in hotels/hospitals/airports: what's something the public doesn't know?" Read on to find out the inner workings of these industries, and keep these stories in mind the next time you pay them a visit.
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#1
I supported doctors in IT for a while, I can tell you they are both the smartest and dumbest people I've ever met.
I had one who could take a human brain apart and put it back together, but kept all of his passwords, bank accounts, social security number, and every other personally identifiable thing on sheet of paper stuck to the back of his laptop. He got a very short and grumpy response when I suggested that was a bad idea and also told him I could make all that an encrypted file on his laptop.
You didn't ask, but the second dumbest for IT professionals are lawyers, but I assume they are very good at practicing law.
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#2
When requesting your medical records tell them ‘it’s for continued care’ and you won’t be charged to get your records.
#3
I was a chef for many years and nothing crazy in the kitchen but from other departments… Housekeeping is so overworked. It is hard to stay at hotels now. Knowing they probably clean all with the same rag.
#4
ICU nurse here. The odds that a patient that codes and is successfully resuscitated will survive until discharge are way lower than you would think.
#5
Hospital chaplain, someone passing away at age 90 surrounded by friends and family is actually a happy visit for me, not sad.
Young, traumatic passings, stillbirth, people being kept alive in the ICU well past their due date to family not honoring their wishes, these are the sad ones.
#6
If you’re told to be at the hospital at 6 AM for your procedure you’re slotted for 7:30 or after. You have to go through admissions first. Then to pre-op. Then anesthesia will come and assess you. Next surgeon will stop by the bay. Then you wait. If an emergency comes up, you wait longer. It’s frustrating but please be glad that you are not the “emergency”.
Also, hospitals can get bed bugs too.
#7
Nothing is as clean as you think it is. Except for the actual sterilized equipment or one time use items
Although I think most people know this by now.
I’m referring to hospitals
#9
If you pass away during flight the Captain will decide to continue to final destination or divert to nearest airport.
If diverting to nearest airport the crew will move the body to an empty row of seats. If empty row unavailable they will place the body in the rear galley and cover with blankets.
If continuing to final destinations the crew may leave the body in the seat and remove passengers to other seats for the duration of the flight.
Typically you may not know someone has passed away during flight. The crew does their best to maintain calm and not draw attention to the situation.
#10
People think airports run on giant systems and precision. Half the time it’s exhausted workers holding together a chain reaction with coffee and pure stubbornness.
#11
We have a code phrase for "this person is being creepy" over the radio. You'd never hear it unless you needed to. - Hotel staff
#12
I used to work at a very small airport (three flights in and out a day on a turboprop) where we were all simultaneously the ticket agents, gate agents, security personnel, and baggage handlers. We also fueled and de-iced the planes, along with cleaning the cabin between flights.
DO NOT mess around with the people who have your travel plans in their hands. Don't yell at them if your flight is delayed or if your bags don't make it. They can make it a whole lot worse.
#14
I work in IT for a massive hotel chain, and previously designed 911 system infrastructure (so not hospital, but adjacent).
It's honestly breathtaking (terrifying) how antiquated some of the massive core systems are that run these industries. Southwest Airlines crew scheduling system outage was a great example of this a few years ago.
Back when I worked in 911, I saw systems still in operation that actually made me nervous. There was a lot of "we don't want to invest in upgrading yet and it still works, so our most important task is to make sure that it never shuts off." And we're talking about the MOST CRITICAL communications network in the country. Granted, the level of antiquity varies by region/locale. But still lol.
Edited to add: I've seen phone systems almost as old as I am still landing active 911 calls - and I'm almost 30 lol. Now the larger, better-funded municipalities have moved to E911 with SIP trunks and whatnot, but old copper landlines are definitely still out there.
#15
Don't be embarrassed if you accidentally leave an adult item out in your hotel room and housekeeping comes. They've seen much worse. Don't use this as an excuse to leave them out on purpose.
#16
Hotel superchains (Hilton, Marriott, and such) keep notes on your account... forever. Do something "notable" and we put it down. When you check in, it displays on their screens. Good, bad, ugly... it's right there. Passed off a maid 10 years ago at the Orange County Hilton? It's still there when you check into the st louis hampton. Good tips? Bad tips? NO tips? Bought pizza for their desk staff at the Marriott Chicago? Yeah, that's there too. The moral?
Don't be a jerk; be Good... be better. We'll reciprocate, even decades later.
Hotels NEVER forget.
#17
Used to work in housekeeping for a hotel as a teenager. If someone requested early check in or we were on a time crunch, we were told to “clean” by making some quick vacuum lines in the floor and spraying lemon Pledge in the air to make it “smell clean.” And yes, the comforters never get washed.
#18
House keeping uses the bath towels and other kinds of towels to wipe EVERTHING while cleaning the whole room.
#19
In every patient room literal poo has been all over the floor, walls, equipment and sometimes even ceiling….
#20
If an aircraft goes tech (breaks or something) then they can often tell the crew in advance, but will not tell any passengers -they want them at the airport to wait.
#21
A whole lot of co-worker adult "playtime" going on in hotels and hospitals. I can't vouch for airports, but I've worked in hospitality, and currently in healthcare, and it's common.
#22
At a Hospital, one of the reasons we slap that wristband on you is for morgue ID purposes. Have a nice day.
#23
I can’t (or couldn’t) tell you if someone passed away in your room or any ghost stories because it’s bad for business. (I’m aware that some people seek those rooms, but not every hotel wants that kind of publicity)
I worked over ten years for a major (the biggest they said!) hotel company and my boss would get mad when I tell the new staff about these stories.
#24
Airport.
The number of buzzing bags in the bag room after they tumble their way down the baggage conveyors.
Pax claim they are "electric toothbrushes" nine out of ten times.
When we are short of staff, the lav guy also does the potable water. The good people do the potable water first.
#26
Comforters on your beds in hotel rooms are not washed between guests. If they are stained or look rough, then they wash them. They make your bed in a specific way so the comforter isn't the main blanket on top touching you. The sheets are cleaned every time though.
Some of the rooms are not vacuumed either. Just lint rolled.
Housekeepers are on tight schedules most of the time, with strict management breathing down your back, so don't blame them.
I used to work front desk for many years.
#27
No one passes away in the Operating Room, they pass away after moving out of the room. No need to delay scheduled surgeries and impacting revenue.
#28
Hospitals: how disgustingly dirty they are. Especially if you work in a non-patient area, it’s even worse. If the general public is going to be seeing an area they at least attempt to keep it somewhat clean looking. But I highly encourage you not to walk around barefoot, I’ve seen that far too many times 🤢.
#29
Mid hotels with complimentary breakfasts? Yeah, everything is premade and microwaved, or slid into slots on a massive oven. Whatever isn't eaten gets put away and reheated for the next day.
The breakfast juice machine never gets unplugged, it has a switch under the front edge you can turn on. If you ask the staff nicely, they'll turn it on for you. I used to do it for parents with little kids all the time.
Showers and tubs, including Jacuzzi tubs, get sprayed with bleach, and that's it. I never saw the inside of the faucets or sprayers cleaned.
They keep a skeleton crew at night. I worked 3-11. After housecleaning left at 5ish, it was just me in a hotel of 30 rooms.
Key cards will deactivate if you keep them next to any magnetized strip, like a credit card.
#31
Hospital: maybe this isn't surprising and perhaps on par with other mid-to-high stress professions, but sooooo many staff are sleeping together/having affairs.
That being said...the hospital I worked at was staffed by highly competent and caring people from cooks and security guards to nurses and doctors.
#32
I worked as a front desk agent for a little while at a large conference and airport hotel (Marriott chain). Two points.
If the hotel requires a deposit or full payment on arrival try to use a credit card, not a debit card. Not even as "credit". Debit cards will pull the cost twice, which means you will see two charges - the first charge & the real charge - and it can take up to two weeks for the "not real" charge to drop off your account. A credit card will pull a single charge up, adjust the charge as needed (drop the deposit, add incidentals charges, whatever) and that will be the one that sticks. This was a *constant* issue with visitors. Constant. This can put you thousands of dollars in the hole for your entire vacation. Pay with a credit card if at all possible!
ALSO, IMPORTANTLY: if you are coming in on a work conference or similar at a Marriott, Hilton, etc. in the US: PLEASE make sure your company has filed the credit card authorization form with the hotel for their company card so that THEY can be charged, not you. This was a *huge* problem at the hotel I worked at. We had a lot of teacher conferences and they were the *worst* about this. Do NOT take Debbie in Accounting's word for it, please. Make sure they have filed the authorization. All hotels that do this kind of thing know exactly what you mean when you ask for it. A few extra minutes of work will save you a ton of problems later.
#35
Worked at a hotel one summer when I was younger. We were told to
- Just rinse the glasses in the bathroom.. I said hey can we please buy some dish soap? It took them 2 weeks to buy us dish soap
- We were told to only wash the comforters if there was a stain
- We never spray disinfected any of the upholstered seats/couches
You can imagine how I feel when I have to stay in a hotel hey? .
#36
Our tech is years behind current availability. It is hella slow and outdated, but they look fancy and new.
#38
Every single hotel gets bedbugs. You can’t prevent them and it has nothing to do with a hotel’s cleanliness.
#40
As a past waitress for years I can tell you most ice machines have cockroaches in them so check your ice cubes.
#42
Hospitals are nothing but a money machine. Novant has started billing every patient- regardless of WHY they came in - for "mental health screening" If you come to the Emergency room with a broken toe they ask you if you've thought about hurting yourself ...AND THEN BILL YOU FOR IT!!! Im sure there are other awful hospital systems too. But this one is BAAAAD.
#43
When you come in to the ER at 3am because your foot has been hurting all week, and you chose now to come in, yes I am judging you and your life choices!
#44
No matter where a hotel is located, it can be in the nicest area and it’s still full of weirdos. Something about hotels attracts the nuts.
#45
There are more than 250,000 passings in the US from medical mistakes and malpractice every year.
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