We've all been the target of an annoying company policy or a warranty-induced headache, and often, all we can ask ourselves is why the person on the other side of the desk can't treat us like a fellow human, instead of just a customer.
But the truth is that companies keep a lot of secrets from their customers, often specifically to increase their profit margins.
Redditor SeaDry2466 asked:
"What does your job not allow you to tell customers?"
A Lovely Secret
"I'm a daycare teacher. We are highly advised against telling parents about milestones like first steps, first words, etc., happening at our center, because it could cause numerous negative emotions in the parent, and we know the child will do it again soon!"
"It’s a very special moment and we want the parent to experience it as authentically as possible."
- Trashieee
No Difference Except the Brand Name
"In my country, there are two main distributors of the products my employer sells: us and the other company."
"The other company buys their products from us to sell them as theirs. I deliver a truck full of products every week to them. But we have to deny every connection to the other company."
- Chili919
Warranty Struggles
"Our warranty is as long as it is because it will fail after the warranty."
- dylanr23
"It's hit me hard this past month. The point has been driven home. The blender and microwave both died on me in the 13th month of owning them... with a 12-month warranty attached."
"We're a family of three. It's like they've got planned obsolescence down to a science."
- fudgemental
Partner Secrets
"I worked at a fancy hotel and was out front to greet people and assist upon arrival."
"We weren't allowed to say, 'Welcome back!'"
"This was in place to protect those that decided to bring another spouse/partner/mistress/etc day after day to the hotel during their stay."
- really_affordable
The Less You Know
"When I was in retail maintenance, I wasn't allowed to let the managers see the bill. That was for corporate eyes only."
"My theory was that if they knew how much I was making to change a lightbulb they would quit and go do that. Or maybe they would be good employees and change the lightbulb themselves, thus increasing the company's liability."
- Dirk-Killington
Faulty Parts
"I worked for a big Japanese electronics manufacturer in a call center back in the early 90s. We were not allowed to say that a line of our Sony TVs had bad tuners, even though we all knew it and sent out countless free tuners to repair shops all over the country even for out-of-warranty products."
"I typed it so many times I even remember the part number, 1465371-11."
- Game72016
Chemical Exposure
"I worked at a historic penitentiary in Phila., Pennsylvania."
"At the bottom of the children's waiver, in fine print, it states that there are cell blocks that have not been abated for asbestos, and the old lead paint leaves a film of dust on everything."
"I got written up for pointing this out to a pregnant woman."
- HotSpinach
A Whole Crew of Master Keys
"I was in charge of all of the keys for a navy base, signing them out to contractors and TCNs and such."
"There were probably around 300 keys for the whole base and every single one was the exact same key. When they set up the system, no one realized that when they bought the same 300 locks, it came with the same 300 keys."
"So I was basically giving out master keys to the base without anyone ever knowing and I'm sure they have never replaced the locks. It passed a high-level government inspection, those f**kin people didn't even notice all the keys were the same."
- onebowlwonder
The Hollywood Scene
"What we're actually filming or if big name actors are on set. Whatcha shooting? Mayonaise commercial. Is So-and-So filming today? No, sorry, it's their day off."
- GumbyTTL
"More often than not, my truthful answer is, I have no idea. I have a call time and postcode."
- ajollygoodyarn
No Issue to See Here
"Any time there is a known issue we were not allowed to tell the customer it was a known issue. If you ever hear a customer service or tech support rep say, 'None of our other customers are experiencing this problem,' there is a good chance that it's a lie, especially if they offer that phrase up quickly."
"I haven't been in that game for a long time, but I did support for many customers, and they were all exactly the same."
- Suspect4ype
Beware, Just in Case
"There's a sticker in the window that we have ADT security, but we stopped paying for it since the pandemic."
- Purplociraptor
"Ha. It's kind of like, 'You don't really need a guard dog, you just need the 'Beware of Dog' sign!'"
- JakeDC
That's... Unusual
"I used to work for a medtech startup, writing an algorithm to detect if someone has passed away. Since we were not allowed to proclaim someone dead, we notified the healthcare workers that the person in question was showing 'unusual inactivity.'"
- theRealTallguy2
All Homemade, All the Time
"I grew up working for a family ice cream business. The restaurants that we sold bulk tubs of ice cream to thought it was home made by us. While we did make our own ice cream the three-gallon bulk containers was product that we purchased from another company and sold at a high markup."
"I was under strict orders from my father to never reveal this to the customers."
"One of our customers would then sell this regular ice cream as gelato, even though it was just ice cream."
- shavemejesus
Same Drink, Different... Can
"I work for a major US brewery and we have one beer that we put into two separate cans. One of them is a 'premium' beverage (one of the most popular in the US top five) and the other is an 'economy' beer. It’s the same stuff."
- zachinthebox
Time for Some Free Parking
"The door to the underground parking hasn't locked for six months, lol (laughing out loud), so whether you are a member or not, you can just go park down there for free."
"I wouldn't know, lol, I still have to say it locks 11:00 PM to 7:00 AM, but it doesn't currently..."
- randomcanadian81
Sometimes there are pieces of information that a company cannot reveal to customers for the sake of privacy and keeping the company running, but some secrets, let's face it, are to make the company more money.
At least occasionally, like the free parking fluke, there are ways that customers can still make some money back if they catch on.