One Reddit user asked:
What are some shady practices in your line of work that the average person doesn't know about?
So listen ... normally we start these articles with an intro to set thing up ... but fam. This whole thread was such an eye-opening dumpster fire that there really isn't anything to say.
Just look at this mess. Look at it. Look at it and cringe.
Dispatch Lies To Hospitals All The Time
Ambo GIF by St John Ambulance
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Worked for a private ambulance service that would still run high priority calls out of hospitals (if the sending hospital couldn't provide a service, either due to no personnel or equipment) or nursing homes/care facilities that didn't want to overuse 911.
Dispatch would lie ALL THE TIME about our ETA's to facilities. Say one of our units was 40 minutes away. Hospital would call us, dispatch would say 20 minutes, that way the hospital wouldn't call another service that might be closer. And by the time the sending hospital realized we weren't there in the time quoted, it would be too late/silly to call another service.
In other words, critical care was often delayed to make a set number of calls since calls = money.
Specialty Boxes
Many moving companies will force you to buy overpriced specialty boxes--I'm talking like thirty-forty bucks--for things like your tv or mattress so ask about that beforehand. We do charge $10 for a mattress bag if it's unwrapped as a bedbug precaution but that is clearly stated in writing beforehand and price is not jacked up.
Also, especially in NYC and Philly, many movers will charge the client for a parking ticket--that is not legal.
Lawyer's Intimidation Tactics
Lawyers have a bunch of opportunities to be shady. Just going to list one of the worst offenders below. Standard disclaimer that this isn't legal advice and I'm not your attorney.
Shady lawyers bully average people ALL the time with sh!tty intimidation tactics. These bad lawyers count on you not knowing your rights or just shutting down because 'a lawyer' is yelling legal terms (I know it sounds like a commercial but it's absolutely true).
For example, debt collection companies routinely hassle people with debt that is past the statute of limitations (SOL). When a claim is past the SOL, that means its almost impossible to sue someone on the claim. But that doesn't stop them from being cunts and sending scary letters with big red font. They are just hoping you give up, don't ask an independent attorney for help, and pay them.
End Of The Fiscal Year Spending Spree
In case you didn't know, the government is incredibly irresponsible with your money, particularly as the fiscal year comes to a close.
Everybody is familiar with the concept of fallout money or spend down- the idea where you spend your remaining budget in an all out-spending-spree in order to justify retaining the same budget for next year. It's so wasteful.
My office of appx 40 people spent 120k in a week on sh!t none of us need. We had brand new office chairs last year. Bought new ones, the most expensive ones we could find, at that. We all got new monitors (that we didn't need) and four 70' plasma TVs that we're trying to figure out where to hang.
We didn't need any of this stuff. We blew through all of that money and we are a SMALL office. At the end of every fiscal year, the federal government pisses away hundreds of millions (if not billions) of dollars on dumb sh!t just so we can all say, "Yup, gonna need that same budget for next year."
If we didn't penalize being responsible spenders, we could fund all sorts of programs without needing to raise taxes/draft new legislation/enter the political mudslinging arena, but nope- instead, I have a brand new chair, monitor, and giant TV in my office.
Spotify Is Making Bank
Jimmy Fallon Dancing GIF by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
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Oh man - musician here - there are so many layers. But I'll start with the biggest issue. That song you heard on the radio? The artist or band who played it? They're the last people to get paid and often paid the least.
For example, a single Spotify stream returns about .00034 cents per stream to the artist. Meaning if you listened to the song 1000 times they're still not receiving a dollar. While Spotify is making BANK.
Here's Why You Hate Your Bank's Customer Service
When you call your bank, there's a better than solid chance you're not talking to anyone who works for your bank. You're probably talking to someone who works for a company like Fiserv. Any single employee can be answering calls for 20+ banks at a time. Say you're calling Navy Federal Credit union. The Fiserv employee gets your call. Just before you come on the line, an automated message tells the agent you're calling Navy Federal, so they say "Thanks for calling Navy Federal." The call they got just before yours was answered as: "Thanks for calling Bank of America."
And here's the worst part, they can't really do sh!t to help you besides reset your password for your online account or something of that nature. They're trained to just transfer you if you need any actual help with your account. But when they transfer you over to the actual bank, that bank may be backed up. If the wait is really long, they'll just reroute you back to the Fiserv queue. Right back to someone who cannot help you.
If you hate your bank's customer service, this is probably why.
- CDC_
Passengers Mail And Luggage
I work in the airline industry. Heard a story from my coworker about another station going through passengers mail and luggage and stealing any valuables. Laptops, phones, gift cards but mainly electronics. There was a system of maybe 20 workers in on it including people working the cameras. They got busted and there was a deep police investigation. A lot more than 20 people got fired and charged.
One thing that was messed up, the thieves would bribe other workers with the valuables they stole and if that person accepted without knowing what was really going on then they got fired too.
"Hey can you cover my shift? I'll give you this 100 dollar gift card." Unknowing worker accepts thinking its a sweet deal and gets fired during investigation. Smh
Re-Sticker The Store
I used to work for a well known supplement store... Let's say it's 3 letters that start with G and ends with C.
The week before any big sales, we would have to re-sticker everything in the store. The items that were due to go on sale would go up in price, so that "save 30%" was actually more like saving 5%
The Poor Schmuck Who Got Stuck With The Bag
I'm an attorney so nothing shady we do isn't well known but there is one area of law that really bothers me. There's something called the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Basically, don't do something oversees that is illegal here.
Big example is bribery. The fines for it are a joke for the company but for the individual can be life destroying. Here is what happens and EVERYONE knows it except for the poor schmuck who go stuck with the bag.
They hire some business student fresh out of school and give him the job of export manager in some country that basically requires bribes. They offer a salary that anyone would jump at. The poor schmuck eventually finds himself in a situation where he pretty much has to offer a bribe in order to meet a quota/deadline. He does.
The company then does an "investigation" and are shocked (shocked, I tell you) to find this guy paid a sunshine payment. They self report to the government and pay some tiny little fine. The fine is less or sometimes nothing since it's just an "oopsie" and the government goes after the poor schmuck instead. And the schmuck get his life destroyed.
The company then goes back to some business school and find another schmuck. Rinse and repeat. I always feel so sorry for these guys.
Through Another Office
I work for a major market research company. We fudge the numbers heavily and do business with countries that are illegal to do business with. The work around is that we have an office in a country that can work with the country that we can't work with so we do business with them through another office.
Driven By Money And Greed
I worked for a cardiac holter monitoring company as a holter technician. In the beginning when I started working there it was a small amount of patients, then our small company got bought out by a large corporation.
This meant that we had more doctors' offices signed up with our service, more patients and a shit ton more reports to do. In order to keep the dollars rolling in and scans rolling out, they basically had asked us to let the program run the EKG with little to no editing, which was literally never accurate due to artifact and interference as the patient wore the monitor. Jeopardizing people's lives in the process.
I brought this up multiple times how this wasn't right and there's just no way we could possibly be sending these reports out to doctors offices. Got fired. LOL.
Also heard by my friend still working there they have gotten in trouble for a patient passing away on the monitor and it was not on the report as asystole.
As much as I had dreamed all my life to get into healthcare, I found it is pretty much always driven by money and greed.
- xccrunky
Attracting Anti-Mark Tourists
I don't work here anymore, but I worked a part time job in the tourist trap part of town until my actual job started this past summer.
They instructed us to not wear masks because it would bring in foot traffic from the anti-mask tourists. It worked, but holy shit did I quit so quickly and have to borrow money from my parents so I could pay rent without putting myself and others at risk.
F*ck that place.
Sure To End Up Sick With Something
I don't know if this is what you're looking for, but as someone who works in catering/parties, it's pretty unsanitary. It's true for most food-oriented businesses, but it's a pretty big deal right now.
We have parties back to back in the middle of a pandemic with no sanitary measurements in between.
Hell, the bathrooms don't get cleaned for days at a time. You're touching stuff potentially hundreds of other people touched before you. Masks aren't enforced either.
I can't fathom how people think they're safe not wearing masks in a room full of hundreds of others not wearing masks. You're just one of many - and if something as basic as masks aren't enforced, what makes you think something as complicated as complete sanitation would be, either?
We're not allowed to leave the floor or wash our hands, so I'm putting straws into your drinks and handing you food right after picking used plates and dirty silverware up. Even if you don't wind up with COVID, you're sure to end up sick with something.
- colakit
Whatever Ashes
I work for a veterinary who also owns a crematory. My boss is a very upstanding person and would never do this, but some crematories will stack a bunch of animals together and give them whatever they scoop out, so you may not even be getting any of your pet back even if you are paying more for individual cremation.
It's All A Scam
I work in commercial construction.
It's all a scam. The price the contractor gives you isn't what it will really cost to do the job. The first price you get is just to get their foot in the door. Then they nickel and dime you with change-orders.
Some contractors are actually honest, but you'll almost always get screwed if you're going low bid. Good rule of thumb:
- Always have 15% extra money for contingency....but never let your contractor know that it exists.
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When we're intoxicated, or even the slightest bit tipsy from having a little too much to drink, our immediate perspective on things is hazy.
But there's nothing like a bit of alarming news or a jarring incident to snap us out of the fog and focus on the moment.
Sometimes alcohol isn't always to blame for our impairment.
It can be a state of mind, like a perpetual numbness from being complacent in life, and all it takes is one shocking moment to rattle us back to our senses.
Curious to hear from strangers online about this type of scenario, Redditor Known_Challenge_7150 asked:
"What’s one thing that sobered you up real quick?"
These individuals were witness to shocking events that sobered them up right quick.
Bleeding Out
"Got out of a taxi and found a naked man profusely bleeding from his head crawling up the driveway in my condo. Called him an ambulance completely forgot I was absolutely wasted until 45 minutes later when I'd helped him translate and in to an amublance and stepped in my front door."
"Later a few days later learned he'd slipped in the tub and literally crawled out for help. Poor dude. He was fine but I genuinely thought he was going to die there."
– DongLaiCha
Tragic News
"At a bachelor party and we got a phone call that the groom’s father had suddenly passed."
– accountnameredacted
Bottom Of The Barrel
"I went to visit my parents back in July. I was homeless and deep into fentanyl addiction so I lost a lot of weight. My folks could see it. They knew something was up. Anyway, I spent the night and I was getting ready to leave in the morning and I looked at myself in the mirror for a good long time. I finally had enough and told them everything. They took me to detox, from there I went to rehab. Graduated in August and been living with them ever since then. I have 160 days clean and sober."
– Crotch-Monster
A reality check can be enough for some people to snap out of it.
Like Father, Like Son
"Was driving a drunk friend home, he had been on a bender again and was smart enough to call me for a lift rather than try and drive. As I helped in to his house his mother came down the stairs and said 'your as drunk as your father' and went back upstairs. I haven't seen him drunk since then, he still drinks but the thought of turning into his dad scared him out of hard drinking."
– psycospaz
Busted
"Flashing blue lights."
– FiddleOfGold
"This sobered me up just thinking about it."
– redmaple_syrup
Losing Sight
"Woke up to no sight in one eye. I had cataract surgery so just thought one of the lenses had slipped and it was an easy fix. Eye doc says nope, you had a stroke. I loved soy sauce, teriyaki sauce and salty food, which caused high blood pressure, which caused retina damage. Over six months was able to get most of my eyesight back with medication, and all back within a year. Trying to navigate life with one eye was very sobering. Started taking HBP much more seriously."
– MissHibernia
Quitting The Bottle
"Looked up someone I went to highschool with who was an awesome guy. Found out he had been dead for 3 years from alcoholism, at age 33. I made an overnight change. I hadn't started drinking that night yet, 10 months ago. Haven't touched it again since."
– omgtater
These disturbing moments were enough for Redditors to immediately come to their senses.
Unplanned House Guests
"Me and a buddy Woke up in someone’s living room, realized neither one of us knew the people, they were just nice and let 2 drunk guys sleep on their living room floor. We didn’t even say goodbye."
– Oneinsevenbillion75
Serious Health Warning
"Elevated liver enzymes."
"And the knowledge that this sh** was gonna kill me and I just couldn't orphan my family over it."
"So I opted for recovery, instead."
"Clean and sober since June 5, 2009."
– Far_Meal8674
The Joyride
"Grew up in a rural area. The little town hosted dances at the hockey arena, everyone (adults and kids) went and they overserved everyone, regardless of age. I was maybe 16 or 17 and was absolutely sh*tfaced, and jumped in the back of someone's truck with about 8 other people to go back to someone's cottage for after dance drinking. The driver (still don't know who it was) started racing one of his buddies and we whipped around small dirt roads, flying around blind corners on the wrong side of the road, going god knows how fast. It was basically a disaster waiting to happen. It was crazy scary and I was sober and thankful to be alive when we finally arrived."
– foxfood9116
The human psyche is a fascinating thing, isn't it?
How we can automatically focus on something urgent at a crucial time, even after getting buzzed from drinking too much alcohol.
But as we're in the thick of the holidays, it's a good reminder to drink responsibly and stay off the roads if you drive to your celebratory destination.
Cheers. Stay safe. And happy holidays.
We've all complained or vented about something in our lives which, in the grand scheme of things, wasn't exactly a problem, or is very easily solved.
Then there are those who complain about things that others almost hope will happen to them at some point in their lives.
These are known as "first world problems", as they are problems that pretty much only the world's one percent faces.
From having to fly business class instead of first class, or being served Roederer instead of Dom Pérignon, these complaints are often met with amusement, bewilderment, or even anger.
Redditor jennimackenzie was curious to hear the most absurd "first world problems" anyone ever complained about, leading them to ask:
"What’s the most ridiculous 'first world problem' you’ve seen people get worked up over?"
"Tale As Old As Time..."
"I once knew a mom who was legitimately devastated, to the point of tears/grief, because a doctor predicted her 8 year old daughter's final height to be around 5'2","
"Which wasn't tall enough to get cast as Belle at Disney World."
"That was the child's (and her mother's) only dream in life, apparently."
"Didn't appreciate my suggestion that she could be Minnie or Mickey."
"Lol!"
"Only a face character would do!"- TravelLovingMom
"Must Be Funny, In A Rich Man's World..."
"My boss from about a decade ago was this insanely rich dude who always went to the bank to get fresh and crisp currency."
"He'd call the bank in advance to make sure they had some on hand."
"I think he was a germaphobe."
"He had a trash can that he'd throw $1 and $5 bills in that he thought was 'dirty' and regularly just donated it vs spending it."
"I asked him why he did this and he said it was too much trouble and asked if I wanted it."
"I said f*ck yeah dumped it into my bag and when I got home it was close to $400 in singles and fives.
"Another time, he wanted to upgrade all the computers in his studio, so we went to a store and bought 10 PCs."
"They all had $150 mail in rebates and he wasn't bothered to go through the trouble of mailing them in."
"3 weeks later I received $1500 after spending a whole afternoon filling out all those goddamn forms."- azninvasion2000
Money Burn GIF by nog
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Who Wore It Better?
"When I was about 19 years old, I was at my boyfriends family BBQ."
"I was wearing this pretty floral sundress."
"His cousins girlfriend showed up in the same dress and she was SO mad that she went and changed."
"I will never understand being upset when someone is wearing the same thing as you.'
"Did you really think that your shirt you bought off the rack is going to be unique to you?"
"No."- mertsey627
Seeing Red! Or Blue In This Case...
"The blue of the balloons wasn't quite the same as the bridesmaid's sashes."
"Years ago my wife and I attended a wedding."
"It was very low key."
"The dinner was in the dining hall at the university where the couple met, cinder block walls and all."
"It was a Baptist wedding - no booze and very serious."
"The dark blue balloons attempting to liven up the hall were a slightly darker shade of blue than the sashes on the bridesmaid's dresses."
"The bride lost here sh*t and absolutely raved for nearly an hour."
"I can't remember how they finally managed to talk her down."- mechant_papa
south park wedding GIF
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See You In Court!
"Rich neighbors who end up in expensive court battles because they disagree about where a tree can be planted or whether the color of a fence fits in with the street’s 'amenity'."
'These disputes get really heated and rack up huge lawyers’ bills."
"The most pathetic part is after the judgement when they are arguing about who should pay the other party’s costs."
"Lots of affidavits filed citing the 'emotional distress' they had to endure, or painting themselves as brave warriors who were forced to take a stand to fight for 'justice'."
"Also lots of pompous litigants insisting that the judge refer to them by their 'Dr' title."
"An absolutely insane dumpster fire of entitled rich people problems."- ElectrocRaisin
It's Always People With Money Who Don't Want To Pay!
"I work in a public library."
"People will get so so mad if they have to be put on a wait list for a book."
"A popular book that just came out."
"Ok our services are not only free but so are the books."
"You’re welcome, a**holes."- Switchbladekitten
A Warm Butt Is A Happy Butt!
"My own."
"We have a bidet toilet seat (Fabulous! Everyone should have one!) and not only does it wash your bum and blow dry it, but the seat's heated!"
"It's shocking how much a heated toilet seat makes the whole process more agreeable."
"Except: We had a power outage and I went to use the toilet and the seat was cold!"
"Unacceptable!"
"This shall not stand!"
"I was really upset because it didn't feel good."
"Then I stopped and thought: This is the most first-world problem anyone's ever had."
"I was really pissed because my heiny was tepid."
"I got over it."- DeathGrover
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Holy Matrimony!
"Weddings are a gold mine for this question."
"People get so hyped up over their 'most important day of their life'."
"They'll destroy friendships, go into debt, and have crazy expectations."
"It's not always the couple who go crazy, either."
"Sometimes, it's the parents or another family member who feels entitled to control the wedding."
"It's just a party."
"Be considerate of guests, have plenty of food and drinks, and enjoy it."- magicrowantree
When Fast Food Isn't Fast Enough...
"Having to pull off to the side to wait for a drive-thru order to be brought out to you because your food isn't ready and there's a line building up behind you."- demanbmore
In Case You Don't Think Customer Service Employees Are Undervalued...
"I was working the return desk at a Target next to a military base so I have so many stories."
"One of my favorites was a lady who had her baby shower before revealing the gender and was livid that she had received floral newborn diapers when she’s having a boy."
"It was a huge box of super expensive, all organic diapers, that we didn’t carry and therefore could not return."
"I cannot accurately express her fury and disgust."
"How dare either suggest her boy could wear feminine diapers."
"I suggested she donate them if she didn’t want to use them and she instead threw away the entire box."
"When she left we pulled it out and threw it in our donate bin."
"There have also been multiple times where mom’s order massive toys and when we bring them out to the car they get furious that they aren’t wrapped."
"We don’t offer wrapping services."
"Here’s the thing, if you don’t want your kids to see the toys you got them for Christmas or their bit to day DON'T BRING THE CHILD WHEN YOU PICK IT UP."
'I’ve had multiple women scream and curse me out that I had ruined their kids Christmas by bringing the toys they ordered out to the car like they requested."- clever-mermaid-mae
Customer Service Waiting GIF by Juno Calypso
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Happiest Place On Earth!
"I used to work for Disney."
"That in itself should tell you everything."
"However for fun I'll give you two specific stories one form our tech department and one from my wife who worked bookings."
"I specifically worked for their call center to help with technical issues with magic band and the website."
"Suddenly got worse huh?"
"A right of passage call everyone has at least one story of is the 'Dome call'."
"Basically there is a subset of Disney Guest (TM) that believes if it rains at Walt Disney world there is someone that will push a button to encapsulate the whole of Disney property in a dome to keep out the rain."
"I'm not kidding."
"If this button is not pushed they call our tech department to angrily ask why."
"My wife worked booking."
"Pretty much everything including Bibbidi Bobbidi boutique and Pirate's league."
"These two things did roughly the same thing difference being price and theme."
"BBB was expensive did more and was focused on princesses, pirates league did a bit less and focused on mermaids and pirates."
"Lady called up my wife, and got pissed about BBB being booked up (It goes FAAAAST)."
"Karen: 'Im going to give the phone to my daughter and I want you to tell her how you are ruining her vacation by not letting her do BBB'."
"Wife proceeds to explain how pirate's league is so much cooler and how she can be a mermaid or pirate and basically gets the kid to start demanding to their parents about how they want to be a mermaid instead of a princess."- trollsong
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The horror!
Being booked into a junior suite at Disney World instead of an executive suite!
It's almost as bad as having no money for groceries, or no food to feed you children...
Said absolutely no one.