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People Share Unethical Business Practices That Are Extremely Common

Everyone has a story about a rough job they used to have. Maybe it was a bad boss who got on your nerves every day, or perhaps strict company guidelines forbidding you from wearing pants that went above your ankles. Either way it left a bad taste in your mouth that lingers to this day. What usually ends up happening when you talk it out with enough people is a lot of these shady practices seem to pop up in many areas.

Strange...


Reddit user, IllCreme, wanted to know:

What is unethical but is extremely common practice in the business world?

When You Already Know...

Giphy

"I don't know about "unethical as f-ck," but going through the motions of pretending to entertain outside candidates when you've already decided on who internally will get the job. Wastes everyone's time."

cinnapear

Let's Keep You Where You Are

"You apply for a new job within your current company, but do not get an interview or offered the job. Your current manager blocked it because you are deemed too valuable where you are."

"A manager I worshiped apparently did this to me many times. The kicker is she would encourage me to apply for the position knowing full well what her plan was."

Spooty03

This Seems Really Open Ended

"Companies(mine) that give you PTO hours that end up being capped but if you use the PTO you are punished by losing pay/shift differentials."

pureerickk

Re-categorizing Overtime?

"Companies being allowed to give workers just below the minimum requirement of hours to avoid giving them benefits. Minimum is 40 hours a week? Work them 39.9 and not a minute more, or call any extra time 'overtime' so they get paid double or time and a half or whatever, which is great in the short term but cheaper in the long term of the company than giving them benefits."

SubjectShape

A.B.S. = Always Be Standing

"Don't know if it's been said before, but why in 2019 is it still considered "rude" for people to be sitting on the job? Restaurant Hosts or Supermarket Cashiers, like if its a slow hour of the day just let people rest their feet I don't get it."

"Moreover, my Mother's owned a hair salon for years and has to stand up to do hair properly. She's been doing it her whole life, and used to in heels, so she has a lot of foot pain and tends to break foot bones every so often. And she doesn't even have a choice in her profession, why do that to people who would do just as good sitting down?"

Peach-n-Key

Define: FREE

"Using the word "free" when I have to spend money to get the free thing."

"It's not free unless I can walk into your business, get your product or service without paying a single penny, and walk out of your business."

"If I have to pay even a single penny, it is not free, it is "included with purchase".

"If words don't mean what those words mean, then nothing means anything."

Dont_touch_my_elbows

Just A Lot Of Waiting...And Waiting...And Waiting...

"On call" scheduling: i.e. requiring employees to call in two hours before their shift starts to find out whether they are actually working--if you're not needed you don't get paid."

"This insidious practice is unfortunately legal in the majority of U.S. states."

urban_snowshoer

It's All The Same, Right?

"Not disclosing to the customer that their product was built with used/refurbished parts. The justification is that: They have a failure rate the same as new ones."

"I'm sure if the customer knew they'd probably be pretty pissed off though."

olrustyeye

Sure, By The 15th You Meant The 27th, Right? Next Month?

"Paying invoices late, especially BIG companies that pay a few months late. It kills small business, and seems to be quite normal here in the UK"

Ctoone

Beneficial Redirection

"Investment services like Edward Jones, who will recommend investing in funds that make THEM the most money. It's impossible to get good advice from these places."

shoestringbow

Keeping It Hidden

"Hiding fees until the service is provided."

justgumunderatable

"I was in a car accident that required an ambulance ride, and I was charged DOUBLE for it. Apparently the 2 ambulance companies in my area are in cahoots, so rather than share the business in my area 50/50, they apparently devised a way to "split" it 100/100. They each have one person from the other company ride in their company's ambulance. The explanation I received was since a medic from the other company was riding along in the ambulance I took, they now can both charge me. Again, they didn't split the fee. They each charged me fully. It's almost a brilliant scheme, but also absolutely unethical and ridiculous, and I can't fathom how this is even legal. On a side note, they didn't even treat me on the ride."

CombOverDownThere

Locking Them In

"Purposefully giving part time employees erratic schedules so they can't take on a second job."

Violet_Plum_Tea

The Magical 32

"Giving your employees just few enough hours that they don't qualify as a full time employee, so you don't have to pay them benefits."

KeepitGoatse

"I worked at Wal Mart in high school. There were older adults who worked tons of overtime. Really put their heart into the company. How were they rewarded? At the end of the pay period, they had shifts cancelled to keep them under 40 hours. Such a garbage company."

"You can bet when I witnessed people shoplifting I looked the other way. F--- that company."

arch_nyc

Who Loses When You Only Watch The Bottom Line?

"Chronically and purposely understaffing."

"Looking at you, retail and Assisted Living companies."

Ihateambrosiasalad

If They Don't Say Anything, Don't Pay Nothing

"Not paying invoices until you've been chased multiple times."

"As standard policy."

slefj4elcj

Marking It Up

"raising prices before putting items on sale"

_baloney_sandwich_

"As a former kohl's cashier, I can attest that they are the WORST with this. It should be illegal."

nope134

"Any grocery store. I buy the same stuff every week and I know what the prices are, I know you literally made the price on this 150% and marked it down to regular price."

Noyes654

JUST. LET. ME. CANCEL.

"I hate how convoluted it is to cancel a gym membership in most places. It's super shady. Sometimes you HAVE to mail a letter to the companies headquarters. Canceling at the gym isn't enough. Lots of people have gotten bills months later even though they were told over and over it was complete."

TheBloodEagleX

Jealous, Much?

Giphy

"Firing someone the moment you find out they're looking for another job."

Lyn1987

We Are People, After All

"The multitudes of ways in which work life bleeds into personal life and you're expected to just accept that(and worse, actively embrace it) else you're perceived as someone who doesn't want to get ahead or otherwise isn't as valued as the person who does. The company will always try and get more free time from you but far less than always (bordering on never) actually give you back what that extra time costs."

yockobird

What's an awful thing your job does that's considered legal? Tell us all about it!

People Who Said 'F**k It' And Did Something Crazy Describe What Happened

Reddit user Alone-and-affraid asked: 'People who just said "F*ck it" and did the thing, how did it turn out?'

laughing woman wearing pink sweater
Gabrielle Henderson on Unsplash

Societal pressures shape how people act most of the time, but every now and then someone comes along who doesn't care what other people think.

They do what they want, when they want without guilt or remorse.

According to President Theodore Roosevelt:

"Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat."

Much less rare are the times when otherwise conscientious people decide to throw caution to the wind. Almost everyone had at least one moment in life when they decide to go for it.

Damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead, right?

How things turn out after such a decision can make for some interesting stories.

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Couple laughing
Photo by Devon Divine on Unsplash

Part of the fun of dating and being in a relationship are the unexpected, impulsive moments.

What's funny is how these could be equally arousing moments, too, even if they're moments that we never expected to make us feel that way.

Redditor thann3 asked:

"What is the weirdest thing your partner did that turned you on?"

Backing Up

"When he backs into a parking spot, he puts his right hand on the back of my seat when he looks behind him."

"Hnnnngggggghhh. Gets me going and I don't know why."

- evilpinkmoney

"Every time someone mentions this, I am reminded of the time I did it and accidentally backhanded this girl in the face."

- kingoflint282

That Reading Voice

"In high school, this girl had a soothing voice. Every time she read out loud, I had goosebumps and she gave me butterflies."

- donbruh

Overwhelmingly Happy

"I can’t think of anything weird my husband did, but the first night of our honeymoon, we were talking about the wedding and our future, and I started crying because I was so happy (and told him that’s why I was crying)."

"He was smiling and gave me a kiss and then whispered, 'I don’t know why, but you crying just now turned me on.'"

"Lol (laughing out loud), it didn’t turn me on, but it did make me laugh, and I thought it was weird-cute."

- snarkylarkie

Safety First

"On the first date, he put my seatbelt on. It surprised me because I heard of men opening doors for their dates but not putting their seatbelt on. It just showed a very caring yet masculine side of him."

"The tension of knowing we wanted of each other but agreed to take it slow just made me go feral in my head."

"A year and a half later, he still does it to this day. He even gets 'mad' when I don't let him. I still blush when he does it, especially when other people are in the car with us."

- eeeeriemarie

Certain Accessories

"It wasn't my girlfriend, but over a Skype call maybe a decade ago when I was a teenager, I was on a call with a female friend I had the hots for."

"I casually mentioned that I had a thing for girls in glasses."

"She gasped, told me to wait there, and scurried downstairs. About 20 seconds later, she rushed back up, jumped onto her bed with her jaw resting on her fists, and low and behold, she was wearing glasses."

"We laughed, I didn't know what to say, but that was the cutest and sexiest way of letting me know she liked me."

- GemoDorgon

Good Chemistry

"I know it sounds weird, but her breath is intoxicating. It’s naturally somewhat sweet, and of course, she thinks I’m crazy."

"Edit: We know it’s not diabetes, ketosis, or any other medical issue. We’ve been together for over 30 years and it’s just good chemistry."

- yoooozername

That Deep Stare

"An ex-girlfriend of mine looked at me in a certain way every now and again that just did something to me, like a bit of a stare deep into my soul knowing she wants all of me. Every day I hope someone will recreate and enhance it."

- SamCham10

The Perfect Sweater

"When she wears THAT sweater, I'm powerless."

- wastedmytwenties

"Can someone link a pic of this type of sweater? Asking for a friend."

- schnaizer91

The Sleeve Roll Trick

"My boyfriend rolled up his sleeves kind of slowly the other day, and I felt like I couldn’t hear anything for like a solid minute, lollllll (laughing out loud)."

- farrah_barra

The Corniest Jokes

"This man will make the corniest joke in the whole world, and then his whole face lights up as he giggles at it. Gets me every time."

- Hobbbitttuallly

The Perfect Wine Pour

"We had our honeymoon in Italy and he noticed the waitstaff poured wine really beautifully, so he replicated it. Now I have him pour all my drinks for me."

"For some reason, the way his wrist moves when he pours really gets me going."

- chicken-and-awfuls

Specific Arm Movements

"Two things."

"When he's working on something mechanical and he starts getting serious, he'll flip his cap backward. It's an absent-minded thing and F**K is it sexy. And when he's working overhead, the way his arms flex. Watching him lift things into our attic is an instant turn-on. It's f**king weird, but godD**N does it do it for me."

"Also when I wear something sexy or low cut and he's not expecting it, he'll stutter if he's mid-sentence. We'll be talking from another room for instance, and I'll toss on a revealing shirt and walk in there and he'll lose his train of thought. Or shake his head like he needs to clear it. Your man making you feel sexy is the ultimate sexy move."

- shimmydownnow

Love Language: Physical Touch

"It's the gentle physical touch in public. That little 'Love you' touch as they scurry away to do a thing. Those random touches turn me on so quickly."

- 1beeratatime

Totally Saved It

"He fixed the shower in my truly horrible, low-rent grad school apartment and changed the oil on my car. Not sure why, but that just did things to me."

"If you were to ask my husband, self-deprecating humor would probably be his answer."

"On our first date, he and I went to see this stage production of 'Jekyll and Hyde.' At the bar, they were selling these cute little shots of Bailey's/Kahlua, with each liquor on separate sides of the glass. Me, being incredibly graceful in all things always, completely dumped the Bailey's half onto my blouse."

"His eyes got all big, not sure how to react, and I just sighed, turned to him, and reintroduced myself like, 'Hi, I'm (my name). This kind of thing happens a lot.'"

"He busted up laughing, I ordered a scotch, and we've been together for the past 11 years."

- anyesuki

Simply Existing

"Exist. My girlfriend could literally just stand there and I could and would get a chill down my spine."

- andytheloser12

While we were expecting these responses to be, well, weird, most of these were actually pretty cute or heartwarming.

Sometimes when it comes to relationships and intimacy, something can feel weird simply because it's unexpected, but maybe the unexpected moments are among the best parts of the relationship!

Shocked woman
Alexander Krivitskiy/Unsplash
Extroverts love conversation.

Unlike introverts who tend to shy away from engaging in random discussions, those who are comfortable–or too comfortable–in their own skin love to get all chatty.

That doesn't mean they have anything significant to say.

Strangers shared their bizarre interaction experiences when Redditor AlexanderKeef asked:
"What’s the weirdest thing someone casually told you as if it were totally normal?"

People whom you don't know tend to overshare as these Redditors experienced.

A High Request

"A story from a friend - in Colorado, someone once asked, 'Could you watch my wolves, I can pay you in weed.'"

"There's a lot to unpack in that question!"

– surlymoe

"You don't unpack wolves, you keep them together."

– hwarang_

Unsolicited Prediction

"Husband (30) and I were pushing our shopping cart out of the grocery store when a random man (who honestly looked like dumbledore) looked at my husband and said 'take my hat, you're gonna need it, you'll be bald very soon.' Obviously my husband didn't take it. It was super odd of him to say because my husband had a FULL head of hair."

"Three months later, my husband was diagnosed with a condition that made him lose all of his hair. Weird coincidence."

– hollyjollyaf

Self-Casting

"A guy once told me how he loved the feeling of wearing casts, so he'd put casts on himself- for days or weeks on end. Even if it meant he couldn't drive and would be stuck at home the entire time. He'd use vacation time just to wear full leg & arm casts."

– Present_Dust_2308

Homophobic Homosexual

A homophobic guy I know: 'Being gay is a choice.'"

"I said something like - ok, choose to be gay for a day, an hour, a single minute if you can."

"Guy - That's easy, I'm attracted to men all the time, I just choose to only like girls because I'm not gay."

"Me - Ummm..."

discostud1515

Longheld Grudge

"Once, an older woman came up to me on the street, took hold of my wrists and simply said 'they ripped out my afterbirth', and then carried on walking."

– JennyW93

"It's strange to grab strangers. But one day in Walmart, my granny walked ahead of me, and reached to grab me to show me something, without looking and she was pulling on an old lady's arm obliviously, and the old lady's eyes were like O.O."

"My grandma didn't even apologize, she just let go and yelled at me to stay closer."

– chzygorditacrnch

A Hairdresser-In-Training

"I was getting my hair done this last weekend by my daughter at her cosmetology school. One of her fellow students was excited to meet me. She talked nonstop and eventually told me that she has hemorrhoids and that she has her husband push them back in. So much TMI from a stranger!"

– Digjam823

You never know about the personal lives of people you see on a regular basis.

Squeaky Clean

"I had a college professor on the first day of class say that she is obsessed with Q-tips and cleaning her ears and that her family has to limit her to 3 a day-"

– lokeilou

Here's The Story...

"That they have 6 kids, all with different dads & each dad is in prison."

– ChyCgx2

"I once had a coworker who had seven kids with five different women and he'd constantly complain about how most of his paycheck went to child support. You uh, dug your own grave, pal. I'm really not sympathetic to your plight."

– apocalypticradish

It's the end of the world as we know it.

End Of Civilization

"I know a guy, we don't talk often but due to business we cross paths on occasion. More or less every time we talk he asks if I'm ready for the total societal collapse coming next week, or Tuesday, or at the end of the month.. and so on."

"I just tell him that it's not gonna happen; he usually then asks about my "crystal ball" so I remind him that I've been right every time."

– rkpjr

Zombie Apocalypse

"I went to a ComicCon type event in my city years ago(Walking Dead was a new show, first season for reference) and went to a panel about zombies. They talked about historical zombie lore, the first zombie movies, and the exciting first season of the new show Walking Dead, with some actors on the panel. When they opened it up to the audience for questions one of the first ones was, 'what kind of zombies do you predict we’ll have in a real zombie apocalypse? (Fast vs slow)'…panelists don’t really know how to answer, each gives their personal favorite or worst case scenario. Then we get to, 'What do you think the timeline is for the start of a coming zombie apocalypse?' Panelists are kind of like….? Talk about how things usually play out fiction."

“'No, but exactly WHEN do you think we’ll need to be fully prepared for zombies in real life?' Like, guys, these are actors and media studies academics, first of all they don’t have the level of belief you do and second, the people you should be asking about this stuff are probably biologists."

– AlternativeAcademia

Whenever I feel threatened by a homeless person who is pressuring me to hand over them cash, I tell them, "I''m allergic to corn."

The random phrase throws them and in the brief moment they assess what they heard I'm afforded more time to distance myself from them.

It always works, especially when they realize I'm all kinds of crazy and not worth targeting.

Doctors in medical scrubs walking down a hallway.
Photo by Luis Melendez on Unsplash

Generally speaking, if we have a cough, headache, or runny nose, we assume it's nothing to worry about in the long run and don't bother seeing a doctor.

Most of the time, this proves to be the case, as our ailments and symptoms tend to go away after a few days.

Other times, however, what we thought was a minor illness ended up being more serious than we could have possibly imagined.

In some cases, had we gone to the doctor any later, we might not have lived to tell the tale.

Redditor mothermurder88 reached out to the Doctors of Reddit to hear shocking stories of minor illnesses that turned out to be far more serious, leading them to ask:

"Doctors of Reddit - what is your craziest story where a patient present with mild symptoms thinking it was nothing and it turned out to be a serious life or death situation?"

The Cause Of Severe Back Pain...

"My dad woke up with severe back pain one morning after not doing anything strenuous the weeks/days leading up to it."

"My mom flipped her sh*t and finally put her foot down that he had to go to the doctor after him putting off going to a doctor for years even for a routine check-up."

"That appointment showed a broken rib from a huge tumor on his spine, along with tumors around his buttocks/pelvis and upper back."

"Diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer."

"5 years and 100 treatments later he’s still kicking it."- vulpesvulpex

An Antacid Won't Cut It...

"Saw a patient with minor cardiovascular symptoms and a slight pain in his upper back."

"The senior debated back and forth whether it would make sense to run a CT to rule out anything more serious."

"She finally decided to do it and it turned out he had a massive aortic dissection and was basically wheeled right into the OR."- Beneficial-Bee7765

A Parent's Worst Nightmare

"My son."

"6 weeks old."

"He was also 6 weeks premature."

"Only symptoms at the time of me bringing him to the ER was inconsolable crying and wouldn’t drink his breast milk."

"Was told by others that I was just being a paranoid first time mom…he probably has gas or was colic."

"My instincts just told me otherwise."

"Brought him to the ER."

"Triage asks me what my concerns are."

"I told them he won’t stop crying and I can get him to eat."

"A couple hours later my 6 week old baby coded blue and went into respiratory failure."

“'Code blue pediatrics' will forever be the most haunting thing I ever heard."

"Since he was so tiny they were having incredibly difficulty intubating him."

"Was being kept alive in between attempts with that bag thingy (unsure what it’s called) and compressions."

"His diagnosis was late on set group b strep, sepsis, and bacterial meningitis."

"Had I not brought him in when I did and waited, my son would not be alive today."

"So yea…listen to your instincts, you have them for a reason."- PokemomOnTheGo

Mints Won't Cut It...

"A man came to the hospital because his wife always complained about his bad breath."

"Long story short, I met him because they consulted my department when the tissue biopsy came back as esophageal cancer."- TeamMiserable

Never Underestimate The Importance Of A Check Up

"I'm a dentist."

"New pt came in with what he thought was a mild ache in his teeth."

"Thought it was a toothache."

"Hadn't seen a dentist in years."

"Took a radiograph and the jaw bone around the teeth looked strange."

"Had him see an oral surgeon that day."

"Turned out was a very aggressive metastatic bone cancer and died a few weeks later."- jakeology_101

A Second Opinion Never Hurts

"I’m a nurse, not a doctor, but we had a guy come in years ago asking for a medication to 'help him stop sweating'.”

"He said he had had a sore throat for about a week, went to a walk in clinic, was diagnosed with strep throat and put on antibiotics, but he was so sweaty and just wanted a break from it."

"He looked pale and was indeed sweaty, so we took him back and ran some blood tests."

"His white blood count was the highest I’ve ever seen and he was diagnosed with leukaemia."

"We sent him to another hospital for immediate treatment, but we were informed he died literally hours after arriving. Incredibly sad, I couldn’t believe it."- madicoolcat

"I am a nurse, so naturally my mother called me one day when she had strange symptoms."

""'Earlier today, I had this feeling like there was a squirrel running around in my belly'."

"I reassured her that it was probably gas."

"It happened again a few days later when she was in the car with me."

"Something made me take her right to the emergency room."

"The doctor evaluated her and basically accused her of making things up."

"I asked for a different doctor, because she is not a complainer or a drug seeker."

"Turns out it was a malignant brain tumor (glioblastoma) that was manifesting itself as abdominal seizures."

"They said she had 1-2 years to live."

"It is now 7 years since surgery, chemo, and radiation and she is still alive."- feistynurse50

Some Things Need To Be Seen

"Patient’s wife called."

"Patient had a temperature of 98.6."

"No other symptoms."

"I explained that was a normal temperature but the wife said 'that’s a fever for him'.”

"She said she felt like something was wrong, despite no other symptoms."

"I told her that I respect that and that if she feels something is wrong she should get him checked out in the ER."

"The ER doctor called four hours later and said they did all they could do for him but he died of sepsis."

"He appeared to be normal when he got there but rapidly declined."

"That gave me a new appreciation that we truly can’t evaluate someone thoroughly over a telephone."- DisastrousNet9121

The Cause is More Important Than The Symptom

"8 year old girl gets brought in complaining about back pain she'd had for 3 months, several different doctors had given her painkillers to no avail."

"After about 5 minutes I asked her if she had any problems going to the toilet, she says it's 'foamy' when she pees."

"Bone cancer."

"She made a full recovery, and from what I know is in her 20s now, but to this day I hate how she'd been suffering for 3 months and no other doctor had bothered to even ask any more questions as to why an 8 year old girl was getting severe back pain."- PalpitationAdorable2

Never Fault A Doctor For Being Thorough

"Still in school and I was not present for this patient’s initial admission but rather her clinic follow up."

"However, patient was healthy 50-something year old who had an extended nosebleed after a long hike."

"It wouldn’t stop so they went to ER to get it cauterized/impacted (happens all the time)."

"Anyway, they did a CT scan as protocol and discovered she had a 20+ cm tumor on her uterus that was wrapping around her right kidney."

"She was immediately referred to a serious academic hospital and had a specialized oncology surgeon remove it."

"Amazingly, They got it completely removed without even having to damage the kidney."

"She had an amazing outcome and about a half a foot scar running around her abdomen from the surgery."

"I do not believe the CT scan was due to the nosebleed itself but rather I imagine as they looked further into her blood work and coagulation studies they found something that warranted further work up."- KocoaFlakes

Most of the time, a cold is just a cold, and an achy foot is just an achy foot.

Even so, should you have even the slightest bit of doubt, there is no shame in consulting your doctor about it.

As doing so may turn out to be a literally life-saving decision.