Every job has its secrets. No matter what one’s chosen field is, there are just some things that those outside the industry would never know. Sometimes, the secrets are small or trivial bits of information that make for interesting stories, but other secrets could ruin reputations or destroy the public’s perception of a certain field.
1. “A boutique hotel I worked at didn’t wash comforters unless necessary. And even then, you really had to push. I was pulled to help with housekeeping fairly regularly in the busy season, found a quilt with blood on it, and sent it to laundry.”
“It was sent back in 5 minutes after being deemed ‘clean enough.’ My housekeepers told me it was normal. I was horrified. I cringe at staying at hotels and take a blanket when I can.”
2. “Funeral Director/Embalmer here: I don’t know that this is a particularly ‘dark’ secret, but despite the rising popularity, the lack of understanding around what cremation really is always shocks me. You do not get ‘ashes’ back.”
3. “Security guard: In an active shooter event, we’re not going to protect your ass. We’re heading to the nearest safe exit and calling the cops.”
“I’m an unarmed security guard, so I don’t know what else people would expect me to do in that situation. I get paid to observe and report, not protect and serve. I’m not even supposed to put hands on someone unless they try to put hands on me first.”
4. “Book editor: Unless you have a massive social media following/built-in audience already, chances are very small you’ll get published by a major house.”
“Chances are even smaller that you’ll make money from your book. Just self-publish if you really want to get your work out there: the publishing industry is 95% about making money and 5% about publishing decent books.”
5. “I’m a lawyer: 1/3 of us are active alcoholics, 1/3 of us are in recovery, and the last third have a drinking problem. There is something about being on call 24/7, being expected to close a deal in days, efficiently, without making a single mistake in documentation.”
6. “I worked in Housing & Dining at a big state university. Universities cover up a TON of bad stuff to keep a ‘safe and clean’ image.”
“Not the worst, but during the remodeling of a building, a worker had an arm cut off by a moving elevator — never made any news.
However, there was a sexual assault incident that the administration quietly paid off. It involved a drunk male who passed out on a couch and woke up with a male appendage in his mouth. While a bunch of RAs knew about it, and of course, the campus police and college knew, not a word in the press. It’s like it didn’t happen.”
7. “IT guy: I Google or Reddit half my problems. I buy your computers from a place you could buy them from, and I mark them up 35% or more.”
“I could care less if you look at porn at work until I’m told to care. We talk about end users like they have the intelligence of a rock, and we judge you based on your technical skills. More techs than you want to know about will search your personal device for nudes given the chance.”
8. “I used to be a police officer: There were a lot of unspoken rules about making sure we had a high number of arrests. Demonstrating high arrest numbers meant we got federal/state grant money.”
9. “I was a perfume sniper for a high-end store that may no longer be in business. Well, as part of the job, we had a quota of bottles to use up each shift.”
“Our manager would check behind the counter to ensure we weren’t spraying into the trash can. If we wanted to push a particular brand (more profit/commission), we’d dilute the competition’s testers.
Our mantra: we spray, so you’ll pay today.”
*Perfume sniper typically refers to a sales associate in a department store whose job is to spray customers with fragrances in an effort to sell the product.
10. “Professors are regularly pressured into passing failing students to keep up graduation levels. I even had the registrar go into the system and change grades.”
“Let’s just say I have seen my fair share of students who failed my science course but were passed by admins. These students are now building your bridges, interstates, buildings, levees, and multi-level parking lots.”
11. “Veterinarians in the US have a high suicide rate. High debt, low income relative to that amount of debt and their level of schooling, a lot of client abuse and depressing cases, and access to euthanasia drugs.”
12. “I work in medical delivery strictly to hospice patients. As you can imagine, they die frequently. We pick the equipment up to be returned to the warehouse and sanitize it for redelivery to other patients. It’s a shoestring industry with tiny profit margins.”
“Every single company out there is picking up mattresses, slapping a disposable cover on them, and putting them back out at the next stop. Logistically, there is no possible way that everyone in the industry isn’t doing it. I personally refuse to do it. I’ve had a regional VP complain about it and say we were in business to make money, not to deliver clean equipment to someone who was going to die the next day. Even if you don’t account for urine and fecal matter, there are still roaches and bed bugs being moved around all the time.”
13. “I worked at a mental health facility. They were all about image and money. Very few clients were ever discharged. They were far more interested in the money than actually helping people.”
“Yes, I have worked with many mentally ill clients who were not able to care for themselves safely and were discharged as soon as their holds were up. It felt impossible to get them the help they needed, and many just ended up on the streets and died.”
14. “I work for a roofing supply company. Both in the warehouse and on the truck making deliveries. The amount of damaged materials we send out to people’s houses, simply just to get it out of our inventory, is astronomical.”
Which one of these “dark secrets” shocked you the most? What secrets do people outside of YOUR industry not know about? Let us know in the comments!
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.
