2. "In animated shows in the US, even ones for adults, people riding bikes must always have helmets and people in cars must have seatbelts on if the car is moving. There's a department called Standards and Practices whose whole job is to prevent 'imitable violence' or other acts that children could imitate and be hurt from. This includes removing things like climbing into a washing machine/dryer (Lilo and Stitch on Disney+) or leaving the park with a stranger (early Sesame Street episodes). Blood is a huge one, as are most body fluids. Dogs can pee, but you can't show urine, and puke has to be a certain color or it won't pass."
3. "I'm a lawyer, and I currently work in employment law. The price of a lawyer can be entirely dependent on your case. If you have a very strong case with a high likelihood that it will be paid out in a significant amount of money, then chances are, a lawyer will be willing to take it on at a low retainer or even on a contingency basis (as in they don't get paid until the case is resolved and they only get paid part of the judgment/settlement). If a lawyer is going to charge you a lot of money upfront or request a high retainer, that means the case may either be not as strong as you think it is, or the chances it gets paid out will be somewhat small."
"Sometimes, it might be because the defendant doesn't have that much money to pay it out (for example, a smaller business with small assets, or a business with an HR department that followed the guidelines to a T and acted well enough to dismiss themselves from the lawsuit). But yeah, if you make a post on Reddit and all the commenters are saying, 'You have a strong case. Go to a lawyer and get paid,' and then the lawyer wants to charge you a high fee upfront, take this advice into consideration. I always try to be upfront and straight with all clients about the fee arrangement, and I will even bluntly tell them the reason I am charging a $5,000 retainer as opposed to working on a contingency basis is that either it is a weaker case or a case unlikely to end in paid judgment."
4. "Politics is a lot less mean on the inside. I'm friends with many other staffers from the other party, and most members get along/work together way more than the media wants you to think. Oh, and if you think offices don't talk to each other, they do."
5. "Erotica writer checking in. Most people who are serious about the industry work across multiple pen names, each of them with different kinks. There's a very good chance that someone writing the kind of soft, sweet romance book that your mother likes has a sideline in the kind of thing that would make you blush. It's genuinely a crapshoot as to which one pays better."
6. "If you want an upgraded room, just give the front desk a nice tip while asking. Keep your door latches shut whenever possible because another guest or staff could walk into your room at any time. It doesn't matter how high-class the hotel, it happens all the time. People die in hotels all the time. Bed bugs are very common occurrences. You never actually book a specific room — you only book a number on a spreadsheet."
7. "Sometimes, thermostats in offices are only there to make the occupants feel good. They appear to change the temperature, but on the back end of the system, they are locked out or limited to one or two degrees. This placebo keeps people happy because they have some control over their environment. Other times, the unit is just broken."
8. "Financial institution here. Our entire operating budget is covered by the overdraft fees we collect."
"You are always better off at a credit union. They don't have shareholders (the members/customers are technically shareholders), so they aren't incentivized to screw you out of your money like banks are."
9. "Most movie theater employees don't care that you are sneaking in food, as long as you aren't obvious about it. Soda or candy in your pocket or bag? No problem. Walking up to the ticket counter with a bucket of chicken and a milkshake? We have to address that. Also, concessions are super expensive because we basically get no income from ticket sales. Most of us will refill items even if they don't technically have a refill, but are stingy with extra cups and tubs because we inventory those."
10. "A technical error can really mean a software bug/issue, but it also serves as a catch-all term for any human error in front of that software."
11. "Almost no plastic actually gets recycled. It ends up in landfills after sitting on barges because the market value is trash."
"Plus, not all plastic can be recycled. The product you use might be made out of three different materials that are super hard to separate, and for most companies, it's not worth it/it's too hard."
"Environmental engineer here. It's getting better, and #1 and #2 plastic still has a decent shot at recycling, depending on your area. Please still recycle, especially cardboard, metal, and high-value plastic."
12. "When a guest is told their room that they booked has had to be taken offline due to a maintenance issue and they have been found a room in another hotel close by, this means the hotel messed up and overbooked, or the room has bed bugs."
13. "If you ask a barkeeper to make you a strong drink, they’ll say 'sure thing,' and make you a standard one, unless you’re a well-tipping regular."
14. "I'm a nanny. And no, your child will never say their first word in front of me without you around. Your child will never take their first step without you around. Your child will never hold their bottle by themselves for the first time, crawl, pull themselves up, or achieve any other milestone for their first time when you're not around. I will only ever say, 'You should keep an eye out. I think they're going to XYZ for the first time soon!' I always do my best to allow parents to experience that first time on their time (even if it wasn't actually the first time)."
"Nanny here. You have no secrets. Your child tells me everything you do. If mommy and daddy fought over daddy’s friend, we know. If daddy sleeps on the couch, we know. If you have something negative to say about us and you say it in front of your kids, your kids will tell us. If you’re pregnant and want to wait until you're further along, don’t leave crap out on the counters or tell your kids because, you guessed it, we know."
15. "One of my funniest secrets as a teacher is using a 'magic word' that makes all my students immediately stop making noise and pay attention to me. That word is 'cookies!' When I say it, everyone instantly freezes and looks at me, expecting me to get a tasty snack out of my bag. Of course, I don't always get cookies, but it helps me keep control in class and make learning more interesting and fun."
16. "That product you purchased a few months ago that's been on backorder that you called about the other day? Uh...it's not still on backorder. Well, it is, but we had to reorder it because it came in the other day and no one put your name on it and it got sold. Sorry."
17. "When you order fries at literally any place that sells fries and order no salt, 95% of the time, they just drop them back in the fryer for a split second and serve them to you. You don’t get fresh fries."
18. "If I'm out of a beer/wine/grocery item, I'm out. I know this for a fact. I just go 'look in the back' to shut you up."
"This is true of basically all large retail stores. We live in a world of electronic inventory systems, which are, more often than not, over-reporting item stock, not underreporting. Also, why would I lie about what we have?"
19. "As someone who previously worked in the food service industry for almost two decades, don't let service staff put cut fruit or unwrapped straws in your drink. You have no idea how disgusting that is. Additionally, once your food hits your table, don't let it leave. If you want to take the leftovers home, request to box it yourself or have it boxed table-side."
20. "We decide what influencers say, and most of it is exaggeration or lies. You can't trust a single sponsored post by 99% of influencers."
21. "If your hotel charges a cancellation fee within X days, don't call and cancel within X days. Call and change the date to something distant and then cancel shortly after. It's obviously gaming the policy, but it's an obviously game-able policy."
22. Finally: "People really DO listen to the recordings of your phone calls that 'may be recorded for quality assurance and training purposes.' There’s an entire industry surrounding aggregating and analyzing the data from those calls and how they went from a compliance and QC perspective."
Is there a secret or misconception about your job you want to share? Tell us in the comments!
Note: Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.