There is a very good reason it’s generally best to not know just how “the sausage gets made,” unless you are deeply invested in not consuming any more sausage. But the truth is that most jobs and professions do some with some hidden details which are not at all for the faint of heart or stomach.
Someone asked “What's the scariest fact you know in your profession that no one else outside of it knows?” and netizens spilled the beans. So strap in before you scroll through, as some of these get a bit unnerving. Upvote your favorite posts and be sure to share your thoughts and experiences in the comments below.
#1
Probably how painful and long dying naturally can take. I work in memory care and have cared for sooooo many people dying. It's not a nice conversation with a loved one and then peacefully drifting off to sleep like in the movies. Sometimes it can take days, up to 2 weeks once they transition before they take their last breath. Sometimes they scream and writhe for days while unconscious until they pass. morphine should be a human right. Assisted suicide should be a human right.
Image credits: TastefulDisgrace
#2
Lifeguard!
I cannot explain to you how quiet and how fast drowning is. Even people with some idea tend to think, "OK, so barely any noise."
No. There's nothing. You might get some splashing right at the beginning if someone's just panicking; but I've seen an adult man get into trouble with absolutely no sound. Even if someone can get their mouth out of the water, they're so locked in on breathing and not dying that they won't yell. Their arms and legs are under the water, and they're struggling so hard that that nothing can make it to the surface to splash.
You WON'T hear it. Please, please, PLEASE do not take your eyes off your kids in water (even the bath) for even a second. That's all it takes.
(In my career, I've seen drowning, but I have been fortunate enough to not see drowned. Would love for it to stay that way.).
Image credits: siel04
#3
Supply coordinator for a hospital here.
Our supplies are ridiculously cheap. That IV you were charged $1000 for? We paid 79 cents for it. We get diapers for about $1 per case.
Image credits: WTAF__Republicans
#4
I work in a shelter. Some of our guests are from middle and upper class backgrounds. Bad choices, bad health, bad treatment, and bad luck can happen to all of us, sometimes very quickly. As far as I can tell, the only thing all homeless people have in common is trauma and loss.
Image credits: chutzpahlooka
#5
I’m a teacher. The education system in the US is largely f****d. We’re producing kids who can’t read, do math, or follow simple instructions. This is quickly going to become society’s problem. .
Image credits: BassMaster_516
#6
I used to work in banking and it was eye opening to see how many people were victims of fraud, how little recourse there is to get the money back, and how little the police can do for you too.
Image credits: mattscott53
#7
As a mechanic I have to say that the colder and more distant a mechanic is, the more likely they are to be honest. It's the really friendly ones who are ripping you off while they're being chummy with you.
Image credits: PckMan
#8
A lot of people don't realize it, but graduation success rate can basically be predicted based on their 3rd grade reading ability.
Early education is important, folks.
Image credits: IdislikeSpiders
#9
I used to work in child protection. The people most likely to harm your child, or you, are people you already know, most likely family members. You can bar the door against bad men lurking in dark alleys, but when you do, remember who you’re locking in with you.
Image credits: Colossal_Squids
#10
I’m a teacher, and all I can say is that you should teach your kids. Teach them since early age. Teach them at home. Drop your phone and teach your kids. Trust me, no one else will. As for us teachers, we are too busy implementing useless strategies to pass inspections and keep the admins happy.
Image credits: Virtual-Sense1398
#11
I work in homelessness. There’s lots of ‘scary’ stuff about this work that people are probably aware of, or are intentionally ignorant of. But one of the most scary/shocking things I learned in this work was pretty early on in it.
There are lots and lots of reasons that people experiencing homelessness may be dirty or not shower frequently, but I have had it reported to me multiple times that a female client is refusing to shower/practice hygiene because being dirty/unclean/stinky prevents men from r**ing her when she’s sleeping outside. Both very scary and very sad.
Image credits: validusrex
#12
You know how you worry about getting your frozen and refrigerated groceries home and put away before they spoil? Overnight stockers don’t.
Image credits: Dankchiccynuggies
#13
Everyone is scared about being tracked by the government. Corporations and brand marketers know pretty much every time you take a pee.
#14
As a librarian, you'd be horrified how many books we get returned and have to throw out because they're absolutely *covered* in bed bugs.
We put a block on accounts and notify patrons, but I'm specifically told not to mention this problem to the public whatsoever by management.
Image credits: nopointinlife1234
#15
Am a nurse. I’d say it’s probably the fact that people know when they’re going to die. They will straight up tell you “today is my last day, thank you for being kind” and you reassure them because their vitals are good, they are taking to treatment well, nothing happening that would indicate a drastic decline. Then, inevitably, you will hear a flatline on the machine and run in and sure enough that patient has passed away.
If it hadn’t happened SO many times, I would chalk it up to a few people who just didn’t have the will to live anymore, but I’ve seen it enough, I know that’s not it. Really creepy when you think about it too hard.
Image credits: Babee_Joy_
#16
The amount of worms in fish from the ocean is astonishing.
Image credits: Orangeshowergal
#17
The laxity in healthcare facilities, the staff is under such stress(here in canada anyways) that a lot of corners are cut to try and save time, but it eventually always comes back to bite you in the a*s.
Hygiene protocols not respected
Patients left in their filth because you have 1 nurse for 40people with alarms going off everywhere.
Sterilization processes not being followed as they should, increasing the risk of nosocomial disease..the list can go on.
I remember starting to work and being all happy about helping people, and in the long run you have to adapt to the s****y place because if you try to follow the norms you will quickly get reprimanded by wasting time/resources or whatever by your superiors. The longer i work by helping the more bitter i become. You’re basically fighting a battle that cannot be won, no matter the effort you put in.
It is sad, because at the end of the day, the patient will be the one to suffer. Not saying all employees do their work correctly, hell no, i see plenty of lazy a*s people but the system rewards those people the same as the one breaking his balls off trying to fix it.
The longer i try to do good, the more cynical im becoming in this society.
Image credits: anbelroj
#18
Your IT department can see how much time you do or do not spend actually doing work.
Your IT department also often throws up stumbling blocks when HR or management want his data to make the process inconvenient and/or annoying.
Be nice to your IT department.
#19
80% of humans will have cancer at some point in their lives; most will never know it, since the immune system eliminates the threat without any indication of any illness.
#20
Climbing into an unventilated manhole can kill you in seconds and you wouldn't even know anything was seriously wrong.
You think that's air you're breathing now?
Manholes can fill with gases that are heavier than breathable air. You think are breathing normally but instead you fall unconscious and suffocate from lack of oxygen.
Image credits: jatznic
#21
The entirety of the internet is held together by a very outdated and very vulnerable routing protocol.
Image credits: kinsmana
#22
Kids that were in grade 2-6 during the pandemic are frighteningly far behind their older counterparts and have a deep deep reliance on technology.
Image credits: footwith4toes
#23
Exactly how ecologically disastrous turf lawns are. We are f*****g ourselves to make our properties look sterile and boring. It's endlessly stupid.
Image credits: Mad1ibben
#24
Kids are incredibly, *incredibly* behind where they should be in terms of education levels and they just keep getting pushed through.
As in, I have a graduating high school senior that doesn't know what 5 x 4 is and can't pronounce the word "illuminate".
Image credits: tothesource
#25
How much of our worldwide technical infrastructure is held together by duct tape and some sketchy Perl script someone who doesn't work there anymore coded 20 years ago.
Image credits: deceze
#26
Therapist for children and youth.
The amount of kids I’ve seen in the last few months who have had a suicide attempt is stomach turning.
Image credits: tuesdayswithdory
#27
When you go to trial, the truth doesn't matter one lick. It's only what the evidence can show. So many clients struggle with this concept.
In a criminal case, if you go to trial and lose, you will most likely get a harsher sentence than you think. Elected judges believe they have to appear tough on crime and hope that threat will convince you to take a plea deal so they have fewer cases on their trial docket.
Image credits: crimsonlaw
#28
Statistics are often manipulated and misrepresented to fit a narrative. Few look at raw data, or question the validity.
Statistics and research methods should be a high school course.
Image credits: RattledMind
#29
As an engineer, I know some bridges and structures you drive on daily are technically past their design lifespan.
Image credits: Fawn_Lemonlight
#30
As a nurse, it's unsettling how many patients I've seen who come in for routine procedures and end up with life-altering complications. It's often a result of rushed care or overlooked details. People assume hospitals are infallible, but the reality is that even in the best facilities, human error can lead to devastating outcomes. Always advocate for your health and never hesitate to ask questions.
Image credits: Critical-Budget1742
#31
Working in the sleep world, many people go to bed every night with untreated/undiagnosed sleep apnea. It’s not entirely uncommon to see people’s oxygen levels dropping to the mid seventies every night and this is part of their normal routine. Incredibly dangerous and awareness should increase further.
Image credits: Jojo1378
#32
Senior programmers are very reliant on googling stuff too.
Image credits: tubbyx7
#33
I work in a state mental healthcare hospital. We have many patients with violent history, even some that are incarcerated, but placed in the hospital for competency evaluation or as a judgement penalty.
They tell many stories to new employees in orientation. One is told to emphasize the importance of observing and protecting patients in temporary restraint. Many years ago, before they had the rule of continuous 1:1 observation on restrained patients, a man was placed in a restraint chair and left alone for several minutes in a hallway. Another patient came up and decided to pull the restrained man's eyes out.
I can't imagine being in that poor man's position. We have to sit in the restraint chair and be strapped down during training so we see how it feels to be unable to move, and to emphasize the importance of fixing the straps so the patient can't harm themselves or anyone else, but also not so tight that they lose their breath or regular blood flow.
When my turn came, I kept thinking about the terror that man must have felt. Unable to move, unable to escape or fight back. The only chance of help is to call for staff that you also don't trust because they just put you in this position. It's so f****d.
Image credits: nanie1017
#34
Deep down, it's all excel.
#35
I stop hundreds of cars a year from running over children *and* adults as a crossing guard. I'm only there 2 hours a day, 5 days a week, during the school year. Its insane how dangerous it is for kids to walk to school
edit: if anyone sees this please remember that your local crossing guard stands there 10 hours a week. They know which kids are safe, and which kids will run out without looking. If we're making you wait longer, there's probably a very good reason, like a kid on a bike is coming that you can't see. Please, we aren't there to inconvenience you!!! Do you think your local town *wants* to spend like 8-10k per guard per year at each crossing???
#36
I'm a massage therapist. I don't care if you didn't shave. But please wash your feet.
#37
In tech, your "deleted" data isn’t really gone - it’s just hiding until someone skilled enough finds it.
#38
Dilution is the solution to pollution.
I work in the industrial cleaning industry. You wouldn’t believe the things I’ve seen. I’ve been in kill plants (chichen, beef, pork), pet food processing plants, hospitals, hotels, schools, you name it I’ve been there. They all stand behind this motto. The EPA stands behind this motto. OSHA stands behind this motto.
And YOU think recycling matters. LMFAO! Without oversight this planet is literally being poisoned. We are being poisoned. No one in a high value position cares, this is how some people get paid and put food on their table, by turning a blind eye.
#39
All these people working administrative jobs that depend on computers? 90% of them don't really know of to properly use them, nor do they really know how to use the basic softwares like Excel, Word and Powerpoint.
Maybe not very scary, but incredibly frustrating and depressing for me, especially each time I'm called by a colleague to solve the easily fixable problem they have (And I'm NOT from the IT department).
2 hours ago it was because a colleague didn't know how to turn off the formatting marks in Word.
#40
A large amount of what we know about mental health is based on fabricated data.
Edit: Examples would include obvious studies such as Power Posing and The Stanford Prison Experiment - both used cherry picked falsified data.
Other things that typically come up is how for many graduate students and PhDs, your career is based on your ability to publish. Replications don’t often get published and so there is intense pressure from universities to constantly be finding something “new”. As a result many in the academic community will alter stats or blatantly “create” data in order to maintain their careers.
Universities don’t look closely at said data because they have a vested interest in you publishing, journals have little to no true oversight, and your ability to publish determines your future.
Studies that DO have good data only truly apply to white men. For example, everything we know about ADHD is associated with male behavior even though women often present differently (yes they can present the same, but there are specific behaviors more common in women).
This trend continues across all of the DSM.
Oh! Even the DSM is almost entirely for insurance purposes and very good for diagnosis. Many therapist use criteria found in the ICD, which is also based on the healthcare system - although somewhat less so.
#41
If antibiotic misuse and overuse continues, we’re going to have lots of deaths from previously treatable bacterial infections and diseases. A lot more d**g resistant infections are popping up and hardly any/no antibiotics work on it. Lots in elderly and in general. Most patients are contact precautions (isolation gown, mask, gloves) in hospital to not spread to to other patients at risk. Lots of it is hospital acquired too, so it’s a vicious cycle of transmission. It also takes multiple years to develop new antibiotics and these things are becoming resistant faster than we can keep up. We’re looking at, in a worst case scenario if this continues, a world where an infected cut can kill you because nothing can treat it.
#42
Lawyer here. Cops lie A LOT. They don’t know what rights you have and don’t have to the degree that they should. They WILL cover for each other in the lies, and a TON of judges give their testimony way less scrutiny than they should.
Edit: adding that I’m referring to lies during traffic stops, in their documentation, AND under oath on the stand.
#43
How many dirty correctional officers there are that lug in d***s/weapons for inmates for money.
#44
At the large National insurance company i work for, and I’m assuming to some extent probably every National insurance company… everyone’s homeowner’s policies that are being renewed are at MINIMUM increasing 40%, but it would be more accurate to expect your homeowner’s insurance to increase 55% or more the next time you renew.
The 40% guy was a >2 year old customer, and had an excellent credit score, with no other history of claims.
#45
Former child actor. Quiet On The Set is probably one of the most accurate depictions of the child entertainment industry you can currently get. The industry is not built around keeping your children safe and happy. They WILL be exploited, whether that's through making them do sexual stunts/lines/scenarios, turning their physical appearance into the butt of a joke, or simply being unable to express discomfort about something they're asked to do.
I was very lucky. No one ever abused me that way. But there are things I've done that I don't think I, as a painfully self-conscious, depressed teen, needed to do. I don't think I needed to be hired to do a "is the main character gay" bit because I am androgynous. I don't think I needed to have my cleavage accentuated at fifteen years old. It absolutely affected the way I viewed myself and damaged my self-esteem permanently. I weighed about 100 pounds and had a goal weight of 85. I was not allowed to be "the fat kid.".
#46
I work with government documents and read a lot of internal emails. Two things I’ve found out:
•Many of these people can’t write or spell worth a damn. Borderline unreadable sometimes. One person was complaining about an increase in “vandilisum.”
•The bar for “too crazy to work for a regulatory agency” is a lot higher than you think. One person explained that their psychic powers showed them that all their coworkers were involved in some pretty extreme sex crimes.
#47
There’s an EPA Superfund site in the small town near me.
Simple *elevation* view on Google Earth shows the possible flow of ground water to a densely populated, lower income area……
Chemicals like:
tetrachloroethene(PCE);
trichloroethene(TCE);
and 1,4-dioxane.
#48
Stepping barefoot in a puddle of hydrofluoric acid (or exposing that much skin to the stuff in general) is absolutely lethal and no one would really be able to know what happened to you, nor would you even think much about it at the time if you weren't aware of what it was. HF is technically a weak acid (think vinegar) so it's not going to burn you like hydrochloric or sulfuric acid would. However, you'll start developing vague flu like symptoms and stop breathing in around 3 days unless you treat the exposure immediately (calcium gluconate gel is the gold standard). The extremely simplified explanation is that is just draws enough calcium away from the stuff that keeps you alive and unless you neutralize it with a big whopping dose of the stuff locally you're pretty much doomed. While it's use is fairly specialized, it's not nearly as controlled as one would expect given just how dangerous it is.
#49
There is not much that is terrifying in the world of mortgage lending, other than the finality of wire fraud.
You are getting ready for closing, communicating with the closing agent daily, they send you their account numbers for your wire, and you send a huge wire transfer of all of your savings to make the biggest purchase of your life.
Then the next day, the title agent asks when you are going to send that wire.
It never arrived, and they have never seen the account numbers that you used.
That money is gone, no one can recover it, no one is on the hook, it has been entirely stolen from the buyer.
Edit: I should add that you can avoid this by calling your original contact from the title/closing company directly, confirm their number on the internet, and verify the account numbers with them verbally.
#50
The scariest fact is that many people don’t realize how easy it is to injure your spine with improper lifting techniques, and some of these injuries can be permanent. Even seemingly small mistakes can lead to long-term problems if you don’t take care.
#51
I work in food safety. People do not know how to wash their hands properly, and try to get away with not washing them at all. Absolutely disgusting.
#52
I’m a fishmonger. I see nematodes inside the fillets all the time. Customers still roll their eyes at me when I advise that they probably shouldn’t make their own sushi. But what do I know?
#53
Little late to the party but I do electrical safety work for power systems in large factories and those things can be nightmare fuel.
Everyone knows about electric shock, you touch something that is live and the electricity passes through your body. It can cause you to lock up (grip and be unable to let go) or even kill outright.
Fewer people know about electric *arc flash*. Instead of the electricity going through you, it can go through the air to reach another conductor. Doing this creates an immense amount of heat that essentially causes a small explosion.
Small arc flashes are scary but survivable with the right PPE (arc rated, NOT JUST FIRE RESISTANT). Large arc flashes are only survivable in arc flash suits that are just bomb suits. People outside of electrical work probably aren’t familiar with arc flash suits but electricians can tell you they’re no joke. And they shouldn’t be, because that level of heat turns you from biology into physics VERY quickly.
#54
I work in a liquor store. Hey millennials and gen x: your parents are alcoholics. Gen x? You're catching up.
#55
Most security cameras are only reviewed after something goes wrong, meaning they’re more "evidence collectors" than actual safety measures.
#56
As a pilot, I can tell you turbulence is usually harmless, but you’d be surprised how many near-misses with other planes happen in the air every year. Communication is key, but mistakes still happen.
#57
No, Victorian egyptologists did not import mummies to use them as kindling/train fuel/fertilizer.
They did however import them to chop them up for decor and paint. And one almost blew up the Sphynx with dynamite, but the Egyptian government caught wind and intervened.
Also a lot of archaeological finds were thrown in the garbage for not being pretty, including the remains of the 6th pharaoh of Egypt (~5000 years old).
#58
Short staffing in health care is a problem that perpetuates itself. No one to teach, train, or provide experience on the job means fewer new grads that can stick with the profession. .
#59
Servers in some of the most important bits of the world are held together by two very tired engineers, duct tape, prayers, and faerie hair.
#60
We monitor every item and person while you're on store property and create behavioral models from the data to strategically force you to buy things you otherwise wouldn't care about, and our innovations have directly translated into national security applications for mass surveillance and defense.
we also share the data gathered while you're in the store with everyone from the FBI to the NSA and CIA using third party data brokers.
we even got radar in the parking lot that detects people and stolen merchandise.
#61
That most strategic decisions made by the government are based on the desire of the executive(s) in charge, not the needs of the citizens (US).
#62
The detergent pods will eventually gunk up you washing machine.
#63
You would never drink tap water again if you knew what your pipes looked like on the inside
Edit: powers of the internet not properly wielded.
#It’s NOT bad for you. #
It just looks gross on the inside from mineral buildup. It is safe to drink.
