Experts Are Sharing the Best-Kept Secrets From the Fields They Work In

In the rideshare industry (I was an Uber driver 4 to 5 years ago), it is usually in the contract that you are not allowed to bring weapons with you while you're on duty. No guns, knives, anything that can be used as a weapon.

Of course due to the high crime rates in certain places here in the USA, many drivers feel uncomfortable and stupid if they don't bring weapons, especially since there have been numerous incidents where drivers were mugged and killed already. There are quite a number of drivers who do carry weapons, like guns.

Another "secret" that you probably don't know about as passengers, is that yes, there are pick-up location and destination discrimination that happens.

For example, if a driver receives an alert that someone needs a ride in a certain neighborhood, and that place is well known for its high crime rate (especially if its against drivers!), then that driver would most likely just ignore that alert. Why risk your life and property for $0.60/mile?

Another thing, if you're looking for a ride but it's already in the afternoon when kids are coming out of school, try to stay away from the school.

The reason is that drivers are not allowed to pick-up unaccompanied kids, and passengers who read through Uber's (or Lyft's) basic information would know this. Unfortunately, parents and their kids probably haven't read this or simply don't care and so they'll tell their kids to call an Uber even at school.

As a result, drivers usually avoid areas where there are schools because they don't want to waste their time going to the pick-up location, only to find an unaccompanied minor that they can't pick-up, thus wasting their gas and time.

Of course some drivers also don't care and just pick-up unaccompanied kids anyway, at the risk that if something bad happens like an accident, insurance won't cover them because it's against the rules to have unaccompanied kids in the car.

Pool rides, just don't do it. A car is not a bus, picking up random strangers tends to somehow bring out the worst in humanity for some reason. Whenever you hear of an Uber fight, it's usually passengers fighting each other on a Pool ride. Majority of drivers also avoid accepting Pool rides to avoid this sort of headache.

Finally, if you're thinking about being a rideshare driver, at least in my experience, just don't do it if you have other alternatives. You're an independent contractor so you have to pay for everything from gas to maintenance and of course the specific rideshare car insurance.

The pay is usually very low, $0.60/mile and you can't really rely on tips. If someone reports you as being "bad", you won't be able to prove your innocence and the company will just refund the customer from your earnings and you won't be able to do a thing about it.

Then of course it's hard to make money most of the time during the day as the most profitable ones are at night. Your pay rate also varies on the whims of the company.

You might be a new driver getting paid $0.79/mile, then a few months later, you're suddenly at $0.60/mile only and you've got no power to change it. The odds are stacked against you as a driver.

Then of course there's also the fact that the business is already saturated with drivers, and that contributes a lot to the low pay because even if you quit, there will always be another to replace you who's willing to take that ridiculous low pay. It's not worth the trouble, not worth your life.

Username: Adeno

Before you start reading, this is all worst case scenarios I have witnessed working as a security officer in a hospital. This is an outline of what licensed practitioners have the right to do if they feel like it

You have zero rights in a hospital. A doctor can literally strip you of every human right they feel like without question and there is nothing you can do about it.

Google what a section 12 and section 35 hold is in massachusetts. They can lawfully indefinitely detain you and the only thing saving you is the licensed physicians good graces

Trick is, you dont even need to suffer from any illness. It can be completely dependent on someone reporting you

If you call the police and say "_______ seems really depressed I think they might kill them selves and I dont know if they have a gun" whether its true or not for either statement, the police will almost 100% certainly detain you and you will be held for involuntary pysch evaluation for upwards of weeks, and they'll probably get a warrant to search your domicile under red flag laws whether you own a weapon or not.

This isnt even busting on the police. Theyre doing what your legislators told them to, because theyre legally obligated to. ***This is how people like Michelle Cassauex were killed, and the hospital likely wouldn't have done much better for her***

If youre mad youre involuntarily held? That works against you and the social worker will almost positively note that as a sign you arent mentally well.

***Its basically a really quiet form of swatting (Google what swatting is if you dont know what it is) someone without any risk to you if you report it, and a situation everyone just assumes is right***. I've seen family members do it to each other, especially to discriminate against people with actual mental health issues, ive seen parents bring their children in with police escorting them and they leave their kids in the hospital alone for weeks. Ive seen foster parents drop their foster kids off lying about their mental health just to get a vacation. You name a shitty situation, i have seen it

If your doctor woke up on the wrong side of the bed? Or your social worker didn't have coffee in the morning and are upset? That can dictate whether you go home or not

Why? Their jobs legally depend on you not killing your self, so they will make every effort to prevent even completely healthy people from doing so by forcing you to do a bunch of things to save their skin whether its a healthy or therapeutic option or not

While yourre in the hospital, they will almost 100% force you to take any number of drugs. You can legally deny them, but if you resist long enough and hard enough, it'll get much worse for you. If you get mad theyre being pushy about it? Expext security to come talk to you, and if you yell at security and staff about it, and get angry enough. They'll just drug you without permission

Also, once you are involuntarily committed whether it was warranted or not, you lose several rights as a citizen semi permanently, only to be granted back to you by a judge in court

You can "voluntarily" commit your self to avoid that, but once again, it's on the doctor. If he doesn't like you, he simply changes the paperwork a little bit and youre suddenly involuntarily committed without your say in the matter.

A judge can change this but expect it to take a while for them to see you in a normal non inpatient psych facility (like a normal hospital)

If youre a adult male, expect this to be weeks long. They favor women and children over males for various reasons

Username: Shorzey

American, worked in a dermatology clinic owned by a large medical integrated managed care group. They will ask people to cover the front desk that have had no real training in one of the biggest aspects of the industry. Insurance.

There are more than 900 health insurance companies that provide medical coverage, every single one of them has different rules for which doctors are in or out of network / which treatments (like actinotherapy, UV light to treat skin conditions like acne) / which drugs (like isotretinoin or Accutane) are covered (and under what circumstances they may not be).

We can't possibly know. If the computer system was well-programmed enough, a person on a front desk should be able to type in what they see on a patient's insurance card and it would know what rules to apply. In fact, this hospital group had an entire billing department whose job it was to field enquiries from customers and answer those questions.

But when the patient has been waiting seven months for an initial visit, their employer switched insurance companies in the new year to save a bit of money in that time, and all the formularies and in-network providers and locations have changed for this person? Someone asked to cover a front desk short-term without training, and that continues for months, has to make a decision. Do we just check them in for their appointment or not?

Management, to cover their asses, sends an email periodically to insist that patients aren't let in for appointments unless their coverage is confirmed (because the revenue department has to chase these people for money their insurance companies won't pay). But the person on the front desk can only give the patient, the customer, the revenue source, an 800 number to call to confirm if their insurance covers the Accutane treatment or not.

And with Accutane, it's usually teenagers so it's not even the patient's insurance - it's a parent's insurance. They took time off work, their kid took time off school, to be here. They're here fifteen minutes early to check in and if they were to call billing they could be on hold for longer.

As a result, I was checking in people and a pop-up message would come up on screen telling me the person had thousands of dollars in overdue payments to make. Some of the patients said they were already in conversation with the billing department to get it rectified.

So I did the bare minimum - and this was approved by a Director Of Operations because she heard me say this both to patients and on calls to patients - I told the patients that "they could call our billing department to confirm eligibility and to reconcile any balances outstanding."

Which was just the same Cover My Ass that management was doing.There were patients going in for Mohs surgery, that's for skin cancer. They could have just had Medicare for being over 65 years-old but they decided to buy into a really shitty Medicare Advantage plan that didn't cover their treatment at our location at all (not buying any additional plan at all would have covered them - in 2019, Medicare Advantage Organizations denied 13% of prior authorization requests that would have been accepted if the beneficiaries were just in original Medicare.

While original Medicare allows for beneficiaries to visit any provider that accepts Medicare, most Medicare Advantage plans restrict the number of providers and hospitals that beneficiaries can visit). They were locked into this Medicare Advantage plan for the rest of the calendar year (thanks George W Bush for that, and Medicare D's donut hole too).

They were running up thousands in debt, for something that was terrifying for them, and I was a part of what let it happen. Just a single snowflake that doesn't think he's responsible for the avalanche, but no solitary snowflake ever does.

The reason there were seven-month waits for new patients was the limited number of slots available for new patients. Yet there were also slots for cosmetic surgery.

People getting Botox, Kybella, Fraxel laser treatments, micro-needling, chemical peels. Those customers always managed to get appointments for the same month because their treatments were non-surgical (a Physician's Assistant could do them) and they were paying out of pocket.

I left after a few months. I couldn't stand the thought that skin cancer sufferers had to wait months for an initial slot but vain ugly-inside people got let straight in.

Medicine in America is profit-driven, you've heard it before. But you don't know how deep it goes, how people with fears are just treated like numbers, how they're slotted in like passengers on a budget airline.

Username: Jackpot777

I’m a paramedic. The 9-1-1 system and paramedic ambulances exist, and were invented for, the serious—meaning life or limb threatening—medical or traumatic emergency.

Sadly though, probably 40-70% of our calls on any given day are made by assholes who have nothing close to resembling anything emergent. There are many people who do it all the time, or at least frequently enough where we know who they are, and we call them shitbags or 9-1-1 narcissists.

Even in systems where we are required to transport we still try to “turf” much of the time—meaning we find ways of telling people that transport from us is not needed and they need to not waste our valuable time.

In many counties across the US, per protocol, we have to take people to the ER who insist on going. Much of the time we will act ok with it and tell you it’s no big deal. It is a big deal though. Many of us work 24 hour base shifts and pick up OT, often working 48-96 hour shifts.

When people call 9-1-1 for stupid shit it has serious downhill effects. There are a limited number of paramedic ambulances in every city and region, and every time someone gets itchy phone finger and calls 9-1-1 for non-emergent reasons it takes away from people who are having real emergencies that need us.

I can’t tell you the number of times a call for a heart attack, or stroke, or traffic collision, or CPR, went out in my district—a call that I was the closest unit to—but I was stuck on scene with some selfish asshole with a tummy ache. Yes people call for tummy aches.

They call for chronic back pain.
They call for migraine headaches.
They call for toe pain.
They call for a runny nose.
They call because they’re homeless and suddenly it’s 9-1-1’s problem, they want to go to the hospital and treat it like a homeless shelter.

My personal favorite is people who call because “they will get seen faster.” You absolutely the fuck will not get seen faster, because I will wheel your ass straight into the lobby—where you would have gone if you would have driven yourself only my ride costs you 3 grand.

Now that Medicaid/medi-cal pays for transport and people don’t get billed, they view it as a free ride and will call 9-1-1 if they get a craving for a fucking sandwich at the hospital. Many immigrant populations, especially ones from the Middle East, tell each other that if you get sick to call 9-1-1 because doctors will come to your house and take you to the hospital.

All of this has driven call volume up. That means we aren’t eating. We aren’t sleeping. We’re running ragged and much of the time it’s for selfish people who are abusing the system for their own gain. So when you call 9-1-1 at midnight for a real emergency and you need us, we will be there. We will kick ass.

We will do our very best for you and your family because that’s what we do. But will our eyes be bloodshot and will we be not nearly as effective as we should be because we’ve had no rest? Bet your ass on it.

You can thank assholes in your city for pinging the system all day every day and demanding a ride to the ER because they have the same flu bug that the rest of the neighborhood has but because they’re special and you’re not, they can’t be expected to merely ride it out and self care like the rest of us.

If you have a situation that is either life-threatening or that makes you unable to walk—I’m talking injuries here, not “I have a headache and can’t walk,”—or you have a situation where you risk losing limb or some kind of immediate threat to your medical well-being, call 9-1-1.

We will happily assess you, treat you, and transport you to the ER. Do NOT call 9-1-1 because you feel it’s convenient. Do not call 9-1-1 because an illness or injury is making things merely uncomfortable for you, because that isn’t an emergency.

Do not call 9-1-1 because you want to be transported to urgent care or your doctor appointment, or because you want to be transported to the area that a certain hospital is in for a non-medical reason.

Do not call 9-1-1 because your life is so pathetic that the only satisfaction you get is dialing those 3 magic numbers and having a fire engine and ambulance show up and take you to a place where you get some attention.

If that’s the reasons you call 9-1-1 then seriously, get fucked. The system exists for people who are in emergency situations. Not for your convenience.

Username: OldExpression8508

I used to work for a golf course and club. In recent years golf clubs have tried to portray themselves as inclusive and environmentally friendly, like how Donald Trump used that argument on Scottish locals. From my own experience, I know this is complete bull.

For starters, hundred.... I mean HUNDREDS of birds die every week due to golf balls. The lucky ones die instantly from crushed skulls. The rest die slowly from being struck in the air and severely breaking bones. But it gets worst.

Due to the way most golf courses are built, trees that actually are on the course or nearly cut off from trees outside the course, meaning that if they do happen to build a nest in a tree in the course, they not only risk getting struck while scavenging for food, but also risk getting their nest hit.

Seriously, you'd be AMAZED how bad gold players are. There are next to no good ones outside the professional circuit.

And that's another thing; the people. I'm saying this based on my own experience; they are the most snobbish, rude, and racist people. Remember the birds I told you about? One day I was tending to a flower patch, when two golfers were strolling passed.

At first I didn't pay much attention, but that was until I noticed one take out his club, stick it underneath a dead bird in front of them, and swung it over a wall. The only thing missing was him calling "four!". Now, as for the racist thing, here in Ireland, "labor" jobs are seen as being for "foreign people".

I'm Irish born and raised, was top of my high school at the time, and I worked simple, hard labor jobs my whole teen life. I never thought of these honest, humble jobs as anything else as that until one day, I was cutting a tee-box on the course, and two female golfers came up to me, saying "no, no, no.... we-play-here-now". The speak in very clear, pronounced, loud, monotones.

At first I was confused; I thought "Why is she speaking to me like I'm an idiot?". She then turned to the other golfer and said, right in front of me, "Oh, he must be Romanian". And then it hit me.... they thought I was an immigrant, simply because I was working this kind of job.

I was so shocked, I literally was left speechless, which probably only propelled their notion that I couldn't speak English. I left, amazed at how openly ignorant they were.

And the last thing I want to call out on is the "environmental" element. Now on the surface, neatly cut green grass and trimmed hedges may look nice, but there's two things people forget; how is it kept like that, and where does the waste go?

Straight off the bat, every piece of equipment, machinery, and appliance for grounds keeping was petrol power. Weed whackers, lawn mowers, tractors, john deer trucks, EVERYTHING. Imagine every golf course as using the equivalent of several home's worth of gasoline.

But what about the waste? What about the cut grass trimmings and tree branches that get in the way? Near by there was a stream, which let into the local town, going passed a high school, a grade school, and I can only guess where to next after that.

We were told EVERYTHING, was to be dumped into that stream, from the top of a bank still on the golf course property, to avoid being caught directly dumping into it.

I left that job after a month or so. It was good money, and was a great, honest, hard working job, but the people, the destruction, and the over all idea of the golf course... and indeed gold courses in general, just wasn't for me.

Username: conormatthews

Anything and I mean *anything* that LVMH owns and touches becomes instantly wrapped in an international money laundering scheme, so fast fashion, luxury goods, high end perfumes etc, even kitchen appliances from places like Luxe for example,

all a part of a larger business model that doesn't do it for the customers or design reliable long lasting goods, they do it or they go broke.

It's all about faking it until you make it so stuff like high quality men's suits for example- these suits that sell for thousands of dollars in one store either in person or online are made to fit a specific way and made from supposedly the softest wools and come from Italian mills and have all this legacy...

9 times out of 10 the stuff is coming directly from China made by underpaid factory workers who spend way too much time at work being screamed at to finish the production line or else from some fat CEO sleaze ball who was born rich with all the necessary family connections and worldwide networks to continue being a total dumb ass instead of changing and moving forward with better more ethical business practices,

no these dedicated few are in charge of all the companies that are owned and fall under LVMH's umbrella corporation specializing in covering up sweat shop abuses, fraud, importing toxic materials and mislabeled goods, exporting rare metals and stones from mining operations involving child labor and indecent and unsafe working conditions just for cheaper glam,

fast fashion responsible for creating an unknown amount of waste at the land fill and even some areas ofnthethe world specifically dump clothes in a separate location due to the insanely high amount of non recyclable waste that goes from the Amazon shipping box to a persons closet and in no time at all- the dump.

A ton of LVMH fast fashion companies are responsible for producing tons and tons of actual waste as well from production and due to the quality of even top selling name brands converting majority of their products to plastic and polyester blends the majority of the company now officially sells...plastic in all shapes and forms.

Whether it's a plastic watch or a plastic kitchen appliance, a plastic blended shirt with plastic blended shoes, LVMH has successfully applied the same formula of watering down practically every corner of their business, promoting the age old and out of date idea of Nepotism by promoting Arnaults (CEO of LVMH) own children as CEOs of several companies that fall under the LVMH banner.

It's like watching a royal family that specializes in slavery, flipping garbage, creating mass production of garbage retail that has a shelf life that is less than a Hostess Twinkie,

and instead of changing their business model in any way they've actually gone ahead and doubled down on the lunacy by being investigated and found to be guilty and involved in data mining scams on the internet using peoples data without consent to track their purchases and force advertisements that can even duplicate your credit card information and force sell you products without your awareness.

No longer have we gone from opening a store catalog we received in the mail, no longer do we have that luxury of our ancestors to refuse to answer the door when the salesman comes knocking- LVMH is partially responsible and should be held accountable for breaching the privacy of civilians worldwide in order to scrounge up dollars and cents on unsuspecting victims.

Worked in retail for many years thinking that I would get promoted and earn a long-term position somewhere if I worked hard and stayed focused but found out after working at mulitple companies and going from entry level retail floor to corporate behind the scenes that the people running the show are just grifters scam artists stealing everything from their competitors

and their competitors are just stealing from the street shops and the street shops are all bought up by influencer type hustlers who are sponsored by the big shops but sneak into the street scene as middlemen promising wealth and success...

Kanye for example his entire product line everything from 3d knitted shoes to his choices in fabric all hand picked and curated by FIDM graduates interning for their big break. Nobody is in control except the banks and bombs.

Username: loudnoisays

The Faith Industry: And I'll do better than 1, I'll do 6. Religious degrees and seminaries have the largest number of people who quit with high grades. In fact, high grades seems to match up more \*with\* instead of \*oppose\* drop out rate.

This is actually where a lot of "heretical" religious media comes from (think Dogma, Lucifer, Hazbin Hotel, etc.) a lot of time writers who became disillusioned with lies in their religion chose some point to bring to light and took those media opportunities to do it (that's not to say al the writers involved had such an experience, but some definitely did).

The majority of religious leaders have back-door deals to assist in some form of propaganda.

The actual beliefs in the bible don't match up with modern christianity \*at all\*. If you read the bible cover-to-cover (not 'specially selected verses on a schedule', but ACTUALLY read it cover to cover, pay close attention to 'hiccups', you will get a *radically* different religion and story laid out for you than you see pretended.

A lot of 'heretical' stuff is actually closer to scriptural than the church itself. For example, the bible is very, very, VERY supportive of mtf trans women.

Known as "people who remove their d\*\*\*s", or Eunuchs back in bibilcal time, trans people were literally guaranteed a place in heaven *even above Jesus himself*.

To quote Isaiah 4,5:-- For this is what the LORD says-- “To the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths,-- who choose what pleases Me-- and hold fast to My covenant—-- ***I will give them, in My house and within My walls,***\-- a memorial and a name-- ***better than that of sons*** and daughters.-- I will give them an everlasting name-- that will not be cut off.This is in ***direct*** opposition of the anti-trans position most churches have taken.

Also, the constant talk that time in heaven is eternal is a lie. Heaven ends at the apocalypse. Shown in Revelation 21:-- a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed awayAnd many, many of the rules in the bible only specifically apply to the *first* heaven.

Very little is known about second heaven. Although if biblical pattern holds true, the rules will *change*. (Original rules were specific and not morality based: "don't eat from that tree", later it was cleanliness laws that were less specific but had more moral merit (encouraging communal health), later came Jesus with morality commandments of "Do unto others what you'd have them do unto you."

That is even less specific and more morality based. A new heaven implies yet another rules change, and if the pattern holds true, it would likely be less specific and even more morality based.

Denominations that split from the Catholics have generally gotten further from original Christianity, not closer (Not that Catholicism is close to begin with). Not once has original practices been restored.

The first coup in Christianity was by Emperor Constantine who banned those who knew previous practices from being involved in discussions, and he changed a *lot* of traditions and beliefs in his Romanized "Christianity".

In other words, modern Christianity is a fabricated religion for political reasons, while the original Christianity takes a lot of research to learn about.

A lot of translations the bible are *intentionally* bad to push some political agenda. For example, the famous verse, "Thou shallt not suffer a witch to live" was one such verse. Witches were a northern European religious tradition, and had nothing to do with witches.

The original word is "mekhashepha" whose meaning has been lost to time. It could have meant anything from a moth to an Egyptian priestess, but it almost certainly did NOT mean "witch" or "sorcerer" (norther & western Europe religious traditions specifically) who never had contact with the Jews.

Username: starfyredragon

Charities, Nonprofits and NGOs working in other countries are often complicit, if not the source, of much of the corruption they say they are trying to stop.

The billions of dollars of Aid money sent to countries in Africa, Latin America and parts of Asia that go missing due to 'corruption' blamed on the host country has usually gone missing somewhere between the receiving organization partner organizations and their on the ground staff before it even arrives in said country.

Even after it arrives, it's usually gobbled up by bloated staffing budgets, unnecessary spending on vehicles, and luxurious living compounds for management that looks like it came out of Gone With the Wind.

For examples, I'll stick to my experiences working with these organizations in Africa where I lived for nearly a decade.

When you give money to massive organizations like the Red Cross, Care, or UNICEF you are not giving money the the 'poor African' children you see in the marketing photos. Usually there's a white guy or girl in that same photo who takes home between $60,000 to $80,000 per year for living in that country. This in and of itself is fine and a respectable salary for commendable work but the waste comes in how the majority of that money is spent (hint it's not on 'the work'):

* Range Rovers are the standard vehicle of choice for aid workers. Even if they never 'go into the field' and spend 80% of their time getting drunk and banging local women, they will still have a $60,000 vehicle just sitting there at their disposal.

* The organization will pay for the majority of their staff's flights to and from whatever country they work in for between $1,000 and $4,000 per ticket. Management always flies first or business class.

* There is NOTHING that any charitable organization is trying to do that a local wasn't already doing (or trying to do) first. Instead of helping to build local industry, Aid organizations cannibalize these local businesses by doing the same things they are trying to do for no costs, with unlimited budgets.

So sending your old tshirts or sneakers to Zimbabwe may make you feel good, but you're actually supporting the factors that keep them from having their own tshirts and sneakers in the first place (the local vendors can't sell anything if they're competing with free).

* I would say 60% of the budgets is spent before it ever even leaves their respective headquarters in Washington, D.C., New York, London, The Netherlands (or wherver they are based). Here it covers domestic staff & HR, HQs bigger than most Fortune500 HQs, organizing regular events and conferences to 'talk about the issues', and going to other expensive events like TED, Davos, The Grammys (to schmooze with celebs).

* The rest goes to marketing. Hiring the world's top advertising firms, at top dollar, to help them tell to same story over and over again. Sometimes they move marketing in-house where they hire teams of former ad execs and software developers (which they pay at normal industry rates). Not a waste on the surface, but definitely disproportionately invested in given their respective stated missions and objectives.

* When these organizations are asked what happened to the billions of dollars of funding they get every year, rather than tell the truth (which would be hard for public donors to digest) they tell the story of how hard it is to work in 'X' African country, how much rampant corruption there is, and how awful the local leader/dictator is for doing such things to his people. This shapes our narrative about Africa, and keeps people donating without really questioning where the money goes.

Don't get me wrong, there is some level of corruption in African countries but it's not nearly as bad as its made out to be. And the worst corruption is the one few bother to address, the corruption that exists in the relatively unchecked industry of organizations going 'to stamp out corruption in Africa'.

Source: If I named an organization, I've worked with them and experienced it first-hand.

Username: ruraljuror432

I'm a high school science teacher in Los Angeles County. All things considered, the district for which I work is very very good compared most other districts. But here's what you need to know about the "Education Industry":

The typical teacher is as unrealized as most other people. They are peevish, gossipy, narrow-minded and vindictive. Worst of all, though, is that many are righteously indignant about their personal political issue, and are very quick to condemn students and fellow workers who (appear to) think differently.

Most teachers have a good grasp of what they teach, but are not very bright beyond their familiarity with the book from which they teach. Most can't think critically or suspend their views long enough to understand anyone else's.

Administrators are teachers who hated teaching. They have vendettas against their subordinates. They want everything to look good on paper.

The BOE is infected with fevered egos. Running for BOE is the lowest rung of politics, to be sure, and many think they are set on destroying unions because they listen to douchebags like Sean Hannity or something. In short, they favor policy that worsens situations for teachers just because...

Students are dumb as dirt. I know it's my job to teach them, but before I teach them "science" I have to teach them how to sharpen a pencil, or how to read an analogue clock.

Parents are as dumb as their children. The ones that teachers see the most are the aggressive idiots who defend their child when they get a low grade or get called in for behavior problems.

Many parents are c-r-a-z-y. I had one come in and talk about how people around town attack her family as devil worshippers.

Administrators, parents AND students don't like bad grades. As a result, there is pressure to pass students who shouldn't pass, and to inflate grades across the board. Most "A" students should be getting B-'s....

The system couldn't handle it if students were appropriately held back a grade. Many students get moved through just to keep things in motion. An example of this is what we call the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE).

10th graders are supposed to take it, but will get multiple chances to re-take every semester after they fail it the first time until they do pass. When the CAHSEE legislation passed in 1999, they gave a window to roll it in shortly after that. When I started teaching in 2003, they just did it as a formality without making it binding. In 2009 (in my district) they finally made it apply as intended.

Exceptions were made for those who consistently failed, and only minor percentage were actually denied diplomas. Now the CAHSEE and other Education Legislation is being written out while new legislation is coming on line.

Education Legislation is mostly attempts by corporations to vitiate public schools in order that money gets redirected to them, via voucher or by printing text books, etc. Like most public wealth these days, it is under attack legislatively in order to create favoring laws that direct public funds into the coffers of corporations.

Teachers are way underpaid and over-worked. The one way to increase learning curves for students and teacher effectiveness is known: decrease the number of students per classroom. We don't need new tech or some fancy pedagogical package. ALL empirical studies show that students learn best in classes between 7 and 21 students. Beyond that learning curves drop rapidly, behavior problems increase rapidly, and teacher effectiveness all but disappears. To fix education, you will need to hire* MORE teachers and create MORE classrooms.

Username: inpasadena

Your average call centre worker is treated like a 3rd world slave. Often will be expected to work a 8/12 hour shift from beginning to end with a phone cord shoved up their ass and the level of micromanagement is pedantic - scheduled breaks and "adherence" reports if you're a few seconds over or late, having to go into an "aux" code to take a piss and even that's often rigorously monitored -

hell I've heard some places only allow 6 minutes *per month*. Never ending impossible to achieve metrics and targets with daily (sometimes hourly) reports where your constantly having to justify yourself.

Calls are usually are back to back and relentlessly soul destroying. On top of all this you then have the delight of dealing with asshole customers whom seem to be under some sort of delusion that you're their bitch and to be abused in their relentless pilgrimage to get whatever their usually stupid or mundane issue is resolved.

People seriously underestimate call centre workers - dealing with all this shit day in and day out takes an incredible amount of skill and willpower, depression is rife in call centres due to the conditions.

Imagine dealing with this shit for a long ass 12 hour shift and then at 11 hours and 59 minutes while you're hovering over the "log out" button praying to the call centre gods that you can go home *another* call comes through and you're then left dealing with yet another stupid ass customer for half an hour - having to pander to their shit and be friendly all the while in your mind your contemplating using your phone wire as a noose just to get out of this call.

Next time you call a call centre, don't be a dick to the person you're speaking to - they're dealing with an immense level of shit that you have no clue about. Be nice, friendly and cooperative - that agent will go out of their way to give you whatever you want - the second you start moaning or being abusive we give no fucks about you or whatever it is you want - all we want is to get your annoying voice out of our ear and move into the next caller.

P.S to the people who complain about hold times, you're the worst. Agents hate hold times as much as you do. Why? Because for us it means back to back to calls, management micromanaging more than usual and rushing us to "clear the queue" and on top of that you whinging about how long you've been on hold.

We know you're waiting and we're going as fast as we can to get to you but it's not our fault you're waiting so long - we're not sitting around scratching our balls - we're just busy dealing with the 30 other callers ahead of you - most of whom are complete idiots and calling about nothing.

Also, look up the opening hours before you call. If the call centre closes at 8 pm those poor agents are expected to take calls right up on until 8 pm and after. There's nothing worse than having 30 people in the queue 10 minutes before closing - because *we* then have to stay behind to deal with you.

People often complain about "bad customer service" from call centres, but most of the time they have no idea what it's like to actually work in one. I'm sorry but if you're that idiot who enters the queue 10 minutes before closing you're going to be rushed off the phone -

That unfortunate agent who has done a long as fuck shift wants to go home not be suck dealing with your shit until 8:30 missing their bus home etc.... whilst the security guard stands over the agent tapping his foot as he also wants to go home.

I'm not even going to get started on quality checks - take all of the above into consideration and then imagine having 2 or 3 of your calls selected at random by some pleb of a quality agent who hasn't even spoke to a customer themselves for years and then being pulled up on some minor shit because you forgot to say something or should have said something else.

For the inevitable "get another job then" comments - it's really not that easy - there's no magic fucking job tree, we do try our best but it's hard, especially once you've been lured into the call centre world, it's hard to get out.

So next time just spare a thought for the person on the other end of the phone.

Username: [deleted]

Psychologist at a residential treatment center. Psychiatric care is fucked. There isn't enough money going to the people who matter. I could join a more private business (or start my own) for richer families and double or triple my salary, but I want to help people who need it the most, who are usually poorer.

Even though we are one of the best centers in the region, money is so damn tight (because Admin are greedy bastards), workers are ridiculously underpaid and often undertrained/undereducated.

At the center I work at now, residential staff gets trained for 2 weeks (in this highly specialized job, mind you). This is abnormally high - at the last place I worked, they had zero training. Pass the background check and you have the job.

Often you work before the check goes through, though they'd do something to cover their butts, like make you work alongside someone else with their check passed. Occasionally they'd slip up and not notice if both staff on duty had their checks passed.

Private pay clients (as opposed to govt paid clients) get special treatment. Often parents will slip in a little money to get more tutor time and special attention. Also, the squeaky wheel gets the grease - parents that complain or constantly call *will* get special attention, kids with parents that don't give a shit about them won't get anything special.

There are a few clients (often private pay) who would be far better off going home, but their parents don't want to deal with them. We often keep them as long as we get paid to, as long as there is any medically justifiable reason to.

There can always be a reason. One poor kid has been stuck at my current center for 5 years, despite being a terrific guy with very few (and no serious) problems. All the extra work goes to therapists and residential staff, all the extra money goes to Admin.

Usually the therapists and most residential workers care deeply for each child... But generally Admin doesn't give a shit, they just want the money to keep coming in and will do anything to keep the business running.

In residential, merit/promotions have nothing to do with skill in treatment... only how long the worker has worked at the center. To make things worse, the longer a worker has been working at the center, generally the less of a shit he/she gives about the clients.

I've seen a worker absolutely **ruin** the life of a kid - physically and emotionally scarring her - yet there were zero serious repercussions (only superficial reprimands), because he had been working there for 23 years.

Residential workers at the treatment center get screwed so hard. 9-10 bucks an hour with zero regular raises (only raises come with promotion) - yet they risk life and limb every day. Admin will do whatever it takes to keep spending as low as possible. I don't know if there is a job where people work so hard at such a specialized job, yet get paid so little.

Admin workers get paid *very* well for doing shit-all, often taking 2-3 months of vacation per year, letting residential staff do the work. Res staff get horrible vacation leave, and are often denied vacation time when they request it.

Don't work residential at a treatment center, ever. You will be physically and verbally abused. The 'work experience' gained will not be respected more than working an easier job for more money. The pay is shit.

Workers have been killed and seriously injured. Just a little while ago, one of the workers at my center was stabbed through the ear with a pencil. Kid was aiming for his neck. 2 inches over and he may have died.

Username: unprovoked33

From the cable industry: Your equipment (digital boxes, hddvrs, modems) are likely refurbished. If they say it is new, odds are it is not, even if it comes wrapped in plastic.

They get a few thousand news ones at a time, and cycle them through customers until they get so beat up they don't work right.

That 15 or 20 meg download package means nothing, it's an upper maximum, not a baseline. Also, Unless you have multiple computers you don't need a 10meg.

When you pay for basic cable, they actually have to use more materials int he form of a filter to block tv channels. Same if you only pay for data, they place a filter at the tap to block the tv channels.

Also the reason your cable guy gives you a block instead of an appointment is because the cable company has no clue what it means to put cable in a house in terms of labor. Some houses take literally mere minutes to activate, and others take hours, while both might have the same number of tvs.

It is not cost effective to have enough techs to make every appointment, so every day is a gamble on which time frames are met and which are not.

They use contractors to be able to flex their labor without incurring the insurance and worker's comp burden, and to do specialized work like fiber and lateral trenching, so odds are good that the guy who comes to your house will not even be an employee of your provider.

If a sub is threatening to leave, sometimes we'll see what service they are ordering and compare it to competition in the area. If the sub is ordering service the provider has a decent monopoly on, that customer is given lower priority versus one where there is a real competitor.

We take a lot of pictures with smart phones and so forth. We get molestered a lot by folks claiming we did irreparable harm to their bullshit family heirlooms who submit absurd damage claims, thinking the service provider is a huge company with bales of cash just lying around, but in reality they will fight every claim tooth and nail, and if the "damage" was done by a contractor, that contractor will fight tooth and nail as well.

Hence the pictures. Anywhere i was working where there was noticeable damage prior to my work got a quick phone snapshot. I've shot so many people down with that I've come to enjoy getting damage claims, hoping I can go crush some fuckwad's dream of a weekend getaway because he is claiming my guys did $1200 in damage to some ancient artifact or expensive "italian" furniture he picked up at one of those horrible furniture outlets in minimalls adjacent to the freeways.

Lastly, I don't know how secret this is, but most installers may not hate your guts when they knock on your door, but if you live like a slob and expect us to move your furniture or fix your computer or configure your entertainment system, we will loathe you for it.

We don't have many proactive methods of retribution, but our passive-aggression can make your life hell in a number of nonspecific ways. For one specific example, I went to a sub's house and they were revolting subhuman slobs, dirty laundry everywhere, heavy furniture they expected me to move, place stank of untossed diapers and uncleaned litter boxes.

I explained to them I couldn't move the furniture and asked them to call back in when they had moved it to set another appointment. When we got the job back, I let the other tech who got the job know what was up so when he went there and furniture was predictably not moved he could call it in the same way.

Their appointment got delayed by nearly a month because they couldn't be bother to not be disgusting for a single day.

Username: Sources_and_Facts

FOR THE LOVE OF FUCK, TRIPLE CHECK YOUR PHONE BILLS.

Back in 2007, I started working for a company called Live Support on The Net. I was fresh off of getting my associates degree in CIS, and was eager to put my knowledge to use while I continued in school for my bachelors in Computer Science.

The job was pitched to me as a paid service for technical support, over the phone. I was to handle calls and try to diagnose and fix the problem while talking to the customer, either by walking them through the steps of diagnosing and fixing the issue, or if I could, remoting into their machine.

The first 6 months I was there, I was averaging 1-2 calls a week. The other time I was basically left to do anything I wanted to. Study for school, read, play games. Whatever. At first I though I had struck gold for a guy being in school.

When the bosses niece left later the same year, I also took over billing calls. Up until this point, I had never asked how our service was being sold, and to be honest didn't really care.

I was taking 30-40 billing calls a day, compared to the 1-2 tech calls a week. 99% of the calls were from people that didn't know what our service was. It was showing up on their phone bill as "Travellers Technical Support" on the additional charges portion of the bill.

Some of these people had been paying 14.99 a month as far back as 2002, without ever knowing what the service was or how they signed up for it. When people asked for a refund, unless they said the person on the account was a minor, I was told to tell them that they could only receive a refund for the last 3 months of service.

Apparently people were signing up for the service by clicking on a banner on some websites. I guess this is a practice called Cramming, which I know some of you have heard of before.

From what I understand this is perfectly legal. The name of the accounts don't even have to match the phone number. I would say 60-70 percent of the calls I took were either associated with a completely false name or from a minor living in the household.

ATT, Verizon, Sprint, land line or mobile, they will accept these 3rd party charges to a number without verifying the information attached to they number.

I stayed with this company until 2012, justifying it by convincing myself that I needed the extra study time I got between calls, since I had a wife and 2 kids at home and studying time was at a premium. Once I graduated, I started asking all the wrong questions at work and was promptly fired.

I now work as Software Developer for the Department of Homeland Security, but I have made it a personal mission to try and get this information out there and at least try to repair some of the damage that was done while I looked the other direction.

Make sure you call your mobile or land line service and have a rep comb over your bill from front to back so you know exactly what you are paying for and question any raise in price, even if its just 5 or 10 dollars.

These scammers always use names that make it sound like some type of technical support charge or utility "service" that is associated with your provider.

If you find a 3rd party charge that is not suppose to be there, have your phone rep call the offending company with you on the line. You are much more likely to get a refund in full for the bogus charges than if you call them on your own.

And if you do find a Live Support On The Net charge or a "Travellers Tech Support" charge, make sure after you get your money back you tell them Danny sent you. Should this get its own post?

Username: [deleted]

Ever buy honey in a grocery store? If it says Blended American Honey that means it is partially an American product but the American honey came from some American producer and it was blended with a poor Chinese produced honey.

Most American produced honey is of a high quality but imports from places like China are of a very poor quality that would not meet standards to sell in a local grocery store or would need to be used as an ingredient in another product.

Chinese producers have been caught several times by American producers importing honey adulterated with corn syrup and other products to increase profits.

They wrongly believed they would never be found out. And they wouldn't of been found at except American producers are mad as hell they get underpaid for their product which is then mixed with the Chinese product to produce a product that is just barely saleable to the public.

The little packets of honey you get at Denny's and other franchise restaurants are the lowest grade of honey known in the industry as Capping Honey. It's the honey that comes as a by product of wax rendering.

The caps from the combs and any other wax is just dumped together in a large melter machine after all the honey that is possible has been squeezed or pulled off in a centrifuge.

The honey that comes off the wax rendering process is much darker as it gets partially caramelized or burned. It's also used in bread and cereal making so they can claim that the product is sweetened with honey.

All honey you purchase in a store is pasteurized and filtered unless it's stated otherwise. In that case it will read Raw and or Unfiltered. Unfiltered doesn't mean it's dirty. Honey will naturally settle out many impurities.

Such as bee wings, broken legs or even whole bees. Wax, any bits of leaves or other debris naturally floats to the top since honey is quite dense and heavy.

The only thing left in unfiltered honey will be very minute bits that you can't really see and pollen. Filtered honey has even the pollen taken out. It loses much of it's flavor and aroma in the pasteurization process.

If you want raw unfiltered honey you can check a local health food market if you have one in your area. Or check the yellow pages for a local beekeeper. If you find a small beekeeper many of them are happy to sell you their product in as small as quart jars.

Get a five gallon bucket if you like the flavor. It will keep forever and you can share it with friends and family. Be sure to ask to see the beekeepers processing equipment. A good beekeeper will be happy to give you a tour if his shop is nearby.

If that's not possible then look around his place and if he seems to be a hoarder, disorganized or his premises are dirty then it's a good bet you don't want his product. If you do get to see his shop keep in mind that it may not be like a bakers shop. He is basically processing a product that starts with live insects. He'll have bees in his shop most likely.

And it may not be perfectly clean. His floor may be sticky. His equipment may be sticky. It should at least look like he cleans it regularly. You shouldn't see piles of trash or anything of that sort. His packaging materials should look clean. More importantly trust your nose.

You shouldn't smell anything bad. If you smell anything that's sour or repulsive it's because he has dead insects piled up under his windows and hasn't been cleaning up. Or he hasn't been washing his floors on a daily basis.

Username: johnknoefler

Disclaimer: I am someone in the alcohol industry and most of this is information that I have amassed over the years of talking to other industry professionals who may or may not represent those brands.

There is no secret to low calorie drinking. Alcohol = Calories. All light beer is just lower in alcohol.

Because the amount of alcohol in a beer is relative to the amount of fermentable sugars put into it, (I assume) it is cheaper to make. You pay the same for Budweiser as Bud Light despite a .8% difference.

Then because its lower in alcohol, you drink more. That's means you're also buying more. This is largely why every light beer has been pushed and allowed to flourish, while the original beers are in decline.

There are some differences, however:
Michelob Ultra, Bud Light and Guinness are all 4.2% in alcohol, while they each contain 92, 110 and 125 calories per 12 oz. serving, respectively.

Personally I just don't see the value in paying more for less calories when you can just buy regular old Budweiser, add about 10% water and create your own watered down beer and [retain this logic](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcKzcganDwk).

So many products created in Europe are changed to be sent to America. Mostly they just make them sweeter. This goes for inexpensive items such as Strongbow, who after finally asking themselves why they were trying to sell a dry english cider in the U.S., came out with Strong Bow Golden Apple, which is much sweeter.

The same goes all the way up to things like high end (but not really) champagnes such as Moet, who's entry level ~$40 non-vintage (NV) imperial brut has a higher dosage (more sugar) for the US than its European counterpart. It's not even a brut by contemporary standards which Americans also don't know/care about.

Speaking of NV champagne, there was once a time when the proud French folk would age all of their NV champagnes to the same high standards as vintaged champagnes, which must be aged at least three years.

Then they realized Americans not only don't care, in fact they prefer it with less toasty oak. So now you're paying for a Veuve Clicquot that has been aged for half the time, yet you are paying the same amount.

Also the Vodka/Rum/Whiskey loves to push flavors on you because up until the advent of Captain Morgan, liquors had to be 80 proof (40%).

Captain Morgan argued that because they were diluting it with flavors, it should be less. Now you pay the same amount for 70 proof (35%) flavored spirits, or sometimes even lower for 'Light' vodkas.

And those 'handcrafted' artisan whiskies? Produced by large whiskey mills in the Midwest and Canada, then sold to a 3rd party to be bottled and marketed.

Granted this has always happened with blended Scotch, American whiskies and Caribbean rums, but its entirely different when 4 Roses is making 100% of Bulleit for Diageio.

And if you ever want to break your lush aunt's heart, take her to Italy to the Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio wine estate sometime. Except you can't, because it doesn't exist. It comes from proprietorially sourced vineyards from wherever and then marketed as expensive.

And everything else that's popular has at some point been bought out by some massive parent company and then had costs slashed to pieces right before being marketed through the roof for the same price or more. Okay great.

Username: mynameisaplant

Don’t pay a hardware store chain to install an appliance when you purchase it. (Yeah Lowe’s, here’s looking at YOU, you corporate ripoff fucktards!) If you can find a qualified installer, or electrician, (more on that in a minute..) call them DIRECTLY and tell them where you’ve bought **insert appliance** (dishwasher, hot water tank, microwave, gas stove/dryer, sink disposal, etc) and schedule an install.

My husband will do it for the EXACT same price as what he gets from Lowe’s to do the job, and you’ll also get it done MUCH faster. (Usually within 2-3 days as opposed to a week or more, depending)

Why? Bc the store marks up the price of an install ALOT —and pockets the difference, and what customers have no way of knowing is that the installers Lowe’s and other chains have as employees are all private contractors anyway, and own their own businesses and can do as they please; (ergo, they’re not ‘married’ or contractually bound to Lowe’s).

Let’s say you buy a new hot water tank but you can’t install it yourself.. so you pay Lowe’s an install fee (in addition to the price of the tank) to do it. They’ll charge you anywhere from $350-400 for the install... this includes my husband going to get it, loading it on his truck, bringing it to ur residence himself, doing the install and then hauling the old one away! ..

BUT the installer gets only $200 of this!!! Also, the work order we would get to do the install takes anywhere from from a cpl days to a week to get channeled from the store, thru to corporate, THEN to our office, after which we can finally call and schedule you... (which might take even a few MORE days depending on OUR schedule and workload that week!)

So: It saves you a lot of money. There’s no reason to pay Lowe’s $400 to install something when the fucking installer only gets $200!! Saves both you AND the installer time; we’ll know about you way faster, ergo we’ll get to you faster.

Now... the best way to find a contractor on your own that you know already works for that Lowe’s—(btw they all have a whole roster of different kinds of contractors working for them for diff kinds of projects)— so if you are getting, let’s say again for example, this water tank, go to the plumbing department and ask the dude behind the counter who the best contractor they HAVE is... they’ll know.

And they’ll gladly give you their number— it’s part of their job to.. and if u want or feel you should give them a reason to ask them for the phone # just simply say:

I have some other related projects besides the water heater I need to discuss w this installer about getting done as well—(They don’t know any different!) and when you PAY for the unit, tell them specifically you do NOT wish to pay for an install.

(They can’t ofc force you to pay for an install!)— then call the contractor, tell them where you purchased it, that u need it installed, and give them your address, they’ll set you right up. For the same price THEY get.

Don’t pay hardware stores to install appliances. Call the contractor directly, (not thru store channels) bc youll both save time AND you’ll save money!!!

Source: me & my hubby have a private contracting company (LLC) —he’s a certified master electrician and master plumber, HVAC / gas certified; & we cover several chain hardware and appliance stores and it’s ridiculous how they rip ppl off on the price of an appliance installation!!

Username: 317LaVieLover

Every city has those two intersections that are so close together you often think it should just be one to make it easier on everyone. Or a road that seems to be snaking for no reason. All those designs are intentional, but not always by the choice of your city planner.

Note: my background is in geography/gis, not urban planning directly, but there is enough overlap.

First, there are many organizations that have a say in your local city's urban layout. Looking at the US, you have TIGER and the Department of Transportation (DOT) at the national level, and each state has their own DOT, and each region in the state has either a Metropolitan or Rural Planning Organization (MPOs and RPOs) that cover a few cities.

Your county might have an extra oversight organization. And each city will have their own city planner or engineer office. And in those offices, you got people handling different issues, so the person planning the public transportation isn't the person planning the streets.

This causes a lot of headaches and confusions, because each organization has their own guidelines you *must* follow in order to get access to their funding.

And yes, those guidelines do contradict often. A commons example is that a new trend in city planning is adding green to pavement markers because you're more likely to notice green. Well some organizations are requiring it, while others are banning it.

Another example I had to deal with personally was a requirement from the state saying we can't place two traffic lights within a certain distance of each other, despite being needed for two busy intersections.

Second, even with all these oversight committees, the loudest and most demanding voices will always be the residents. You might have a beautiful idea in your head, but it will get instantly shot down by the residents.

An example from someone I've worked with is that they were going to build a bridge just north of downtown. The goal was to relieve traffic of main street and give people more than one route to keep traffic low everywhere.

Well this one street was furious that the bridge would lead directly into their neighborhood, so we had to move it about 100 feet south, turning one intersection into two.

It is the same intersection as I stated above that needed two traffic lights. This of course did nothing to decrease the traffic on their street, but it created a headache for drivers causing more accidents.

Third, some designs are done on purpose to prevent you from killing someone. Street parking is often planned to make people drive slower and to give a barrier between cars and pedestrians. Snaking roads are done to slow you down so you are not going 80 on a 35 road just because it's flat and straight. Some designs look stupid but are actually the smartest designs.

Your local city planning/engineering office wants what you want, because we are driving on the same roads as you. We hate the same things you do, but sometimes it's something we cannot fix, tried but was forced into making a monstrosity, or do it on purpose to keep you safe.

Building one sidewalk talks months of planning and preparing. While many people want to blame the city for a bad road, it is pretty much always not their fault.

Username: Actinglead

Yes, some film critics are paid to give good reviews, but generally only those who have established some kind of name for themselves. Once a critic is on their way up the ladder, they are often groomed by studios, and it becomes a symbiotic relationship:

They get exclusives, perks, and publicity that makes them more famous, which in turn makes their good reviews and media quotes worth more. There are some critics who don't play this game, but they often have to supplement their income by writing books, running websites, etc.

Because of this game, the film crit industry is highly racist and sexist and homophobic. Studios want a straight white male ages 25-50 for their media quotes and good reviews, though an older white male is okay as long as he's been in the biz for a long time.

This is because they believe white men are more trusted by the public, white guys don't complain about Hollywood's racism and sexism as much, and because straight white males tend to play the game without complaint more than any other demographic.

When you see a "controversy" about a critic who has done something wrong, they will often be a black male or female of any race. That's not an accident.

Many of the higher level film critics don't watch the movies they review or don't write their review at all, just put their byline on it. This was especially true of an exceptionally famous critic, and I believe within five years, you'll be hearing more about it. This exceptionally famous critic also cultivated many online film writers and critics, but always carefully chose people he knew wouldn't be competition for him.

They all had sad sack stories (illness, disability, close family member dying, wrong side of the tracks, etc.) which he subtly used as gimmicks to make himself look better, look charitable. Again, you'll be hearing more about this eventually. It always comes out.

There is also a really well-liked, well-known critic who doesn't try to hide that his books are often written with the help of several assistants, and though the public likes him, within the film crit industry he is often actively distrusted. He's not playing the game!

When I went into this business I assumed a movie review wasn't a huge tool in the publicists' box, but I discovered they're a lot more important than the general public thinks, especially on the smaller films.

And the glut of really crappy reviews from bloggers and people who think just anyone can review a film isn't much of a problem, because publicity companies almost always suss out the crap, they don't want to be associated with some amateurish website.

There are some exceptional bloggers and small websites, and you can tell who they are by the screeners they get.

Oh, and the guy who posted a few months ago saying that many indie films are financed by larger companies through a complicated series' of smaller production companies was right.

It's a big reason why so many of the boring and awful Hollywood tropes are being seen in indies, where you'd think a film maker could be more daring.

Username: zeeflim

In construction they use risk and fear to make things way more expensive. Usually in the form of risk of danger to your kids/your family.

No one wants to say no to anything when risks to their kids are brought up. Even if it makes something 10x more expensive than it really should be.

Example: We have hundreds of codes and inspections for plumbing. Plumbers not only need a contractors license to be a plumbing contractor but also need a specific plumbers license and it’s specific to that state with a lot of state’s not recognizing each other’s licenses. Very hard to get this license.

Why? Well cause water ya know! It can completely destroy your house, black mold, floods, all bad stuff. So only makes sense you want a highly skilled multiple licensed person dealing with it right?

Kinda funny then that there’s not a single inspection for a roof on a house. Not a single inspection for siding on your house.

What’s more common? A pipe bursting or rain? No inspections for doors and windows, no inspections checking all the penetrations through your house to see if they’re water tight. All the gas pipes, dryer vents, lights on the walls, water spigots....

None of them get looked at to see if water will get in. I could install the roof upside down where it’s a giant funnel on a brand new house and the inspectors don’t even look at it.

If you want to build a new house with your own money, on your land you own The government will still force you to pay $50,000 for permits and inspections (in my State and county at least) and they would sign it off and the entire house would be destroyed first rain.

So why is this? Plumbers got together a long time ago and created unions that give money to politicians and they wanted to eliminate competition.

They didn’t want some kind, handy guy who totally understands how kindergarten level easy lots of residential plumbing is to charge so little, if he does he forces them to drop their wages too, to compete.

So they got rid of all those guys by forcing them to get licenses. They did it so that guy can’t fix your faucet for $20 an hour, they successfully barred those guys so now you have to pay the $125 an hour plumber who comes with his helper who they also charge $125 an hour for.

That’s what most of my plumbing subs cost me. $250hr approximately. Or it’s based on fixture units.

So to put your sink in I have to hire a plumber (cause I’m a licensed home builder but NOT a licensed plumber) who charges me $1700 per fixture unit. One sink/faucet is a fixture, that’s how much I have to pay them to put in one sink.

One toilet is a fixture unit, one shower is a fixture unit. And I have to pass the cost along to you guys. So you’re paying thousands for something that lots of people would do for one tenth.

If they legally could. I’m not anti plumber either. It’s this way with almost everything. Not just construction. Almost everything is artificially more expensive than it would be in a true free market. Fear gets you to open your wallets.

Username: BillyClubxxx

I’ll give a few, for different industries
Food: The McDonald’s ice cream machine isn’t broken (sometimes it actually is), it’s on a heating cycle it does every 24hr (usually sometime between 2AM and 6AM is when most stores do it but I’ve seen it set to dumb times and no one knew how to change it)

No, you can’t just stop it. Also, your soft serve wouldn’t be the right temperature or consistency if it is.

People say it’s broken a lot of the time because honestly, it’s so much easier than trying to fight with people about the actual truth because they will try to find some weird loophole into still getting ice cream because if not broken, why no ice cream????

Package delivery: If there’s a little cross with numbers on a FedEx package, one number is the date, one is the package code (12 is wrong route, 10 is damage, I believe 1 is access related and 7 is driver related but it’s been a couple years), the third number is the route assigned to the driver who had your package

Also relating to FedEx, they do have *some* facilities with refrigeration storage iirc, but to my knowledge, there’s a solid chance your hello fresh box (goldbelly, factor, etc) was sitting in a hot cargo trailer, then a warehouse (sans refrigeration), then a hot delivery truck.

Also, it doesn’t matter how many “fragile” stickers you put on that box, make sure the box and its contents are well-secured. Your box goes in the same cargo trailer and conveyor belts everything else does, it might not even be the driver’s fault if it comes to you damaged. (Do you know how many things would come to ME damaged?)

Airport: No steak knives. I know that’s probably weird to you if a restaurant serves steak (you can probably just ask them to cut it more), we’re in post 9/11 times- that’s literally a weapon. You can easily just take that knife and stab someone, if you wanted to.

Also, our kitchen knives, and even things like scissors are locked and tethered, fun fact. US airports don’t play when it comes to potential weapons and passengers.

Also, don’t get blackout drunk before going on your flight. It’s not a guarantee that they won’t let you board, but you’re definitely pushing your luck the more visibly intoxicated you are.

They can and will make your ass wait for the next flight to your destination until you sober up enough to be in a tin can with a few dozen people for hours.

Oh yeah, and restaurants tell each other when they’ve had to cut off and kick out someone for being too intoxicated. Don’t get shocked if you get kicked out of one place and no one else lets you in.

Related, being aggressive in an airport is not a great idea. If you’re disruptive enough you could potentially not only land yourselves a visit from the airport cops but actually banned from being able to fly *period*.

Also, if you catch charges at an airport, that’s *federal*, not just relating to the local municipal/state government. Good luck bailing to a different state, might want to think about hopping the border if you’re trying to outrun jurisdiction.

Username: Canithrowmyselfaway2

Customer service interactions. Be friendly with your agent and **NEVER EVER** yell at them. It will get you no where.

Best case scenario you talk to a supervisor who does whatever they can to please you, and then you get a flag on your account labeling you as an asshole.

I used to work in the CS department for a mortgage company and I can tell you that if I talked to an asshole I did the bare minimum that I had to do to not get in trouble. (I.E. answer your specific questions and get off the call asap and forget you exist.)

When ever I talked to someone who was an ass, or yelled, or was a pain, I would litteraly just take off my headset, wait for them to stop talking, and then just repeat what ever I said before. I would literally not hear whatever you had to say.

So to all the 30 to 60 something women and 20 something men out there (I know that's a stereotype but that's the most come age and genders for dickheads I talked too) who think being a squeaky wheel will get you the grease, knock it off.

Maybe that will help you get a late fee waived or a small discount on your order or what ever, but the fact is that most companies will do that anyway with a little patience.

When ever I talked to a friendly and happy person I would go above and beyond what was expected of me to help you. I would schedule call backs, make recurring alarms in my calendar app to help you, I would follow up with you when your issue was fixed. I would spend time between calls researching your problem.

Basically all CS agents use a virtual phone system that is amazingly flexible. I used one called Five9. I could do a "cold transfer" where it was like you just called the number I sent you to. I could to do a "warm transfer" where I explained what was going on to who I was sending you too.

I could call from 100+ different phone numbers by litteraly just clicking a drop down box. I could put you in a queue that litteraly never connected to a person so you would eventually just hang up.

I pretend like there was an error and hang up on you. I could send you back to the queue for incoming calls. And a whole host of other stuff to get off the phone with you if you were an ass.

Also if hate talking to an automated customer service agent (be it phone, chat, email, or what ever), ask them to say word that is mildly inappropriate like penis, snatch, or chode. Some agents will not be comfortable saying that kind of stuff but automatic systems will never, and I mean NEVER, say anything even remotely inappropriate.

If they reject saying it for what ever reason either tell them first something like "this call is recorded right? So you wont get in any trouble because I specifically asked you too." All calls to a company more than 5 people are recorded so that's a safe bet.

Or if they recuse to say something like that ask the to tranfer you to a different agent. They may tell you that they can't but that's bullshit, they can do it as explained above.

Username: Ssliska1

The corporate worker's start-to-finish employment has been netted out with age, geography, salary and benefits costs being factored. The corporation knows how long you will stay with your position if you do not increase your value (additional education, certification, re-certification, as examples).

The worker will always be considered replaceable, with job assignments pushing their productivity limits while working under assumptions they may be fired or reassigned/passed for promotion for missing prescribed work goals/targets.

Every worker's role will be tested quarterly and annually to align to published (or unpublished) goals of the executives, whom often reap bonuses (financial incentives, including stocks and bonus monies) for meeting or exceeding those goals... which the worker sees very little to no added incentives.

Furthermore, college students (20s) will be hired inexpensively, groomed for leadership and growth, sink or swim, and be deemed replaceable when the work product doesn't yield results against goals/targets.

Older, wiser, experienced workers are often retained if they are adaptable and able to meet goals/targets. However, executives will prioritize the hiring of 2-3 lesser experienced workers over a seasoned, proven worker, depending on the role.

Experienced workers = more value, more costs. Again, the corporation has already factored all workers start-to-finish net worth, regardless of age.

The corporation will usually hire the least expensive option (such as Bangalore, versus New York, as one example) to save costs, even if there are qualified applicants with superior skills for the role in both geographies. This includes "green card" workers with work visas who are prioritized over similarly qualified citizens of a country (U.S., as one example).

The current social justice environment is producing a lot of virtue signaling, i.e. all talk, no action. However, some corporations are taking actions, resulting in prioritizing less qualified candidates over other, more qualified ones.

Only the almighty bottom line (economics/profits) will change this over time, including investing in more trainings, adoptions of business approaches (methodologies) which add more rigor, more results, more accountabilities to weed out poor performers.

Corporations would like everyone to believe they are "in the cloud" when, in fact, much of their data isn't.

Corporations are watching everything, from the worker's Netflix use over lunchtime, to Facebook and Twitter use throughout the work day. Some corporations are using A.I. to scan for specific patterns and 'wrongspeak', including all communications applications in use, from mobile to desktop/laptop to cloud platforms. One corporation recently fired workers for their comments in a company chat.

Lastly, Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) is already here and taking some jobs away within the corporate infrastructure.

Workers in finance, legal, manufacturing, design and software development may see an increase in A.I. which negates aspects of their jobs... or the complete replacement of their jobs. A.I. will not replace all workers in all fields/disciplines any time soon.

Disclaimer: All of this is my opinion via decades of observations and does not necessarily reflect my current employer.

Username: Tucana66

Programmer here. Pretty much all software has bugs and programmers don't know what they are doing. The entire software industry is rotten from the core.

Many interviewers focus on how to make software run fast while ignoring how to keep software simple.

The dirty truth is the big FAANG companies get so many high quality applicants that it's essentially random who they pick, so they do so by giving difficult logic puzzles that are irrelevant to the job just so it doesn't seem random.

Then the smaller companies don't understand this, so they copy the FAANG companies and interview candidates based off of skills that are irrelevant or even harmful to the job. For example, I recently read an article by an interviewer talking about his favorite problem to give interviewees.

In it, the solution that he said the "poor candidates" would use ended up using twice the space, but it was about 10x simpler than his "correct" solution and his solution would break if the requirements changed at all. In the industry, speed is often unimportant and bugs are really bad, but most interviewers focus solely on speed.

Schools don't teach the right things. I had four required classes devoted to "how computers work" at a level that is entirely useless, while useful concepts such as version control, functional programming, and databases were left as optional classes.

Even the good classes such as datastructures ignored what I use 95% of the time (resizable vectors) in favor of things I never use (so much time is devoted to linked lists that have strengths that aren't practically useful, and I even had a large project devoted to priority queues which I've never seen in use).

Object Oriented Programming is by far the most used paradigm, but it's not explained well and so most programmers still don't understand how it works (by bundling functions with a single datatype into a class and then invisibly passing a variable of that datatype into each bundled function).

Even when you do get a job and understand what you are doing, the environment you will use is completely broken. One example is that I use Visual Studio with C++ for work, probably one of the most well used pieces of software for writing code.

There are days where it starts randomly telling me that every single line in a file I'm looking at has an error, but if I actually compile it, it won't find any errors because there aren't any, and if I close and reopen Visual Studio it's magically fixed.

Another example is that 99% of companies use Git for version control software, which is one of the most confusing pieces of software I've ever used.

It requires knowledge of intermediate programming concepts such as hash values and hex, so beginner programmers are unable to use it and get thrown into the deep end when they have to use it for a job.

Also, the terminology is nonsensical. I've actually gotten a warning that said "You are in detached HEAD state".

Username: MichaelTheProgrammer

All the mentally disabled people go to jail. The United States has terrible metal health care. All the funding for metal health hospitals is dwindling. The are fewer and fewer mental hospitals than ever, with an increasing rate of metal illness. These people do not get the help they need in jail. It makes them worse.

I'm talking about the social needs people who steal, fight, disrupt the piece, and do other petty things they can't help doing because of their mental status. A lot of them are also into drugs because it helps them "act normal" and/or keeps them calm and from causing chaos.

And most of the normal people in jail have anxiety, PTSD, etc from being abused, raped, molested, assaulted, etc. Which leads them to do drugs to cope with what happened to them.

The United States needs better mental health care. We are locking up mentally ill people and people who are victims. I feel bad for all of these people. They never asked to be handed any of this.

I agree that jail is a necessary evil and I'm not against it at all. But I think that locking up these kinds of people is wrong. Murderers, rapists, molesters, violent offenders need jail time, yes. But the homeless lady who steals?

No. Or the lady who was abused and molested by her dad who turns to drugs? No. Or the women being forced into prostitution by someone threatening/abusing them? No. Or the guy who steals to support his family or make ends meet. Or the guy who lost everything and everyone to drugs?

These are all real situations that have happened to people I know and have worked with. And they've all gone to jail.

US needs to help people with addiction so that they don't overdose and die. So they don't steal to support their habit. So that they can face their traumas without needing to turn to pills, a needle, a line, a joint.

I find it appalling that the United States is supposed to be a world leader and supposed to be so civilized yet we're locking up special needs and victimless offenders for money.

This is a backwards country. It's the only first world country who treats its citizens like enemy terrorists. I've witnessed normal people go to jail and leave being schizophrenic. I've witnessed slightly off people deteriorate and not even be a shell of what they once were.

Stop using the money to build and fund more jails and actually use it to fund and build more reputable rehabs, places to council, and mental hospitals.

Fixing the real problem will stop a person from committing more crimes. Instead of locking them up only to get out with a criminal record, no way to get a job now, and going right back to what they were doing before.

Punishment would only be for those who refuse the help we provide, and for those who are violent and a threat to the community. No addicts, or special needs, or homeless thieves.

It makes me upset that these peoples lives are being ruined just to make a quick buck.

Username: lilbebe50

Hi! Airline customer service agent here! Don’t be a dick. There will be “something wrong with your seat” and you’ll get reassigned to a shitty seat. Another thing is that we’ll charge you for everything we can if you’re rude.

Your bag 1lb over the weight limit? Guess, “due to the weather”, (or another excuse) we have to be “extra strict” today. Nope, in reality, it’s our way of saying you’re being an ass.

If you’re nice to us, you might get a complimentary upgrade, but don’t ask for one, that’s the best way for our first class to be “full”.

If you’re celebrating something, TELL ME! We’ll do what we can to make your trip extra special. (Again, if you’re nice) For example, I had a gay couple celebrating their marriage by going to Hong Kong where it was recently recognized as legal, I put all sorts of notes in their reservation and had them upgraded on their first leg of the flight that we were flying them on (I can’t do anything about connections because other agents get cranky when you mess with their flight). They were pleased as punch.

If we do a good job? PLEASE write the company! Managers are used to catching nothing but crap all day long. A nice letter about an employee goes a long way to brighten their day and ours! I keep my commendation letters to read when I’m having a bad day to remind me that, in spite of some people being people, I do love my job.

Another way to get on our good side? Bring treats. Some chocolate will go a long way with me. I was having the day from hell, I had gotten cursed out in three languages including English, a passenger gave me a pack of starburst and said I was doing a great job.

He almost made me cry because he was kind and appreciative when I was clearly busting my ass. Please don’t bring homemade treats though because of possible food allergies.

Know what documents you need ahead of time! You MUST have the passport BOOK to travel. Not the card, not a photo. It is not our job to tell you what you need!

If you need something called an “ETA” for Canada, DO IT AHEAD OF TIME, NOT WHEN YOU GET TO THE AIRPORT!!!!! Use ONLY this site: www.canada.ca/eta. It’s the official government website for Canada.

Otherwise you get ripped off and it can take longer. You’d be AMAZED at how many tantrums I deal with because people don’t do their research prior to going on holiday. For most countries, you’ll generally need at least 3-6 months left on your passport before it expires, make sure this is done too.

We can’t do anything about the immigration laws, so don’t even ask, I’m not getting fined or losing my job because you were an idiot.

If you’re a crew member/fellow airline employee, please let us know, it’s kind of an unwritten rule that we take care of our own.

Moral of the story? If you’re having a rough day, we usually are too, don’t cop an attitude. Just be nice. Kindness is free. We bust our asses to make sure your trip is great.

Username: WickedGreenGirl

Trucker here. I profile you within 5 seconds of seeing you with 90% accuracy based on your license plate state, type of vehicle and pattern of driving.

California plate=inattentive loser; muscle or luxury=entitled and fast or paranoid and slow (Believe it or not, paranoid and slow is more dangerous.

That leaves hundreds of people making decisions how to get around you versus fast which leaves all the decision making up to you. Most people who drive like that are quite safe unless they're driving recklessly.);

Sitting in the left lane or otherwise not responding to changing traffic conditions=arrogant and likely to expect everyone to bow before your majesty's every need.

The trucks with the stereotypical square hood are real drivers🫡, the newer looking bubble nose hoods are steering wheel holders👶. If you need help, whether merging or changing a tire, approach a square nose.

Truck stops are one of the safest places to be in trouble, whether car trouble, housing trouble or anything else. Not half as friendly or willing to help as 50 years ago, but we are definitely watching you and will defend you if you are being attacked. TA and Petro are the best for that, just DON'T BE DISRUPTIVE or you'll be thrown out in a hurry.

Want to be a driver's angel on the road? If he needs to merge, give him room and FLASH YOUR LIGHTS LIKE IT'S A RAVE!

So many people give me room but don't make it clear so I can't be sure and it takes me forever to verify. Then they usually give up just about the time that I commit and it turns into a shit show.

You'll see the moment he recognizes because his nose will snap over in that direction. Then he'll spend the next 10 minutes flashing his tail lights or hazard lights and wishing you would pull over so he could buy you lunch!

See a truck driver at a stoplight creeping forward? He's trying very hard not to take it out of gear, give him as much room in the front as you can. The clutch is very stiff and expensive to replace, so we don't like to use it except for stopping and starting.

Pass me on the right, your life is in your own hands. Sometimes I might see you, sometimes I might not. If I'm in the left lane, it's for a reason, wait your damn turn.

EXCEPTION: on highways that run through small towns, trucks will always be in the left lane to avoid people popping in and out of driveways on the right. If a truck is just sitting there with no traffic around and making no effort to go right, you're clear to pass on the right.

When the truck is stopped on the shoulder, go left just like you would for a police officer. Just because I do not wear a badge does not mean my life is any less valuable than a police officer doing a traffic stop when I'm getting out to figure out what just went bang under my truck.

Keep the bugs off the windscreen, the left door closed and the rubber side down, drivers! Sheepdog out

Username: Guidance_Public

APPLYING FOR A MORTGAGE 101 FROM AN UNDERWRITER

If you're applying for a mortgage (especially through a broker who should be coaching you on this; make sure they're smart), DO NOT GIVE MORE DOCUMENTATION THAN YOU NEED.

Sooooooo many loans I tried underwriting but had to inevitably deny them because they disclosed new debts to be "transparent." I thank you for the honesty, but now you're making me make you hate me. Typically, once it's seen, it can't be unseen.

Also, do not for whatever reason "payoff" a car lease. A car loan is different, we can exclude that as an obligation in your debt to income ratio. We cannot however exclude auto leases because the very nature of them is for you to enter a new lease.

So many times borrowers will try to jump the gun and pay off a bunch of monthly obligations, and will pay off a 6,000+ auto lease only to realize we can't exclude it, and now you just paid it off months in advance for no benefit.

Another thing, if you are applying for a home loan and will be also taking out a credit card from a furniture, appliance, or tool store (IKEA, Home Depot, etc.) DO IT AFTER you have your hard credit report is pulled. Once a credit line is open, it's monthly payment has to be factored into your DTI.

However, if it's not on the credit report, and say shows up on your asset statements, in certain cases underwriters can have it disregarded as "not important new debt" unlike an auto loan or something.

So long as it can't be proven to be a fixed loan of some kind, it can generally be left off your DTI because it's "not risky enough."

One more thing, don't shift money around in the last two months before applying for a loan. Keep it in one account for two months before applying and don't touch it, or at least don't make deposits into the account that are over 50% of your monthly income.

Fannie needs two months bank history, and Freddie needs one but loans can flip between the two.

What this means is, if you deposit say $20k in June, but then shift it around to another account in July, not only do I need the second account that holds the $20k, but I also need to see two months of statements for the first account. And if there are any other large deposits into that one, then I might need to see two months of those as well.

Anything over 50% of your monthly income often has to be tracked to make sure it's not bad money. Also seeing 20k go in, and then 20k go out does not mean it's the same money. I need proof like wire transfers, etc.

The analogy I use is: if I pour a bucket of water into a pool, I get down and scoop a bucket of water out, I can't be certain that the exact same water I poured in is the same I scooped out.

I need to confirm the money coming out is the same "good" money going in.

Username: [deleted]

The credit industry lied about credit cards and how they improve credit.

What they didn't tell people is the balance and limit are what affects the score.

If a person carries a 0 balance (pays off each month), the score is lower. The card limit is determined to be a debt. The higher amount the card can charge, the larger the debt, the lower the score.

When people pay off/close out a credit card and see the score drop, the balance/limit are no longer part of the calculation, and debt/income ratio is affected. Only the payoff history (2 years; industry standard) can be used to generate the score.

The credit card industry pushed for legislation to make it more difficult for people to declare bankruptcy, or more specifically, chapter 7 (full release). The debt/income ratio affects the type of discharge, but it's far more difficult to get chapter 7. Chapter 13 is the restructure plan, which is very bad for people because not only does the report show a bankruptcy for 10 years, but people have a required payment to make. Just what the credit card industry wanted.

The "deal" exchange was to provide people with better credit information so they know what they're paying over the term, a minimum 4% balance payoff to help people pay off the debt faster, and the free yearly report.

Experts warned this was a big mistake because the industry would lock in higher interest rates, which would make it extremely difficult for people to get out of massive debt, especially as cards are often used for emergencies, or mostly for healthcare.

Here we are in 2023, and APR rates are as high as 29.99%. The experts called it.

I worked for a company who partnered with Equifax and it was my job to rip apart the credit report for clients who wanted additional checks on the information.

The inside information of what the financial industry uses against us is staggering. The score is so detrimental to loans, as it absolutely affects the interest rate, which gets higher to those with lower scores. It's an ass-backward system, and there's even a term for it: subprime.

It's insulting on every level, and for those of you who have a credit card with an interest rate above 0.7%, your best option is to find a way to pay that off immediately, then close the account and never touch a credit card again.

Though I doubt anyone can do this easily, which is why the balance is now over $1 trillion. Let me write this out for you:$1,000,000,000,000

Compound this with the disgusting APR rates of 23.99%, and you can see why the financial industry lied to people about credit cards. Experts called that too.

This information lead me to declaring bankruptcy (intentionally!) because rates were starting to go up before the law passed. Chapter 7. Never touched a credit card again and have a score of 800+. This industry lied to everyone about credit cards.

Username: [deleted]

Former pizza slinger here. Think twice before ordering a topping that isn't very popular (e.g. anchovies, banana peppers). The container has likely been sitting in that makeline cooler for a LOOOONG time.

For anything that comes in a tin (fish of any kind), chances are that it has not been stored in an airtight container, either.

Every store has That One Customer. The one who orders every week or two and "finds" something wrong with the food every single time they order, but never complains while the food is still there and hot. They complain a day or two later, after they've eaten it all/tossed it out.

They whine to the store, and, if they don't get free cards (coupons for free pizzas) and a refund, they escalate it to Corporate/a submissive owner who "just wants to make the customer happy," which will cave in every time.

There are people who have not paid for a pizza order without getting a refund in YEARS because of this. This is factored into future price increases. (These people also never, ever tip)

Also, the standard caveat: Be nice to the person on the other end of the line. Most will dig deep to find a good discount/special for you -- and, at any corporate/chain place, there's *always* a special. In particular:

Let them finish their spiel; they're required to say it. If you start talking over them while they're trying to say "Thank you for calling X, may I please have your phone number?" or whatever, you'll just have to give your order to them again unless whoever designed the POS software allows them to go back and just enter customer data out of order.

This is extremely rare, but: if your phone number is one digit off from a store's number, or else close enough that you get customers calling you to order pizza all of the time, go in and complain about it (politely), along with proof/the call record, if possible.

If it's bad enough, they'll offer to buy your phone number off of you for a few grand. For this reason, stores that have been around for a long time will often have a dozen or more phone numbers; far more than the actual number of telephones/lines. Only the primary one will usually be posted publicly anywhere.

One last thing -- Yes, the stereotype of "half of the drivers are on weed" is reasonably accurate at many places; on any given shift, you're gonna have at least one stoner on the clock, though most are smart enough not to partake while working. What they don't tell you is that one or two are probably dealing the stuff along their routes.

Bonus item from when I worked at a grocery: Just because an item is featured in the ads and signs as being "a special" doesn't automatically mean that the price is any lower than usual.

As a manager once put it, "It's on special, not on sale." (implication: "It's not false advertising because we never explicitly stated that there was a discount.")

Username: EricKei

Educational testing in the US (particularly under the new Race to the Top Common Core and APPR regulations) is bullshit and less relevant than much of the testing that was done before implementation of the new laws (yes, EVEN No Child Left Behind... even that was better).

States were offered mountains of money if they adopted the new regs, but the majority of that money went to implementation and to the companies that write the tests (see the Pearson Pineapple Question for a sample of how brilliant these test writing companies are:

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/talking-pineapple-question-state-exam-stumps-article-1.1064657).

Anyway, now that most of the states have adopted the new procedures, they're locked into unattainable goals, such as having all students take state exams on a computer (by 2015, I think... might have the date wrong).

But where's the money going to come from to buy those computers? Budgets are getting as tight as ever, so districts are not able to afford everything that's necessary. "Well... better cut the arts... better lay off some teachers... better cut clubs and anything extracurricular that doesn't generate revenue..."

Already extra testing has cut down on the number of instructional days in many areas and schools are eliminating field trips because they too take away instructional time.

Furthermore (and this is the BIG ONE), students are expected to show growth over the course of the year, so they're tested in the beginning on things they haven't been taught and then given the same (or very similar) tests at the end of the year to show growth.

This would be OK, if they were comprehensive tests, but many times they're just "Read this passage and answer the questions that follow").

Additionally, states have deliberately made tests harder in lower grades than in the higher grades to artificially inflate scores as students approach graduation. Sorry, but that's not growth. That's data manipulation.

On the other side of the coin, schools in Finland have moved away from standardized testing and focused on actual education (something American teachers would love to do), and they're pumping out graduates who are truly prepared to take on the world.

Now I'm not saying the Finnish education model is right for the US, but to double down on failed ideas in the face of overwhelming success with other ideas is just asinine.

Any teachers reading this know it's true. Let me get a bit political for a second... Whatever your politics, next election season, vote for the candidates who want to dismantle this absurd, destructive system.

And stop giving money to politicians who want to double down on them. When they tell you the new system is working, remember that the data have been manipulated to ensure growth well before students took any tests.

Username: PunkShocker