They Don't Want You To Know: 30 Corporate Secrets Exposed by Insiders

Ex-employees spill the beans on the tricks of their trade.

Published 7 months ago in Ftw

Ex-employees spill the beans on the tricks of their trade.

From people who worked for think tanks to people who work in the service industry, here are some secrets that big corporations and consumer industries really, really don't want you to know.

For example, if you've ever taken an ancestry DNA test, there is almost a 100% that the company who did it also sold your personal information.

And if you're a CEO at some big company (what are you doing here?), don't bother spending big bucks on a special report from some consulting agency beacuse chances are the information will be copied and pasted from the internet.

The more you know.

1
The cheap dole orange juice, medium priced Tropicana and expensive naked juice are all the same stuff.

2
Health insurance dude. When you file a claim, it is often denied because they're counting on you not escalating it. Once you do, your case goes to a "medical management group" which ought to be called the "we don't wanna pay" group.Keep escalating and involve your doctor. Fight for the insurance you paid for.

3
Never put your information into any online financial form that claims to comparison shop for you. 1. They don’t comparison shop for you. 2. They sell your info to 4-5 of the highest bidders and your phone will be blown up with calls and texts for weeks with people trying to sell you their finance stuff.
4
I worked for a consulting service. 90% of our reports were just copy and pasted. We charged thousands for every one

5
Not sure if it is all furniture stores, but they like to sell you stain resistant coating. It is literally a 6 dollar bottle of scotch guard in a spray bottle. We would charge 90 dollars per item sprayed.
6
I did data entry for a church before, digitalizing all their wills and donations. Since my NDA has long passed, I can say that it's ridiculous. People donating their entire wealth, millions upon millions to the church, even private estates and islands. There's even old money trusts from like 1800s still pumping in money.It's a sham and these churches are filthy rich. And it's not even a "prosperity" megachurch.
7
There's almost always mold in the ice machine. Both my S.O. and I have worked in many restaurants. You'll live but it's still gross. I always ask for no ice.

8
When I was young I worked at a meat processing/packaging plant. Hotdogs, bologna, pepperoni, etc. Not really a corporate secret I’m revealing. but the production of all that s**t was disgusting. Worse than you think.
9
when people submit their videos to viral social media pages, they immediately sign the rights of the video away to the company. but people rarely ever read the fine print on the submission forms so don't realise
10
Hotel industry: of course club members get priority when it comes to upgrades, but even if you’re not a member, you are more likely to get a free upgrade if you list “Dr.” as your prefix.

11
Lululemon comes in straight from Hong Kong to the US. Mostly made in Sri Lanka and Vietnam. Same with Mast Global, Lane Bryant, Torrid, Express, etc.
12
If you've ever put your ID into a computer for a background check it's probably been circulated to others regardless of whatever cybersecurity claims the company doing the background check claims.
13
Any lab who runs any type of genetic test on you is selling that data in one form or another.

14
Used to work at a factory that made US military boots and shoes. Looking perfect was way more important than comfort. Some for the Navy were hard to get the back height right when sewing/forming the leather, so when the soles went on, they were adjusted to look level. Basically, the sole of a left or right would be much thicker than the other. I've seen some off by a half inch/15mm. I constantly brought it up to management, that it was essentially the same as having a piece of 1/2 inch board taped to the bottom of the boot, and would be extremely uncomfortable walking the 20 miles a day like they do. They didn't care as long as it looked good.
15
Wayfair will buy and photograph competitor's furniture and stuff that looks close enough to their own cheap s**t. We were told if a vase arrived looking like plastic c**p, to go to West Elm or Target etc and buy a ceramic better looking one. Same. With couches, chairs, and so on. They are a C**P company to work for and their goods are 90% garbage.
16
Rental car companies: the upgrade price is made up on the spot.

17
If you have a medical device that uses electricity, you can send your prescription to the electric company and they can’t legally ever turn your electricity off.
18
I will flat out just say don’t trust any diamond grading report that is not GIA. I worked for another diamond grading lab that worked with retail jewelers and the boss would fudge the grades to help them.
19
Former data analyst for an alcohol monitoring company. I won't say the name but they're the big one with the ankle bracelet that measures alcohol from your sweat.Most of the time, the data is made up.We get a VERY vague idea of how the alcohol is being expelled from their body through sweat. Sometimes it's enough to make some sense of it but most of the time we were "encouraged" to "find the event" through the noise or we would be fired. Because of this, I believe numerous people reported false information to the courts.This has ruined countless people's lives. Their own and their families.I quit before the end of my 90 day probationary period.

20
The Radisson Hotel has a "Yes I can" policy. If they are capable of doing something for you as a guest and you ask directly, they are supposed to say yes and maintain a positive attitude towards providing you satisfying services. ALWAYS SHOW UP EARLY FOR CHECK IN AND ASK FOR AN UPGRADE. This is how I go from $250 a night in a regular room to $250 a night for a jacuzzi suite every time I travel.
21
the secret ingredient in jimmy john's delicious tuna salad is soy sauce
22
I can't speak for other food/beverages, but I would safely assume it's the same ... i worked in a sauce factory. Kosher sauce is the same sauce, but the difference is when they are starting to cook it a rabbi is present there blessing it.Brand name sauce and off brand sauce are essentially the same. Barilla and Aldi's are identical. Barilla ships out the door stacked nicely, pallet shrink wrapped properly. Aldi's brand ships out stacked terribly, with a thin wrap of shrink wrap. That's where the savings is. Loading Aldi's sauce on to trucks you could guarantee there was going to be at least one or two pallets dumped.

23
If you buy a new game from GameStop, and it’s not in the shrinkwrap, there’s a pretty decent chance that an employee has taken home and played that copy of the game.
24
CARMAX will sell a car that they have to tow from place to place, or get it into "good enough to start" condition, so you fill out the loan paperwork and get into a lemon that dies as soon as you get it home.They'll blame it on you, and people are very afraid of taking a company like CARMAX to court over lemon laws.They exploit that enmass
25
When I was younger, I had a summer job at a bakery. Everything was frozen but the whole community thinks it’s homemade. They get away with it by saying everything is baked fresh daily - that’s technically true, but it was frozen first. They wouldn’t even use their dumpsters to throw out the packaging and boxes.

26
Don't trust best before dates. Its all about selling the product. If the production date is not suitable for the buyer, it will just stay in the cold room and be processed on the day that will match the expire date (21 days from production)So let's say something is produced today (February 16) and is set to expire on March 18, but the buyer (some grocery store) wants it to expire March 21, the producing company will just let the goods sit in cold storage for 3 days before putting on best before label.
27
The secret sauce at Bronco Burgers is just ketchup and mayonnaise.
28
Work in mortgages. Your initial closing disclosure is hot garbage designed to meet legal requirements. The company can and will increase fees on you and will find a way to pass it onto you. That was my entire job. Finding ways to pass fees onto customers.

29
Peloton has more than one manufacturer for the bikes and other equipment etc…. One manufacturer is better than the other and when you call in with a broken bike etc they know which one you have and so does the tech fixing it. Warehouse Employees used to pick their own bikes so they can make sure they get the “better” one . FYI Always get the warranty!
30
A lot of fancy wine is the same wine as the cheap stuff until it gets bottled and labeled. I used to service a larger wine maker as a route driver, and a guy showed me how the whole bottling process worked.They switched labels in the middle of a run, and he said the labels just tripled the price of the wine coming out of the barrel.