Every year, thousands and millions of people submit their resumes, pass (or fail) interviews, and get new jobs. Their success largely depends on how the new work team will turn out, how entitled or not the boss will be and, of course, on the level of wages. But sometimes these aren't the main success factors.

There are various professional secrets at almost every job, and knowing them in advance greatly facilitates your workflow. So we do think that this compilation of random professional behind-the-scenes secrets may very well be incredibly useful for you.

#1

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 .... 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).

Image credits: BayYawnSay

#2

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.

Image credits: Amenra7

#3

Absolutely no one, and especially nothing cares about your package when you ship it. Fragile? Hah! Orientation arrows? Pffffft. Even if you managed to somehow get the dozens of human hands that touch you package to care; the conveyor belts don’t give a fuuuuuuuuuck.

The safety of your package is entirely up to how well it’s packaged.

Image credits: Jayce86

In part, any professional secret can be called know-how of a sort. Some of them can be disclosed, and others are an absolute secret, because they could become a real game-changer in the industry. Moreover, this has always been the case regardless of in what sphere and in what epoch. For example, in the Middle Ages, the ability of Venetian glassblowers to create mirrors was such a unique skill that divulging a professional secret to anyone, even for the biggest money, was punishable not only by exclusion from the corporation, but even by death. Fortunately, our times are not so bloodthirsty...

#4

Everyone who did night shift at the lab I worked in slept for the majority of the shift. We were there at night in case any samples turned up, which was usually twice in a 12 hour shift from 6pm to 6am. There was an old unused office with a mattress under the desk, you'd bring your own sleeping bag, we all kept it secret because who the f**k doesn't want to make 120k a year while sleeping...

Image credits: AngelicWooGirl

#5

We decide what influencers say and most of it is exaggeration or lies. You cant trust a single sponsored post by 99% of influencers

Image credits: panicpixiememegirl

#6

The dirt underneath the concrete or asphalt is usually more important than the thickness of the structure topping it, well-prepped subgrade is king if you want to minimize concrete cracking, asphalt flex, and structural movement.

It’s a secret because nobody gives a damn about dirt and no matter how often I explain how our subgrade in an area is f****d I always hear “what if we make the concrete thicker?”.

Image credits: throwawaytrumper

Of course, today, in the era of pervasive social networks, thematic forums, YouTube and TikTok, it can be incredibly difficult to keep a secret without divulging it. However, excellence in any position is made up of so many complementary little things that knowing any of them makes you more competitive. Remember Tony Romo's first season on TV, when he successfully predicted what combinations the team would play just from his own experience and deep understanding of football? It was impressive, wasn't it? But this is not magic, just a set of skills and professional secrets.

#7

Entry Mercedes vehicles such as the GLB have a Nissan engine.

Edit: I’m referring to the A220, GLA, and GLB.

The downvotes make me think Mercedes owners are hella mad lol. I sold them for many years. I changed industry for a reason.

Image credits: Mooziechan

#8

If Im out of a beer/wine/grocery item, Im out; I know this for a fact. I just go “look in the back” to shut you up.

Image credits: Suspicious-Squash237

#9

As a social worker, there will NEVER be a time when you "finish" all your work, because the field just doesn't work like that. So clock out when you go home - don't do any work. You'll survive a lot longer in this field and be able to help a lot more people if you, yourself, are taken care of.

Image credits: MAFIAxMaverick

"In fact, the personality of any of us is a unique set of habits, knowledge and skills, and the professional aspect is no more than one facet of our personality," says Alexei Shkurat, founder and CEO of Peach art studio, who was asked by Bored Panda for a comment. "The very sets of hard and soft skills that personal development coaches love to talk about. And the fact is that it is much more difficult to develop the latter than the former."

"What is the use for collections of professional advice on a variety of topics - that you will never guess whether this knowledge will be useful to you, and whether it will be useful at all. It was only Phileas Fogg, the character in Around the World in 80 Days, who took a random set of items, and they invariably helped him each day. With an ordinary person, this does not happen - but sometimes, who knows - perhaps this random knowledge will help you in your work or in life in general."

#10

The Catholic Church is running out of priests in the US and has to import their priests from abroad, not many want to enter priesthood these days. The Catholic churches pedophile problem is/was much worse then you probably thought.

#11

Most oncologists with terminal cancer will forego palliative chemotherapy.

Image credits: feetofire

#12

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 "imitatable violence" or other acts that children could imitate and be hurt from. This includes removing things like climbing into a washing machine (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. Fire is also one for preschool shows, apparently.

Image credits: cinemachick

Of course, human memory is not unlimited, and we cannot remember absolutely everything that we read. But anyway, we believe that some of the facts and tips read today may be of great use for you. Or at least you just enjoy reading, so please feel free to scroll this list to the very end and who knows, maybe unveil some of your own professional secrets in the comments below - to make this selection even more educational for everybody.

#13

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 1 or 2 degrees. This placebo keeps people happy because they have some control over their environment. Other times, the unit is just broken.

Image credits: SuperstitiousPigeon5

#14

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, besides being a d**k move on your part, your kid will tell us.

If you’re pregnant and want to wait till youre further along don’t leave c**p out on the counters or tell your kids because, you guessed it, we know.

Image credits: LivingTheBoringLife

#15

Some actors really deserve the roles they get. Some really, really don’t. What’s most disappointing is watching auditions knowing they’re giving the best performance you’ve watched so far but knowing they’re not famous enough to get the role.

Image credits: OldBowerstone

#16

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.

Image credits: NiceWriting

#17

you can go to home depot, walk into the break room, grab a spare apron, write your name on it, and walk out with anything you want. staff isn't notified of new hires. just say you're taking s**t for curbside pickup. You can probably only do it once per location, but go nuts. also, staff is specifically instructed not to stop shoplifters.

home depot is anti-union and a s****y place to work, so f**k them.

Image credits: thewitchmaker

#18

Hospitals are f*****g disgusting

#19

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.

Image credits: ServiceCall1986

#20

Almost no plastic actually gets recycled. It ends up in landfills after sitting on barges because the market value is s**t.

Image credits: insofarincogneato

#21

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.

Image credits: smallz86

#22

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 means the hotel f****d up and overbooked the hotel or the room has bed bugs.

Image credits: jlelvidge

#23

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.

Image credits: LianaTeacher

#24

Take a *deeeep* breath before opening the cathouse door, shovel two shovelfuls of lion dung and catpiss-soaked bedding into the wheelbarrow, sprint out the door before you run out of breath, make sure you're 10 feet away from the door, inhale again, run back in, repeat.

You puke **instantly** if you inhale in there...

source: New zoo intern ??

Image credits: pocrik9

#25

You would probably not eat out so much if you could see what is going on behind a wall in the kitchens of most food establishments.

Image credits: Uncle_Spenser

#26

When I fix your car there is no magic plunger to magically suck the dents out. I have to do lots of stuff.

Image credits: Im_not_a_liar

#27

Your mobile telco runs a lot of telemetry on their networks and already knows about the issue you're experiencing. It'll get fixed when it's worthwhile to do so.

Running a call centre and accepting coverage or speed complaints is a PR exercise and regulatory requirement. These complaints never make their way to engineering.

#28

I no longer work there, but I try to spread this info every time, because it helps the bottom-line.

AutoZone: Return-swaps (when you return an item you previously bought, for a different item) and warranty-swaps (a warranty item is damaged and swapped out for a new one) count as sales.

AutoZone's warranty policy covers ANY damage *taps a baseball bat against the counter* aside from general use wear and tear. *drops a hammer on the floor* Whoops, how clumsy of me.

All I'm saying is it would be a real shame if your used break pads got snapped in half, by accident. Something about Auto Zone break pads... They're the same as the ones in every other store, and at the dealership, but they somehow keep coming back snapped in half, just before they're worn down into the "red zone." Oh well, gotta honor the warranty.

So would you like a warranty on those break pads, sir or ma'm?

Image credits: High_Horse617

#29

Shutting down a nuclear plant is far easier than you think (or the movies have you believe). I know of a dozen ways I can shut down our plant -- none of which require access to the control room.

My favorite one was someone closing a 3/8" valve on the roof of a building, causing a plant trip.

The hard part is keeping a plant running! Everything is so finely balanced that it takes very little to shut it down.

#30

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.

#31

If you want an upgraded room, just give the front desk a nice tip while asking.

Keep you door latches shut whenever possible, another guest or staff could walk into your room at anytime. 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

Image credits: BackHand1996

#32

Elevator door close buttons do not work like you think they do. ADA specifies how long doors must stay open before closing to allow access for persons with disabilities.

Image credits: vertical-lift

#33

Actors at every level are all a bit crazy. I honestly think you have to be to do that job. It can range from quirky/nice crazy to full blown god-complex crazy.

#34

We don't read your Cover Letters :)

#35

You probably don't need a new personal computer, it probably just needs to be repaired (OS re-install) or something relatively simple like its memory upgraded.

Selling new ones is far simpler and more profitable, though.

#36

I’ve learned this applies to basically every industry.

But almost every brand of filter is made by 1 of 3 manufacturers.

Ford doesn’t make their own filters, neither does CAT or John Deer or any of the OE’s.

Big 3 being Baldwin, Donaldson, Fleetguard. Baldwin having the most market share. Carquest is also made by Parker hannifin.

Image credits: Lawfulaardvark

#37

That a lot of the buildings you go into are comically unsafe, designed by engineers without much oversight and built as cheaply as they can get away with/hide.

And a lot of buildings are perfectly safe and so over engineered that they could survive a nuclear explosion and be open the next day.

And it’s almost impossible for the public to tell the difference

#38

Climate change is way beyond the tipping point. Hold on tight y'all.

Image credits: Traditional_Smell642

#39

I'm a lawyer, 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 and 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 meaning Dave from accounting will be solely responsible for the judgment).

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 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.

Image credits: slytherinprolly

#40

When a press release mentions a quote from the CEO of a company, a PR person made that quote up. CEOs can’t be bothered to provide generic “we’re very excited for this new chapter for our company” quotes every time something happens

#41

No one knows what they are doing. No one produces anything of value. Whenever something important does come up, there are several meetings spanning weeks, and it's passed around until someone is forced to work on it.
I've overheard managers complain about how no one reads anything that's actually being produced and if our branch shut down nothing of value would be lost. And I agree. The more time I've spent in this job, the more I realize it's just a house of cards.

Image credits: Measter2-0

#42

Most small, liberal arts colleges and universities are governed by boards dominated by right-wingers. Don't believe me? Pick your favorite university, go to the 'About Us' section and look up their board, then start plugging names into opensecrets.org and see who they donate to.

Remember that the next time you hear right wingers whining about how "liberal" and "woke" colleges are, and know that they are only that way *because their governing boards support it*.

#43

Financial institution here. Our entire operating budget is covered by the overdraft fees we collect.

Image credits: hxgmmgxh

#44

The National Energy Code isn't a code, it's just a suggestion.

There's no "energy police" or anyone enforcing it. (There probably should)

Image credits: SmackEh