People are sharing 10 'industry secrets' from their jobs that are blowing everyone's minds

Secrets within each industry.

In every profession, there are industry secrets. This term could allude to knowledge, techniques or insights about a certain job only known to people who have been doing them for a long time. These secrets can range from simple things that make a small difference to bigger pieces of knowledge that have a greater impact. Most professionals remain very secretive while maintaining a competitive edge. u/Boring-Plastic-4667 asked the community, "What industry 'secret' do you know that most people don't?" Here are 10 of the most insightful answers that they had to share.

1. Bestseller books are most likely written by ghostwriters

Most probably, 80 percent or more of the books on the nonfiction bestseller list (autobiographies, memoirs, political/business books, etc.) are ghostwritten. Source: I am a ghostwriter. u/RSquared787. That doesn't seem surprising (percentage) because of the types of people that are putting out a story these days. Some of them couldn't possibly write said story to sell. u/techmaniac. Also, some ghostwriters use ghostwriters. u/PopeOnABomb

2. Unarmed security guards are mostly helpless

I'm an unarmed security guard. Every now & then, I'll get a comment from someone about how they're glad I'm around in case there's an active shooter or something. Yeah, if that happens, we're not doing anything aside from getting ourselves to safety and calling the cops. We're told in training that if we try to intervene directly with an active shooter, we'll be fired. u/disinfo_bot_47. "Detect, Deter and Report" was the slogan at Securitas back in the day. We were frequently told we were there for insurance purposes and were expected to NOT take action beyond calling the cops and getting ourselves to safety. Great student job. u/IBoris

3. How to avoid being charged for using the mini-bar

When I used to work for Hyatt, if the mini bar was used and not declared but the value was under $15, they wouldn't bother billing for it because it gave off an appearance that it wasn't synonymous with a 5-star hotel. u/rideandadvise. It reminds me of a time we were staying at a hotel in San Diego. We’d just got in and saw a bottle of water in the fridge and just grabbed it and started drinking. I then pointed out that it had a tag on it, saying it was $5. Later that day, we hit up the 7-11 across the street for reasonably priced drinks and they sold the exact same bottle of water there for $1. So we bought one of those, put the $5 tag on it and stuck it back in the fridge. u/Klaatwo

4. Nurseries don't tell parents everything 

If your baby goes to a nursery/daycare, chances are those weren't the "first" steps/words, etc., that you witnessed. The industry standard is not to tell parents when these things happen, as it makes them feel bad. I've seen kids up and walking about the room for weeks, even months before their parents proudly announced at drop-off that they "Took their first steps last night" u/by_the_way_mate

5. Some fast-food employees are nice 

If you find an extra nugget in your order, it wasn't a mistake. You got a cool employee. u/CarlosFer2201. During COVID lockdowns, I ordered a late-night dinner from Wendy's. I got the spicy chicken sandwich and it came with 4 patties stacked on top of each other. It was glorious. The kitchen probably was closing up and didn't want to waste the patties, so win for me! u/blazinazn007

6. Appetizers are very difficult to make 

Some appetizers are the most labor-intensive items on the menu to make. For example, dumplings take one worker about an hour to make 12-15 orders. If you want to know where I'm getting at, if a restaurant offers a plethora of appetizer options, then there's a high chance a lot of them are store-bought and resold because there's no feasible way to prepare several orders for each item on the menu. u/LesserHealingWave

7. Autographs given by politicians are fake 

I worked in politics. There are a lot of people who write to a politician like they're a celebrity. They receive love letters and all kinds of weird stuff. There's also quite a sizeable part of their mail that is comprised of people asking for a photo with an autograph. Way more than you think! Some because they're admirers, others because they collect them... and then some other cases you don't really want to know about (I've worked for a female politician, trust me, you don't wanna know). The dirty little secret within the secret is that the politicians I knew didn't sign anything. They had a machine that did all the signing for them. So technically, the autographs were not even real. u/ladyteruki

8. Rehab usually never works the first time 

Almost nobody maintains their sobriety from their first go in rehab. It takes several goes. On the plus side, there's absolutely no need to be hard on yourself for returning to rehab, as it's nigh on impossible to achieve this on your first go. u/slappywagish. Length of stay is a huge factor- 30 days is usually not enough. Also, not following up with outpatient services and going off of meds are both common prompts for resuming active substance use. u/phillycupcake

9. City buses do not need a key

Anybody, at any time, can enter a city bus, start it up without a key and drive it wherever their little heart desires. Honestly. The only thing stopping you is your cowardice. u/TheBloatedGypsy. Lol, it has happened, but folks usually get caught because they have GPS trackers, are extremely big and are extremely slow. You can run, but you can't hide. u/Sweettooth4532

10. Pesticide is commonly used in most food items 

I used to work for a major food manufacturer that makes snacks available in most of our homes. The snacks contain wheat. On my second day on the job, I was shown how the snacks are made, from railcar to finished product. As the raw wheat was drawn from the silos on a conveyor belt, these white pellets were sprinkled on the raw wheat. It's a pesticide. The FDA allows so much before it's considered dangerous. It blew my mind! u/Reddit