Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

People Share The Best Insider Secrets From Their Industry

factories with smoke under cloudy sky
Patrick Hendry on Unsplash

Reddit user Typical_Affect8207 asked: 'What is an industry secret that you know?'

Every job probably includes some industry secrets that the general public just doesn't know.

And maybe we're better off not knowing some of them.


I mean, could you really look at bologna the same way again after seeing how it's made?

Reddit user Typical_Affect8207 asked:

"What is an industry secret that you know?"

Elder Care

"The places you put your parents, even the more expensive ones—independent and assisted living—most are owned by investors who really don't care about your loved ones."

"Especially the larger corporate ones with multiple units in different states."

"Some people are paying thousands per month for the bare minimum of care and facilities."

~ dvoigt412

Ghirardelli Sundaes

"Ever had those expensive Ghirardelli sundaes at their stores? Yeah, that’s Dreyer's/Edy's ice cream with their brand of hot fudge.

"Save yourself $16.02 and just buy the $4.95 bottle of Ghirardelli hot fudge and get the rest at the store."

"Recipe: 5oz scoop of ice cream, hot fudge, 5oz scoop, more hot fudge, whip cream, crushed almonds."

~ Ky3031

Nutrition Labels

"Nutrition labels on small, not well-known brands can be inaccurate, and nobody would ever know."

"Once you send your food product out to a lab to have a nutrition label created for it, that is the last time anyone is ever going to check it."

"It would take someone to pay for a new analysis at a lab to see if the percentage of quar gum, for example is still accurate, and nobody is going to do that."

~ Human_Cranberry_2805

Recipe For Coca Cola

"Recipe for Coca Cola"

"Ingredients: Citrate Caffein 1 oz., Extract Vanilla 1 oz., Flavouring 2.5 oz (detailed below), F.E. Coco 4 oz, Citric Acid 3 oz, Lime Juice 1 quart, Sugar 30lbs, Water 2.5 Gallons, Caramel sufficient for right color."

"Flavouring: Oil Orange 80, Oil Lemon 120, Oil Nutmeg 40, Oil Cinnamon 40, Oil Coriander 20, Oil Neroli 40, Alcohol 1 quart (let stand for 24 hours)."

"These are all in US Imperial measurements and the flavouring units are in minims or mins. One min is literally one drop of liquid."

"That flavouring section, combined with the Vanilla extract is what is collectively known at the company as 7X—the ultra secret 7 things which make the flavour—the alcohol is only used to extract the flavours and doesn't end up in the final drink."

~ mellotronworker

Model Aesthetic

"Some plus size models get liposuction on their face and necks to be more aesthetically pleasing."

~ highcaliberwit

HIPAA Anyone?

"Hospitals suck at cyber security."

~ martinfendertaylor

"Every time a unit falls for the fake phishing emails IT sends out, the entire hospital has to suffer through another cybersecurity presentation."

~ VeeRook

Stuck On Sekisui

"Almost all good glues, tapes, thermal pads, and lamination foils that hold things like cars together, are made by Sekisui Chemical in Japan."

"The PVB that everyone in the world uses to make laminated glass? Sekisui.

"Half of any given Tesla is held together or cooled by Sekisui materials."

~ ThePr0vider

Resume Requirements

"Used to screen resumes for small companies. Job 'requirements' are more of a wish-list situation."

"Never let some unchecked boxes deter you from applying—you have no idea what the applicant pool is like."

"The biggest boon, especially at small companies, is someone who legitimately cares."

~ bigboisbotleo

Targeted Marketing

"If you give one website your name, another website your number, and another website your email, there are services that merge info together by scanning the web and build a profile of you for ad targeting and sales."

"Some of you may assume this already but it is standard practice and utilized more frequently than you might think."

~ bliss_jpg

Authentic Movie Theater Taste 🍿

"The stuff that makes movie theater popcorn taste like movie theater popcorn is called Flavacol. It's a salt-like additive that you can buy yourself and add to your popcorn at home."

"A carton lasts forever because you only need like a teaspoon of Flavacol per cup of kernels, and it's indistinguishable from the popcorn you get at the movies."

~ prezuiwf

"Flavocol comes in classic butter and 'better butter' flavors. No joke, the 'better butter' tastes better.

"You don't need any other seasoning, but you do add oil (dyed canola if you want the authentic experience) to the pot along with the Flavocol, of course."

"You want butterfly corn kernels, not mushroom."

"And if you want your popcorn to be even better than the cinema, get white kernels because they don't have husks!"

~ Automatic-Concert-62

The Good Seats

"Theatre Seats aren’t all the same size. Some are narrower than others."

"We use a variety to manipulate the 'sawtooth' arrangement so that you look through a gap between heads not straight into the head of the person in front of you.

"That means some seats are 'better' (ie: wider) than others."

~ bryson430

No Animatronic Killers, Though

"I'm a repair tech at Chuck E Cheese. There are some games we can adjust the payout for and some we can't."

"We have a number called 'Ticket per play' or 'ticket per tap' that we have to try to maintain. EVERY game and ride is adjusted somehow so we can get to that average number."

"The length of the ride is so you will tap your card more or less times. Some games have fixed ticket payout we can't adjust, so we adjust other games up or down to get the whole average to that magical number."

"If one game we can't change pays out 4 tickets on average and the number we want to reach is 6, for Instance, I would adjust another game that can be adjusted to 7 or 8 to compensate, because the boss only cares about the average payout on a whole, not on the individual games—unless it's insanely high or low."

"If a game is cheating you out of tickets, we probably did that on purpose to compensate for something else."

"This also goes for the claw machine. We can control how often it pays out."

"Tickets can be bought at one penny per ticket. If you drop a quarter into a token machine, if it doesn't pay you 25 tickets, you're better off just buying tickets."

"No we don't reuse pizza. It's cheaper and easier to just make another one since we get the ingredients in bulk. It's just that we cut it into smaller slices so it's harder to do right, plus the kitchen personnel usually doesn't care about making it look perfect."

"No the job isn't fun. My job is to make sure YOU have fun. My job is stressful."

~ BreathingDrake

Online Shopping

"If you’re shopping online, start the checkout process and then before paying close your window."

"You’ll very likely get a coupon with a discount over the next few days in your email to entice you to finish the purchase."

~ b5itty

Not A Different Flavor

"The blue flakes in your laundry detergent are just the white flakes dyed blue."

~ ampsr2

"Yep, it's just a blueing agent, and it does have a purpose. The blue dye actually makes whites whiter. Yellowish white + a little fluorescent blue = bright white."

~ PinkNGreenFluoride

Veteran Veterinarian

"I'm an ER veterinarian. When your pets are hospitalized or need to stay at the clinic, unless they’re aggressive, need to be monitored very carefully, or we’re absolutely slammed, they are constantly getting positive attention from the staff."

"I’ve had kennel attendants and techs cuddle up with patients on their breaks, myself and colleagues have made phone calls or typed up records while holding on to your pets. We routinely talk about how cute the patients are—in fact, it’s a running joke that we would get fired immediately if we worked in human medicine."

"And we do get attached to your pets."

"We know that your pet got into your weed and we truly don’t care. Seriously. Just be honest."

"We operate on a triage basis (sicker things are seen first, regardless of how long others have been waiting). If you’re a sh*tty person and you’re constantly up front complaining to staff about the wait times/the decor/why there isn’t enough staff, being difficult in other ways, being dismissive to the non-doctors, AND your pet is stable and has been triaged similarly to another pet that came in around the same time, we’re not picking up your file until we have to."

"Sooo much of my job involves giving bad news, talking to emotional people who often take out their feelings on those around them, and having to defend the costs of emergency care and surgery, that I’m not going to eagerly jump into taking a file for someone who’s being difficult before they’ve even been spoken to."

~ i-likebigmutts

What's an industry secret you know?

More from Trending

A young man sits on an outdoor staircase and looks longingly off into the distance. He has his luggage standing next to him.
Photo by Sander Sammy on Unsplash

People Reveal The Pettiest Thing Their Ex Took From Them In The Divorce

Divorce is rarely ever easy and fun.

No one exits unscathed.

Keep ReadingShow less
Paul Mescal in 'Gladiator II' Parody
Saturday Night Live/YouTube

Paul Mescal Wows 'SNL' Fans With His Singing Chops In Musical 'Gladiator II' Parody

We've all heard the saying, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it," and we've certainly all heard advice about doing what's working for others, in the hopes of it working for us, too.

With the whirlwind of popularity surrounding Wicked and Moana 2 right now, it wouldn't be at all surprising to see more musical adaptations surge onto the scene in the hopes of riding their coattails of success.

Keep ReadingShow less
Jake Tapper; Markwayne Mullin
CNN

Jake Tapper Expertly Rips MAGA Rep's Defense Of Pete Hegseth's 'Drinking Problem'

CNN reporter Jake Tapper expertly shut down GOP Oklahoma Representative Markwayne Mullin's defense of Pete Hegseth's qualifications as a potential nominee for Secretary of Defense.

Hegseth, a former Fox and Friends weekend co-host, was selected by President-elect Donald Trump to join his cabinet as U.S. Secretary of Defense despite his lack of experience in global defense.

Keep ReadingShow less
2025 calendar with tweet overlayed reading: "We are so doomed"
Pakin Songmor/GettyImages; @Haywhyforyou/X

People Just Noticed An Ominous Detail About The 2025 Calendar—And Oh Dear

Christmas is already around the corner. Can you believe it?

This time each year, many of us are SMH-ing over the fact that another year has sped by as the holidays following Halloween hit us in rapid succession.

Keep ReadingShow less
Anok Yai; Alex Consani
Dave Benett/Getty Images; Dave Benett/Getty Images

Supermodel Sparks Debate With Reaction To Losing 'Model Of The Year' Award To Trans Model

Model Anok Yai sparked quite the debate on social media after she said she was "exhausted" and proceeded to call out the British Fashion Council after they awarded the 2024 Model of the Year award to trans model Alex Consani.

Consani, the first out trans model to ever win Model of the Year, expressed her excitement on Instagram, sharing celebratory photos and videos accompanied by the captions:

Keep ReadingShow less