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30 Secrets Large Corporations Don’t Want Customers To Know, Shared By Ex-Employees
Interview
When you suddenly have a deeper appreciation of how things work behind the scenes at global companies, the scales tend to fall from your eyes and the penny finally drops—corporations aren’t your friends. Not really. This little insight might not be anything groundbreaking, but the secrets leading up to it might just grab your attention.
Musician and video content creator Anna J., aka @annaxjames, asked people who used to work at companies, like retail and restaurant chains, to share the secrets that only employees know, and they delivered. We’ve collected the most intriguing responses to her viral video, and we’re bringing them to you, alongside other employee secrets from all over the web, dear Pandas. While some of these secrets are disturbing or sneaky, others actually give customers an advantage, so long as they know about them.
Scroll down and upvote the confidential insider info that you possibly had no idea about. And if you’ve ever worked for a large company, why not share what you’ve learned while there, in the comments?
Bored Panda reached out to Anna to have a long talk with her about her viral TikTok, whether or not there's such a thing as a 'perfect' job, potential red flags at the workplace, and how she has been creating music and video content since childhood. For her, having creative outlets is very fulfilling.
She was kind enough to answer all of our questions very honestly and clarified a lot of things that she wish people knew about the video. For one, she doesn't hold any grudges against the company she worked at in 2013/2014. She also stressed the fact that the brand has changed a lot of its practices for the better in the time since then. And she shared how fame on TikTok and in the media had some downsides for Anna, too, though at the core of everything, she enjoys creativity in and of itself, not for the sake of views. Scroll down for our in-depth interview with her. Meanwhile, if you'd like to see more of Anna's videos or learn about her music, check out her social media links here.
More info: TikTok | Instagram | YouTube | Twitter | Spotify
This post may include affiliate links.
I work for a casino. Pro tip: Don't go.
Anna, who is American, made the video while being isolated during a "super long, strick lockdown" in Toronto, Canada. Making TikToks was her way of passing the time. "Every day, I was just pumping out new TikTok content every day, all day, because I had nothing better to do. I've always loved hearing about my friends' silly jobs that they had as teenagers in high school, so I thought it would be funny to hear other people's stories," she told Bored Panda that she enjoyed hearing about people working at donut shops, dry cleaners, and elsewhere.
"I did not expect the video to get as much attention as it did, and I honestly kind of regret posting that video now. I wasn't clear enough in the video that I only wanted to hear the secrets of the silly jobs that people have had and not necessarily lifelong, professional careers. I worked at Hollister when I was 17 and a senior in high school, I would never make a video about any of the career-building jobs I've had in my adult life," she explained that if she were to make a similar video now, she would be far clearer and far more careful.
"I honestly don't really hold any hardcore grudges against Hollister. I was just sharing my experience and telling a story because I was out of content ideas and thought it was interesting because the company was known to be immoral in the early 2000s. I know the business has changed its practices since I worked there seven years ago," she pointed out.
When you go to a store, for example, you see like Oreo or Kellogg's and then you see the store's off-brand. It's called private labeling. The name brand company is producing the exact same product for the private label, that is significantly cheaper, but just as a different label. If you guys are familiar with the store Aldi, they actually require for their private label brand to have better specs than the name brand.
So for example, this company that I worked for, the name brand had a certain standard that they had to hold, but Aldi had a higher standard. So not only are you paying less at Aldi, you're getting a better product for way cheaper. Literally it's the same product in the kettle and they just swap out the labels at the end, but I'm going to make more.
In fact, a representative of Hollister had reacted to her video and had this to say: "As Anna states in her video, the brand is different than it once was. We firmly believe her past experience at Hollister is not reflective of our current brand." Anna told Bored Panda: "I think although Hollister has changed its values and hiring process in the past decade, I think my experience there as a 17-year-old in 2013/2014 is still valid."
On the one hand, the viral video "was really beneficial" to growing Anna's TikTok account which she sees as a blessing. On the other hand, she's slightly nervous that she may not have been painted in the most positive light in the media. She thinks that being called a 'former employee who spills company secrets' is "not a great look if I'm ever applying for jobs in the future."
"It's funny, too, because I would love to put on my resume that I started a viral TikTok trend, but the subject of it isn't the best look. I'm now much more aware of what I post on the internet," she told Bored Panda how the video impacted her.
Trader Joe's edition.
If you are walking through the store and see anything on the shelf, want to know what it tastes like, find a crew member and they will open it up for you. And you can try it.
We were able to give away flowers at any time. So if someone came in saying, oh, they had a bad day, or it was their birthday or something special was happening, we could go pick up flowers and give it to them.
Love Trader Joe's. Some unique foods you don find elsewhere. Nice employees too.
Musician Anna, from Atlanta in Georgia, started the viral TikTok video off by sharing her experiences working at the clothing company Hollister and how “kinda messed up” things were “back in the day.” There were two positions working at the store: back stock and model.
If you wanted to work the front of the house and interact with customers, you “had to be attractive.” You were rated on a scale of one to ten during an interview and then you either qualified or you didn’t. As Anna put it in her video, everything was based on looks at the time when she worked at the company years ago.
No job is perfect, but there’s a pretty broad line between a soulless and exhausting gig and a calling that makes you proud to work where you do.
In Anna's opinion, everyone has a dream job. However, once you actually get the job, it becomes work. "Everyone has complaints about their work, but I think a perfect job is getting paid to do something you absolutely love and are doing already," she shared her opinion.
"I believe that red flags at a company for me personally would be: employees don't receive respect, discrimination of any kind, communication isn't clear between everyone on the team, your work is not valued."
The "garlic butter" we put on our pizza crust is, in fact, garlic margarine. There's no dairy in it at all. I'll get customers calling in every once in a while who ask for soy cheese and no garlic butter, and if I'm feeling nice I'll let them in on the secret you they can enjoy that garlic-y goodness without worrying. "Garlic butter" just sounds more appetizing than the truth.
Editing for clarification/disclaimer: I work for a local pizza joint, not a chain. I deliver. I have nothing to do with making any food whatsoever. I know butter is healthier and that margarine isn't vegan, I don't care. You're ordering a f**king pizza, if health is your main concern you dun f**ked up already, son.
She continued: "Red flags at a minimum wage job or service industry job would most definitely be unsafe working conditions, inappropriate behavior from members of the team, discrimination of any kind, and unsupportive work shoes in the uniform, like what I mentioned in the Hollister video when we were only allowed to wear the flimsy flip-flops."
However, Anna still remains optimistic. "With the right working conditions, I think a 'perfect job' is one in an industry you're passionate about with people you respect and who genuinely care about your wellbeing. I, personally, will always be happy with my job as long as I have the opportunity to be creative in my daily tasks," she highlighted the importance of creativity in her professional life.
I worked at Subway, which is franchised, so I doubt this is the same for every Subway you visit, BUT: When the meat is defrosted to be used, we had like 3 days to sell it. After that we'd have to throw it away. The franchise owner and area manager would often intimidate staff into keeping the meat on sale for up to 7 days to cut costs.
I reported them to corporate of course.
Anna also revealed to Bored Panda more about herself as a musician and a content creator. She's been pursuing both paths since her childhood. "I've been making content since I was 11. Before Instagram and 'clout' even existed," she told us, longing for the carefree days when numbers were completely irrelevant.
"I would just upload videos because I genuinely loved making them, and I'd never pay attention to how many views they got or how many subscribers I had. I've always created and posted silly YouTube videos growing up, and now thanks to how social media has evolved and new platforms have been introduced, I'm turning content creation into a part-time job that actually pays me, which is really fun," she said.
Used to work at a waterpark. Nine times out of ten when the pool is shut down for "maintenance" or "low chlorine levels", it means that someone shat in the pool
Similarly, Anna has been playing and writing music since she was 10. "The dream has always been to make music my full-time job. I'd love to be a touring musician, and content creation is just a part of that job now in this digital age, which is convenient because it comes naturally to me, thanks to years and years of practice and posting."
For her, music and content creation are her creative outlets. It's all that she's ever wanted to do. However, it's not all fun and games. She takes it very seriously. "I treat it like a job and I show up every day. I post daily on social media, and I work on music for an hour or so every day, even when I'm not in the mood. I'm learning to produce my own tracks, and I love the challenge of pushing myself to create something better every time I release a new song. I just started prioritizing my solo project, and I have a lot of fun songs in the vault that I'm excited to release this year."
You don't have to get a GED. It's just one type of high school equivalency, but GED is synonymous with that concept so people don't know there are other options. Pearson likes it that way because they can charge $120 per test, with most of that money going to Pearson.
Pearson doesn't want you to know that, depending on availability, you can also take the HiSET or the TASC battery of tests for half the price or less.
Until a few years ago (before Pearson stepped in) the GED cost $10 to $20 in most places.
EDIT: Not all colleges accept all forms of high school equivalency. And often the HiSET or TASC can be almost as expensive as the GED. Unfortunately it's complicated and you have to do your research. Depending on where you live, you might be screwed either way.
Added context because I didn't expect this to blow up: For decades the GED was dirt cheap because people who need a GED are usually broke. And then magically when education giant Pearson showed up, everybody had to charge ten times as much because one of the easiest ways to get rich in America is to exploit poor people.
Anna currently works in marketing, and she told Bored Panda that even if music and content creation remain her passion projects outside of work, she will still be happy because having these creative outlets fulfills her.
"Most creatives usually have to work a full-time job that isn't their art in order to financially support their passion projects. Creatives can absolutely be happy working a 9-5 to pay their bills and to allow them to pursue their passion projects in their spare time. I think that's something that a lot of artists don't talk about, the day jobs that financially support their art. I think all artists live somewhat of a double life with two different career paths simultaneously," she said that there's the art and the career that supports the art.
The USA famous brand MyPillow and its "official pillow of the national sleep foundation" means nothing since the owner created the group.
I work at a big store in The Netherlands and at the end of every advertisement week we have to make sure the shelves are almost empty so it will look like almost everything sold out and the products we sell are popular. In reality we still have a lot in the stockroom but this way people will buy it faster because 1) it's on sale 2) it's almost sold out 3) it's a popular product 4) they think the company as a whole is doing a great job.
It isn't really a big secret but I thought it's quite funny.
And in other posts store workers get upset that people ask if they have any left in the back, when the shelves are empty... well, guess what...
Generally speaking, when people read media headlines about workplace issues and extremely demanding work environments, some of them tend to think of Amazon. Earlier, Bored Panda interviewed an Amazon warehouse employee who spilled the tea about what it’s actually like to work for the company.
The worker, who goes by the username Somethingslightlyclever on Imgur, said that working at Amazon is stressful and lonesome. They opened up that the only thing still keeping them at their job is that they have an earpiece and can listen to audiobooks during work hours in secret.
I used to work for IBM. It was well known within IBM that all projects would be significantly understaffed. This meant that the people working on those projects would work their assess off. We were all salaried employees so we made no more money by working 80 hours per week compared to the normal 40 hours per week. IBM did make more money however since most of our projects were billed as time&materials (effectively hourly). When some internal people started complaining about the excessive overtime IBM offered them the option of becoming an "hourly" employee. This meant that they no longer had access to healthcare, 401K etc, but they would be making significantly more money, in some cases more than doubling their previous salary since they would be getting paid for every hour worked. IBM didn't think many people would choose the hourly option, thinking that their benefits plan was enough to keep people there as salaried employees. Of those that were offered the option, something like 95% chose to become hourly. Every single person that chose the hourly option was fired within one month. That meant that some projects that were already understaffed were even more understaffed. Many projects were cancelled or delayed because IBM chose to use these employees as an example of what happens when you complain too loudly.
I can't understand how you people fall for the 'salaried staff doesn't get paid overtime' nonsense. I'm salaried, but my salary is based on 32 hours, so every hour over that is paid or compensated with time off. How can you think your salary has to stretch more hours that agreed on? I mean, can you also just work 10 hours and get paid in full? Because apparently hours don't matter...
Scientist here. About 50% of all published results cannot be reproduced in another lab. A lot of statistics are tweaked with to get results that are 'statistically significant', which is skimming the edge of what's legal and what is not.
Right now, with everything going on, I hate the words 'Scientist' and 'Doctor'. They are too vague and being used to push false information and agendas. 'A doctor has said vaccines are bad' That plank is a nutritionist, WTF does he know about virology? And scientist just means 'a person who conducts scientific research to advance knowledge in an area of interest'. We need to do away with the words and only use the field that they are in.
I take donations at Goodwill. We throw away a good 90% of what we get.
what about the tennis shoes ive been using for the last 30 years?? you kept those at least right??
“We aren’t supposed to have them, but I hide mine. It’s the single biggest factor in staying there. Before getting that, I was losing my mind. The job is as boring as counting change. It’s terrible being stuck in your own head for 10 hours a day over and over. I was talking to myself. Being able to focus on the audiobooks or music has saved my sanity,” they said.
“They constantly come by and tell you where you stand and what you should be at. It’s like a broken record. I don’t mind having to walk 5 or 6 minutes to the bathroom or 8 minutes to the break room. I do mind them getting on me for not being productive during that time,” the employee said that the company could loosen up a bit when it comes to enforcing quotas and efficiency.
Here's some Domino's secrets. First off, if you don't tip the drivers, they memorize your address and they don't want to take your orders. If you do tip, they'll give you extra toppings, sauces and all that.
If you get [bad] food it's because the pizza is put on a scale and you're only allowed to put a certain amount of cheese and toppings on it. If a manager or the owner sees that you're overtopping, you will get talked to.
Their marinara sauce is just a concentrate mixed with water and you just stir it in a big tub.
The vegetables and meats all come in bags, some are fresh and some come canned. They don't always wear gloves when they're putting your vegetables in tubs.
They have this thing called the food pit of toppings that fall below the pizza. They make workers pick that pit and put those toppings back in their container.
That's why there's cross-contamination and you'll find random [things] in your pizza.
The thin crust comes in a plastic.
This is true of academia in general but you have no idea how much money textbook companies spend on wooing professors. Just to give a couple examples: the last time I went to the big conference in my field, which was held in Atlanta that year, Bedford-St. Martin rented out the Atlanta Braves stadium, bused everyone at the conference there (about two thousand people), gave us a free buffet that stretched through three rooms (we were up in the box seats) with an open bar and they opened up all the games in the back hallways for us to play. Pearson's party was far more modest: they rented out the Coke museum, gave us all free tours and their free buffet only stretched through one freaking room (but with much classier food) but still had an open bar.
Just in case you were wondering why those textbooks of yours are so expensive.
Pretty sure that's not a thing in my country: all of my professors actively encouraged us to buy used textbooks from older students. Even if there was a newer version they would just let us work with either.
(I haven't worked at Homegoods in 5 years so things could have changed in that time, but I doubt it)
Homegoods is a lie. You're not saving any money. There are no deals there. These price tags that say "Compare at" and "our store price" - completely made up.
The Amazon employee pointed out that working at one of the company’s warehouses isn’t the worst thing in the world and actually suggested that people “give it a shot” so that they make up their own minds. The work environment can vary a lot, depending on the country and specific warehouse.
“Being able to listen to audiobooks while at work is the only reason I’m still able to work there. That being said, there is a rumor that they will be taking our phones away soon. In which case I’ll have to leave,” they told Bored Panda at the time.
Former sandwich shop employee. They put soy sauce in the tuba salad. There, that's the secret recipe. Manager made me sign an NDA about it. Spy sauce. Shhh.
edit: misspelled. Meant "french horn" salad
I appreciate the depth of flavor in the tuba salad, especially the low notes. Though I must admit, it's crunchier than I expected.
Our chinese manufacturers will be more than willing to supply us with a certificate assuring us and our clients that the cardboard and paper packaging for our new line of electronics is 100% recycled and eco friendly. 1000% bs.
This shouldn’t be legal. If it’s not 100% recycled, they shouldn’t be allowed to say it is.
I work for a pharmaceutical company. Don't just buy some expensive s**t, you can buy the same medicine for so much cheaper elsewhere.
I worked at McDonald's and I learned so much s**t, so much McDonald's. You think that they're just fast food and s**t, but they have so much science behind everything. So for example, your straw at McDonald's is larger. Do you know why it's larger? Because it lets more carbonation hit your tongue and makes the soda taste better. That's why it's better at McDonald's. That's why 7-Eleven little s**tty straws suck. Their grilled chicken is injected with a saltwater mixture to keep it moist, but also flavorful. McDonald's actually commissioned Coke for their own recipe of syrup. That's why their Coke has a little bit more sugar and a lot more flavor. Their ice cream machine is made from whole whipping cream, and it's cleaned once a week. Did you know that Tyson actually makes the chicken nuggets? They're actually not that processed, and they're made by Tyson, and they're privately labeled.
LOL no one tell them about the conditions at Tysons chicken farms
Victoria’s Secret: they put the prettiest girls on the sales floor and everyone else at register or back room. We were told to flirt with male customers and sign up as many people for the dumb store credit card as we could.
I worked at Hollister and I think it's different now, but back in the day it was kind of messed up. There were two positions. One was called back stock and one was called a model. And the model was like the customer service people who actually were on the floor and dealt with customers. In order to be a model, you had to be attractive and in the interview process, they rate you from a scale of one to 10. You had to keep your hair and makeup natural. You couldn't paint your nails, and you could only wear their clothes that were navy, blue and white, including shoes. So when I worked there, they only had the flimsy little flip flops and I just had to wear those on my shifts. And the reason they're called models is that apparently Hollister, like all of their ad models, all of the models in the pictures were pulled from the employees, and on Black Friday, they always picked the skinniest girl and paid her more than everyone else to stand in the front with the shirtless guys. It was so much stuff, it was always just on looks.
It's called a model specifically so they can discriminate based on looks. You can't not hire a good store clerk because they're not as pretty as you like them to be, but you can totally dismiss a model that's not pretty. And it's not really a secret that most stores want pretty people in the front. That sells.
So I used to work at Target, and when I found this out, I was like damn, this is about to save me hella f**king money. So Target actually price matches all of their competitors' prices, including Walmart, including Amazon, so you can basically just go to guest services, show them on your phone the price for like, a different website or a different company, and they would just go bloop-bloop-bloop-bloop up at the guest service, change the price up for you, and this works best with, you know how when Target sells like the Apple Watches or the iPhones, and they have like the extra one hundred dollars gift card or $50 gift card? Yeah, you can get a better price and you can get the gift card on top of that. So that's what I'll be doing at Target. It saves me hella money.
If a store says they'll match a competitor's price, it tells me they were trying to rip you off and the guy with a good price to start with gets my business.
So I used to work for Whataburger. And if you haven't noticed, sometimes you get a really long receipt and at the bottom it says, if you complete the survey, you get a free burger with a purchase of a medium fry and a medium drink. We don't actually have a way of checking whether you did the survey or not.
So you could literally just write down numbers, like six numbers and use a coupon. And this is how I know that we can't even deny it, whether we find out that you didn't do it or not. There used to be this old man who would literally come in to ask for a pen and write six numbers down right in front of us and use the coupon.
And we were not allowed to be like 'Sir, I just saw you. I can't take this.'
I work for a Fortune 100 financial office. I wouldn't trust 95% of the people with a cent of my money. There are a few decent people, but the rest dont give a s**t, they want the commission and the policy count. And a ton of them have either been sued, given strikes on their records, investigated for fraud and/or are not allowed to use wording due to their past behavior.
Next on todays news: Scammers will be scammers and conmen are still stealing your money.
Do not ever use one of those milkshake machines. You know where you get the frozen cup then you put it in the thing and it shoots out your milkshake? They don't clean those.
I worked at Wawa and I would clean it every shift just because I knew other people weren't doing it. Even from one day not being cleaned, it's all mold up there.
At my wife's store they clean every day or every time the milk runs out, whichever comes first. If there isn't a member of staff that knows how to clean it (apparently it's quite technical) they turn it off and and mark it 'out of order' until next shift change.
The major gym chain that I worked for actively tries to discourage members from becoming frequent members.
How do they do this? They would start by putting treadmills and elliptical out of order, or preventative maintenance. And would keep them out of commission until attendance got to manageable levels where the gym did not feel so crowded and thus easier to sell memberships.
And getting out of a membership was damn near impossible.
You can exit a gym membership easily. As long as you've paid what you owe up to the last time you go. You stop any direct debit, and send a letter or email saying you've cancelled your membership. There's nothing they can do after that. Remember they are a gym not the IRS.
All right, so I worked at Best Buy for the better part of a decade. Ironically, wearing a blue and yellow hat, not on purpose. So the big one is you don't have to buy that protection plan if you go back in the store and your product isn't working within a year. They can actually take it back right then and there and give you a gift card for credit. And if they tell you they can't honor a manufacturer warranty, they're full of s**t. Ask for a manager if you're going to buy a cell phone from them, just know that it's more expensive to buy it from Best Buy than it is in a carrier store. The carrier store, it's going to be about one hundred and fifty bucks off. If you're ever going to buy an open box TV or a big ticket item, try to get it on a Saturday night because they need to hit their numbers for the week and they'll be more willing to work with you to get a deal done. If they try to sell you an HDMI cable, just say no, you can get the exact same thing on Amazon for like four bucks. The last thing is they actually lose money on computer sales. So when they try to give you a bundle deal with whatever accessories they have, you're actually not getting that great of a deal.
I sell cars. Most of the time you wont find the OTD price on the paper because they want you to get to finance and "include" your warranty in the payment. The verbage makes it sound free. It is not free.
Dominos pizza tracker isn't accurate. Employees can enter s**t on the computer to make your order to appear at a different stage than it actually is. The horror.
I worked for a home security company. 2 big secrets:
About 90% of the salesmen are lying douchebags that will say anything to get you to sign up and then think they can hold a contract against you, but if you complain enough to the right people, the legal department will cancel your contract outright.
The equipment is super cheap despite the fact that they tell you that you are basically paying for the equipment over the length of your contract so that you don't have a huge up-front cost. The parts for an average home with an 8-piece system, panel included, only run about $800 at-cost (if that, but it depends on the stuff you get), but you will pay out several thousand over the length of your initial 3 or 5 year contract. Any extensions on top of your initial contract with no new equipment or services is money straight into the pocket of the company. Monitoring ends up costing the company a few cents a day when you break enough systems across enough operators. If "peace of mind" is worth that to you, then go ahead and sign up. Monitoring service is excellent but the equipment is s**t.
I'm a chemist and throughout my education and career I have observed that scientific fraud is widespread and there is little interest in doing anything about it. I seriously doubt the validity of any sort of scientific data because of this.
It's so simple to do really. Cherry picking data can be as simple a just not writing down a number you don't like, or even writing or entering a different number. Any time there is money involved there is strong push to please those paying the bills. Many times I have been asked subtly or not so subtly to repeat things until the desired result is achieved. No one out and out tells you to fabricate things but instead it is usually implied that your work is somehow flawed or you must have made a mistake. Do it again.
I can look over someones raw data and usually tell if they are "cooking the books" or "dry labing" but it is all but impossible to prove. You can also tell by someones workload. If you are putting in hard 12 hour days and your colleague spends most of his time reading magazines something is up. Also you could put a full camera crew in front of a lab worker and they could 100% fabricate data and you would never see anything to indicate that they were. It's just so easy.
There are legit good ways to detect stuff like this. Things like statistical analysis and blind samples that are independently verified. This is almost never done.
I work in market research and do quality and assurance. I essentially review all of the data our interviewers collect from respondents. Aside from that I also edit the data so it makes sense because some people say wild things. I also recode responses and often replace open ended responses with what I feel is appropriate.
Surveys that were ended too soon due to the respondent hanging up I go into those and complete them. I don't even call the respondent back I literally put whatever I want.
We do surveys for political issues like upcoming elections, customer satisfaction studies, and for colleges/universities. We even have a reoccurring study that collects data from people who were impacted from the BP oil spill. We recently picked up a job the IRS wants us to conduct too.
It really opened my eyes to look at where data comes from and how honest that company is who collected and validated the data.
I work at a VERY large farming company that grows and packages a certain vegetable (Hint: Bugs Bunny)
The store brand and the private label brand right next to it are from the same field and there is no difference between the product in it.
Worked Injection molding almost my entire life, my uncle and father build/rebuild molds in a mold repair shop. Almost every mold that has a "Made In the USA" texture somewhere in it will have it removed. A lot of companies do NOT want their parts saying "Made in the USA". Their reasoning is if you know it was made here, then you know there is someone to sue. If it's made in some shop in China your less likely to pursue legal action, wether bogus or justified.
I worked at BestBuy warehouse. One tip: when buying a tv, make sure the staff in store open and check the screen first before you take it out of store (no matter the size of the tv). During busy season like christmas boxing day or black friday we will drop a lot of products during shipping and packing so yeah.
Your flight didn't get cancelled due to weather. There's an equal chance it got cancelled because of maintenance issues, staffing, or scheduling problems. If there's a cloud in the sky at either airport they will just code it as a weather cancellation so the airline doesn't have to buy you a hotel room/meal vouchers.
American Airlines did this to me. I'll never fly with them again.
Camera Repair
Due to the camera industry (and the entire electronic industry as a whole) actively taking steps to undermine competition, we are barely holding on.
Steps the camera manufacturers are taking:
Keeping all parts breakdowns private (can't find part numbers)
Keeping all part price lists private (even if you have a number, can't get pricing without calling and ordering it - estimates take much longer).
Keeping all technical data (schematics, troubleshooting guides, basic information regarding parts) private.
Raising the cost of parts to point where repair is uneconomical, while still repairing items at a competitive price. Sometimes the repair cost from the manufacturer is $20 more than the cost of the part.
Refusing to sell parts to repair shops. (ie: Fuji, Tamron, Nikon, Ricoh/Pentax, Sony) Canon being the 1 exception, but they are raising the cost of all parts by 35% starting August 1st.
Refusing to sell adjustment tools to repair shops (they have them, but will not sell them)
Pricing repair and adjustment tools beyond what the market will bare ($250,000 tool "required" to adjust Nikon lenses)
Keeping all necessary adjustment software private
For the longest time the argument I'd hear from manufacturers was "Well, if we release this information or sell parts, we can't guarantee the quality of our products from inferior repair... Well, if you want inferior repair, that's how you get inferior repair...
Now the argument is "We need to protect our intellectual property".
The REAL answer is that repair undermines their ability to make sales. Sales drives the ENTIRE industry. Repair actually costs manufacturers money in the end. They have to have extra parts produced. They have to store them. They have to keep track of them. They have to have people to move them around. They need technicians to repair their devices and have staff to manage the repair operations. They need to create adjustment tools and manuals (kept in-house).... The list goes on.
This is a power play to get consumer's money at all costs.
All right, so I used to work at Coles and this was a few years ago, so it might be different now. But when they trained new employees or when they trained you, they trained you to follow their "Yes, you can" policy. So what that means is if a customer is fighting for a discount that is less than 50 percent off of the original item then or the cost, whatever, then we were supposed to just give it to you and say yes. So like, if you were fighting for an item to be 40 percent off, we were supposed to just give it to you, not to call the manager to argue with you or anything. Also, the like, 10, 20, 30 percent of coupons that you can use with the Coles charge. If you only get a 10 or 20 percent, just don't bring a coupon in. Use your Coles charge and say that you forgot your coupon, like in your car at home. And we're supposed to just like, say, you had a 30 and we're just supposed to give it to you. Also, their loss prevention, people are always watching, they're always watching. Don't borrow from Coles. They will catch.
I recently started working for a cleaning firm. My boss basically said: "It doesn't actually have to be clean, it just has to look clean."
One of my facebook friends interviewed for a teaching position at the school district I work for. She was nervous and awaited the news with 100% more anxiety than she should have. The teacher shortage we have here is so bad we'll pretty much take anyone that's completed their certification, including people that have just obtained it and have never stepped foot in a classroom before.
Big technology companies providing really slick services, especially where you buy things online, make it look like they really have their s**t together.
Most of them don't. Their back end systems are held together by virtual rubber bands and glue and their staff stumble from one fire to another because the management teams never stop trying to develop new features to allow technical debt to be repaid. They public facing end is just fancy enough to hide that all from you.
This is as true for AWS as it is for Ticketmaster.
As someone who works in software development, I know this all too well. This is true even for a lot of smaller scale systems.
I worked at Kohl's for a year and I only left about four months ago, so as of December 2020, this is still how things are. So this secret, I have many of them, is about Kohl's cash. You know, when you buy stuff and you earn that Kohl's cash back and then you can come in the next week and spend it as if it was like a gift card. First, I'm going to say never buy anything full price at Kohl's because we almost always have something going on. If it's not a percentage, then it's an earn Kohl's cash thing. And if you don't have the app or you don't have like a physical copy of the coupon, all you have to do is ask them, I know you guys have a coupon going on right now, but I forgot mine at home. Can you please scan one for me? And we will so that Kohl's cash has an expiration date on it of when you can use it, but you can still scan it in store up to 10 days after its expiration date. So don't throw it away just yet. It'll disappear from the app, but you can still scan the hard copy, and if you can't make it in, then buy something, return it and get a blue Kohl's cash, which is good.
This combined with their credit card means you get about 70% off retail prices.
I used to work for a Tax service. I don't want to get in trouble, so lets call them Tiberty Lax Service.
The people that they hire to do your taxes have AT MOST two weeks of training. When I was there, I knew people who didn't even have that- usually only a week. They will charge you 99$ PER FORM for your taxes by the way.
I taught myself to do what those monkeys do. I used to go get my taxes done every year by the pop up place inside Walmart. But it cost me $400-$600. Just to get the money earlier. The last time I did it, the person sitting opposite me was not "bright". So the next year I said if you do this yourself, online thru H and R Block's free site, you can afford a brand new iPad. And that is what I did.
I used to be a cashier at Marshall's and I always thought this was the weirdest thing. One time I was working you know, on register and some woman comes up to me and she's like "Hey I just saw this girl steal a whole bunch of makeup put it in her bag, she's over there. And I literally had to be like "thank you, but we cannot do anything about it." And she looked at me like and take like Home Goods, Marshall's, TJ Maxx. If you go to any of those TJX companies we literally legally cannot go up to someone and like accuse them or even keep record of them stealing. Let me explain by their logic we could be putting the whole rest of the store in danger if we go up and confront them. Granted we could still go up and be like did you find everything all right, but that's about, ohh.
Optics Insider:
Lenses are sold for wholesale cost anywhere from $0.25 to $40 and resold for retail at $150 to $800 depending on different factors. Online retailers, brick and mortar stores, and privat practices all get their lens supply from a handful of lens labs. So you're probably getting the Lenscrafters Equivalent of a $800 lens for $300 at a private practice, but for $50 online.
BE WEARY OF MANUFACTURING DEFECTS WHEN ORDERING ONLINE, TAKE YOUR ONLINE PURCHASES TO A LOCAL OPTOMETRIST AND TELL THEM YOU BOUGHT IT AT "COSTCO" AND YOU'RE JUST HAVING TROUBLES WITH - ASK THE "OPTICIAN" to check any online purchased glasses, after receiving them.
Brand named frames are often cheaply produced along with non brand frames. When picking frames take a glance at:
The hinges: Cheap frame hinges will be composed of two prongs on the "temple" (The legs of the frames) and one prong on the actual frame front to connect the legs. - Other wise known as a cheap s**t hinge. You'll find these on your $600 Tiffany, Chanel, GG, Etc glasses all the god damn time. - If these hinges break, its game over.
What you should look for is hinges composed of 5 total prongs coming together. 3 on the temple and 2 on the frame to form a solid connection.
IF YOU HAVE A VSP PLAN : LENSCRAFTERS WILL TELL YOU THAT THEY CAN BILL YOUR VSP PLAN AS A "SELF SUBMIT" PLAN. YOU WILL LOSE UPWARDS TO 80% OF YOUR BENEFIT THIS WAY. DO NOT USE YOUR "FRAME ALLOWANCE" AT AN "OUT OF NETWORK PROVIDER" - ASK WHO EVER IS HELPING YOU IF THIS STORE IS AN "IN NETWORK PROVIDER" - IF THEY TELL YOU SOMETHING ABOUT "SELF SUBMITTING" ------- THEY ARE NOT IN NETWORK
However, my optician does several additional health checks for free and he found out I have a serious eye disease. I pay for his knowledge and equipment by paying for the glasses. I know they are overpriced but it does not seem fair to buy my glasses online and ask him for the additional service and checks.
I don’t work there, but at Target, they have to match the shelf price, even if something was put in the wrong spot. My roommate and I both got a $35 game for $12.50 because it was put under a $12.50 sticker at THREE different Target stores
Take your disgusting 7 year old bra with the strap broken and the underwire broken and bring it back to Victoria's Secret, they'll give you $15 store credits for it.
It is currently illegal to autodial a cell number from any equipment capable of autodialing (even in manual dial mode) without expressed written consent. Get name and address of dialing company and have a lawyer send a notice. You'll settle for a few grant per incident.
Be a real jerk and get 50 numbers from a high turn over carrier (boost mobile). Then just wait for calls. Then sue everyone who calls because you didn't gave expressed written permission. We got dinged by a guy doing that.
I also worked for Best Buy, specifically selling phones. We often had way better deals than carrier stores on phones and our customer service was better and insurance plans were easier than carriers. The mobile section may have changed since they closed their dedicated mobile sites in 2018, but back then it was 100% better to shop with us. Also Best Buy has a price match guarantee, so that's moot. We would just match a carrier store's pricing if we needed to save a sale.
Foolproof way to get a free drink and a free snack. In order for this to work, you have to go into the store, you can't go through drive thru.
You are going to go to the barista and ask to do a "Coffee Tasting" with them. They are going to prepare whatever pastry you want with whatever coffee you want. You guys are going to enjoy it together.
May I publish an earnest plea to all BP contributors and commenters? This plea is meant to apply "across the board". People constantly say "well, in my country" or "where I live" but do not identify that place. This is not trivial when the topic has a geographical aspect! It is essential. Please tell us. I live in Los Angeles.
Then you might find this useful: if they sound like they're not in the US, they're probably in Europe. As far as I noticed by reading bored panda, among frequent commenters there's a couple of Aussies, a couple of people from Africa, someone from South Africa, and quite a few Europeans. For Europeans, there's little point to say where we're from exactly because we travel around the union frequently and most commercial practices are the same everywhere (that's why it's a union). In general, we have good customer protection ensured by law and lots of other types of protection against getting ripped off, such as medical prices caps, label honesty standards, water and food standards etc. All these standards are ensured by checks and audits from the authorities.
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Large corporations screwing the customers? In other news, water is wet.
Some of these were surprising but some actually show how naive the op is. Many of these secrets are standard practice, marketing ploys, and bleeding obvious! Of course sauce in fast food places is mass made as cheaply as possible in a huge tub! If a price is too good to believe, then of course there's a catch.... 🙄
Jet's Pizza. No one washes their hands, they all look at you funny if you wash your hands and put on fresh gloves. I used to work for Jet's. They will go to the bathroom and not wash their hands. They don't wear gloves and make your food bare handed. They also don't wash the pizza pans, they wipe them and then put fresh oil on them. It's nasty af.
May I publish an earnest plea to all BP contributors and commenters? This plea is meant to apply "across the board". People constantly say "well, in my country" or "where I live" but do not identify that place. This is not trivial when the topic has a geographical aspect! It is essential. Please tell us. I live in Los Angeles.
Then you might find this useful: if they sound like they're not in the US, they're probably in Europe. As far as I noticed by reading bored panda, among frequent commenters there's a couple of Aussies, a couple of people from Africa, someone from South Africa, and quite a few Europeans. For Europeans, there's little point to say where we're from exactly because we travel around the union frequently and most commercial practices are the same everywhere (that's why it's a union). In general, we have good customer protection ensured by law and lots of other types of protection against getting ripped off, such as medical prices caps, label honesty standards, water and food standards etc. All these standards are ensured by checks and audits from the authorities.
Load More Replies... Large corporations screwing the customers? In other news, water is wet.
Some of these were surprising but some actually show how naive the op is. Many of these secrets are standard practice, marketing ploys, and bleeding obvious! Of course sauce in fast food places is mass made as cheaply as possible in a huge tub! If a price is too good to believe, then of course there's a catch.... 🙄
Jet's Pizza. No one washes their hands, they all look at you funny if you wash your hands and put on fresh gloves. I used to work for Jet's. They will go to the bathroom and not wash their hands. They don't wear gloves and make your food bare handed. They also don't wash the pizza pans, they wipe them and then put fresh oil on them. It's nasty af.
