When one is processing photographs and film you are automatically involved in the secrets and events of the lives of strangers. It can be fascinating and heartwarming but more often than not, haunting and shocking. Why is it people don't seem to think ahead before they give strangers access to their lives? Somethings are just not meant to by seen by the general public.
Redditor u/lil_datum was wondering what images those who have processed film can never unsee by asking.... People who used to work in photo labs before digital cameras, what weird stuff did you develop?Nudes
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Coworkers nudes........ I worked at Walmart, happened a lot.
A really old woman, like 70s or so, posing in lingerie. Every few photos an article of clothing is removed. Up till the last photo spread eagle fully naked.....
Coworker had pics of 2 guys going at it. Guy picks them up. Order comes through again, we don't sell the nudes btw. Guy picks those up. Orders again. Comes in and then decides to complain.
Then there was one of a guy in an odd pose with a rolled sock over his junk and a stick of deodorant in one hand.
Had lots of requests from guys wanting to print their naked body on a blanket for their girlfriend.
Also forgot one. Had an 80 year old man who dumped his SD card on cds. Somehow the computer picked a very specific set of photos to print on the front of the cd for thumbnails. It was him with an equally aged sex worker in a hotel. He flipped out on us about how these photos don't exist and no one knows about this and he was gonna give these to his family for Christmas......
Negative Space
I used to work in a pharmacy 1-hour photo lab during high school. Digital cameras weren't really a thing yet - the only ones around were really expensive.
There were a couple instances of people bringing in sexy time photos, but honestly, that was pretty rare.
The weirdest stuff, honestly, was when someone would drop off an entire roll of film with only one or two pictures on it.
Or people that didn't know how to use their camera so the film wouldn't wind/advance far enough for the next shot and you'd get overlapping images on the negative. And then people would complain about us ruining their pictures and I'd have to explain that, no, they ruined them all by themselves.
The Ritz
I worked at a Ritz Camera in a mall, this was when digital cameras were pretty expensive for the average person so a huge portion of orders were film.
So many penis pics, like multiple every day for different orders. I still don't get it. Lots of naked people.
The police department photos were rough to do.
Too Much to Look
I also worked at a Ritz Camera, I think it was called Kits Camera for awhile before it became Ritz. We also had to do police Department photos. Usually my more experienced coworker who was a few years older than I was at the time would print them.
I remember one time an officer came in needing an order that day and I was the only one on staff. Case was a man who committed suicide by shotgun. He looked like he was just sitting down at the top of some stairs in most of them.
I have an older holiday photo of my brother who fell asleep at a family party in a very similar position and I just can't help but think of the man who committed suicide every time I see the photo of my brother.
I was really lucky my coworker insisted on processing most of the images.
Haunted Events
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The absolute most bizarre was when a local photo photographer accidentally double-exposed his sister's wedding photos onto his aunt's funeral.
There were strangely macabre images of the couple walking down the aisle overlaid atop the open casket.
Watch Closely
My brother works for a photo developers where they also transfer VHS to DVD and digital, he says about 30% of the videos are home pornography. The thing is, someone has to watch the entirety of the copy to check the quality, they have to watch everything!! I think most people think its all done by computers and no one will ever know whats on the tapes, boy are they wrong!! He has many stories to tell!
The Innocent
I was a photo lab manager for 5 years and can't recall ever seeing full on porn. We edited every photo that came through the system. There was no auto print. My volume was 2000ish prints a day.
But then again I wasn't working at a big store. Many average people complained that our prices were higher but the pros loved us because we actually kept our printers and monitors calibrated.
Most of what we printed was pro weddings and portraits. Some boudoir photography though! Tasteful nudes.
Lots of massive retouching jobs of antique family portraits.
When at Walmart
WalMart 1 hour photo mid 1990s checking in.
We had the occasional funny/depressing nudes (could not print, just put a preprinted "naughty note" in the envelope), wet t-shirt contests (mostly would print, unless the manager or the ex-nun was working). I also remember a totally scuzzy guy dropping off a roll of sad attempted glamour shots of his equally scuzzy girlfriend wearing a bikini on a sport bike in their super messy garage, but most difficult was parents with their stillborn infant.
Started off with first photos thinking it was just parents at hospital with their newborn. Then realized they didn't look happy. Then realized baby was not alive. Sad day. But appreciated these were likely the only photos they'd ever have of this child they'd been anticipating for months, and took more time color correcting for the fluorescent hospital lights than we were really supposed to spend per roll.
Not "Cool"
Called the Cops: Young parents with a toddler and they were holding guns to each others heads (including baby), and then at the camera. The poses seemed like they were trying to be "cool".
Sad: Parents posing with their stillborn child in all sorts of "alive looking" poses, like sitting on the dad's lap. But the last pic was the baby in the coffin.
Sad: We handled the film for the police assault team. Lots of bruises, black eyes, stab wounds and trauma wounds both inside and out.
That Day
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I developed photos from Ground Zero which was taken by a construction worker who was down there working on the clean up.
If you or someone you know is struggling, you can contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
To find help outside the United States, the International Association for Suicide Prevention has resources available at https://www.iasp.info/resources/Crisis_Centres/
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But we should also be prepared and ready to ask the right questions to have a leg up on the competition.
"What is THE best question to ask on a job interview?"
A company's history or information about a past employee were suggested subjects appropriate for questioning.
Prior Knowledge
"When you were interviewing here, what would you have liked to know before you joined?"
"This worked for me. I asked my interviewer a question about how she had personally dealt with a company policy she had just explained. She bragged about her stellar adherence to the policy. I nodded my approval. I got the job."
A Previous Employee
"One that has always gone over well for me:"
"What were some qualities that the previous employee in this role brought to the job that you would like to see carried forward?"
"Another good thing to do is research the company you are interviewing with and you can ask things about what they may be involved in or you could drop that while reading about the company, you wondered this."
Hypothetical questions were suggested as helpful examples of inquiry.
Indicators Of How Companies Treat Employees
"A question that landed me a job once was: 'If I asked your direct reports about your management style, what do you think they'd tell me?' Stumped a hiring manager and he emailed me personally to tell me about it, no one ever asked him that question but got the job.
"In my current interviews I'm asking 'what did your company do for its employees during [the virus] to improve their day to day, work life balance, etc.' and I ask 'Is there anything your company adopted during [the virus] that they plan to keep post [the virus]?"
"These questions give a lot of insight into whether a company treated their employees well."
Past Performance & Adjustments
"If we were currently sitting in my 1 year review, what would I have done in this year for you to say I excelled in my role?"
"If I could snap my finger right now and change anything about your job or the company, what would it be and why?"
The following questions about a prospective company may not be answered from initial digging on their website.
Measure Of Success & Career Trajectories
"How is success measured in this role?"
"What are some possible career trajectories within the company that could stem from this position?"
Being A Solution
"Ask them what is the biggest problem you can solve for them in your first six months with the company. Similar to 'don't think of a purple hippo,' this forces them to imagine you succeeding in the position."
Simply The Best
"Who is your best employee and why is he/she the best?"
"You will then face 2 situations mostly:"
"panicking CEO who can't answer you 'Bob who works 17 hours a day for a slice of bread' so the fear in their faces must be a big nono for you"
"entusiast CEO who actually follow their business and can tell you who is an added value for the company and why."
– ThePiz91
My experiences with job interviews are different than others seeking work in office environments.
Having had a years-long career as a dancer, my "interview" was the dance audition, where hopefuls dance in small groups of people at a time after learning a routine and then awaiting their fate after the panel evaluates their performances.
The question I may or may not have asked in such a scenario earlier in my career was: "Did I make the cut?"
I did not make the cut. And I learned never to ask that again.
I remember the worst date I ever had. My biggest regret is that I stayed for the entire thing. I should've left as soon as I realized this was not going well, which was basically at hello. But he was paying so I drank, a lot. I'll keep names and dates to myself to protect the innocent.
0/10
Big Brother Reaction GIF by Big Brother After DarkGiphy"Went to brewery, date said I had hairy arms and that meant I was horny, said "you look really awful in this light" and then tried to dig out of that hole by saying in his native language that was a term of endearment long term couples said to each other. 0/10 did not date again."
Lucky 13?
"My wife wanted to plan our 13th wedding anniversary. I was excited because usually, I plan it. She bought us some new disc golf discs and after a quick supper, we went to play. We hadn't played in forever. We were laughing and I had a great time. She served me with divorce papers and told me that the date was a test to see if she still had feelings for me. I also learned that she was having an affair that started well before our anniversary."
- rmorlock
Two Hours from Home
"Not necessarily a date but a person I was dating invited me to his parent's house for the afternoon. He wanted to introduce me to them and show me the house he grew up in. I thought it was super sweet and had no problems going. He was also in the middle of moving and needed to pick up a few things, so it really didn't seem that unusual."
"Yeah, we got there and it was awful. His entire family was there. They traveled from hours away too. This was not just meeting the parents, it was meeting the ENTIRE family. Even worse? At some point, this idiot told his parents that he had proposed. We had been dating TWO months. I spent the entire afternoon dumbfounded and just playing along."
"We were two hours from home and I had no cell service, no way to leave at all. We ended up spending the afternoon brainstorming wedding ideas and planning an Alaskan honeymoon that his parents planned to gift us. His brother even called to say congratulations! We drove back to his apartment in silence. When we got there, I got in my car and left, didn't even bother grabbing my stuff. Weirdest experience ever. I have no idea how he broke it to his parents that we weren't getting married."
You're Cut Off!
"Got set up on a blind date once between mutual friends. She shows up to the restaurant already a little tipsy, orders multiple appetizers and only takes like one or two bites from each one. Then she proceeds to order 3 or 4 more drinks and is visibly drunk at this point. She gets up and says she's going to the bathroom and staggers off. About 15-20 minutes go by so I try to call her several times but no answer."
"Finally I decide to pay the check and just leave. About 2 hours later I'm sitting at home and I get a call from an unknown number. It's the police department. She was picked up on a DUI on her way home after she ditched me and gave the cops my number to see if I could go bail her out!"
- mox44ah
Sorry?
Bbc Three Idk GIF by BBCGiphy"Well, I gave this answer on a different topic, but it ties in with this. We were out on a date, we had been seeing each other for a while, close to a year maybe. She gets a phone call. Suddenly she looks destroyed. Her fiancé had just died in a motorcycle accident."
What in the world? I mean how can we ever expect to pair off with the dating pool being inundated with liars and nut jobs? I'm going to delete my apps.
Girl, Bye.
Sassy Beyonce GIFGiphy"Had a girl openly flirt with the bartender in front of me. She says she wasn't. But handing him her own phone and asking for his contact info in front of her date seems like it to me."
Crazy!
"Came out from a movie, late at night, and date's Camaro was stolen. Apparently, he called his WIFE (that I did not know he had) and let her know where he was and what happened. She showed up and realized he was on a date! She started chasing ME around the parking lot telling me she was going to kill me. Saved by the cops who showed up just in time to take the auto theft report."
Hey Mom
"Met a girl at a country bar one night in my 20s. We were both pretty drunk but hit it off pretty good. Ended up getting her number and we agreed we'd go on a real date. Fast forward to the date, she gets in my vehicle and... she looks almost identical to my mom. I was mortified. I was polite and we went for lunch where I found out she also had a boyfriend she "wasn't sure if she was into". Never talked to her again."
- SgtGo
Liars...
"When I was in college many years ago, before the advancement of cell phones and social media, I was chatting with a girl I met on a BBS who lived on Long Island, NY. I was 18 at the time, but lied and said I was 22 because she said she was 25. We spent a few weeks emailing each other, as well as calling each other."
"We even exchanged pics. When we finally met up, things blew up. Turns out we both lied about our ages: She was really 33, and lied because she thought she looked younger. She admitted she sent a college photo to me. We still had dinner together, but it was awkward as hell. We never spoke again."
Doubles
Kill Me Now Season 1 GIF by FriendsGiphy"It was a double date. She was more interested talking to the other girl throughout the whole thing. Found out later from the other guy that his girl cheated on him with my date."
Ummm... I think I'm just going to stay single. That is a handful of crazy. Why can't people just be honest? I swear the search for love warps people's brains. Be careful out there people.
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