19 employees share the 'insider' secrets their workplaces hide from customers.

Hiding a few company secrets from customers can be a relatively harmless part of running a business...

Technically nobody needs to know how the sausage gets made, but some companies take typical shadiness to a whole new level. So, when a Reddit user asked, 'What 'insider' secrets does the company you work for NOT want its customers to find out?' employees everywhere were ready to reveal the juiciest back room gossip. No, those cookies aren't baked in the back of the store and those menus haven't been cleaned since opening day fifteen years ago. Yes, you can shoplift and no one can legally chase you out.

1.

The major gym chain that I worked for actively tries to discourage members from becoming frequent members. How do they do this? They would start by putting treadmills and elliptical out of order, or preventative maintenance.

And would keep them out of commission until attendance got to manageable levels where the gym did not feel so crowded and thus easier to sell memberships. And getting out of a membership was damn near impossible. - Ikantbeliveit

2.

I used to work for IBM. It was well known within IBM that all projects would be significantly understaffed. This meant that the people working on those projects would work their assess off. We were all salaried employees so we made no more money by working 80 hours per week compared to the normal 40 hours per week.

IBM did make more money however since most of our projects were billed as time&materials (effectively hourly). When some internal people started complaining about the excessive overtime IBM offered them the option of becoming an 'hourly' employee.

This meant that they no longer had access to healthcare, 401K etc, but they would be making significantly more money, in some cases more than doubling their previous salary since they would be getting paid for every hour worked.

IBM didn't think many people would choose the hourly option, thinking that their benefits plan was enough to keep people there as salaried employees.

Of those that were offered the option, something like 95% chose to become hourly. Every single person that chose the hourly option was fired within one month. That meant that some projects that were already understaffed were even more understaffed. Many projects were canceled or delayed because IBM chose to use these employees as an example of what happens when you complain too loudly. - UniqueConstraint

3.

I worked at Subway, which is franchised, so I doubt this is the same for every Subway you visit, BUT: When the meat is defrosted to be used, we had like 3 days to sell it. After that we'd have to throw it away.

The franchise owner and area manager would often intimidate staff into keeping the meat on sale for up to 7 days to cut costs. I reported them to corporate of course. - A_Sad_Frog

4.

I worked at BestBuy warehouse. One tip: when buying a tv, make sure the staff in store open and check the screen first before you take it out of store (no matter the size of the tv). During busy season like Christmas boxing day or black Friday we will drop a lot of products during shipping and packing so yeah. - Ked_d

5.

Former Subway employee. We put light Mayonnaise in both bottles because it's cheaper than normal mayonnaise. - Caps4lifeov8

6.

Our Chinese manufacturers will be more than willing to supply us with a certificate assuring us and our clients that the cardboard and paper packaging for our new line of electronics is 100% recycled and eco friendly. 1000% Bullsh*t. - jpegjockey

7.

I work at a big store in The Netherlands and at the end of every advertisement week we have to make sure the shelves are almost empty so it will look like almost everything sold out and the products we sell are popular.

In reality we still have a lot in the stockroom but this way people will buy it faster because 1) it's on sale 2) it's almost sold out 3) it's a popular product 4) they think the company as a whole is doing a great job. It isn't really a big secret but I thought it's quite funny. - imjohnk

8.

You don't have to get a GED. It's just one type of high school equivalency, but GED is synonymous with that concept so people don't know there are other options. Pearson likes it that way because they can charge $120 per test, with most of that money going to Pearson.

Pearson doesn't want you to know that, depending on availability, you can also take the HiSET or the TASC battery of tests for half the price or less. Until a few years ago (before Pearson stepped in) the GED cost $10 to $20 in most places. - pteridoid

9.

The last job I was at was a family owned steel supplier in the northeast US. They carried I beams, angles, flats, tube, pipe, plate and more. They basically did pre-fab work, cutting product to length. In some cases, mostly government jobs, the customer would specify domestic material only.

If they did not have it they would have us grind off the heat numbers (a code that offers traceability to the plant it was made, down to the composition of material) of foreign material to sell as domestic with doctored mill certs. Shady practice with dire consequences. - Blame_the_ninja

10.

I work as a sailing instructor at a summer camp. The camp is run at a yacht club, and instructors take kids aged 8-16 out on the water to learn how to sail. Out of the twenty instructors, maybe three of them actually have any idea how to sail, and two of us have actual sailing certifications. - patrickkcassells

11.

Used to work at a water park. Nine times out of ten when the pool is shut down for 'maintenance' or 'low chlorine levels', it means that someone shat in the pool - Insane_Pigmask

12.

I used to work for a Tax service. I don't want to get in trouble, so let's call them Tiberty Lax Service. The people that they hire to do your taxes have AT MOST two weeks of training. When I was there, I knew people who didn't even have that- usually only a week. They will charge you $99 PER FORM for your taxes by the way. - Black_Hipster

13.

I work at a VERY large farming company that grows and packages a certain vegetable (Hint: Bugs Bunny). The store brand and the private label brand right next to it are from the same field and there is no difference between the product in it. - Clumsymax

14.

I take donations at Goodwill. We throw away a good 90% of what we get. - jibsand

15.

Pizza hut: we aren't super sanitary, extra cheese comes on a cheese pizza, the ten dollar coupon code is 2155, if you tell them you are an employee and use the ten dollar coupon code, you get a large for 8.80. most of us do not care about discounts, and sometimes tack them on to be nice. - spacezoro

16.

Domino's pizza tracker isn't accurate. Employees can enter sh*t on the computer to make your order to appear at a different stage than it actually is. The horror. - Felicity_Badporn

17.

Printer cleaning kits are just cotton swabs and isopropyl alcohol. You can buy a huge supply of those ingredients from Walgreens for $5 - bdgr4ever

18.

Former sandwich shop employee. They put soy sauce in the tuba salad. There, that's the secret recipe. Manager made me sign an NDA about it. Spy sauce. Shhh. - bluntforcecastration

19.

I worked for 2 years at a call center for Cox cable doing tech support for Internet and tv. It's more important for the techs to get you off the phone than to actually resolve your problem.

Don't blame the techs, they've got supervisors breathing down their necks, and the supervisors are breathing down their necks because customers complain about being on hold so much.

When I was doing it 3 years ago, calls had a limit of 7 and a half minutes. 7 and a half minutes to take your info, diagnose your problem, give you a solution, and resolve the call (the CALL, not the problem).

If the call goes over 7:30 minutes a supervisor would come over and ask what was going on. I got in trouble so many times for genuinely trying to help people, it was disgusting.

One time I spent a good 30 minutes on the phone with a guy in San Diego who was setting up his internet. He was old, slow, and computer illiterate but really nice and patient so I did everything I could and eventually got him going.

He was thrilled, spoke with my supervisor to tell them how happy he was with me. I got written up for that because I wasted time helping one person when i could have been fake-helping many others. I've heard plenty of stories just like this from the other cable companies and the call centers they contract out.

Basically for an inbound call center the people in charge just care about clearing the calls in the queue, not helping you. No matter what scripted bullshit they make the techs say. And again, don't blame the techs (for this, at least), their hands are tied. - fullforce098