From high school on until my early 20s, I worked in hotels. There was a resort in the small town where I lived and there was always work to do, so I got to experience just about every department at some point over the course of my five years working there.
I learned a lot about customer service and dealing with angry guests, but it wasn’t until I moved on to a major chain of hotels near our airport that I felt like my eyes were opened to the secrets of the industry.
The wildest thing I learned about hotels, the thing they never tell anyone, is that intentional overselling of hotels is standard. Rather than risk the loss of money by ending the night with empty rooms after someone’s flight got delayed or their plans got changed, the sold two or three more reservations than they actually had rooms for and hoped it all worked out in the end.
Most of the time, it did work out. Occasionally, it ended with us calling other hotels in the area looking for a place to send the family who finally showed up near midnight and learned we didn’t have room for them in the hotel.
I realized at that point that that couldn’t be the only secret businesses were keeping from their customers, so I did a little digging. In a Reddit thread earlier this year, I got the inside scoop. From free drinks to that thing you don’t want to know about your thrift store donations, 15 Reddit users revealed the things their jobs are trying to keep from the public.
1. The Olive Garden
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Multiple servers confirm that any diner over 21 can get a free perk if they know to ask.
According to Reddit user roguealpha96, servers at Olive Garden are allowed to give patrons as many as three free samples of wine.
Other users say that many waiters don’t even stick with the three samples rule. Miamber01 says that diners who were nice could have as many samples as they wanted, and that they tend to pour heavy. Unlimited breadsticks and wine? Yes please.
2. Recruiters Strategies
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byu/VincentMetzger from discussion
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People who work as recruiters make money by getting employees hired.
Because of this, it is in their interest to make applicants look good to companies. The unfortunate side of this for job-seekers is that one of the easiest ways to make someone look good is to compare them to someone else.
According to leopoldhendricks, this means that one applicant is there to make the other look good — and that just might be you.
3. Cemetery Lies
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All that extra money you spent to make sure your loved one can rest in peace? It might not mean a thing.
According to Reddit user sir-lance-a-lt, who works at a cemetery, the individuals who sell casket and vault combos talk a big game about how the vault will protect your loved one as they are laid to rest.
The truth is, they don’t do much of anything to keep the casket or its contents from getting wet and might actually maker matters worse by holding water in.
4. Teacher Reports
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Report cards are meant to keep parents informed of their kids’ progress.
Unfortunately, they may not be all that specific to each child. According to Reddit user Stinktiere, a lot of teachers are repeating the same things over and over again while writing report cards.
Another user also points out that the schools often provide guidelines for what can and can’t be said, limiting the teacher’s ability to provide unique feedback.
5. Library Fines
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The fines you pay for returning a book late don’t really matter.
While many might believe that libraries make a lot of money off of fining patrons who fail to return books on time, this isn’t always the case. In fact, Reddit user Aelle1209 says that most librarians are willing to waive fines altogether.
This is especially true if you’ve had a hard week or can explain why you couldn’t get the books back when they were due.
6. Hotel Upgrades
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If you want to stay in a nicer room for free, it might be a lot easier than you think.
According to Reddit user AtlantisLuna, all it takes to get a free upgrade a lot of the time is to be polite and ask. The exception to this rule is when it is a weekend or there is some kind of event going on in town.
7. Special Education
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The occupational hazards that come with working in special education are incredibly surprising.
According to Reddit user Ihadacow, a lot of teachers working in special education sustain injuries on a regular basis. Their experience includes bruises, bite marks, concussions, and even broken wrists.
Another user said they left the field for that exact reason, while another said they spent a lot of their time protecting other students from assault.
8. Thrift Store Cast-Offs
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Donating items to a thrift can be a great way to eliminate unnecessary waste.
Unfortunately, making a donation doesn’t necessarily rescue an item from a landfill. According to Reddit user Erin960, if an item sits on the shelf for too long at Goodwill and price decreases keep it from selling, it will end up in a landfill.
The most depressing part? Goodwill has their own landfills for thrift store cast-offs.
9. Package Hazards
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By the time a package arrives on your front step, it has been through a lot.
Reddit user jameizing777 works for a company that delivers packages and says that most parcels get thrown between five and 20 feet at least five times over the course of the journey from sender to recipient.
The only way to avoid having your package tossed around is to mark it as fragile, and one user says that doesn’t always protect a package either.
10. Food Delivery
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Many food delivery drivers or services use a trick to make themselves look good to their customers.
According to Reddit user EggyBene, when you order delivery, the estimated time is usually overestimated. Delivery drivers will add ten to 15 minutes onto their estimated delivery just to make it seem like they’re making an early delivery.
This also protects them from angry customers if they happen to get stuck in traffic, which makes sense.
11. Rehab Woes
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A professional working in substance abuse recovery shed some light light on the success rates of different programs.
Alcoholics Anonymous attendees don’t often succeed, despite it being one of the most well-known addiction support programs, according to Reddit user j0m1n1n. This is because, in order to succeed in AA, you can never slip up or fail.
Instead, the programs with the highest success rates are those that follow a harm reduction model, encouraging participants to just make improvements like drinking less or engaging in fewer risky behaviors.
12. Broken Ice Cream Machines
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byu/VincentMetzger from discussion
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If you’ve ever been told the ice cream machine is broken, you might have been getting played.
According to Reddit user CapnL19, when they worked at Burger King it was common to tell customers the ice cream machine was broken. More often than not, the ice cream machine isn’t broken; it’s just dirty, and cleaning it takes a lot of time.
Another user who worked at Wendy’s confirmed this was the same there and that they often starting cleaning the machine before the restaurant closed just to get out the door early.
13. Professor Prep
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If your college professor seemed a little scatterbrained during lectures, they probably were.
Most professors just show up to class and wing-it. According to Reddit user brachunok, a lot of professors aren’t preparing in advance for the lectures.
Another user agreed but said it wasn’t typically a problem because most professors know their stuff so well that they can offer a good lecture without much prep. We hope so, otherwise why are we all going into massive debt for higher education?
14. Nanny Secrets
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If your child is cared for by a nanny or a daycare provider, this is something you might not want to know.
It’s no secret that a lot of kids don’t understand the idea of privacy. According to nanny and Reddit user thirdcoastgirlll, the kids she cared for spilled the tea on their parents all of the time. She knew way more than she felt comfortable with about their parents’ life.
The moral of the story? If your kid knows, their babysitter probably knows, too.
15. Dog Trainers Aren’t Training Your Dog
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It’s someone else they’re training.
According to Reddit user batterymassacre, when you enroll in a dog training program, it isn’t the dog who needs it the most. Instead, it is the humans that need to learn how to change their behaviors to help their dog succeed.
They even go as far as calling dog training “human therapy.”
Do you work in an industry that has major secrets? Care to spill?
