Behind the Scenes @ Work
 

Does anyone have any trade secrets for their line of work/employer that would shock and/or help the public if they knew? Any dirty little secrets you are willing to share? i think it would be helpful, there are so many loopholes in different areas of life, i like finding out tricks to making my life easier and my pockets fatter :)!

i can start...banks clear checks largest to smallest. for some reason while i was a teller, none of my customers knew that. for example, if you have $100 in the bank, and you write a $75 check and 4 $20 checks, the $75 is coming out first. why? because you are going to bounce more checks once they take the larger check out first...in this case they get to charge you for 3 bounced checks, instead of taking the 4 $20 ones and bouncing the one for $75. that will cost you almost $100 in bounced check fees, as opposed to the 1 charge. its all about money!

I worked for an insurance company last year...a few basics

1. a company purchases insurance as a 'package' the lower you are on the totem pole the crappier your coverage can be...if you are a grunt...u get some decent benefits...if you are the CEO, you are pretty much covered...and the coverage has to be compliant to that company

2. segue from number one a bit, read the fine print of what your insurance covers....some companies may not cover birth control...even if you are using it to take as a mestrual regulatory pill.

3. Companies also can pick in the insurance certain bits of preventive care that can or cannot be covered and when

for example - company A picks policy 1 - you can have XYZ screening as long are you are 40 years of age and up as part of your preventive screening

company B picks policy 2 - you can have XYZ screening as long are you are 35 years of age and up w/ no prior Hx as part of your preventive screening

and my personal fave....people thought that because thier last company covered and wondered why this changed:

company C picks policy 3 - you can have XYZ screening as longs are you plan on paying out of pocket.....because the screening is NOT a covered screening.

oh wow... dayum that's a mess.

i don't have any secrets specifically to what i do, but i can say that "processing fees" are BS - honestly, why are you having to pay $5.95, $10, $25, etc. for someone to do their job? i can tell you i probably only see like .50 of that fee, if that.

what else? when the secretary says said person is in a meeting, they don't want to talk to you. when she says "theyre in meetings all day," thet REALLY don't want to talk to you.

when something is supposed to take 3-5 business days (a phone call, sending something in the mail), it means said person is looking at it late in the 4th day and not really caring about it until that 5th day.

when said person is on the phone with you and they say "give me a second, my system is acting slow," that's total BS - it means theyre trying to minimize their facebook windows and actually getting into their work.







(hehehe i know because i've done it, and well, i know how to put 2 and 2 together)

lmao i can honestly say ive done it because i had GC up, or because i work at a TECHNICAL COLLEGE and my computer consists of some dixie cups, rubber bands, and a hamster on a wheel!

i worked for a credit card company that rhymes with Mapital Sun:D, and i tell you what, i will never have a card with them. ever. their "interest rate adjustment" was pay to us depending on how low we could go and keep the customer without giving them the 2.99 they probably deserved. also, they can jack your rate up to as much as 28.99% WITHOUT TELLING YOU, AND WITHOUT YOU MAKING A MISTAKE. read the fine print people, its all there...

I bartend weekends for extra money. If you complain your drink is too weak, all we're doing is dribbling a few drops of straight liquor down the straw so you think its super strong...We're certainly not pouring a whole 'nother shot into your drink. It costs usmoney. Order a double if its too weak, we are almost never shorting you on the amount of liquor you're paying for!

At Pappasito’s a medium quesadilla is the same amount of food as a large quesadilla; there just cut differently.

I used to work in retail over 10 years ago at a major department store. I once had to cover in the fine jewelry department and learned from the manager of that department that when fine jewelry goes on sale, it really doesn't.
What they do is put price tags on the jewelry that's considerably more expensive than what the piece is actually worth. Then they "mark it down" by 25%, 30%, etc. and claim they are giving you a huge discount when in reality, with that supposed discount, you're paying the actual price of the piece of jewelry.

This is just a practical observation about how to maybe get something done easier, not any insight into how stuff is supposed to work.

If you want your kid moved out of a teacher's class, come up with a different reason for it than anything negative about that teacher. When you go in with a list of grievances about teacher A, the school is going to often feel that they have to address the problems but they'll probably still want to support the teacher and moving your kid will often be regarded as undermining the teacher.

However if you go in with a "we've always hoped to have teacher B because we've heard blabity, blah, blah good stuff about teacher B," you can get what you want and the school can feel good about it.

This is of course trickier to pull off mid-year, but not impossible if you can come up with something impersonal to base it on. "We've heard teacher B does a fantastic history project in the spring that little Johnny has always wanted to do."

If you own or manage a business, and use a service company (plumbing, electrical, roofing, etc) and you consistantly pay them late, they WILL stick it to you when they write up your bill. We don't do much service work, but when we do, and the person is a notoriously late payer, it gets marked up an extra 25% or so.

I have heard stories about bar tending and since you bartend on the weekends, maybe you can help me out.

Is it true that bars will use cheap liquors and put them into expensive brand bottles? For example putting Burnetts or Aristocrat into a Grey Goose bottle, or Jose Cuervo into a Patron Bottle, etc....

that is WACK but knowing my greedy self i would order the large.

yeah, my LS worked for a jewelry store and the "manager's special" was never more than like 5% off what it would actually be worth retail. hell, HER employee discount was 25% but really, that would just make whatever item she wanted...regular price huh?



ooh! i got another one. when you're being put on hold... if you're a pain in the @ss, you'll definitely be put on hold longer. we may even forward you to someone who could two craps about your situation... or maybe we'll just "drop" the call. so if you ever call somewhere back and say "oh, i mustve got disconnected..." yeah you probably did!

i dont know my liquors all that well, but isnt cuervo WAY darker than patron? ou really couldnt pass that off!


and to foodservice people: when someone sends back food to the kitchen, or doesnt finish it, does it go on the next person's plate?

But if you have a small business, and have another small business do some service (plumbing, electrical, roofing, etc), and offer to pay cash up front, you can usually save at least 20%.

Well Im sure the Gold tequilas are alot different in color, but I was referring to the silver tequilas (Jose Cuervo Clasico Silver in a Gran Patron or Silver Patron bottle) That wouldnt be hard to mask because they are clear.

On a related subject, would they put Silver Patron in a Gran Bottle. I mean the price difference is amazing, silver is approx $55 per 5th versus $200 for the 5th of Gran Patron and not that much difference in taste

It's actually illegal to do that, the LCC can pull your liquor license over it as well.

So basically you're aiding and abetting a crime? The reason why it's cash is because it's off the books and there are no taxes paid on it.

-Rudey

Or because it's payment up front with no need for billing.

That's a whole load of crap. Payment up front? It's not an AR issue. Pay with a credit card and it's paid up front. Pay with a bank check and it's up front. Pay with an online funds transfer and it's upfront. There are numerous ways to pay upfront that are trackable. Cash is not trackable. Contractors and small businesses stick to cash so that they can cheat on their taxes. It's not an issue of payment dates.

-Rudey

A majority of the stories you see/read in the news every day are the result of great PR people. WE dictate what is news. You think newspaper reporters and TV journalists have time to research and write their own stories every day? No way. If it weren't for PR people, they wouldn't even know about most of their stories. AND, they usually report the story the way we orchestrate/spin it, if we're good.

Of course, journalists deny this on a regular basis.

No. That's disgusting. Although, it is true that you shouldn't send food back to the kitchen unless there's something really wrong with it, or they sent you the wrong thing.

Actually the place I worked at in college, it wasn't the cooks you had to be concerned about (unless you sent your eggs back 3 times like this one picky lady always did)...a customer tried to send back some liver, saying it was too tough, and the owner stuck his finger in it, announced that it was not too tough, and made me take it back to the table. I would have been grossed out, but he followed me to the table and yelled at the customer, and pretty much kicked them out.:rolleyes:


From working a temp assignment at a Credit Counseling Service: NEVER, EVER "settle" with a collection agency without 1) getting ALL of the terms of the settlement in writing, BEFORE you give them a penny 2)Include in the settlement that it will show "Paid in full" on your credit report, and not "settled" 3)Getting a zero balance statement saying "Paid in full", which you need to hang on to indefinatly. Get everything in writing, because they can be very shady in pratices. Include "paid in full" for the benefit of your credit report. Keep the statement in case they don't mark it paid in full on your credit report. If they don't, go through the credit bureau to get it corrected, not the collection agency. Also, hang on to that "Paid in full" statment, because collection agencies have been known to settle $100 in debt for $75, and then sell the remaining $25 to ANOTHER collection agency, who will then try to go after it.
Also, if you KNOW you have problems remembering to pay bills or general credit card problems, the following cards are not for you: Chase, Bank 1, Capitol One - if you have any of those, you need to get rid of them ASAP. They are NOT flexible when it comes to working with you to pay off your debt.

that is true.....like for instance...murder rates....for every 2 murders the news may report from 'official' figures at least 3 go unreported.

woow...i went home last night and came back to this! i have certainly learned a few things lol! keep 'em comin guys!

does anyone have any tips/hints on how to not get ripped off at mechanics?

Never sign a blank work order.

If you think the estimate sounds too high, don't be afraid to get a second opinion.

Keep records of what was done to your car when, and know how often most parts need to be replaced/fixed/changed/tuned up....so when the mechanic tells you "Gee, I think you need new brakes", you know when your brakes were last replaced, and how long brakes ususally last.

yes......take someone that really knows about cars with you....seriously....my g/f's brother is one and lord only knows how much money we have saved since he does all of our work....he got my truck inspected (free) changed our brakes at a crazy markdown, and so much other stuff it makes you wonder....but if you don't have someone that close it always helps to have someone that has some knowledge about it.


Same thing with computers....if my friends are about to buy PCs and they are PC illiterate they call me to go along to get the best deal.

Back in the day when I used to be in retail, here's one I'd do all the time so don't be surprised if it's being done to you.

If a customer kept insisting I check in the back for something they wanted in a different size, I'd go to the back but I'd sit for 5 minutes, drink some water, & maybe talk on the phone before I actually went back out and told the customer that we had nothing in the back. ;)

that reminds me...SHOES....

listen to this....for those that have large feet and cant find shoes..this is what usually happens:

most stores tend to order shoes that sell in common sized....for instance if you wear between a size 6 thru 9 adult...stores will order a large number of those (avg between 8 to 10 pairs for an avge size store) as the sizes go up... the number purchased go down (size 10 thru 12 they order between 4 to 6 pairs) once they get into super large (like mine) sizes 13 and over....the store may order only 2 to 3 pairs.

And of course if you are one of those insistent folks who likes the show so much that u want the display, the shoe that is genarally displayed is most of the time a size 7.5 to a 9.

And some times if you wind up having to get that shoes...u can usually make the store give u a discount citing either a slight discoloration or....if 'others' have tried it on.....wear and tear.

Yes. Many journalists do not write their stories. They take a press release that a PR person gave them and put in the newspaper word-for-word what the PR person wrote up. The only difference is that the journalist's name goes on the article instead of the PR person. I've had a great many of my press releases turned into articles in Atlanta-area papers. :)

isn't that...sorta like... plagarism?

did anyone see that "hell's kitchen" episode a few weeks ago where the girl took the food out of the trash bin and dropped it back in the water to reheat?

well...i had two graduates of culinary school who were watching with me who said that YES that does happen. apparently the "bin" (aka trash can) is not for trash. it is for food based trash, i.e. corn husks, potato skins, etc. its not like the TRASH trash, where they would sweep the floor or something. i truthfully dont care that it takes an extra 12 minutes for new pasta, germs killed or not, i want NON-TRASHED CUISINE!!

I saw that and yeah, EW.

Also who takes 12 minutes to cook up pasta, with boiling water you're talking more like four or so to cook it al dente. (Not directed at you so much as the show as I think that's what they said on there)

i remembered her saying that, and i told my fiance, by all means, ive probably been sitting for 20 minutes, whats another 10 to insure i get un-trashed food?? i can wait!

Fried Chicken takes 22 min. If you get it in any shorter time (except KFC, duh) be worried.

well as long as it's not TRASH trash... as long as there's grated cheese on my pasta, its all good!

(ok call me gross. but i tend to weigh out the germ factor vs. the hormone/"bad crap i'm eating" factor)

Exactly. I can't figure out why they suck so much in that kitchen. They're making the same limited menu every time, and they're supposed to be at least semi-useful cooks and chefs, but whether they're professionally trained or not they can't server fully cooked food? Ugh.

i dunno... my momma put her foot into some fried chicken and it don't take 22 minutes to fry. i see your 22 minutes and say i can do it in 15.

Restaurants don't keep their fryers as hot as when you make fried chicken at home. Two reasons: Fries and fish can't take the heat like chicken can, and they need to cook it slower to make sure it gets completely done. The diner I worked at in college was 22 min, and I know of at least 2 national chains that take 22 min, plus KFC takes 22 min.

Technically, the girl was right, it would have been boiled and clean (although probably mushy... which is a worse sin in my Italian heritaged mind) but still. You just shouldn't do that, and you definately don't do it on TV in a competition.

I've been a server for over 5 years.... and i've done a wide variety of jobs...
first off, the restaurants....
If someone sends something back that they don't want, and they haven't really had any of it (like they didn't like it, blah blah blah) we almost always eat it lol
the same with drinks, people send stuff back all the time... too sweet, whatever.... sad but true, its a small consolation for the crap ppl put us through.

I have NEVER spit in anyone's food, or done something awful to it. Now, however.... if a table is being super obnoxious... i can't stop the kitchen from "accidently" dropping something on the floor.... and still using it.
Moral of the story: don't be a dick. If you are patient and engage the waitress/waiter, you'll get a lot farther than if you're obnoxious.

ok.. i'm super hungover so i can't think of any more right now, but I will.

i mean, at home i might pull that number if i knew there was only food based product in there, but in public? i dont think so...