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“People Who Are No Longer Bound By NDAs, What Are Some Secrets That You Can Expose?” (30 Answers)
Interview
If you’ve been in the job industry for a while, you’ve likely had to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) and/or a non-compete agreement (NCA) at some point. They are incredibly common. Usually, they are a mere formality. In some rare cases, though, all of that confidentiality is very useful because it protects companies’ interests and helps them avoid potential backlash.
Some professionals whose NDAs have expired by now took to the r/AskReddit online community to spill the tea about some of the biggest corporate secrets they knew about. Scroll down for their stories and a deep dive into what goes on behind the scenes at some workplaces.
Bored Panda reached out to the person who sparked the entire online discussion, redditor u/iam_saikat. Scroll down for our interview with them!
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Was never bound to an NDA somehow, but sat in to oversee the technical aspects of Herbalife meetings. We’re talking meetings with the highest level sellers and their board. They spoke about how to manipulate low income and “unintelligent” people to make them millions of dollars. How to teach others to scam others to make them more money. .
Freya the Wanderer 1 year ago
MLM is just another term for pyramid scheme.
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Schnitzel 1 year ago
Isn't this how many other companies view us; The Consumer? We are stupid/ugly/fat etc etc etc and they sell us sh!t we don't need but we are too blind to catch on. I am accusing myself in this as well. If we are weak we will be used and abused so it's better to deep dive in research and build your own conclusion based on facts YOU find!
Ixanga Cancun 1 year ago
I have a degree in behavioural psychology for marketing. Basically how to sell things to people that they don't know about, don't need and therefore don't want. I changed my career after that.
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Riley Quinn 1 year ago
I knew a couple who were nearly wiped out by Herbalife manipulating them into buying more and more product to boost their sales. They weren't expecting to make millions, just enough to cover expenses adequately with some going into savings. Instead, they nearly lost what little they had.
Cassidy Moore 1 year ago
Sounds like every sales company, scratch that, every corporation ever
Sue 1 year ago
My ex, who was a pool man, told me one of his customers invited him over. I thought that was kind of weird & even asked if was with Amway. My ex didn't so, so we went over. Sure enough - Amway. I just kept politely say no, no, no, no. Luckily, my ex was her best worker or else they didn't have cojones to tell his boss. It's disgusting to use your position over someone else or their paycheck to force them into a scam.
RELATED:
#2
Walmart corporate office puts a screensaver on all their workers' computers with a message urging them to donate to an emergency fund for their FT or near-FT warehouse and retail workers. Instead of giving them healthcare or PTO.
Walmart retail nd warehouse workers are kept just below FT so they can't get benefits, and the vast majority receive government benefits. Your taxes are subsidizing millions in benefits for the richest company in America so the richest CEO in america is richer.
Everything in the second paragraph of this post is public knowledge.
Lauren Carpenter 1 year ago
Where do the Walmart employees spend their foodstamps? I'll letcha guess...
Freya the Wanderer 1 year ago
Same here! I avoid them and Sam's Club like Chernobyl.
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Vidas Zlioba 1 year ago
"Part-time and temporary associates working an average of at least 30 hours per week over a 60-day measurement period will become eligible for benefits." onewalmart.com
Load More Replies... NtroP13 1 year ago
I worked part-time at Walmart 15 years ago (usually 24 hours/week) and I qualified for affordable health insurance after a year. And I didn't hate the job, but there was an awesome management team at that store that probably explains that. It was a refreshing change from my toxic full-time restaurant job at the time. Ugh.
#3
I once got hurt at work, a concussion specifically, on Camera. I have a history with concussion-like symptoms. I was 99% sure I hit my head but I lost all memory of the accident. I ended up missing a few weeks of work due to the severity. I wasn't 100% sure if I had some sort of mental breakdown so asked to see the video so that I could confirm my injury.
They flat our refused to let me see the video and told me there was no evidence that I hit my head. I offered to sign away any rights to sue and I wasn't even asking them for hospital bills or paid time off. Long story short, I sued them, I won, and had to sign an NDA. I got my wages and hospital bills paid that I wasn't even asking for, and was finally able to get the video. It was a 100% no-doubt head injury complete with a loud bonking sound effect and me falling down and leaving a dent in the bulkhead that I hit.
After the fact the office staff told me that they were under orders from upper management to lie and saw they didn't see anything on the tape. They said this was standard for anyone who gets hurt... to just lie about it and let it play out in court. I obviously quit soon after.
Kira Okah 1 year ago (edited)
They have said that they are not ballsy enough to say, only that it is a small company, niche industry, union shop, and it's unlikely that anyone has heard of them.
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Chewie Baron 1 year ago
Yeah, but here in the UK, bonking means something else completely! That sound would be very odd to hear if you hit your head!
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Donna Peluda 1 year ago
Asking people to lie in a police declaration or court is illegal and could be considered organised crime.
According to the author of the viral thread, it's important to remember that NDAs are not bulletproof, nor are they completely binding if they go against what's legal.
"From what I understand, NDAs are not above the law," u/iam_saikat told Bored Panda, explaining what employees should keep in mind when signing these documents.
"For instance, if an employer wants an employee to keep shut about something illegal going on in there, the employee can and should report it accordingly in spite of any binding NDA."
#4
The private school I worked for was for students identified with giftedness... The owner of the school administered the giftedness test...
Can you pay the tuition? You're gifted!
Can your sibling pay? Them too!
Your cousin? Neighbour? Kid you know across town? You're all gifted!
Rose the Cook 1 year ago
This is a massive problem in private schools in China. Not about being "gifted" but about gaining addmission.
Sue 1 year ago
This is a massive problem in the US where charter schools have more rights than public schools even if they don't have the same requirements, like testing. And many are just churches grubbing our tax dollars and many have gone out of business & left kids hanging with no diploma & no transfer credits. We've let the religious nuts (not all religious people) rob from taxpayers for too long.
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XenoMurph 1 year ago
I have this weird adhd/autism thing, which makes me great at IQ tests, I got into one of these schools on merit, but I can barely find my own feet in the morning. These schools are more about networking and future contacts
Sue 1 year ago
Me too. It's because IQ tests only test of a minimal variety of intelligences.
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Blondie23 1 year ago
yeah my kid went to a private school and had to pass a test to be considered. I was so nervous and then they called and she got in! But then the next year I saw some of the dumbest kids getting in and I realzied it was all a scam. She got a great education but because they were smaller classes.... not because it was a stellar school.
#5
The lady who owns Columbia sportswear neglects her animals to the point of death. And then she just buys more. I was supposed to be a caretaker for them but there weren't even basic med supplies like Bute and swat or vet wrap. She wouldn't call the vet for almost anything. Two goats died of malnutrition, another its entire hoof fell off, 12 chickens died, two mini donkeys died, the Guinea pig was keep alone in a hamster cage, and she kept her late husband's dog Monty locked in a dog run. Her dogs were permitted out but not Monty, even on leash. Initially he was allowed out and I got with him great shape taking walks everyday. But one day she stopped allowing even that. I quit when she started talking about getting 30+ sheep and pigs. It was a miserable place, her mansion. I only worked there a year and brought in my own supplies to treat what I could but it'll always break my heart I couldn't do more. I called animal control multiple times and they never helped, even with the goats who looked like walking skeletons. Rich people can do whatever they want to living things. .
Barbara Burns 1 year ago
Well, if you're referring to Gert Boyle, the good news is she died five years ago.
Leanne Hailes 1 year ago
Of course they can. Middle class takes it up the a$$ and pays for everyone and everything
Load More Replies... Jo Bennett 1 year ago
This is shameful! On the owner and the organization that is supposed to advocate and help animals
ThatG 1 year ago
It’s the daughter that OP is talking about… not Gert who passed away.
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Riley Quinn 1 year ago
If more people knew this, I'll bet a boycott would get even more people's attention regarding this sick family.
Yayheterogeneity 1 year ago (edited)
She should have called the press. And get her exposed, that evil witch.
#6
In a tech support role, one manager used to boast his team's average call-times were the lowest in the company.
While average call times were in the 12-17 minute range, his team was constantly under 10 minutes. His team was awarded multiple times and his "strategy" was adopted company-wide to all customer service and technical support teams, including our internal IT teams.
That strategy was under a strict NDA, as we did not want to allow competitors to emulate it. When our call center would go bid on contracts, it became an awesome metric. "Our Customer Satisfaction Scores are on-par but we have call times 20-30% lower than our competitors!"
The dirty secret of the NDA that I was not allowed to disclose? Their "big method?"
Just hang up on people.
Straight up.
Find a way to say "Okay go ahead and do that and call back if it doesn't fix it."
Then hang up. Don't wait for confirmation.
"Okay so reboot your PC and your problem should be solved! Thanks for calling!" *click*
Eventually they came out with more useful metrics that tracked things like First Call Resolution which absolutely *shredded* this company and they went out of business a year or two later.
Ripley 1 year ago
I worked somewhere many years ago as an incoming call centre operator. Then they got a software package that allowed them to review stats. I got hauled over the calls for having a "longer than average" call time. All that achieved was that I was infuriated every time a customer took time to provide the required information. Not helpful in any way at all - just focuses on quantity rather than quality.
ENSJ 1 year ago (edited)
Yup. The metrics were insane (inbound call center rep). Average handling time allowed - 5 minutes, then 3 minutes to wrap it up and send everything to backoffice. 10 minutes to read and respond to e-mails. 1 minute to triage incoming mails and letters and link them to the right account. After I left they were acquired by some other company and call times were lowered to 3 minutes and wrap up to 1 minute. It was horrible. Still surprises me I managed to hold out for a year there. We were given 1 30 minute lunch break (unpaid) and 2 11 minute breaks (not 15) that were paid. Once went to work with a concussion and had to keep running to the toilet (didn't know I had a concussion at the time) to throw up. They off course couldn't condone me having to log out of the call progam so many times and send me home. Same with others if they had eaten something bad or had to use the toilet more often because of an UTI. That definitely got noted on your next performance review.
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Tams21 1 year ago
Unfortunately, even other call centres, call metrics or stats are everything. They record everything from average call time, the time you spend updating any notes afterwards, how long you put people on hold etc. In some places they'll even track how long toilet breaks are. But god help you if a customer complains.
Dorothy Reiser 1 year ago
I knew someone in health insurance form processing. He was told day one to throw away all the 7th and 8th claims he came across.
Nimitz 1 year ago
I worked for Comcast doing internet support for the Chicago region in my 20s. Our trick to reducing call times, specifically for people using VOIP phones, was to just reboot their modem. "My internet doesn't work." Are you calling on your Comcast Phone? "Yes" Lemme just reboot that for you. *click* Then we'd let them call back if their internet still wasn't working. People hate Comcast for many valid reasons
Todd Rogers 1 year ago
I worked for a Medicare call center, the contract stipulated that wait times were to be between 2 1/2 and 5 minutes. If call volume was low and the wait time dipped below 2 1/2 minutes, they would take some of us off the phones until the wait times increased enough to be within the contracted metric.
Sue User 1 year ago
Years ago I knew someone who worked at a call center for airlines. This was before you could use the internet. Same concept. Get them off the phone ASAP. My griend tried to argue if you spent 50% more time on phone, you could solve all problems the first time. They hated when someone was on their third call.
ENSJ 1 year ago
The problem gets solved on the first call. If someone has to call back for the same problem, it wasn't resolved during the first call.
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Meanwhile, the OP shared a few thoughts on how to have the biggest impact on Reddit with any interesting threads or posts that users might have. For them, timing is absolutely everything.
"Normally, if these curious questions are posted when users are most likely to use social media throughout the day, they get good response and engagement," u/iam_saikat said.
"And since almost half of Reddit users are from the States, if the posting can be timed correctly, it clicks more often."
You aren’t completely powerless when it comes to (not) signing NDAs, but you’re not exactly in the driver’s seat either. You could, for example, ask your future employer why they feel that you need to sign the contract. You can also ask them to potentially amend the document if there are any parts that are overly vague or uncommonly restrictive.
However, this approach requires two things. For one, you have to have a bit of legal knowledge to understand what exactly your NDA entails. And secondly, it takes a lot of guts to start questioning your future employer. You don’t know how your employer will react if you refuse to sign documents that have become part and parcel of corporate life. That said, it’s still better to clarify things before you sign anything rather than after the fact.
#7
I worked for a website creation company back in 1999, managing the website for a big brand / large bank that was sponsoring a round-trip paid ticket to the Superbowl. I worked on the website that collected all the entries, and I posted the rules that the company's legal department wrote to describe the rules of the contest.
A random winner was to be selected for the prize, and I wrote a software tool to randomly pick the winner to be used when the contest was over.
When the contest ended, I was told to forget my tool, forget the rules, just look in the database and find someone in South Florida (where the Superbowl was in 1999) so the company wouldn't have to pay for airfare.
Adz86 1 year ago
Most companies I've worked for are told to pick a higher up bosses friend to win any contest of value. Even the sh*t contests will go to a managers friends or family.
Seadog 1 year ago
I'm surprised OP wasn't told to select someone within the company.
Load More Replies... JenniB 1 year ago
I use to work for a radio station back in the 90's. They gave away a car every summer. So people would fill out ballots through July and August and late August my boss would pick 100 "random" finalists. Except there was nothing random about the finalists. She would spend days picking through the thousands of ballots and only choose names of people that she thought fit the station's "esthetic".
Michael Danhauer 1 year ago
Why are the posters acting like the NDAs are still active? Give us company names you morons!
María Hermida 1 year ago
Even without a NDA they can be sued. The company can claim it's defamation, libel or whatever legal term they want to use. Even if you know something is true, unless you have proof there's not much you can do.
Load More Replies... #8
Early 2000s I worked in the clothing department at Walmart, and one night I was handed a memo that I was to secretly cut out all the tags on a list of product that said "Made in Myanmar" because the brand was suddenly trying to hide that they were doing business there. I believe it was Hanes.
blobby 1 year ago
The lack of something is harder to spot that the appearance of something.
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Slowdown 1 year ago
I call BS. Wal-Mart uses loopholes in the law to get around good business practices. They're too big of a company to straight up break the law and remove labels.
Ryan Smith 1 year ago
I call BS on about 75% of these posts but BP doesn't care, they'll just conclude whatever they want.
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Scarlett O'Hara's Ghost 1 year ago
"Is" being the operative word in your sentence. Not "was". Hanes was not tag less in 2000
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#9
I worked at a cancer charity and half the people would order things for themselves and charge it to the charity. An eye-opening job for a 16 year old.
James Doe 1 year ago (edited)
Not expecting this from a 16 year old, but you are not restricted by an nda to disclose embezzlement to the authorities!
Janissary35680 1 year ago
Or any criminal or even suspicious activity, for that matter.
Load More Replies... amanda strachan 1 year ago
Many good ethical charities must be losing out because we hear about malpractice and the amount CEO'S earn, when the front facing employees are paid minimum wage, and volunteers obviously nothing.
Freya the Wanderer 1 year ago
Check Charity Navigator. They are a good, if not perfect, source of information about how charities spend their donations.
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Moonie Pinkslip 1 year ago
What most people do NOT understand is that an NDA is ineffective if it is to cover a crime committed or to be committed. NDA's are a load of nonsense for this--they're really only upgraded employee contracts for wealthy or famous people. Anything else? They mean jack-squat.
NDAs are, by design, meant to protect someone’s interests by restricting the type of information that can be shared at work or outside of it. They formalize the (lack of) trust between the employer and the employees.
On the one hand, these documents ensure that the business gets at least some level of protection from potentially malicious actors. On the other hand, if someone feels like the NDAs and NCAs are too restrictive, they might decide to take their numerous highly demanded skills someplace more trusting.
#10
At my old job, Pam helped me reallocate my client’s ad scheduling so I can invoice out a little extra for the last month of December 2014, helping me hit my yearly budget.
I got let go two weeks after that and I believe the original plan was to fire me under the justification of missing my yearly budget. Instead I got a severance of $15,000. I believe Pam knew or heard what the lay of the land was and helped me out.
Appreciate you, Pam!
LandAhoy 1 year ago
Basically, OP's bosses were planning on firing them, as they assumed OP wouldn't make the target sales for the year. Instead, Pam stepped in and donated a sale to OP. Boss still wanted to fire OP, as they were planning on using the 'didn't hit targets ' excuse. Thanks to Pam, OP scored 15k in unfair dismissal pay.
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digitalin 1 year ago
The company tried to arrange stuff to make him look bad, but a coworker rearranged it back, so the company had to pay out for firing him.
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#11
Tesla and Rivian electrical components are made in the same facility by a large electronic manufacturer and even share personnel.
This once caused Elon to throw a fit and threatened to take the contract somewhere else.
The solution?
For the next visit the company separated the lines by a wall and told Elon they had ended the Rivian contract.
They still produce both and also the components for the new Ford electric models.
john doe 1 year ago
And Trump, so another "real stable genius" recognizing another
Load More Replies... pep Ito 1 year ago
Let's see. It all depends on the contract signed by both companies. There is a common clause in contracts called Chinese wall that consists in that the workers and production line for the signing company should not have contact or be shared with another company. It is most likely that the contract that Tessa had signed with this company included this clause and they had skipped it. No wonder he was angry.
Cpt. Christan "Panda Bombero" 1 year ago
Subpar person, running a subpar company, using the name of an above par person, to sell a subpar product. Welcome to the 21st Century.
Celtic Pirate Queen 1 year ago
He's a total f*cking douchebag. And his cars are sh*t. My brother bought one and says it's one of the biggest mistakes he's ever made.
#12
Intel Corporation used to go around to colleges and hold programming contests, and to the winner they'd give a mid-grade laptop and a gaudy trophy. back at Corporate, some of these winning code bases would get tens of millions of dollars poured into them in attempts to get them to product release.
kath morgan 1 year ago
Always be wary of these “contests” run by companies that could certainly afford to pay someone the going rate to do the job.
James Doe 1 year ago
I don't see a huge issue in this. Sure, better acknowledgement and pay for those codes that actually make it to release would be great, but that can't be assessed when the competition closes. It would need to be looped back a long time after.. As is, it's a chance for people to gain credentials and test their acquired knowledge. You can do that in open source project or something like this. Both helps to build credibility in the job market. It might even open the door to Intel specifically, especially if your code ended up in something that got released
Montanavanna 1 year ago
Could it be intellectual theft if they went on to make money with it?
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Corvus 1 year ago
They'd hold contests, and then use the winners' work as a foundation for their own products... without paying the winner, of course.
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Breaking an NDA doesn’t incur criminal penalties, as it’s a civil contract. However, if you go against the terms of the agreement, your workplace can sue you to make you pay for all the potential damage you may have done to the company’s business interests or reputation.
You can always ask for some time to mull over the documents. If you have anyone with legal expertise in your social circle, they might give you a few pointers. Otherwise, if you’re particularly worried about the NDA, hire a lawyer who specializes in them, so they can give you their professional advice.
#13
I worked for a healthcare facility that started collecting private patient information to share with insurance companies in order to secure better contracts. This wasn’t diagnosis data; it was lifestyle data, including spending transactions (they were trying to find ways to obtain that information when I was leaving). When I asked if patients were aware, they always gave a vague answer, which essentially meant no.
#14
I did SEO for Leapforce.
Google is always listening. Always. Listening.
I had to listen to a ton of recordings and identify if they were “accidental” and if what I heard was a command.
I’ve heard everything you can imagine.
WindySwede 1 year ago
As long as you have Androind, or have just when you have the voice thingy activated, or an google home?
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Sara G. 1 year ago
I have an android phone and I cant tell you how many times I have had conversations with people about a product or a place to vacation and the next thing you know I have an ad for it in my newsfeed. Yup, always listening.
Marja Berisa 1 year ago
Very cryptic. As someone living in Europe, I don't have a clue what this post means? OK I recognise Google, of course, duuh, but the rest of it? Someone please explain. Thank you!
ColdSteelRonin 1 year ago
If you have a device (phone, tablet, etc.) that has Google on it, it listens to and records everything because of voice commands
Load More Replies... #15
I worked at Verizon and we were told we had to use special offers to try and “save” customers. And elderly man called to have his wife’s phone disconnected after her death and I didn’t do any of the “saves”. Got called in for QA overview and got written up.
Damned_Cat 1 year ago
When I divorced, my ex took me off the Friends and Family plan so T-Mobile started charging me a ridiculous monthly rate. When I asked them for a better deal, they said that the expensive rate it was the best they could do. When I called them to get some information I needed to switch carriers, they suddenly had an amazing deal that would match the rate the new company was giving me.
Kraneia The Dancing Dryad 1 year ago
Hoping you told T-Mobile to F off....
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MC 1 year ago
My late husband and I had T-Mobile. I was listed as a user on the account but not authorized to make changes. After he passed, I called in to try and get the account updated so I could disconnect his line, they would ask if they could send an auth code to his phone. I didn't have his phone. He died suddenly and the police kept his phone while they were waiting to figure out cause of death and trying to get it back after the investigation was a whole other struggle. I explained this to T-Mobile repeatedly, sent his death certificate, short certificates that showed I was the executor of the estate, and they would say they were making the changes but when I tried to disconnect the line I was told I wasn't authorized. It took weeks of me calling, explaining, crying, just trying to get help. Finally, after one last attempt and getting nowhere I went to Verizon. They were so amazing I cried that someone was finally helping me. They even contacted T-Mobile to get my number moved to them.
kath morgan 1 year ago
being transferred to cancellations at Sky was the last straw that made me quit. While it’s true that they have better deals to offer you, they’re also told to lie and pretend you won’t get refunded for the coming month you already paid for (you do).
Spec Tater 1 year ago
FIDO in Canada did this to me when my father died last year. Called to close the account, gave them the reason. There was no expression of a condolence, instead, right out of the gate she launched into me taking it over, or transferring the account to a friend or family member. There were words spoken, none I'm proud of, but MY DAD JUST DIED!!!
Apatheist Account2 1 year ago
Had this with cable/broadband, and all types of insurance (car, house etc). They'll send you an enormous annual increase, you ring and threaten to cancel, and magically they can find you discounts to lower your price. Shout out to Elephant for stopping doing that a few years ago - I'm much more likely to renew automatically if it goes up by 5 quid than query it if it goes up 50.
Geoffrey Scott 1 year ago
We have wireless internet from them, after essentially being told after 30 years with ATT (phone and internet) that they will never upgrade their infrastructure. Saleswoman attempted to lure us into a wireless phone plan. "Well... we are in fact former customers. We were Alltel until Verizon took over (25+ yrs ago, 10 years with Verizon). And so, if you can give us 2 lines, 5 gigs data, talk and text for $60/ month we'll consider it"..."No we don't have that"..."right"
Tropical Tarot 1 year ago
Used to drive past the Alltel building for work Used to be Computer Source I think.
Load More Replies...Alternatively, if it’s a pretty standard NDA, sign it, and enjoy your new job. It’s not like you should be spilling work-related secrets in the first place. However, if your workplace is doing something that is outright illegal, you can and should get in touch with the authorities ASAP.
Have you ever signed any NDAs, dear Pandas? How restrictive were they? If any of your NDAs have already expired, are there any corporate secrets that you want to get off your chest? Feel free to vent in the comments!
#16
I worked at a grocery store, we had lots of prepackaged produce and other baked goods. I was told to pull off all the expiration date stickers and replace them with new dates because "they still looked good". There were so many things they did that probably could have gotten them fined heavily if I had known better and reported them. They were a local chain that had like 10 stores, apparently they only have one store left now and are very close to going out of business for good according to my parents.
Janissary35680 1 year ago
Not a lawyer here but if you are aware of illegal activity and don't report it, doesn't that make you an accessory?
Gabriele Alfredo Pini 1 year ago
Only certain categories have to report a crime, and only in certain circumstances. For examples teachers if they suspect that a kid is victim of violences
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Libstak 1 year ago (edited)
That is both disgusting and monumentally stupid, customers obviously voted with their feet. Nobody gets sucked into handing over their money twice when they know they have been fooled and bought bad product. Most say nothing because they know the cost of proving it is not in their favour, they just tell everyone they know and droves of customers never return. Hence, out of business in about a year.
Simon Chen 1 year ago
This is bs. Expiration dates are almost never stickers, the manufacterer almost always has the date printed. And even if, than aou have another similar looking sticker with another date on it? I do not know where this person is from, might be standard to have stickers in certain countries but in europe i have not seen something like this for a very long time
Tiffany sanders 1 year ago
Deli, bakery, and meat department dates are put on by the store, not the manufacturer which is most likely what they're referring
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Brian Droste 1 year ago
I live in Indiana. There used to be a chain of grocery stores in Indiana around where I live. My understanding was it was run mostly by family members. I am not sure but I think there was some funny business going on with the finances. They end up going out of business.
iseefractals 1 year ago
Well...it's not illegal...because those stickers put on meats or other goods packaged by the store, have NOTHING to do with food safety. They're for the store. "Sell by" is how long the store wants it to sit on the shelf before putting it into one of their cooked dishes, or when it's time to slap a discount on it, or sometimes stick it in the freezer. "Best by" refers to the freshness, and optimal quality....it's still perfectly fine to eat after that date (provided it doesn't look/smell bad) but the taste or texture might have degraded to some degree. Those stickers are meaningless to consumers, they are not regulated, and this kind of thing is not illegal. Everyone needs to learn how to use their senses to gauge their food Is it discolored, or moldy? Toss it out. Does it smell bad or have a bad texture? Toss it out. Otherwise....stop throwing out perfectly good food.
#17
I know of at least three major (and I mean MAJOR, superfund level pollution of very toxic materials) environmental disasters that are completely unknown because they took place on private property and the companies that did it are covering it up. Often, this means that the company owns a tract of land that they keep fenced off and empty. As long as they don't sell it, nobody needs to test the soil.
Having a good understanding of what happens to whistleblowers, regardless of NDA, I won't name the companies. I don't need to get forcibly suicided.
BeKind&Rewind 1 year ago
Ever heard of Rocky Flats? It was a facility 20 miles NW of Denver that produced triggers for nuclear weapons and it was raided by the FBI, DOJ and others in the 90's because of fires, missing plutonium etc. The government "cleaned it up" and now there are houses being built on that land. The homeowners are told not to have any vegetables growing in their gardens that grow under ground (carrots, potatoes etc). Seems a little sus to me and they never found the missing plutonium.
iseefractals 1 year ago
Great, so what if another cancer cluster pops up, or a bunch of kids end up with mental defections, or babies are born with crippling birth defects. Poison ground, poisoned groundwater, poisoned air, poisoned wildlife. Wonderful character.
Philly Bob Squires 1 year ago
Just another day in the big corporate world.
Load More Replies... ColdSteelRonin 1 year ago
Had a friend that did environmental remediation in Jacksonville, FL. There was a sight they called "The X-Files" because they had no idea what they would encounter. The chemist would do a soil sample in an area and if contaminated they would dig until it was removed. He said there were areas where slime and sludge would just ooze from the ground.
I Need More Espresso 1 year ago
There was a pipeline spill in Hutchinson County SD about 10 years ago. The company fenced off the worst area, had security to move people along, the landowner got paid and there was no publicity beyond local gossip (a random barrier fence and security tends to spur gossip in a rural area). Right before the Standing Rock pipeline protests. It made me a lot more skeptical of the safety claims. Probably safer than rail transport but definitely not as safe as the pipeline advocates claimed.
Game Guy 1 year ago
Could also be 3M. They're pretty famous for pulling stuff like that, and even poisoned an entire suburban water supply and tried to cover it up.
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Max Fox 1 year ago
Of course this random person who posts on Reddit just happens to know of these environmental disasters which have been kept secret by powerful people. I'm not saying that these things don't happen, I'm saying that this person knows no more about them than does any random person on Reddit.
#18
I worked for a company the overseas and enforces (self) regulation for one of the power grids in the United States. My job was to help secure it against cyber attacks and to help write the regulations that enforce those protections...
I had panic attacks on Sunday nights because I knew at work the next morning we'd go over the list of everything not compliant and the lawyers would argue they were, and nothing would get done. Many times the lawyers would tell me that I wasn't "interpreting what was written correctly.", then I'd remind them that I WROTE IT with a committee and if they didn't believe me they could go look at the minutes taken in the meetings. Instead, they would just document their "justifications" for being compliant and not actually secure anything...
The US power system is now so vulnerable to cyber attacks that it is only a matter of time before millions of people have their lives thrown into complete disaster and potentially hundreds of thousands that will die. I just can't even think about how bad things are now.
Igor914624 1 year ago
You need to look at the Texas power grid story again. The state was told by the manufacturer of the wind turbines that Texas didn't get cold enough to cause them to fail without the cold winter insulation. After that one winter, the cold weather package was installed by the manufacture. We had another cold winter after that, and nothing failed.
Load More Replies... Max Fox 1 year ago
Sigh. This is entirely fake. There is no such thing as "the US Power System". The US has multiple power systems, because most of the power supply is done at the state or regional level. That is why you can get rolling blackouts in California, of loss of power in Texas without the surrounding states being affected.
Kalevra 1 year ago
but he is talking about lawyers and they are terrible.
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Cathy Roberts 1 year ago
Well putting that on the internet will certainly help secure things.....
Seadog 1 year ago
In the US, there is no state or federal agency that certifies the accuracy of your power meter, The utility can and does program your meter to reads whatever they desire. Can't speak for all of them but AEP does in fact make your meter register more than actual usage. That is the reason why they went to digital meters. Analog meters can't be altered,
#19
I was never under an NDA but the hotel is under new ownership so I guess I can say it now.
The hotel had no internet connection starting around 1 am to 6 am. Like clockwork, every night. Idk if it was just a system fault or if it was cost cutting. But without internet, the security cameras didnt work or record anything. The fire alarm system doesnt work either (the alarms go off but it doesnt call for help). So if we had a fire that started at 3 am for example, then unless someone else thats driving by calls it in, I have no idea whats happening.
One night we had an assault happen in the parking lot. The police needed camera evidence and our cameras didnt record anything because the internet was out. So that was fun explaining to the detectives.
Cathy Roberts 1 year ago
It doesn't matter, really, if you had an NDA or not or if it was under new ownership, etc because you didn't tell us who it was, anyway.
Seadog 1 year ago (edited)
doesn't make sense anyway because security cameras have to connect to a DVR or similar device, they don't connect to the internet themselves. As for the outage, someone is unplugging the modem. Internet doesn't drop every night for 5 hours. I've had internet since the early days and the only thing that did happen daily was the connection would drop and immediately reconnect and that was only because it stayed active 24/7, something that was uncommon back then so the provider assumed it was just an open line and not actually active. Only other explanation is, someone is throwing a breaker not knowing that breaker controls all of the IT equipment in which case they have c**p management for putting up with it..
Load More Replies... #20
I worked at a startup that tracked employee happiness, supposedly so they can make employees happier, but in practice it seemed they were preemptively getting rid of unhappy employees. No need to wait for them to quit...
Dragon mama 1 year ago
Not for one second have I believed that my employer's engagement surveys are anonymous. Even if they are anonymous it's best to act as if they aren't
Danni 1 year ago
seems like you're describing all HR. They don't work for the employees, the work for the company. Sad but true.
General Anaesthesia 1 year ago
Human resources, like all other resources, are there to be exploited in corporate processes and the waste material disposed of as cheaply as possible.
Load More Replies... James Doe 1 year ago (edited)
Being a party popper here. This is just hearsay and assumptions, not a HR person spilling the beans on the practice. (Not saying it is, but from what we're reading, it could just be a toxic employee finding an excuse for himself getting fired, instead of reflecting on what they should improve)
Barong 1 year ago
Or a toxic employee getting canned because they are making others miserable. As they say one bad apple spoils the bunch. Working with a coworker that complains a lot, is angry or emotional all the time is straining at best and stressful or scary at worst. Worked with a guy that would always complain and say how much he hated it there. I liked my job but hated working with him. He always had bad attitude like if you asked for help he acted like it was too much to ask. I almost quit two weeks in because of this guy. Anyway, this guy finally left and the job became one of the best jobs I ever had. Since he wasn’t happy there, they gave him the opportunity to go and find happiness somewhere else.
Load More Replies... Celtic Pirate Queen 1 year ago
A happy employee? One who gets paid appropriately for their work and isn't expected to work unpaid overtime? Yes - I will do my job and I will do it in spades-until 5:pm, when I go home. I am not part of your "family", as I have one of my own.
Brian Droste 1 year ago
If you have unhappy employees and things don't improve, they will eventually quit anyway.
no Adhesivness2020 1 year ago
My sister worked as HR secretary at a manufacturing plant. Employes were asked every year to fill out an anonymous survey about working conditions, management, whatever. HR manager wanted to get a handwriting expert to pinpoint who wrote negative comments. I don't think he got it to happen, but he tried.
#21
Fortune 500, Real Estate, long time ago:
We know about the black mould problem. We always knew. We do not disclose it. We intentionally do not look into. We don't want to know exactly what kind it is, because if it's dangerous then we legally have to spend money to fix it. The only department that is allowed to talk about the black mould problem is Press and PR because only they know how to bury it correctly.
That was not a great work culture.
FoxEcoLimaIndiaCharlieIndiAlfa 1 year ago
Please forgive my ignorance but isn't all black mold "dangerous" or at the very least not ideal for someone to be breathing in the spores?
ColdSteelRonin 1 year ago
From the CDC: "Most people will not have any symptoms from exposure to Aspergillus. People with weakened immune systems or lung diseases are at greatest risk for symptoms. Symptoms range from mild to life-threatening. Aspergillosis affects the lungs. It causes different types of infections with some differences in symptoms. Cough and shortness of breath are common symptoms among all types of aspergillosis. Some types of infections cause nasal congestion, headache, fatigue, and coughing up blood."
Load More Replies... Seadog 1 year ago
All that aside, buying a house or any building now is strictly a c**p shoot. They disclose nothing and even the title companies don't do what you hire them to do and when they miss something, they don't stand behind it. People think buying through a realtor means they're safe in the transaction. You're not. When the deal goes south, you're on your own as if you just bought it direct from the seller.
Barong 1 year ago
I couldn’t imagine doing this. If I or an inspector finds mold I will call it out and let my clients know their options. I will provide them with testing company names and the EPA Mold Remediation Guidelines. I’m not going to play around with someone’s life, health, or even enjoyment of their home. We live in a dry climate so usually mold if found is limited and the fix isn’t too expensive. Like ANY defect in a house, from bad wiring to prior leaks, if a seller knows about it they have to disclose it. https://www.epa.gov/mold/mold-cleanup-your-home
#22
My wife used to be an "associate" in a well known multilevel marketing company. I won't say which one.
She dragged me along to one of their "how to get rich in this business" seminars where someone way up in the pyramid was speaking. The speaker at one point was advising the audience on how to commit tax fraud by deducting everything imaginable and then some on your taxes as "business expenses." Some of it was borderline, but a lot of it was just straight up tax evasion.
My wife was still in her true believer phase at that point and thought the secrets of the universe had been revealed to her. We argued about it for a couple weeks afterwards, until she finally agreed to ask our tax guy about it, and he basically said "LOL that's totally fraud. I hope you like the color orange."
Worst part was the reason the speaker was advising everyone to commit tax fraud was "so you can invest more back into your business," which translated from MLM-speak means "Keep pumping money into the pyramid and making us rich, suckers!".
Barong 1 year ago
I got dragged along to a couple MLM events. One was by an ER doctor worked with and I really respected. I lost a lot of that respect afterwards. They always say their MLM isn’t predatory like other MLMs, that their MLMs are legit. Many treat top level members with reverence like cult leaders. It’s wild. Some of these companies have great products but how they sell them is a s**t show and is a total scam. Most of the “sales” are the demo kits that are paid for my new recruits who “invested” but likely won’t make any other “sales”.
Andrew Arons 1 year ago
Never hide the name of a multi-level-marketing company. Because if you can spare even one person from being sucked into it, you've earned some positive karma. And to make things easier, Wikipedia lists out the most well-known ones: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_multi-level_marketing_companies
#23
One surprising secret is how many products marketed as "handmade" or "artisanal" are actually mass-produced in factories overseas. Brands rely on clever wording to sell the image of small-batch craftsmanship, but behind the scenes, it's often a far cry from what’s advertised.
PeepPeep the duck 1 year ago
Yes, the aboriginal art gallery I worked in at Perth, the boomerangs, art trinkets etc are made in China. So I asked the owner how that works as an ‘Australian made art/souvenir?’, and he said the design is sold to China from the artists to mass produce. Even the kool rock painting ones in frames.
ColdSteelRonin 1 year ago
Fun Fact. In the US you can put "imported from (insert country)" on a product label if you import the label from the stated country.
Sue User 1 year ago
Alot of that is now just stuff from China being resold
Load More Replies... Donna Peluda 1 year ago
Same as most top singers. They say the don't lip sync and sing live. Yes the probably do sing live but what the sing on stage is not what you hear over the sound system. It all prerecorded auto tune or pitch corrected in the studio. They are so lazy that they don't even bother to have a few different vocals takes for the same tour.
#24
Not really exposing a secret here but I am disgusted by it. My job requires me to look into the minutes of meetings. One of my clients was a school. During one of the meetings with the board of directors and the parents, they addressed the bullying in the school, one of the parents said "Just leave it, let the weak ones fall out." and that was the end of it.
FoxEcoLimaIndiaCharlieIndiAlfa 1 year ago
I'm guessing LD = learning disabled?
Load More Replies... #25
Danny Devito has a long time agent/manager who unbeknownest to him is a racist. She apparently doesn't realize all the calls are recorded, so there's *years* of her saying some f****d up s**t to people in a certain office.
He, on the other hand, is a really decent chap....
Andrew Arons 1 year ago
Why not write him a fan-letter telling him about it? Who knows, he might even share the info with some of her other clients?
#26
I worked for a company that made DJ equipment, turntables etc. They put a metal plate in their cheaply made turntables so they were the same weight as Technics when in reality they were plastic garbage.
Spidercat 1 year ago
Yep...this rife in that industry. For those who may not follow this sort of thing, there are two types of turntable. Technics and non-Technics. Technics are so far ahead of other manufacturers that the others can only hope to trick people into buying their brands.
Seadog 1 year ago
Are we talking about the same Technics that makes home stereo equipment? Because I've never been impressed with anything they make.
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iseefractals 1 year ago
A common tactic by everyone selling cheap plastic c**p at premium prices. I don't know if it's still happening, but "Beats" headphones famously put hunks of unnecessary metal behind the earcup's to make them heavier, and thus more premium. In reality, they're on par with headphones that cost $20 or $30, the drivers are just tuned for more base.
James Anthony 1 year ago
There's a reason the Technics SL1200-MKII are still industry standard.
Donna Peluda 1 year ago
Even if it's a cheap Knock off technics the weight is put in to minimise feedback, maybe also to make it feel more expensive... In most clubs back in the 90s the turntables where mounted on concrete pillars that where built into the main structure of the building. This was to avoid feedback from the subwoofers.
#27
I've seen an early cut of John Wick 2 where all of the animal handlers were running around on screen in green spandex bodysuits. Running alongside the horses, carrying leads for the dogs, etc. Just all of these people who are invisible to the actors and the rest of their world.
Absolutely surreal.
Nicola Roberts 1 year ago
I'm not sure this is a surprise to anyone, but it's nice to read something less bothersome.
#28
The Victoria Secret Fashion show in Shanghai in 2017 was an absolute s**t show of corruption, kickbacks, and f**k ups. The Chinese government took VS for an absolute ride for so much stuff, and that's not including all of the middlemen who wanted to get their beaks wet as well. The amount of money that VS spent to have their fashion show in China was astronomical and got them, at a minimum, investigated by the US government for the amount of bribes they were paying.
BeKind&Rewind 1 year ago
Who really cares about VS??? I really thought they were a dying brand...
#29
Call centre employees share bad experiences with each other in a "secret" log by the customer info. They know exactly who the a******s are.
Šimon Špaček 1 year ago
Important lesson. Most ticketing systems have two sections, one is visible to the affected person, the other is visible only to techs. First of all, if you want to write something about the user, use the "tech only" field. Second of all, make sure that this person is not in fact member of another tech team, they can see it. And they get email notification.
Šimon Špaček 1 year ago
Sometimes there is a list in Excel or OneNote with names. Sometimes it is called "The good, the bad and the ugly" and when you are "Good", it means that you are nice and we will do a lot to help you well beyond expectation (computer is still under warranty, but it is slow? Let's get you a brand new one). If you land in "Bad", it means that you are a jerk and we will do the absolute bare minimum to still keep the job (broken computer? Sorry, company policy is "same for same", I cannot upgrade you now). The ugly means somebody high in command chain with personal number for IT boss, we will do what we can to not get reported to the boss.
Nicola Roberts 1 year ago
Sales Force is a ticketing system I use. There are internal and external comments. I think it's best to treat every comment as you were speaking face to face. The worst thing I would say would be "hostile". Who needs to provide evidence for your own termination.
Nimitz 1 year ago
Can confirm. Worked for Comcast, we kept notes on your account. We used professional language like "Subscriber was irate and rude throughout the call" but yeah, if you're an a*****e there's a record of it for the next guy you call to berate
Peace N Luv 1 year ago
That explains why I always get extra goodies when I have to call somebody about something. I go out of my way to be friendly and kind.
Load More Replies... kath morgan 1 year ago
The main use of it is to let the next agent know what was already discussed/offered so you don’t retread ground or contradict promises. But yes we also use it to let the next person know if the customer was abusive.
kath morgan 1 year ago
What’s especially funny is when the abusive customer calls back and suddenly they are all sweetness because they think it’s a new person. But I remember exactly who they are because of my notes.
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#30
I don't know if I was ever bound by an NDA for this, but I used to work for a contractor for a major US plane manufacturer.
They will literally hire anyone. I'm an ancient historian. I do Roman stuff. My experience in flight is limited to sims and being a passenger.
They have no standard for aeronautics for their teachers. Their techs; I don't know.
Ace 1 year ago
I'm struggling to see the problem. Why would a 'teacher' need to know about aeronautics? I worked for some years for an aero engine manufacturer, then later for many more in pharmaceuticals. As a programmer system designer did I need to have qualifications in engineering or life sciences? No, I did not.
arthbach 1 year ago
Yes, it's very common for companies not to care what a person has studied. They just want to recruit educated people. The company then provides the training necessary.
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Camber Hollywood 1 year ago
Makes sense to me. I've never heard of an ancient Roman plane crash. Very safe back then.
Freya the Wanderer 1 year ago
Yipes! I just added another entry to my long, long list of reasons to drive instead - if driving is feasible.
#31
Worked in technical customer support for a IT/hardware company. We were sold a bad batch of chips from a supplier. The chips caused random 'watchdog' resets which would cause random crashes/reboots. The company got a settlement due to it to remediate it, but the MBA/legal types deemed it too expensive to fix what was already in the field so they 'fixed it in Support'. We had very strict talking points when our customers would report this issue, everyone in the support team knew what the issue was and had each worked several cases of it. but our 'script' made us act stupid like it was a unique case that had never happened before. It is kind of hard to do that when you have replaced multiple units for the same customer in several weeks, but if you diverted from the talking points you got counseled by management. This issue caused several very high level outages/issues at many of our customers, we knew why, and we were told to 'act dumb' and bury it in process/procedures so we didn't take the hit on needing to replace the known faulty hardware.
Tucker Cahooter 1 year ago
I believe the "This has never happened before" spiel was also used by the Horizon support staff in the UK to fob off the post masters who were suggesting that there was a fault in the Horizon software (which ultimately was acknowledged)
Cee Cee 1 year ago
You're right and some people went to prison for fraud and there was at least one sui çide as a result. Relationships broke down and although they claim it's fixed I read in Private Eye last week that there are still issues. Issue first reported years ago in a computer magazine but ignored. The government enquiry is still running.
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#32
Manipulation of Data to give false impressions of reliability was something I saw quite blatantly utilised with little repercussions. My company was struggling to meet on time delivery schedules and for numerous years was as embarrassingly low as 40%... A new manager comes in and within months we are now boasting an on time delivery rate on a brilliant 95%. Turns out all he did was change what constituted an on time delivery: each time we knew a product would be late, we'd notify the customer of the delay and ask them to confirm they still wanted the order; if they still wanted the product, the on time delivery would be recorded against the new expected date as opposed to the original promised date. Company literature was being sent out boasting of our 95% on time delivery (now amongst the highest in the industry) when in fact we were by that point meeting less than 30% of initial delivery schedule targets. It was so simple that I'm sure numerous companies are getting away with such underhand tricks.
ColdSteelRonin 1 year ago
Another term used (which I came to hate) is re-baselining.
Load More Replies... Šimon Špaček 1 year ago
This sounds like something from 'Yes, minister'. "We found no evidence." "Did you look for it?" "The goal of internal investigation is not to find evidence, but to confirm lack of evidence."
Sue User 1 year ago
Worked for a company that did this with projects. Project Manager would tell everyone they were behind because of " some reason". Everyone would say " oh okay". Next week, developement schedule is green ( no problems ). My testing winfow went from 10 weeks to 4 weeks. So before i even started testing, i was in red. I got a bad review.
Seadog 1 year ago
Reminds me of my optometrist. Every time they order lenses for me I can tell they're used to people griping about delivery times. I just tell them I know it's likely to take 3 months to get my lenses. Then they're all "oh it won't take that long." Trust me, it has taken that long and longer before. Just call me when you get them. Why so long you ask? 1) only available in glass, my script isn't available any other way 2) the script itself - double prisms 3) the lens format - double seg. The problem is always with the left lens, they break it due to one corner being fairly thin
JB 1 year ago
Having worked in IT for most of 30 years, I’d say this is near 100% the case. As soon as the customer (external or internal) accepts a new delivery date, that becomes the delivery date. I don’t think I’ve ever worked for a software company or in the IT department for internal projects where delivery statistics were calculated against the original planned delivery date. However, I blame most of it on the departments responsible for providing requirements. It’s literally impossible to meet deadlines when the input necessary for development is poorly defined, late, changed multiple times, new requirements shoved in last minute. Yet somehow it’s always the IT department’s fault that projects are late.
#33
Not under an NDA but I am not allowed to say this to people.
My employer is an HCM company and the department I work in administers COBRA. For our friends not in the US, COBRA is a law that allows an employee to pay out of pocket to keep benefits they had while they were employed after a separation. This has been a thing since 1986.
In many cases, your employer has to reinstate coverage with the carrier. There is no punishment if they do not. They have to inform you of your eligibility within 45 days or face fines with TAMRA, which is part of the IRS.
We are not allowed to tell you that your former employer hasn't let the carrier know, we have to take the blame. There are some clients where I work where we do inform the carrier, but carriers like Blue Cross, Anthem, and Cigna are right now refusing to accept the reports we send them and your coverage remains inactive. But the majority of the time, the client (employer) is responsible for reporting to the carrier of your COBRA election. There is no maximum time allotted for reinstatement, I've seen cases where the employer (client) has not reinstated benefits for 1 year, until the beneficiary tried to use the coverage and was denied and they had been paying $2500 a month just for their medical. This was not illegal, just irresponsible. Reinstatements are the number 1 issue I deal with and it's daily.
I have tried to get my employer to make an effort to ensure the client reinstated in a timely manner, and they refuse saying they do not want to anger the client. I've also written letters to President Biden and VP Harris explaining this situation and to present policy. An expansion of TAMRA to include reinstatement deadlines would do wonders.
ENSJ 1 year ago
If you leave your job you can pay to keep the benefits such as health insurance you had when you were employed. Which is expensive, but most of the time still cheaper than paying for private insurance. The problem is that your former employer has to reinstate your insurance (because it ends when you leave the job). THey don't do that a lot of the time so you keep paying out of pocket for insurance you don't have.
Load More Replies... Seadog 1 year ago
You're wasting your time with Biden and Harris. It's the democrats that created the s**t we now are forced to use under ACA. ACA was created to force the working class to pay for insurance for illegals and those not eligible for Medicaid while removing employer paid coverage. Dispute it all you want but these are the cold hard facts of ACA. BTW, there's nothing affordable about the Affordable Care Act.
Brandie Litchfield 1 year ago (edited)
My issue with a certain major health insurance company, is that they claim to be a non-profit, yet they jack up their prices every year, refuse a disgusting level of prior approval requests, look for any loophole in the policy and riders to deny coverage, all while paying ceos millions of dollars every year, including bonuses. Employess would get the most pointless random "employee appreciation " gifts and picnics & events just to hide the excess funds that they've basically ripped off by needlessly denying their clients benefits. The employee benefits were great. But there was so much waste and unnecessary spending that would've been better utilized by approving benefits that many people had a valid medical need for! I took all the training sessions offered, and then took those skills to an actual non-profit that provided real services to the community. My pay was lower and I lost my great benefits package, by taking a different job, but my conscience was clean & I was happier.
Sue 1 year ago
And if it's the blue one, they have a tendency to outright deny claims because a lot of people won't follow through once they are denied. It's disgusting. It would be nice if someone who knows more than I do would just start an insurance. The problem with "non-profit" is that has nothing to do with the salaries paid out, including the NFL.
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#34
Every single cooking competition show you watch is rigged. The judges have no say over who wins. The winner is chosen prior to filming by the executive producer(s), and then the show is crafted around that winner to mimic a story or journey they can sell to audiences.
Duncan Rogers 1 year ago
Nope. Not all of them. This is hyperbole to make a point. A damn cynical point to be sure, but a point all the same.
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Austzn 1 year ago
This sounds believable to me. The contestants go from, "can I burn water?" to "masterpiece baby eels with raspberry-merlot-goldleaf sauce" in like 6 weeks of filming some of these things. Yeah....But if the show has Chef Anne in it I know it's going to be entertaining at least.
Apatheist Account2 1 year ago (edited)
I've had to deal with people convinced that every UK tv quiz show is rigged. Sadly they were in the days of Hughie Green (as was his Opportunity Knocks), but I've been on three since then (1992, 2019, 2023) and can confirm that they're not. I suspect there are many cookery shows that are guided towards a result, but how would anyone know that they're ALL rigged, unless they're involved with all of them?
Seadog 1 year ago
I have yet to see any of them cook anything I'd eat. Most of it looks like something that's already been eaten and regurgitated. One thing those shows has done for me, they've insured I'll never eat at a Michelin restaurant since those seem to be the places that serve that slop.
#35
IT-Consultant of many, many winters:
The most critical applications in banking, insurance and finance run on badly outdated machines hold together by duct tape, prayers and compressend dust, standing in dark, wet corners in mostly forgotten basements. Also those systems are written in the most obscure and long dead programming languages (or even directly in assembler for a certain chip set), written by code-wizzards in their own idiosyncratic dialects, who are now long retired or even dead. Backups / Backup Systems are mostly non-existent or the Data-Tapes are worn down to basically transparent tape. (Even had a case -around 2020- where a cleaning tape from '99 was still in the bay, due to the robot being faulty).
If a cleaner or janitor pulls the wrong plug to find an outlet for their vacuum, there is a decent chance that whole branches or even institutions begins to crumble.
Most of those system will also never be updated, due to their "legacy" status, aka. "We don't know what this is, is doing or even HOW it is doing, what it is doing, but it is a critical part of our whole infrastructure and nobody dares to touch it, but we will never invest the necessary sums to analyse those systems, write documentation or even replace them."
Edit:
NDAs for companies I did projects for are long gone, but some of them are currently in an investigation process for fraud and tax evasion, so I won't disclose exact informations.
Šimon Špaček 1 year ago
I heard that in one important financial business there is a team of old IT techs. The youngest one is 68 or so, the oldest one is nearly 80. They are there to keep their mainframe working and they are paid well. There is a simple formula for their salary, [years of experience]*1000 Euros per month. If that is true, they are making ~60k in a month (720.000 euro per year or ~780.000 USD per year). I heard that they also have quite generous vacation time and because they do maintenance all the time, they have nearly no outages and therfore nearly no calls out of hours.
Sue 1 year ago
Ours retired but they are still paying him on contract to maintain it - and it's the last great application I worked on. The network guy quit but they kept him on contract for a couple of years.
Load More Replies... Igor914624 1 year ago
I worked at a place where the customer management application could not be upgraded. The OS was Windows 2003. The vendor had gone out of business, and the database was proprietary. We had no documentation. The hardware was so old we were scouring ebay to buy replacement hard drives. We couldn't virtualize it, it required a hardware dongle to function. So when I left the company in 2019, it was still running.
Sue 1 year ago
Well, a lot of the new ones aren't that much better. Now that there are programs to make programs, it's a lot easier so you don't always get the most intelligent programmers. Our last two 2 applications are unbelievably bad & one is statewide. And not user friendly at all, especially for data entry. "Let's make everyone click on a button instead of hit Enter for every single option." I use at least 27 applications on a daily basis, and nobody is testing to see if they are compatible, and many of those applications do the same dang thing.
Science Nerd 1 year ago (edited)
One issue in re-writing financial software is that the output of the new version must match the old output to the penny. The has hampered the IRS for decades. Sometimes, running the exact same software on a new system changes the output slightly so you can’t upgrade to current hardware.
Sue 1 year ago
My daughter's employer just got a new system, and what used to take her coworkers a minute or two now takes them an hour or two. It's not getting any better. They are paying OT out the wazoo.
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#36
Worked at a hospital specializing in cancer care. They were doing something new. Actually targeting the type of cancer with the right type of chemo. Most cancer centers do not. So suppose you get cancer C. But the insurance companies / gov mandates you get chemo for cancer A B before treatment for C. As the money increases by like 10 fold. Downside for the patient with cancer C is they have to endure way more bouts of chemo than if they just targeted cancer C. So if you ever find yourself in that really bad boat, make sure your doctors treatment plan is for the right cancer vice for the wrong checkbook.
arthbach 1 year ago
I am very happy to live in a country where it is the doctors who decide on medical care, not the insurance companies!
Jennifer Smith 1 year ago
This doesn’t make sense because insurance would end up paying more. If you have cancer c and they do treatment for cancer A then they end up paying for treatment for cancer A and when that doesn’t work they then pay for treatment for cancer C. It’s pretty well known what treatments work for what cancer and insurance isn’t going to pay extra to try a treatment that doesn’t work for that cancer.
#37
Helped a buddy who owned a restaurant do a street fair beer cart one time. We had Coors for $5 and a specialty brew for $6. They were both Coors.
#38
There’s a government in East Asia that was or still is running a low key sterilization campaign in central and Eastern Africa. They do it in partnership with a private company I used to work for. I was “sworn in” on the project in September 2013. I was with the company until late 2017, and had to sign an NDA that I wouldn’t say anything. The NDA didn’t specifically mention sterilization but instead the methods used.
The company I worked for with funding from this particular East Asian government set up “Free Clinics” in half a dozen or so African nations and offered free healthcare to the locals. Naturally they went for it because they were getting much better quality of healthcare than they had ever gotten before. They were baited with the quality treatment and then sterilized without their knowledge. The methods used were non surgical and the company I worked for was given a quota of 30,000 to 50,000 sterilizations a year by the government funding the project.
I don’t know if they’re still running the program, the company is still in business, but I don’t know if they’ve still got the contract or if some competitor offered a better deal to that particular East Asian government.
This is as far as I’m willing to go on the details.
Foxglove🇮🇪 1 year ago
China has "invested" a huge amount of money throughout Africa, mainly to gain access to the valuable minerals
Dragon mama 1 year ago
Yup. Offers a "loan" to cover the costs of an infrastructure project and when said loan can't be paid the lender gets access to natural resources under the control of the borrower. Dreadful.
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#39
I briefly worked at a university in South Florida in the late 90's and early 00's. I was chosen to be on an Academic Integrity team, basically reviewing claims of plagiarism and cheating and deciding between the five of us whether it is valid or not. We were made to sign NDA's when we accepted the invite to be a part of the team.
There were three instances where an employee that was taking classes there clearly cheated, and the issue was brought to our attention. Those three times, the cheating was blatant. All three times, we were told to let it go, as it would look bad for the university to have it get out.
I'm not sure if this is common for other universities, but at the time, I was under the impression that it was common practice everywhere. It was ultimately one of the main reasons I ended up quitting. I was and still am disgusted by it.
#40
A mortgage company I worked for shut down because they lost Fannie and Freddy backing. The CEO told us it was because of "three loans that shouldn't have resulted in this punishment at all."
It was his son, it was vastly more than three loans, and it is so bad he has permanently lost his license to be a loan officer.
Austzn 1 year ago
This type of behavior was the center of the US's housing crisis in the late 00's. Financial people using backing of the government to issue loans that shouldn't have been approved, packed them into securities, sold them as high quality investments and thought they could insure against any losses. The companies that insured them weren't required to have enough capitol to cover claims so when the red in the books stared showing up as the mortgages defaulted it took the whole house of cards down with it. When the market crashed some of these same groups bought up the properties and now want their money; and that's how we're in another housing crisis: affordability and availability. 😒
Load More Replies... Schmebulock 1 year ago
Fannie Mae was the biggest cause of the housing market crash and their CEO even lied to his employees about what they were doing. It all came out after the crash and most of them walked away scot-free.
Seadog 1 year ago
Bank I worked for around 1990, there was a guy that knew a branch manager really well and the manager would just approve car loans for him no questions asked because they'd had a long-time relationship that had always gone well. Until it didn't. Guy got a loan for 6 cars then defaulted. One was a Chevy Cavalier with no sheet metal forward of the windshield (scrap), one was a Nissan 280Z that broke in half at the firewall as it was being unloaded (scrap) I don't remember now what the others were but they were equally junk. He was no longer allowed to approve any loans.
#41
Used to work for government. One of the department heads didn’t realize his mic was still on during a meeting break, and said some less-than-flattering things about his colleagues.
He came to me the next day and wanted it removed from the tape. And made it very clear that my career would be limited if I didn’t obliged. I obliged, though I had already made a copy to my personal server earlier that morning, just to have leverage in the future, should I need it.
Damned_Cat 1 year ago (edited)
That's why we had to institute a rule to mute the mics of anyone that didn't have the floor to speak. Too many officials were making rude comments under their breath that the mic still picked up loud and clear.
Sue 1 year ago
I transcribe a tape of a phone call (ooolllld) where the executive bad-mouth other executives, including ones above him, saying one bigwig "s**ked" the bigger bigwigs you-know-what. I asked my supervisor & his secretary if they really wanted me to transcribe it & they insisted. I did, & sent it to him. He must have had a heart attack, but he didn't get fired.
#42
Food industry: Slaughter house meat production specifically. USDA only employs a handful of people nationwide to inspect and certify safety and quality of production facilities. Slaughter houses kill some 850K cattle, 25M chickens, etc. a day. So you can imagine that if some states have only one inspector, what is the incentive for companies to meet safe production standards behind closed doors? Not only that, these inspectors are backed up months in work but can be easily monetarily exploited because government pay is abysmal. These people have to visually certify individual meat imports/exports shipments. Who has the time? This ineffectiveness is one of the symptoms of why food-born illness recalls are so common, margin for error is gigantic. I had food industry veterans tell me their household rule for meat was: if we don’t hunt it ourselves we don’t eat it.
Let’s not get into the unspoken rule that any “inspector” with any semblance of power over a lucrative industry is always fallible.
Brandie Litchfield 1 year ago
In the US, in order for 'meat' to be considered healthy enough for human consumption, the animal has to only stand on its own at the slaughterhouse for 30 seconds. If an animal cannot stand on its own, their meat is used for pet food. It's actually quite sad to see the undercover videos of slaughterhouses and the abuse that the animals suffer before death...
Geoffrey Scott 1 year ago
And even with that paltry staffing, there was a proposal to "self certify"(remove USDA employee cert). Boy, did I get on the horn to my Senator (Stabenow, chair of ag committee) on that one. They assured me, with a laugh, that ain't happening. The recent scandal about Boar's Head and all the other listeria recalls lately should give anyone pause. Many have 3rd party sanitation, by immigrants whose standing in the US may be suspect. But someone in the company signed off on sanitation..
Slowdown 1 year ago
What does an immigrant's "standing in the US" have to do with anything about this post or trade secrets from employers? What are you getting at?
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#43
I was told by my line manager to 'half fill' large fries at maccies..
And I didn't even have to sign an nda.
#44
Many years ago my Dad was manager of the meat dept at a chain grocery store. A new store manager came in, and told him that whenever steaks started looking a bit grey, rather than mark them down a bit (they were still OK to eat, just older and unappealing in appearance), he was to slice them laterally and position the bright-pink interior up to repackage and keep them the same price. My Dad soon quit over that, as he couldn't in good conscience do it.
#45
In Prince George's County Maryland, county transit bus drivers are instructed following an accident they are not to speak to anyone until a supervisor arrives on the scene. An approved method for not talking, especially to other drivers involved, is to feign injury. There's actually money allotted to pay the fines related to wasting 911 and emergency resources, because analysts determined it was cheaper than costs associated with drivers accidently admitting fault. There's also an entire audit and analysis team related to accidents because of the sheer volume of people who falsely claim to be on a bus during an accident.
Edit: What an incredible response! To clarify the current PG County TheBus transit system is run by a company called RATP. They were hired during covid, which was after I left the state. The company running the busses until 2020 was called Veolia.
Alexandre Beaufils 1 year ago
Lol 2 french companies. The 2nd one belongs partly to the french state and has Monopoly over the Parisian region . RATP stands for "regie autonome des transports parisien" I don't have very high expectations for them, after having been one of their customers for 40 years, but they aren't that low either. It could be better but it s not bad... As they are often among the best in the world when it comes to mass public transportation, and have inspired countless other countries notabily here in Europe. Veolia on the other hand... I wouldn't trust them For anything. This company is cancer.
#46
A ridiculous percentage of the US bullets are made in Grand Island, Nebraska.
Not just the red boxes, either just about every company has a large amount of bullets made for them there. (Sierra and Nosler being the two exceptions)
The only difference most of the time is the color of the tips.
Wouldn't be so bad, but the equipment is WW vintage and falling apart, security and safety are half a*sed, and they chase off anyone that won't work 70 hour weeks.
Shane Peterson 1 year ago
Lol, you're talking about Horniday. They're are much less safe production/manufacturing facilities in Grand Island. Although Horniday did have that giant a*s explosion that brought the feds in a couple years ago. I'd rather work there than CNH or Swift, or for that matter other manufacturer's I did work for in GI. But yeah Horniday is a MAJOR manufacturer of ammunition.
#47
Feels weird posting this as I'm a big time lurker and not technically under any NDA but I was working for a medical devices company where the financial director was also the production director who instructed the production teams to use a prototype calibration machine for their main product, neonatal ventilators. The electronic engineer who designed the prototype was NOT happy, rightly caused a big fuss and ended up resigning, that guy was an absolute hero, big respect! That company kinda shattered my perspective on "ethical engineering roles" and I ended up changing industry.
#48
Hasbro has tried to make the following two films:
Stretch Armstrong - a gritty re-imaging staring Taylor Lautner (the wolf from Twilight) with a "Nolan's Batman" feel
CandyLand - A LOTRs style epic for children staring Adam Sandler
Both got pitch packets made before ultimately being shelved. Last I heard the Candyland idea is still kind of alive.
Ansi 1 year ago
Hasbro is a company making toys and boardgames. So I guess these movie ideas would probably more or less be veiled advertisements to buy their stuff? (In the case of the LEGO movie, and other movies using brand names, the company can be licenced partners with the movie studio to approve the use of their brand, but they are not making the movie themselves)
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#49
Taco Bell’s cinnamon twists are made with rice pasta, the moisture content is so high, the water in the pasta boils in the fryer puffing them up, then just sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top.
Ryan-James O'Driscoll 1 year ago
The moisture causing things to puff up in the fryer is how fried dough things work.
Game Guy 1 year ago
And popcorn. And pretty much anything else that puffs, like Cheerios.
Load More Replies... #50
Microsoft is fine with video games ‘being a bit crashy’ but if a title so much as mentions Sony in the credits or accidentally displays PlayStation controller iconography, it’s an immediate quality assurance testing fail.
#51
I 100% believe everything that was said about the work culture at Blizzard because even the companies they outsourced to had similar issues.
I worked for Clientlogic(later Sitel) when they had the contract for in game customer support for World of Warcraft(AKA a WoW GM). I was at the campaign from around the time Burning Crusade launched until a couple weeks before Wrath of the Lich King was released and it was like the wild west. We were actively encouraged to break workplace norms when it comes to harassment, language, and personal conduct in the name of "desensitizing us to what we will see in game". We were actively told that we could say whatever we wanted, harass whoever we wanted in whatever way we wanted, and as long as nothing got physical nothing would do anything about it.
I was at that campaign from late December 2006 until October of 2008 and I saw more harassment there then all the rest of my life combined, and again we were the outsourced branch of their customer support; I couldn't imagine how bad it must have gotten at Blizzard headquarters where there was no outside influence trying to temper how people were acting.
#52
I used to work in packaging, and there was a big promotion coming up for the ‘18 World Cup.
Basically the beverage company we were working with thought they’d be able sell more of their product if they were able to correctly predict the winning team to use for their promotion when the winner was actually revealed
Obviously if you waited for the champion to be revealed it would be too late, the supply chain has got to start well in advance.
Basically the beverage company *did* correctly guess champion team, and a lot of people involved in this deal had to sign NDAs basically stipulating that they couldn’t go around shouting “I know France are going to win because XYZ company have asked us to print all this France merch in advance etc etc”
You don’t have to be Nostradamus to guess the champion of the World Cup, but it’s the fact the company we were dealing with were *suspiciously* certain of it, along with the secrecy surrounding this knowledge.
Bored Sailor 1 year ago
Or their other plant was doing the other team. They do it every year for the World Series and Super Bowl and other events, the losing teams gear gets donated, normally to organizations working in Africa. Pretty common, google it, the company gets a tax right off and kids get new clothes.
Zadigrim 1 year ago
I'm not sure about this happening every time but typically if there's a playoff (in say Basketball) for a championship, they'll just produce merch for both sides and then dispose of the merch for the team that loses.
Nikki Private Citizen 1 year ago
This is how is USED TO be done. I believe to poster is alleging that nowadays most major sports are rigged with the winner determined long before the final game.
Load More Replies... #53
Former agent for a driving app here.
I used to handle the driver's part of the app, and that part was rather messed up, because I would often get drivers asking why their accounts were taken down. I stopped being surprised after realizing that for every three drivers that reached out or so, two among them were shut down, either for fraudulent activity or for (mostly sexual) misconduct. Frauds include starting and stopping without the rider, messing with the GPS to charge the rider with surcharges (especially on airports), or attempting to upload bogus or edited documents. About this one, it was disgustingly easy to bypass the docs filter, because there were plenty of countries where the app worked, that didn't run background checks.
On top of that, privacy policies wouldn't let us disclose the cause of the deactivation, either. Thus resulting in drivers often trying to sneak back into action with a duplicate account, only for me to laugh in their faces when finding out they were stonewalled because of their original account.
On the other hand, there were a handful of drivers who presumably didn't do a thing wrong, but then again, policies would leave our hands tied and we had to give out the bad news anyway, if you know what I mean.
Andy Frobig 1 year ago (edited)
Sounds like kicking drivers out of Uber or Lyft
Load More Replies... #54
I worked for a company who worked for a company who worked for Cisco (networking). Cisco had created a new product for "small business" (basically a cheaper version of their normal routers and switches). When hired, I was one of about 20 people, most of whom had zero networking experience. We were told that it was done that way because they wanted non-techies specifically learning the product (this made no sense to me). We were told that we had to get CCNA certifications before we could go live. We were then given a month of bootcamp training and personal study sessions. It took about 2 months (and a few tries) for everyone to get the certification.
The problem was that we were 20 kids, with little to no technical or networking experience, working on a new product that we technically weren't versed in (we were given generic CCNA training and no training on the product itself), and expected to handle all tech support for the entire country. I once had a call to fix a connectivity issue for a chain of banks. The guy who called me admitted to making $450 an hour and asked me to take my time solving his issue. He called the guy making $20 an hour. Believe it or not, it was the classic tech support question: "Is it plugged in?" that solved his issue. He forgot to plug in the power. I'm not sure why this was supposed to be tied to other banks, but I'm guessing that it was at a main hub and something wasn't going out to the branches or something (I didn't ask).
90% of the employees on that team quit within the first 3 months of working there.
#55
I worked for a very prominent sports broadcast. Hardcore fans would always get so angry when the broadcast was narrative focused but the reality is that majority of viewership metrics aren't that hardcore minority that are so extremely vocal on things like social media and reddit that would complain about narratives etc.
Production meetings weekly were about key words and key narrative lines to essentially "sell" these teams and players to the audience over and over and over because majority of viewers only tune in for a moment or a game so you gotta repeat it to make it stick. And it did work in terms of those narratives actually sticking and building player brands. So much was manufactured and about working together with broadcast and teams to build fandom, that is the number one goal.
Could we go massively indepth on a hardcore level? Yeah and the talent team always wanted to but production had the data and was like: the fandom immediately turns off when we do that.
So I guess the dirty secret is: sports broadcasts, hardcore analytical fans are never the target demographic. Probably not a secret but some sport fans really miss that lol.
arthbach 1 year ago
I caught a television programme late one night. It claimed it was a sports programme (American football?). It wasn't. It was almost exclusively a statistical programme, with a few snippets of people actually playing sports.
What do you think ?
kansasmagic 1 year ago
It's not just me, right? Like two of these stories are *actually* about NDAs. The rest are "secrets" that anyone who cares to could look up, or run of the mill shady business practices.
Rodney McKay 1 year ago
BP could just title all of their articles "This is Clickbait".
Load More Replies... Brandie Litchfield 1 year ago (edited)
I was told that a malpractice lawsuit in a hair salon, was cheaper than a discrimination lawsuit. So if a client came in with hair that you had not been trained to provide services for (specifically BIPOC), you could not admit that you had never received training for that hair type and advise the client to a more appropriate stylist or salon. Instead, you were supposed to do your be to figure it out, and risk damaging their hair!! I was told this while job shadowing in the mid 90s at a well-known salon chain, within a big name brand store. I did not agree with this at all,, and attempted to find any training options for hair types that I hadn't been trained on in cosmetology. Unless a POC was in your class and willing to teach everyone, you just weren't taught those skills! There was nothing in my state that offered such training, and I was so disgusted by the idea of working in a salon without knowledge of how to properly care for ALL customers hair, that I let my cosmetology license lapse and have never returned.
Andy Frobig 1 year ago
I hate the whole concept of work, but I really feel blessed when I read these things because I've never had a job where there was any need for an NDA. I've done a couple years of food service, a few months of retail, and the rest is basically driving forklifts and fixing musical instruments. My advice is to find a job with minimal BS. What you lose in income is partially made up in not having to lie or keep secrets
Darth Kittius 1 year ago
I worked at the Melaleuca call center for 6 months. Nothing extremely crazy happened there, but we were told to make cancelations as difficult as possible, so there's that.
Ottoman 1 year ago
Probably the weirdest job I ever had was working for a cult, basically writing their Bible. I was part of a team of ghost writers - I think four of us - and we were collecting the cult leader's writings, sorting them out, and making them sound better. It was all weird stuff he'd written on the backs of envelopes and receipts and whatever random pieces of paper he had sitting around the house. I signed an NDA to cover up that he didn't write it all himself, but that guy's dead now, so I don't feel particularly bound by it.
kansasmagic 1 year ago
It's not just me, right? Like two of these stories are *actually* about NDAs. The rest are "secrets" that anyone who cares to could look up, or run of the mill shady business practices.
Rodney McKay 1 year ago
BP could just title all of their articles "This is Clickbait".
Load More Replies... Brandie Litchfield 1 year ago (edited)
I was told that a malpractice lawsuit in a hair salon, was cheaper than a discrimination lawsuit. So if a client came in with hair that you had not been trained to provide services for (specifically BIPOC), you could not admit that you had never received training for that hair type and advise the client to a more appropriate stylist or salon. Instead, you were supposed to do your be to figure it out, and risk damaging their hair!! I was told this while job shadowing in the mid 90s at a well-known salon chain, within a big name brand store. I did not agree with this at all,, and attempted to find any training options for hair types that I hadn't been trained on in cosmetology. Unless a POC was in your class and willing to teach everyone, you just weren't taught those skills! There was nothing in my state that offered such training, and I was so disgusted by the idea of working in a salon without knowledge of how to properly care for ALL customers hair, that I let my cosmetology license lapse and have never returned.
Andy Frobig 1 year ago
I hate the whole concept of work, but I really feel blessed when I read these things because I've never had a job where there was any need for an NDA. I've done a couple years of food service, a few months of retail, and the rest is basically driving forklifts and fixing musical instruments. My advice is to find a job with minimal BS. What you lose in income is partially made up in not having to lie or keep secrets
Darth Kittius 1 year ago
I worked at the Melaleuca call center for 6 months. Nothing extremely crazy happened there, but we were told to make cancelations as difficult as possible, so there's that.
Ottoman 1 year ago
Probably the weirdest job I ever had was working for a cult, basically writing their Bible. I was part of a team of ghost writers - I think four of us - and we were collecting the cult leader's writings, sorting them out, and making them sound better. It was all weird stuff he'd written on the backs of envelopes and receipts and whatever random pieces of paper he had sitting around the house. I signed an NDA to cover up that he didn't write it all himself, but that guy's dead now, so I don't feel particularly bound by it.
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