The truth is always better than living surrounded by illusions. However, once you learn how the metaphorical sausage is made, you can’t unlearn it. There are always going to be ethical transgressions and shady things happening to some extent, no matter the job industry. But some are worse than others and need to be called out—loud and clear. Meanwhile, other things that are kept hushed up are surprisingly pleasant.

Prompted by user u/Typical_Affect8207, the r/AskReddit crowd opened up about the top industry secrets that they know. Their insights offer a shocking glimpse into how some businesses work. Scroll down to read what they had to say.

Marketing psychology speaker Matt Johnson, Ph.D., shared his thoughts wit us on the advantages of secrecy in business, as well as what consumers can do if they've been tricked by products or services. Johnson is the host of the branding and human nature blogs. Scroll down for Bored Panda's interview with the expert.

#1

Theatre Seats aren’t all the same size. Some are narrower than others – we use a variety to manipulate the “sawtooth” arrangement so that you look through a gap between heads not straight into the head of the person in front of you. That means some seats are “better” (ie: wider) than others.

Image credits: bryson430

According to marketing psychology speaker Johnson, secrecy is currency. “It provides businesses with a substantial competitive advantage against their rivals, largely due to the phenomenon of information asymmetry. When a company strategically keeps its proprietary information, such as product development plans, marketing strategies, and financial data, away from competitors, it creates a significant information gap,” he explained to Bored Panda via email.

“This asymmetry allows the company to execute its strategies while preventing competitors from replicating or countering them effectively. For instance, in industries where innovation is key, like technology or pharmaceuticals, maintaining secrecy about research and development efforts can be critical. By keeping their advancements under wraps, companies can launch groundbreaking products that disrupt the market before competitors even know what’s coming.”

Moreover, companies can maintain better profit margins and outmaneuver their competitors if they keep cost-saving techniques and operational efficiencies secret. “Ultimately, the strategic use of secrecy, facilitated by information asymmetry, can significantly bolster a company’s market position and long-term success.”

#2

Just last night we were playing a gig and my guitarist said he was going to show us a little trick he uses to get everyone on the dance floor. Over the mic he asked everyone to come up in front of the stage so we could get a group picture of everyone who came to the show. As soon as he got the pic we started playing and everyone stayed on the floor until the end of the set. It was a great!

Image credits: BangBangBartsBitch

#3

When you’re buying a higher end refrigerator, you’re basically only paying for fancier doors. Most of the inner workings are the same, just a different door configuration. I used to work in the appliance industry.

Image credits: IsJoeFlaccoElite

Bored Panda asked Johnson what consumers can do to incentivize companies to change their business models if they feel like they’ve been tricked after purchasing a product or service. The expert told us that it’s a challenging thing to do because the biggest offenders are often the most powerful companies. However, this doesn’t mean that consumers are completely without power. They have two powerful tools at their disposal.

The first is consumer power: voting with their wallets. The second is voting with, well, their actual votes. “Voting with their wallets involves making informed purchasing decisions and redirecting their spending toward companies that align with their values and deliver transparent, high-quality products or services.”

He continued: “By choosing not to purchase from businesses that engage in deceptive practices, consumers can significantly impact the company’s bottom line, thereby pressuring them to adopt more honest and sustainable practices. Flexing this power on social media to help spread the word about these practices can also be effective.”

#4

The stuff that makes movie theater popcorn taste like movie theater popcorn is called Flavacol. It’s a salt-like additive that you can buy yourself and add to your popcorn at home. A carton lasts forever because you only need like a teaspoon of Flavacol per cup of kernels, and it’s indistinguishable from the popcorn you get at the movies.

Image credits: prezuiwf

#5

The machine that injects white fluff into twinkie operates at 37psi. If turned up to 55, it blows the twinkle to bits and makes a big mess in the lab.

Image credits: zombieblackbird

#6

Dawn dish soap is the single best way to clean up an oil spill on the small scale. The US government went to great lengths to try and make their own cheaper in house equivalent of Dawn for cleaning up oil but they found that they couldn’t make it better or cheaper than Dawn already did so they just buy Dawn.

Image credits: scrimmybingus3

Meanwhile, voting means using your power as a citizen. “This involves engaging in civic action to advocate for stronger regulations and corporate accountability. Consumers can participate in petitions, support legislative changes, and work with consumer advocacy groups to promote greater transparency and ethical business practices.”

Johnson told Bored Panda that consumers in democratic countries can drive systemic changes that hold companies accountable by raising public awareness and leveraging their collective influence. “Together, these strategies can create a robust incentive structure for companies to rethink their business models and prioritize ethical conduct.”

#7

The military typically disposes of old vehicles by parking it somewhere on a large base, and abandoning it. Sometimes they use them as training targets. It’s cool but eerie to see.

I know where there’s a lake that’s full of Sherman tanks. They drove them out there in the late 50s in the winter and left them to fall through.

Image credits: stonedfishing

#8

The places you put your parents, even the more expensive ones. Independent and Assisted living. Most are owned by investors who really don’t care about your loved ones. Especially the larger corporate ones with multiple units in different states. Some people are paying thousands per month for the bare minimum of care and facilities. The s**t I see and hear will make your skin crawl

Image credits: dvoigt412

#9

The $3000 a month one bedroom condo you are renting in the heart of a very large city, probably has bottles of urine behind the drywall. They really need to put more washrooms in large construction sites.

Image credits: DeadMan95iko

Whistleblowing—informing on a person or organization when they do immoral or illegal things—is a noble act. However, it’s not an easy path to take. Letting the public and media know about shady deals could be considered everyone’s duty… but fighting for transparency can have a huge effect on you and your loved ones. There’s safety in numbers. In many cases, however, whistleblowers are, quite often, alone.

Depending on the power and clout of who you’re outing, your life as you know it could drastically change. You might have to endure countless years of trials, subpoenas, and witness testimonies. Or you might have to flee the country entirely. Your career prospects might get wrecked. And you and your family are going to get a lot of unwanted attention.

Thomson Reuters reports that whistleblower regulations in the United States are evolving, and for the better. The Department of Justice is incentivizing people to alert the authorities when they learn that inappropriate action has taken place in corporations.

#10

Vehicles are offloaded from Roll-On, Roll-Off ferries (aka RoRos) in a specific order for weight and balance reasons. If you are nice to the crew and give us cookies, you will be offloaded sooner. If you are verbally abusive to the crew you will be offloaded last. Dead last. For weight and balance.

Image credits: ShitBagTomatoNose

#11

Recipe for Coca Cola

Ingredients:

Citrate Caffein 1 oz.
Extract Vanilla 1 oz.
Flavouring 2.5 oz (detailed below)
F.E. Coco 4 oz
Citric Acid 3 oz
Lime Juice 1 quart
Sugar 30lbs
Water 2.5 Gallons
Caramel sufficient

Flavouring:

Oil Orange 80
Oil Lemon 120
Oil Nutmeg 40
Oil Cinnamon 40
Oil Coriander 20
Oil Neroli 40
Alcohol 1 quart (let stand for 24 hours)

These are all in US Imperial measurements and the flavouring units are in minims or mins. One min is literally one drop of liquid.

That flavouring section, combined with the Vanilla extract is what is collectively known at the company as 7X – the ultra secret 7 things which make the flavour – the alcohol is only used to extract the flavours and doesn’t end up in the final drink.

Image credits: mellotronworker

#12

Some plus size models get liposuction on their face and necks to be more aesthetically pleasing

Image credits: highcaliberwit

The DOJ’s criminal division announced a new pilot program this April that offers to forego prosecutions for individuals who cooperate with investigations into the wrongdoings conducted by their employers. In short, you won’t get prosecuted if you’re upfront, honest, and proactive when offering information about a company’s unethical or unlawful behavior.

This new DOJ program applies to all areas, but it’s specifically targeted at banks, investment funds, and the healthcare industry. In short, this should help with transparency.

“Receiving such information will help us investigate and prosecute criminal conduct that might otherwise go undetected or be impossible to prove, and will, in turn, further encourage companies to create compliance programs that help prevent, detect, and remediate misconduct and to report misconduct when it occurs,” the DOJ announced.

#13

Smoke alarms don’t wake young children up. Research shows that kids sleep through the alarm going off, but they do typically wake up to a mother’s voice telling the child to wake up there is a fire (sorry dads no research for you). In the US there is no approved voice recording smoke detector.
So if there is ever a fire in a house with kids wake the kids up because the alarm won’t.

Image credits: MaggieNFredders

#14

If you give one website your name, another website your number, and another website your email, there are services that merge info together by scanning the web and build a profile of you for ad targeting and sales. Some of you may assume this already but it is standard practice and utilized more frequently than you might think.

Image credits: bliss_jpg

#15

Nutrition labels on small, not well-known brands can be inaccurate, and nobody would ever know.

Once you send your food product out to a lab to have a nutrition label created for it, that is the last time anyone is ever going to check it. It would take someone to pay for a new analysis at a lab to see if the percentage of qwar gum, for example. is still accurate, and nobody is going to do that.

Image credits: Human_Cranberry_2805

Aerospace company Boeing has been in the news a lot recently. And for all the wrong reasons. The Guardian notes that yet another whistleblower has come forward. Roy Irvin, a former quality investigator, claims that Boeing’s management ignored and dismissed safety and quality issues and concerns.

“Missing safety devices on hardware or un-tightened hardware means that you’re not going to be able to control the airplane if those fail. The safety device is on there. If the fastener is not secured correctly, it’s going to fall off and you’re not gonna be able to control the airplane,” Irvin, who worked for Boeing in its South Carolina plant from 2011 to 2017, told the New York Post.

Meanwhile, Attorney Brian Knowles, who represents Irvin and other whistleblowers, opened up that his law firm has been hearing from dozens of current Boeing employees who want the company to take safety concerns seriously.

Irvin worked with John Barnett, a Boeing whistleblower who was found dead this March after taking his own life. Another whistleblower, quality auditor Joshua Dean, died in April after falling ill.

#16

Healthcare IT is held together with duct tape and twine. Related, pay attention to the treatment release forms. Your health data is being sent EVERYWHERE and there’s not s**t you can do about it. No sign, no treatment.

Edit: apparently it is possible to opt out of your state’s health information exchange but it must be done with the exchange itself. The process varies by state and can be painful.

Image credits: praetorfenix

#17

I was told during my driver training for a public bus company, if a car pulls out in front of you, causing you to slam the brakes, hit it. Let the passengers claim insurance from the car driver. If you slam the brakes, avoid the collision, the injured passengers will/can sue the bus company.

Image credits: STRICKIBHOY

#18

~20 years ago I bartended at a place that rhymes with “Schmapplebees”and when serving the regular bar drinkers, I would ask if they wanted a short or a tall beer (supposed to be 16 vs 23 oz) and I was surprised that they would always order a short one. So after a while I asked one of them why they always ordered a short one and he told me to fill a “tall” with water and dump it into a “short” and see what happens. Literally is the same exact amount of liquid, never order a tall or mucho anything. The mucho is literally extra ice and club soda with no extra booze. Cheers!!

Image credits: CreepnWhileYaSleepin

Which of the secrets featured in this list genuinely shocked you, Pandas? What industry secrets of your own would you like to share with everyone? What do you think organizations can do to improve transparency?

We’d really like to hear your thoughts on this. If you have a moment, scroll down and leave a comment.

#19

Used to screen resumes for small companies. Job “requirements” are more of a wish-list situation. Never let some unchecked boxes deter you from applying – you have no idea what the applicant pool is like. The biggest boon, especially at small companies, is someone who legitimately cares.

Image credits: bigboisbotleo

#20

ER veterinarian.

When your pets are hospitalized or need to stay at the clinic, unless they’re aggressive, need to be monitored very carefully, or we’re absolutely slammed, they are constantly getting positive attention from the staff. I’ve had kennel attendants and techs cuddle up with patients on their breaks, myself and colleagues have made phone calls or typed up records while holding on to your pets, we routinely talk about how cute the patients are (in fact, it’s a running joke that we would get fired immediately if we worked in human medicine), etc. And we do get attached to your pets.

We know that your pet got into your weed, and we truly don’t care. Seriously. Just be honest.

We operate on a triage basis (sicker things are seen first, regardless of how long others have been waiting). If you’re a s****y person and you’re constantly up front complaining to staff about the wait times/the decor/why there isn’t enough staff, being difficult in other ways, being dismissive to the non-doctors, AND your pet is stable and has been triaged similarly to another pet that came in around the same time, we’re not picking up your file until we have to. Sooo much of my job involves giving bad news, talking to emotional people who often take out their feelings on those around them, and having to defend the costs of emergency care and surgery, that I’m not going to eagerly jump into taking a file for someone who’s being difficult before they’ve even been spoken to.

Image credits: i-likebigmutts

#21

In corporate culture, the IT staff can be your best resource or your biggest enemy. They deal with idiots all day so say hello and treat them nicely. Not only when you have a problem. Bring them some donuts or something randomly. They don’t forget and will take care of you next time you have a computer crisis. I’ve gotten new monitors, extra keyboards for home, cords, whatever I needed because I took some time to say hi and ask how their day was going.

Same with the maintenance/facilities team.

They are two teams you want on your side.

#22

Scientists and academics in general are not capable of ANY conspiracies because they’re gossipy loudmouths who also drink a *lot*

Image credits: Redqueenhypo

#23

Never take the first settlement offer. Always counter.

When dealing with savvy parties, the initial settlement demand is often twice the amount of money that the party wants.

#24

With the advancement in lab grown diamonds in the past few years, even the most experienced gemologists can barely distinguish them from mined diamonds. Don’t waste your money on “real” diamonds anymore.

#25

All the most famous living artists have workshops full of people who make the art for them.

They spend their time choosing concepts, talking to their gallery reps and schmoozing buyers. The only time they touch the work is to sign it.

#26

Most of the bugs found in video games weren’t missed by the testers. There was a production decision not to fix them.

#27

If you got a business or product idea, keep it to yourself and work on it alone. Once you have a working model, get trustworthy investors.

#28

I’m a makeup artist based in Los Angeles. I cater primarily to A and B list actresses and high end models. None of them and I mean NONE of them use the skin care that they are spokesmodels for. 

If they claim they use some d**g store or department store brand or even their own brand (which is just private label bought from a factory) they are completely lying. 

They all use the same one or two brands which are in the know, exclusive and beyond expensive. The kind of skin care that’s made individually in a private luxury lab and not in some industrial factory in San Bernardino. 

#29

Many high-end perfumes use a tiny bit of whale vomit, also known as ambergris, for that luxurious scent—proving that one person’s trash is another’s olfactory treasure

#30

Pst. The cloud is just someone else’s computers. Usually Amazon or Google. And those computers are sitting in those huge warehouses on the outskirts of town that you always drive past and wonder what’s in them.

#31

Most fitness models, coachers and influencers are using anabolic steroids or did it once at least, and among competitive bodybuilders everyone does it, but almost no one admits it.

Image credits: telecasper

#32

Hospitals suck at cyber security.

Image credits: martinfendertaylor

#33

In the restaurant industry, the secret is that the “special sauce” is often just a clever blend of the same condiments you have in your fridge—mayo, ketchup, and a dash of mystery

Image credits: OkEngineer8233

#34

Right now, mass transit agencies in most cities ( in the United States) are dealing with MASSIVE shortages of drivers, mechanics, and many other administrative positions.

The drivers are working 70+ hours EVERY week just to keep the system going.

Drivers need a CDL B w/ P endorsement, therefore there is nothing illegal about working a driver 17 hours a day. Therefore, transit agencies are forcing drivers ( per union contract in most cases) using inverse seniority, to work constantly. It’s a huge safety risk but no one seems to care about that.

#35

Teachers ROUTINELY fudge kids’ grades upward. Sometimes it’s because a kid is nice. Sometimes it’s because administrators pressure us. Sometimes we’re afraid of being sued.

That high graduation rate at your local HS? It’s most likely due to the books being cooked.

ETA: I’ve said this before but this whole situation is a prime example of Goodharts Law in action. When a metric becomes a target it loses all meaning.

The HS I teach at touts a low number of suspensions and no expulsions this year. And yet, it is almost guaranteed that a student will tell me to “go f**k” myself when I ask for his phone tomorrow.

ETA Again: for all the people talking about kids getting held back….that doesn’t happen anymore really. I’ve been teaching 20 years and I can count on one hand the number if students I’ve seen get held back. It’s exceptionally rare.

Image credits: c2h5oh_yes

#36

No matter how high up the chain you get, nobody *really* knows what’s going on… everyone is winging it for any work that falls outside their very specific area of expertise.

Image credits: PM_UR_NUDES_4_RATING

#37

If you’d just ***actually f*****g reboot your s**t*** you’d have to spend a ***fraction*** of the time dealing with “broken” tech.

#38

The blue flakes in your laundry detergent are just the white flakes dyed blue.

Image credits: ampsr2

#39

I'm repair tech at Chuck E Cheese.

There are some games we can adjust the payout for and some we can't. We have a number called "Ticket per play" or "ticket per tap" that we have to try to maintain. EVERY game and ride is adjusted somehow so we can get to that average number. The length of the ride is so you will tap your card more or less times. Some games have fixed ticket payout we can't adjust so we adjust other games up or down to get the whole average to that magical number. If one game we can't change pays out 4 tickets on average and the number we want to reach is 6, for Instance, I would adjust another game that can be adjusted to 7 or 8 to compensate, because the boss only cares about the average payout on a whole, not on the individual games ( unless it's insanely high or low )

If a game is cheating you out of tickets, we probably did that on purpose to compensate for something else. This also goes for the claw machine. We can control how often it pays out. Tickets can be bought at one penny per ticket. If you drop a quarter into a token machine, if it doesn't pay you 25 tickets, you're better off just buying tickets.

No we don't reuse pizza. It's cheaper and easier to just make another one since we get the ingredients in bulk. It's just that we cut into smaller slices so it's harder to do right, plus the kitchen personnel usually doesn't care about making it look perfect. No the job isn't fun. My job is to make sure YOU have fun. My job is stressful.

Image credits: BreathingDrake

#40

I worked for Fedex Trade Networks clearing customs shipments and almost anyone buying anything over 800 bucks or stuff from china and a few select other countries have to provide what’s called a 5106.

A 5106 is a form the us government uses for duties and tax purposes and s**t but on the form you need to provide a social security or ein number. We started working remote in 2021 and on my work computer from inside my house with nobody being able to ever know I had access to 100’s of social security numbers, addresses, names and everything to easily steal identities.

That’s not even the kicker, this is an entry level position and anyone can work it and have access to this s**t.

If you import personally from overseas and need to provide a 5106 you’re better off getting a llc to avoid the very high posibility that some dipshit fedex hired doesn’t snap a photo of your 5106 form from his phone.

Image credits: buku43v3r

#41

Your massage therapist doesn’t care about your size or your body hair, but they appreciate when you’ve showered within a few days of your appointment and have brushed your teeth. They aren’t judging you for the things you feel self conscious about, but they *are* judging you if you are an entitled a*****e.
Saying things like “my wife would not be happy if she knew how hot you were”, although it may seem to you like a harmless compliment, is creepy and will get you on the “do not schedule list.” That one shouldn’t be a secret, but apparently, there are men who are oblivious to this.

Image credits: Impossible_Bit_431

#42

In the visual effects industry, EVERYBODY learns on bootleg software of some sort. That is why those $2600 list prices don’t surprise anyone. I even had a high level employee of one of the companies that make it yell at me once “We don’t care about some lone kid using it, we want to nail the COMPANIES pirating it!” He was upset because I had heard through an industry grapevine that a big post house had been caught with bootleg software.

#43

The curriculum at your child’s school is provided by the company that did the best presentation or has some connection to district administration, not the one with the best track record.

#44

Depending on the specific deal and artist, Ticketmaster splits all those “fees” with the artist, sometimes at 100%, in addition to the face (door) price. Plus the artist gets a guarantee. The fees are part of the price of the ticket, and Ticketmaster takes the “heat” for the high prices so the artist can look good for the fans.

Source: built the software live nation used to book these deals.

#45

Healthcare’s falling apart. Everyone is burnt out.

#46

If you’re an a*****e, you get quoted higher labor rates. Nothing vindictive, but at the end of the day your job will take longer to complete if you’re breathing down the crews backs and trying to nitpick and micro manage. It’s the only way to accurately quote and schedule.

#47

Food expiration dates, especially on shelf stable foods, are essentially arbitrary.

Nutrition labels are often wildly inaccurate. It is technically not legal to use false information,  but its very, very rare to be caught, unless you are making health related claims.  

Those food certifications that you see on food labels are provided by for profit companies that bill you monthly, so they are highly incentivized to certify as many companies as they can and actively ignore violations.

A shocking number of ingredients that are illegal or heavily regulated in other devoloped countries are perfectly legal and mostly unregulated in the US.  

The same companies that make store brands at higher end stores like Wegmans and Whole Foods make them for cheaper stores like Walmart and Aldi. I could go on.

#48

Those “freshly baked” cookies at the mall? They’re usually pre-made and frozen, just reheated to give you that warm, gooey goodness

#49

Optometrists will not give you your Pupillary Distance (PD) after an eye exam even though they measure it, to make it difficult to order glasses online.

#50

There are some *massive* defence contracts given out to certain companies that objectively should never (a history of overbudget and under-delivery) have been given, but politicians hijacked the bidding process and made it quite clear that “facts” weren’t considered and anyone of the bidding team that disagrees will be sideways “promoted” off it.

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