"What is a massive American scandal that most people seem to not know about?"
$400 Billion?!?!?
"How about that time the major telecoms took over 400 BILLION dollars to install fiber optics in homes, schools and libraries across the entire country and just... diidn't?"
"The money was just reinvested in the companies to expand overseas and pay legal fees fighting against competitors with fiber plans and blocking future expansion."
"'Here is 400 billion dollars, please use it to give us all good internet'."
"'Ok'."
"'Hey, where's that high speed internet you were gonna put in?'"
"'Oh we decided that was way too expensive, it would cost like 400 billion and we just don't have the money'."
"Have this DSL instead over the existing network."- Horrific_Necktie
Just When You Think They Couldn't Get More Messed Up
"Operation Snow White, absolutely gonzo stuff."
"The Church of Scientology successfully infiltrated the government at high levels and purged records which were unfavorable to L. Ron Hubbard."- sancho___panza
"The church of Scientology blackmailed and threatened IRS people to get their tax exempt status."- Gaelir
stan marsh pictures GIF by South Park GiphyA Literal Train Wreck
"The Ohio train derailment and the decision to burn the spill releasing chlorine gas into the prevailing winds."- Naive-Background7461
What ISN'T A Scandal In American Politics
"In terms of political scandals that were major at the time but hardly remembered today:"
"The ABSCAM operation."
"The FBI set up a fake Arab investment company and offered various state and federal officials bribes to pass bills that would better enable their investment process."
"It led to the convictions of half a dozen Representatives and a Senator for bribery."
"The Keating Five."
"In 1989, in the midst of the Savings and Loan crisis, banker Charles Keating was charged with fraud and racketeering."
"During the investigation, five Senators to whom he'd donated substantial sums (including John Glenn and McCain) were accused of having pressured federal regulators to drop previous cases against Keating."
"The Senate Ethics Committee found that none of them had formally broken any laws, but found three of them were implicated enough to be formally censured."
"The House banking scandal."
"It was revealed that numerous Congressmen had been overdrawing their office accounts with zero financial accountability."
"It resulted in the convictions of three former Representatives and the House Sergeant-At-Arms for bribery and corruption."
"The Abramoff scandals."
"Jack Abramoff was a federal lobbyist, primarily involved in gambling and Indian tribal law, who was convicted of defrauding and over billing Indian tribal councils he was representing to the tunes of tens of millions of dollars."
"Investigations also revealed that he was giving unlicensed gifts to Congressmen, leading to a Representative being convicted of accepting bribes and the Deputy Secretary of the Interior being convicted of obstruction of justice."- AdmiralAkbar1
Voting United States GIF by Jimmy ArcaGiphyAn Ongoing Issue Which Needs To Be Fixed
"The absolute and cataclysmic FAILURE of the foster care system."- SunsetKittens
A Global Disaster
"The Dupont scandal."
"DuPont chemical dumped thousands of tons of chemical waste containing a long chained fluorocarbon also known as PFOA into waterways in Parkersburg, West Virginia."
"These chemicals were found to directly cause cancer and birth defects."
"Unfortunately the irresponsible disposal and manufacturing of this chemical didn't just effect America."
"Trace amounts of PFOAs can be found in virtually every single living creature on earth."- super_mega547
Dealing With Children Here!
"The for-profit juvenile detention system."
"Basically, judges in Pennsylvania were intentionally handing out harsher sentences because these for-profit juvenile prisons contributed to the judge's campaign ."
"In PA they elect their judges which blows my mind for this very reason but that's another story."- granweep
And Yet Woman Are Still Fighting For Control Of Their Own Bodies
"DES given to pregnant women from 1940 until 1971."
"It gave girls who were born after prenatal exposure a much higher risk of several cancers, including one cancer that no one else gets."
"It also causes an inability to carry pregnancies in some women who were exposed to it before birth."
"Boys born after exposure were cryptorchid and had a high rate of micro penis."
"There was a registry for these children so they could be tracked for medical needs and if other effects cropped up, but Congress did away with the registry."
"The changes that DES caused to gene expression are heritable, and it is now affecting DES granddaughters and great-granddaughters."
"While Congress has funded continuing research on effects, there is no registry anymore so no possibility that DES daughters will ever see any compensation."
"The FDA approved the drug for use in pregnant women based on a single non-blind study."- randomusername1919
Before You Take Another Sip
"The current and previous pollution of PFAS chemical compounds across our water systems."
"There has been reporting on it, but everyone I bring it up to hasn’t heard of it."- PM-me-your-tatas---
Kimmy Schmidt Drinking GIF by Unbreakable Kimmy SchmidtGiphyAs If Global Warming Wasn't Bad Enough
"It is literally raining acid in Ohio right now."- Polengoldur
Overshadowed By The New Deal
"The business plot against FDR."
"Wall Street tried to lead a coup against sitting president FDR."- Reefermaniabruther
It's an unfortunate sign that the fact that all these scandals didn't cause much of a stir not because they were minor.
But simply because there were other, more glamorous scandals that overshadowed all of them.
Also, look for cameras.....
camera breaking GIFGiphyLet's just say, if you're going to have sex with a client in a work vehicle, perhaps move the minivan out of the commercial parking garage when asked to by the operator, so they don't look up the number plate and send the video footage to the boss. Also, look for cameras.
The best thing about it was that the guy was an awful worker but boss's favorite, and boss had no choice but to fire him.
Many moons ago....
I might've told this story in the past.....
Many moons ago, I worked a tech job in a factory. One of the production supervisors was a younger guy who was very nice and really good at his job. I noticed he always had the sniffles. I get bad allergies myself so I didn't think anything about that. One day he's not at work and everyone's talking in hushed tones about him. It turns out that he had a side hustle of dealing large amounts of cocaine. He got screwed over by someone in his supply chain and beat the guy to death. He was still one of the best supervisors I ever had.
Duck!!
Two people had a fist-fight. They never got along and one day one of them just snapped, jumped over the desk and they got into fight. One of them got sacked, the other resigned a week later.
And that's why I have my current job, I'm their replacement.
Ummmm....
Bbc Three Comedy GIF by BBCGiphyHad a guy abruptly leave work one day. To murder his wife.
The Stalker
Years ago when I worked at Target, the store manager, (a man in his late 40s), was cheating on his wife with one of the part-timers, (she was 19). When his wife found out she began to stalk the girl everywhere, leaving her vague threats in her mailbox, and then finally confronting her while she was working. The wife ended up getting arrested, the manager ended up getting fired, and the girl got transferred to another Target.
The Hulk
Commercial baking/manufacturing facility. Wore snap-down CINTAS uniform shirts and had to use Motorola radios for communication.
Guy gets irate at his supervisor, rips off his uniform shirt like Hulk Hogan and goes to strangle the supervisor with his microphone cord from the radio. Practically snapped out of nowhere.
Shadow Employees....
The HR manager set up her own recruitment company and was putting all new hires through her company. Not sure how she thought she would get away with it.
We had a round of layoffs for engineering, and our VP of Engineering laid off a bunch of the best people. We figured out what he was doing when he left for a startup he founded where he hired most of them.
Lunch Party
Shocked No Way GIF by ABC NetworkGiphyWe had a "team leader/sales manager" who would often come back from lunch really fired up and annoyingly loud. Turns out her lunch break was spent in the upstairs executive office doing coke and having tons of sex. She left "to pursue other avenues."
"Most helpful in the office"
The company I worked in used to give awards during the Christmas party, if you got a real award you were definitely getting a joke one. For example I got "Most helpful in the office." (Some days I never got back to my desk because I was helping someone with something) and my joke award was "Most handsome man in IT" (I'm the only man in IT). We always had one award that was just for the head of the company, this had been a tradition since the 70s, the award was a complete joke (Not mean spirited) called "Most paid for least work," the person who got the award was recently promoted to the role so they knew it was tradition.
The following Monday I was in the HR Department with a fellow colleague trying to wire up some equipment when we heard a massive crash and shouting going on, it was the head of our company, with a knife to the throat of the head of HR, screaming about the award she got. We now have a part time security guard, a new company head and no longer give awards.
Nark?
GiphyI had to fire someone for time theft. They were sneaking in late and finding different ways to try and document that they were actually on time. Anyway, after I fired her she got a hold of my bag while I went to the bathroom and slicing it up with a razor blade. She also wrote "freaking nark" on it with a sharpie which was kind of hilarious because I'm the one who discovered her doings and handled her dismissal by myself. I don't think she knew what "nark" meant obviously.
"hold it, we're busy"
Heard this story through my work in elder abuse. Old man with continence issues was asking aged care staff to take him to the toilet. They kept saying "hold it, we're busy." Finally old fella can't hold it anymore and tries to take himself. Staff eventually find him in the bathroom- whole place covered in crap with a broken neck. Instead of calling an ambulance they call the facility manager, who instructs them to clean him up and put him into his bed. Family is due to visit and find him 'passed away peacefully'. All the staff are forced to falsify notes under various threats.
The staff member who contacted my organization was terrified to report the matter in case she was black-listed in the industry and lost her livelihood- we were a confidential service and I got the feeling she just wanted to unburden herself... didn't give the name or location of the facility so never heard what happened subsequently. It sounds insane- but once you've worked in elder abuse for a while you stop being surprised by what you hear. I think the worst part was the fact that this poor man was the victim of so many systemic problems- not just a few dodgy staff- and even with whistleblower laws in place- workers are literally TERRIFIED to report.
brownies GIFI See Vodka....
This guy I worked with was a recovering alcoholic. He was super chill and hard working. Was going places with in the company and had big connections as all the high ups liked him.
Well one night he was closing and his "friend" came in to shop. He also had a bottle of vodka in a paper bag with him. He got the guy I worked with to drink about 85% of the bottle. So now the only person who was in charge of my department was totally wasted and couldn't even speak coherently.
He ran outside and jumped on one of the stores managers car and damaged it badly.
Then came back into the store and curled into a ball in the breakroom with the rest of the bottle of vodka.
He actually still had his job and his position after this but he was to ashamed of what he did that he couldn't work there anymore and quit.
He had the backing of the high ups and they were willing to forget this ever happened but he was so embarrassed that he let it all go. We think that his "friend" came in because he didn't like his buddy choosing to not drink anymore and so he just couldn't wait to get his buddy back to the way he liked him. Hammered as hell.
She was Crazy....
My former manager was fired for being suspected of stealing around $10,000 from the company. Shortly after being fired we found out she had also been "borrowing" money from several customers. She never paid any of them back. We also found out she had not been paying her rent for quite some time. There was also several rumors about her selling drugs in the parking lot as well as having relations with customers in her office. It also came out that it was very likely she faked her credentials for the job.
Not long after she was fired she was arrested a few cities over trying to sell meth as well as abandoning her child in a hotel room several states over. She was released from custody pending trial. She then fled and was found a few states over in a stolen vehicle with stolen guns in the car. A wild ride from start to finish honestly. Hard to explain to customers why the new manager was suddenly gone too.
Ho-Ho-Ho!!
During a Christmas party, one of my coworkers was disgruntled with the size of his Christmas bonus (working in a field where most companies don't bother with one at all) so he snorted some nose candy, rented the services of an escort, and railed her on each and every one of my boss' desks.
He's still employed.
Customed Service
Tea Smh GIF by moodmanGiphyAVP sales took company jet to Mexico for sales meetings, transacted a little bit of business on the side while there. Customs caught it when he returned.
Cruel People....
I worked for a very big wholesale and export company. I was an apprentice. There was this older lady working as a cashier and handling all the paper cash (several 100k per day), she was really friendly and very nice.
When I was put in her department we talked a lot, she was very happy to have a young guy talk to her for a change. One half of her face was paralyzed and so were other parts of her body. She was a breast cancer survivor. She later told me that after her husband left her because of the breast cancer, she had to somehow care for her daughter alone and actually managed to do so. Then the second cancer hit her - I don't know the term but it was in a gland in her ear.
That lady went through hell in life already and the metro didn't see any other choice than to fire her to reduce personal costs. Seeing how such a globally big company can treat their tiniest workers with so much disrespect was beyond me.
Never again will I work for a company where you are nothing more than a small, replaceable number. That crap was just heartbreaking. The lady was also so kind - very cruel. And this is only one story.
Guy 1 & 2...
Guy #1 and guy #2 were equipment operators in a section of a facility. It was known they had problems with each other, and they mostly just exchanged words and glances from time to time. Eventually guy #2 decided he would have his "friend" show up during break time to intimidate and possibly assault guy #1. So, during break, with tons of witnesses standing around outside, this "friend" pulls up and starts threatening guy #1 while he's sitting in his car during break. Guy #1 repeatedly tells the "friend" not to come near him, which of course he ignores, so guy #1 pulls a gun and shoots at the "friend" several times as he screams and runs through the parking lot.
The police came, took his gun and car as evidence, but did not charge him with a crime as everyone was a witness that it was self defense. He was fired because of company policy about violence at the facility, but got to go home. The "friend" was hit at least twice and had to leave in an ambulance. Guy #2 is said to have quit out of fear of retaliation from people who knew guy #1.
I missed the action but stood around eating a burrito while cops stood around talking amongst themselves. The burrito was bland and gave me indigestion.
The Psychopath Test
At a bookstore I worked at years ago one of the assistant managers had a scam he was running with two of the regular employees where if someone made a large cash purchase they would come back after the fact and do a post void (basically cancelling the transaction after it's gone through) and pocket the money. They managed to get away with it for a shockingly long time until one of the regular employees got greedy and did two post voids in one day, which got loss prevention's attention and led to an investigation that saw everyone involved get fired.
Things got a bit hairy for the rest of us afterwards too because there were apparently some people at the district level who were convinced that everyone in the store must have known this was happening and that we all needed to be fired, but thankfully cooler heads prevailed and that didn't happen. None of us did know it was going on either, including the general manager.
The assistant manager was a massive monster and none of us were sad to see him go (and I just recently read John Ronson's The Psychopath Test and realized looking back that the guy fit the bill for a psychopath perfectly) but I'd really liked the two regulars and couldn't believe they had gone in on something that scuzzy. You can just never tell with some people.
The RV Life
season 1 rv GIFGiphyAn area supervisor was doing side jobs on new homes we wire, ended up burning down an RV garage with an RV in it because he didn't know the difference between a 30A 120V RV outlet and a 240V one. (It was supposed to be 120V, he wired it for 240V) He no longer works for us, and is a reminder of why you don't do side jobs, especially if you don't know what you're dealing with.
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