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People Break Down The Biggest Scams That Are Considered Totally Acceptable By Society

We accept a lot of injustices in the world.


While we may not be comfortable with them, we get that's how the game is played. We overpay for restaurant food because we don't want to cook at home. That's a simple, but reflective, example of the greater problems at large. There's much, much more insidious scams woven into the fabric of our world.

Reddit user, u/inertiamatter, wanted to know what we let get pulled over on us when they asked:

What is the biggest scam that is considered acceptable in society?

There's a lot of ways to bleed the money out of people, typically all in the name of "site maintenance" or "business upkeep" or "we'll put this money to good use and help pay for schools we totally promise."

Except that doesn't happen.

The Math Doesn't Add Up

"Convenience fees for online transactions."

squid1891

"I understand there are costs to maintaining a website, but why is there a booking fee per ticket I buy?"

"It doesn't take any more time on your website for me to book 10 tickets than it does for 1. Should just be a single flat fee."

TheRealClose

Our Country Is Certainly A Standout For This Reason

"Tipping."

"Imagine convincing someone that you don't need to pay your employees, because you will pressure random strangers to do that for you."

Nethervex

"I live in Europe and it's hard for me to even grasp this concept. We do tip, but it's considered a gesture of good will and just about being a nice person. If you don't have a change to tip, it's not that big of a deal, because the servers are paid hourly. We just do it because their wages are usually minimal."

CarolynEarle

Insane Interest Rates

"Short term loan sharks like money tree. If you look into it, its legal but totally immoral how they work interest on poor people"

Jehovahscatchrag

"Title pawns are just as bad IMO. Set up so there is almost 0 chance the borrower will be able to repay, they just lose their car and make their credit even worse. It would be so much better to just sell the car straight up."

midasMIRV

Just Enough To Keep Them Coming Back For More

"Lottery Tickets"

"At the convenience store I will often see people who are clearly poor and struggling to get by drop $200 on them without a second thought. Last week a guy in line purchased over $100 dollars of mega millions tickets. Two dollars per play and the odds of winning the top prize are 1 in 310 million! Unfortunately because somebody does eventually win these people keep playing thinking one day they'll be that person."

lostwanderer02

"Definitely this. While a little of that money might technically be going towards funding schools and such, the way they market and promote it is just scummy; Often using skinner box techniques where you win $5 or a free ticket every few tries to keep people coming back."

"It ends up targeting the poor who legitimately need the money, while telling them that there's actually a chance they could win."

zachtheperson

Seriously. Why?

"Administration fees on top of application fees for renting a house/apartment."

jz1127

And then there's these, scams we deal with because if we don't, hey, we fail a class or we can't print up our work.

These shouldn't cost what they cost but they do and here we are.

Sweet, Sweet Royalties

"Textbooks in college. Bonus points if a code must be purchased in order to do the online homework."

MC-sama

"The year it dawned on me to check the library first was a good year. I was pleasantly surprised that a few of the books I needed were available."

lemma_qed

"Or those classes where there are 4 books on the syllabus, each several hundred dollars, and you use one of them primarily, two of them the prof references one page or one paragraph that could just as easily (albeit probably not legally) photocopied 100 times, and one you don't use at all."

"Or those classes where the prof wrote the book and assigns it for those sweet sweet royalties"

Styve2001

The True Biggest Money Drain

"Printer ink."

"How the f-ck is all the cyan gone if I only print black and white?"

"Though I don't think anyone thinks this is acceptable."

"Just moved my daughter in to college. Was thinking of buying a laserjet and if she needs color just use the college printer or go to print shop."

kurt_go_bang

Stop Going Until We Figure It Out

"That college is worth getting over $100k in debt by your early 20s. There are cheaper options just as good, and that debt stays with you a long time."

alligatorcreek

There's no reason for any of these, if we're being honest, but the following cons are most likely the most scummy and foul. Traditions and expectations that, with a little critical thought, could be deemed unnecessary.

Medicine That Works

"[Holistic] medicine, I always find it funny as fuck whenever these earth muffins make their way into the ER to reap the benefits of western medicine because their hippy style treatments for their problems aren't working."

adamsbrad47

""Do you know what they call alternative medicine that's been proven to work?... Medicine!" - Tim Minchin"

joiey555

We Still Allow These?

"Beach body MLM. Drink this crappy shake, and use these workouts to lose x weight and be coached by someone with no credentials. And you need to continue to come back to try these new 4 week workouts…"

ladyofthelake6

So It's All Made Up But Follows Us Forever?

"Credit Scores! F-ck the whole system! They control what kind of financial help you can get, but they don't tell you anything about someone's current position. I didn't understand what it was or why it is so important, and I screwed mine up in my early 20s. Im going to be digging myself out of this hole for the foreseeable future!"

"It should be mandatory to teach this stuff in high school!"

joiey555

Pay For What You Want. Celebrate How You Want.

"Needing to buy diamond wedding rings which are crazy expensive just to show "true love".

"Or just weddings in general TBH."

EccentricHorse11

"Literally. If I ever get married, I'd ask for a citrine wedding ring if there has to be a gem in there. 1 carat is around 10-30 bucks, depending on quality and that's all I really need. I love citrine and I'd rather have something that I like, than something expensive. Diamonds really are just an off white gem. Hell. Get me a cobalt colored glass gem."

1BoiledCabbage

Just, All Of It

"America's Healthcare System"

Lickformine

We Can All See It Happening, And It Keeps Happening

"Businesses using tax loopholes to basically pay zero taxes."

ohlaph

"How is it a scam? A loophole is just the nasty way of saying tax code. I'd say most businesses don't outright cheat on their taxes but use every legal rule as set by the government to not pay taxes. I don't see why you wouldn't want to actively try to keep your money."

JohnnyBrillcream

"None of the things listed here is illegal. That's the point of this thread."

Ashamed_Dig

Be alert, keep your ears open, and be ready. Someone or something might be trying to pull a fast one on you, even in the name of "education" or "love."

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Things People Secretly Love But Would Never Admit To In Public

Reddit user sweet_chick283 asked: 'What do you secretly love that you would never admit to in public?;

Collection of VHS tapes
Bruno Guerrero/Unsplash

What makes us all unique is our passions and the things we love, whether it's singing in the shower, reading books, or listening to specific music artists.

Unfortunately, we live in a world where we are judged for our various tastes and interests thanks to social media, and it makes us consciously selective about sharing the things we love on the internet.

Curious to hear about people's personal desires under anonymity, Redditor sweet_chick283 asked:

"What do you secretly love that you would never admit to in public?"

These aren't really chores for the following Redditors.

Good Clean Fun

"Mopping, im a janitor and generally hate my work... but damn mopping is so good."

– MrDDog06

"When you have a great rhythm going it is something special. I get the same feeling while I vacuum, but won’t let my wife know I enjoy it."

– Bogus_34

Act Of Unwrinkling

"Ironing clothes. A dozen of them. Can’t explain how it relaxes me. I told one person and they looked at me like I’m crazy."

– eerie_white_glow

"My mum misses the days when dad would be out on a Friday night, my brother out with friends and me upstairs quietly playing PS1. She would pour herself a Bacardi & Coke and do the ironing while watching her TV shows."

"I'm sure she doesn't really miss it now that we've moved out and they've retired but it was her wind-down after a busy working week so I can see how people can find it relaxing."

– xdq

Our solo actions can spark joy.

Big Brother Is Watching

"pretending to be on the Truman show and whenever im in my house i act all inconspicuous so they dont know that i know that they’re watching me."

– Bec_121

"C’mon man, you’re not supposed to let him know. You signed a contract when signing up for live views. I’m reporting you."

– doeswaspsmakehoney

The Multi-Tasker

"Playing video games naked at home while eating cheese."

– thickening_agent

Releasing The Kraken

"I love the feeling when you've eaten good fibre and let out a solid long train log in the toilet. That feeling is heavenly."

– therapoootic

"Even better when it’s a clean wipe and not a poo crayon."

– TheWarmestHugz

Ultimate Comfort

"My (male 41) weekend routine is coming home from work, make hot chocolate, start a fire, dress in a ugly pink nightgown made for old ladies and watch forensic files."

– crazyloomis

Some people are obsessed with collecting things.

So Kawai

"Sanrio stationery stores. All those different multicolor pens, a thousand kinds of erasers, spiral bound notebooks galore... my kids sadly have absolutely no appreciation for this wonderland..."

– HavingNotAttained

It's A Staple

"Office supplies have a weird, special place in my heart ever since I was a kid. They don't even have to be 'cute' necessarily."

"Japan's legendary stationery stores is unironically a reason I want to go."

– _CozyLavender_

Not Caring Anymore

"The older I get the shorter that list gets. Not because I love less things, but because I don't care about hiding it."

– Bi-Beast

"YES!! I'm 53 now. I'm working my first job in public since 2006. Today is Halloween and we're allowed to dress up so I am sitting here waiting to go to work dressed as a VERY bad Wednesday Addams. My bf said I'd 'look stupid' because no one else will probably dress up and I'm like, 'WHO CARES!' My makeup looks horrible and not like I practiced, but I DO NOT CARE! I'm having fun with it anyhow and I don't care if my coworkers dress up or not. I'm bein' ME! :)"

– deanie1970

Honorable mentions start here.

The Savior

"Picking up worms from the street and sidewalks when it rains and moving them into the dirt so they don’t burn in the sun, every time it rains I do this."

– sky_kitten89

Hero Of The Moment

"Yoooo I scoot SO many snails and worms. I work as a tech/mechanic at an automotive shop, I had a peoject car towed to my house the other day and it was covered in snails. I saw them when the tow guy/coworker was unloading and I was like, 'oh! It comes with free snails!' and began moving them. He laughed then realized and said, '... Oh, you're serious. Uh... Okay.'"

"I don't care who knows it. These little things barely can look out for themselves, why shouldn't we if we can take a moment to help? I don't care what happens next, it probably doesn't matter overall but I can help this moment."

– chris14020

Why should some of the hidden desires mentioned above have to be secret?

Redditors opening up about some of these would make them a hit at parties–no shaming.

As a matter of fact, I'll totally be down for a Forensic Files viewing party where we all make hot chocolate, light the fireplace, and cozy up together in our respective pink ugly nightgowns for old ladies.

historical reenactors
Sigmund on Unsplash

We've probably all heard some variation of the saying "Truth is stranger than fiction."

Real life isn't just strange, it can also be downright ridiculous.

History is riddled with moments of absurdity.

So ridiculous that people have a hard time believing real life is, well, really real.

Keep reading...Show less