21 employees share the 'dirty little secret' people should know about their industry.

Anyone who has worked in retail or the service industry is familiar with the lesson that "the customer is actually always wrong"...

So, when a Reddit user asked, "What is a 'dirty little secret' about an industry that you have worked in, that people outside the industry really should know?" current and former employees everywhere were ready to reveal the workplace gossip.

1.

I worked at a major jewelry company in the US. When we wanted to buy jewelry, we paid what it costs to make the product (material, labor, shipping), plus 10%. I paid around $115 for a pair of $950 diamond earrings. - SComstock

2.

Wash all of your “new clothes." A very high percent has been worn and returned. - bhellor

3.

A very popular local bagel shop/bakery I worked at advertised all of our baked goods were homemade (dozens of muffins, danish, cinnamon rolls ect) and they were not.

They all came from sysco, frozen on sheets. many customers would rave about the baked goods saying they were the best they’ve had. god bless them - UnderestimatedIguana

4.

Locksmith here. We can get into any lock/door within 30 seconds. All the posturing and bringing out a impressive toolkit and hammer drill is just showmanship to pro long the call out. 30 seconds flat. - EyeBumGaze808

5.

When you go somewhere that has novelty beer dispensers that you and a group can take to your table, just know they are incredibly incredibly difficult to clean thoroughly and there’s probably mold in there. - bertmom

6.

If it’s the first time a professor is teaching a course, there is a good chance they are just one lecture ahead of the rest of the class. - BubblyMimosa

7.

Ex-farmer here. Specifically, I worked at a "bio-certified" one.

since there were no pesticides or herbicides used, every snail, every bug, every mouse had to be killed "manually" or by having a LOT of their natural predators around, ie. cats.

The reason? nobody buys tomatoes, or anything else with snail bites on them - sayan_sniper

8.

There is a lot of money spent every year that decides where specific items are placed on grocery store shelves.

If you're at a grocery store that's part of a chain, and you look at a shelf and there's an item that's approximately at eye level, I guarantee you that the company that makes that item paid a lot of money to put them there.

There's lots of weird psychological tricks that go on in terms of how stores are laid out. - blueeyesredlipstick

9.

If your business uses an inventory company, your numbers will not be correct. - OriansSun

10.

I wouldn’t say it’s mostly a secret but agency staffing firms churn and burn college graduates who are basically thrown in the wild. The recruiter you worked with may be gone in six months and that’s why a lot of ghosting happens. - resident16

11.

My billable hours are not the actual hours - unassumingtoaster

12.

When the health inspector shows up, a mad scramble happens in the back to clean the kitchen while they start the inspection in the dining/bar area of the restaurant. - Lone_Buck

13.

They put little weights in lipsticks to make them feel more expensive so they can charge more. - RandomRedditCount

14.

High volume recruiters spend an average of 10 seconds looking at a resume. - K4SP3R_H4US3R

15.

Wash the top of your cans. Mice poop on those things all the time while they are in warehouse or transit. - Munchez8

16.

We touch your food with our hands. Weird. And yes, we wash them so often that they might fall off. That, or you get people that wear gloves for 12 hours and never change gloves or wash their hands. - somecow

17.

Nobody who actually sorts mail cares about your package. The word fragile doesn't stop them from throwing it 20ft into a metal container. - buttchuggin4life

18.

Bedbugs are actually incredibly common in hotels. It’s just that nicer hotels generally have better means of treating them. - ryl371240

19.

You don’t get the healthcare you need or deserve unless you advocate for yourself. Same goes for your loved ones. - Sunshinegal33

20.

Whenever you see a high profile person publishing an opinion piece in a news outlet, 9 times out of 10, they didn't write that.

The "author" came up with a 1-2 sentence concept of what they wanted to say; their second-in-command engaged whoever the ghostwriter is; the ghost created the copy; the high profile person's #2 reviewed for necessary changes; the high profile person themselves reviewed and signed off; and the #2 engaged marketing people to place the piece in a news outlet.

If you see an article from a CEO, a Sr. VP, a member of an elected body, anyone with status, they don't write their own stuff.

This is not inherently bad - organization leaders are busy, and they have the resources to have a team oversee their public-facing thoughts, so they don't have to worry about it.

Still, the opinion pages of just about every news outlet in America (and elsewhere) are populated largely by ghostwriters. Source: Am a ghost - [deleted]

21.

I used to work in a peanut butter factory, we produced about 25-30-ish different storebrands ranging from very cheap to stupidly expensive, we had a grand total of 3 recipes, chunky, not chunky and no additives - ptvipers