What's the scariest fact you know in your profession that no one else outside of it knows?

There is still a lot of asbestos in the walls and ceilings of government buildings.

Baker: The filling in bear claw pastries is day old danish and donuts ground up plus flavoring (and anything else that’s left over).

Asbestos is ok as long as it is contained and not exposed. Not optimal, of course, but not a danger.

We really don't sanitize the toilet seat and drinking glass in the hotel's guest rooms. The light switches, door handles, drawer pulls and TV remote are at best merely "dusted". Even we wouldn't walk around barefoot, lean our heads against the headboards, or put anything in the drawers. (In our defense, VRBOs and Airbnbs are worse offenders.)

Most public housing associations are poorly run messes, with directors who drive luxury cars and commute from nicer cities. Most of the residents never benefit from the loads of grant money that comes flowing in.

Most of the station cars driven by TV news crews are death traps that never pass inspection on the first try or get scheduled maintenance.

r5 that is pretty weak. You need to up your game if you want to excel on this thread.

Most all social service or human service programs are band aids. Few actually get people out of poverty or get them to be self sufficient. They rarely affect any kind of long term permanent or systemic change. Whatever they are fighting is more or less the same size problem it's always been. They have little to no empirical proof otherwise.

A butcher of 40 years told me that sausages and salami are "assholes, lips, ears, eyes and guts".

Please share the Reddit thread to make this thread more interesting which it needs. TIA!

Next President have very tiny peenus. Not like Hegseth. I recommend him for job. He fuck me good. But the people, they not like him much. They talk about the credentials. The idiots the people be.

R9 if it's the same one I'm thinking of, it's as uninteresting as this one. Things like "your personal data is being sold to China!" and lifeguards are trained to look for signs of child abuse on kids bodies.

My own newly created religion’s scheduled date for the end of the world!

Need at least $600,000 house to be insured where I work. To some that’s not a lot, but we primarily write in the Midwest.

Ok. Guess mine weren’t scary enough.

When I worked at McDonalds years ago, you didn’t use the buns the mice chewed on, but you could use the ones that looked fine. Which may be right next to the chewed ones.

[quote] Need at least $600,000 house to be insured where I work.

What do you mean? Your house has to appraised at $600,000 or more in order to get insurance on your house?

R7 The people who want to change will utilize supports available and they will change. Services aren't fast and they're not magic but then they shouldn't be that anyway, should they?

Thought of the wish fulfilled.

The building abd fire inspectors are paid to look the other way at violations.

Climate change is at a tipping point. It’s already too late

Crematoriums who do private cremations and dispose of remains for the county /state (unclaimed) sometimes sneak a welfare in cremation with a private one.

My handmaidens sometimes make etiquette errors before the very eyes of my Imperial Husband!

[quote] Climate change is at a tipping point. It’s already too late

What's your profession, r19?

My father owns a few car repair shops. Every. Single. Thing is a scam. They tell them to say “ Oh you better change your cabin filter” etc. 98% of car maintenance is bullshit.

You're telling me an oil change at 2.5K miles is bs?

Someone in my family owns an asbestos-adjacent business. It's not really dangerous if it's completely undisturbed but it's still not something you want to live with considering the misery of lung cancer. Plus there are numerous abatement companies that will get rid of it for you.

Get your shit tested and then get rid of it if you have to.

Here, R9.

R8 I know this as “Fingernails and Assholes”

r7 I sometimes thing this is by design.

We must have an underclass in order for society to function correctly.

R4 Agreed. Bring antiseptic wipes and use the FUCK out of them.

Slaughterhouses and meat processing plants.

If you knew what they were really like, you too would be a vegetarian.

If you see a relatively middle class looking white guy in the public STD clinic you know he is a man that engages in the homosexual sex. That is where you start and go from there.

R30 Can you suggest any movies or clips that I could watch? Not sure I want to go to one. In fact, I KNOW I don't.

When I was teaching, I wasn't allowed to fail anyone, even if they blew off the final, or rarely came to class, etc. I spoke to many other college professors in my travels, from small private schools to large public ones, and they all said the same thing. That was 15+ years ago.

This is why, although you don't know it, your degree means nothing. Hell, I used to look out at my students and sigh to myself, "It's a shame I can't fail them all." The "dumbing down" of the American education system has been apparent for many years. And yeah, if you're under 45, this applies to you whether you know it or not.

If you don't believe me, look at who was just elected president. And if that doesn't prove it to you, look at the spelling, grammar, punctuation, and usage errors that are made constantly here on our beloved Datalounge.

I rest my case.

Bread that is not eaten at a table may be returned to a restaurant's kitchen and repurposed into dressing or bread pudding or other dishes that use bread.

I'm sorry, I can't R32. I was close friends with a guy who worked in those industries/areas. For a little while, anyway. He wasn't a weak guy but he just couldn't deal with the things he saw. He works in a totally different line of work now.

Lesbians are freaks.

Lorna Luft was molested.

The equipment in any food business is constantly breaking down (especially when the owner of the establishment never invested in new appliances, but bought 'refurbished'). That means dishwashers are using cold water instead of hot to wash the dishes and silverware, no sanitizers in the dishwasher, the stoves and grills are not heating up as high as they are required to be, etc.

More a stark reality than a secret. ‘In sickness and in health’ is the emptiest of promises. The number of partners who bail on people with serious health issues is sad. Anecdotal patterns I’ve noticed. It’s highest with any kind of long term care issues, mobility issues, and especially mental health issues. The younger they are or newer the relationship, the more likely to bail often encouraged by family and friends.

As someone who stayed by the side of his sick partner to the end, r39 that REALLY bothers me. And I'm a millennial. But I was told that numerous times through the journey. People acted like I was a saint for doing the right thing and always being there for him and being his advocate. Maybe it helps that gay relationships tend to be open and I was free to fuck, but I cannot imagine NOT being there every minute I could with him during his long illness(es) and death. That's what commitment is about. He would've done the same for me.

R40 I'm not calling you a saint but I think you're wonderful for doing that, and I'm sure it made such a difference to your partner. Truly sorry for your loss X

[quote]Slaughterhouses and meat processing plants. If you knew what they were really like, you too would be a vegetarian.

And if you knew what fruit and vegetable fields were really like, you wouldn't eat plants, either.

If you knew what came out of assholes you wouldn’t …….

R40 apologies my comments upset you. You’re the opposite of what I’m talking about. In my profession, I’ve seem both the best and worst of people. The bailing thing is something I’ve been shocked by over the years because society doesn’t really talk about it. Sorry for your loss.

R39 so common that it was the entire plot of Angels in America. I just rewatched, which is why it's top of mind.

At least theses foods made of ‘’leftovers’’ are cooked at high temperatures (I hope)

Three places you should never see behind the scenes:

1. Restaurants

2. Hospitals

3. Funeral Homes

In that order.

Backstage is shit.

R33 I had the same exact experience teaching. If I wanted to fail a student, pretty soon I'd be called in the department chair's office and given a talk where they made it clear that, given how much students paid for tuition, they could not be failed. This was at a graduate program where I was forced to pass people who couldn't put a sentence together.

R19 Hi. I am not a climate scientist; however, I do read the peer-reviewed literature and agree we are on course to hit all tipping points and there is nothing we can do about it.

People frequently ask the question, How much time do we have? I don’t know the answer, but I would appreciate your thoughts.

If you see very stoned/drunk people playing in the street in the middle of the night, look for baggage.

If they have none, they’re housed in some way and they’re out playing. If they have stuff, it’s an unhoused person.

Either way, do not vape and do not smoke- it triggers bullshit

Former restaurant worker here. When I can't finish my meal, I ask for a takeout box and box it up, myself. (I don't go to fancy restaurants.)

At the barbershop, that jar of blue barbicide solution is just Windex.

[quote] What's your profession, [R19]

Pole dancer...for the man

[quote] People frequently ask the question, How much time do we have? I don’t know the answer, but I would appreciate your thoughts.

Even if we stopped producing greenhouse gases today, the gases already up in the atmosphere are not going anywhere, and causing havok. The climate is changing rapidly, with ocean currents the next milestone to be affect. That will throw of temperatures, particularly in Europe. Tropical diseases like Dengue are showing up in the southern US and Europe.

So when people ask, "How much time do we have?," I ask, "For what?" Sure your city isn't underwater yet, but that will take 50-70 years. Sure the heat isn't so intolerable that you can't go outside at all in the summer, but that will come in 50 years.

We have so much to rethink--everything from how to I not get a tropical disease to should schools really be out for summer, when kids won't be able to go outside?

What do you mean about vaping and smoking, r51?

Hospitals use vendor data to figure out within 24 to 48 hours how rich or poor each of their current inpatients is. Bells go off in the development department if a patient is estimated as capable of making a major gift.

If you donate to charities, do your research. I worked for an LGBT crisis nonprofit who had piles and piles of money just sitting there. Nobody knew for sure what it was used for, but definitely not to pay the employees.

Another nonprofit I worked for aimed at fixing homelessness made all its money from those touch pad prompts at grocery stores asking if you’d like to donate. We’re talking hundreds of millions of dollars. I had no clue how most of the 50-ish employees filled up their days besides holding fake meetings, but they constantly congratulated themselves like the money coming in was all from their hard work. It was like corporate cosplay. I remember the HR manager was wearing Prada glasses when I quit.

R2 I love bear claws! Is that what almond paste consists of? I will continue to eat them (especially Paneras) regardless.

R58, so that $$ actually does go to a not for profit. Huh! I always assumed it’s just the supermarket doing some shady internal tax write off thing.

Not for Profit Organization - Yes, no profit but that's after all the CEOs, CFOs, and staff receive their compensation. There is very little profit left.

Trump and Biden are the only government workers who take Top Secret information home and forget where they put it.

This could have been an informative thread, OP, but it turned into gossip and conspiracy shit. It could've been great!

Health care providers rarely wash their hand between patients

Interesting about the containment of asbestos.

Of course, restaurants try to food uneaten food scraps into something else. Good for them for not wasting.

[quote] Not for Profit Organization - Yes, no profit but that's after all the CEOs, CFOs, and staff receive their compensation. There is very little profit left.

That's the crazy loophole. You can still make huge salaries in a major non-profit

A good number of people in the Medical Professions (See: Surgeons in particular) are secretly Sociopaths.

I'd like to hear from CNAs and nursing home maintenance staff. There must be a goldmine of information there -- and we will all be facing it at some point...

Major hospital systems makes gobs in profits (and it was revealed a few years back that the large NY hospitals had bank accounts in the Cayman Islands!), yet they constantly push the image that they are on the verge of bankruptcy.

They take millions in charity care money from the government but shift their un-insured and underinsured patients to city hospitals

[quote] Health care providers rarely wash their hand between patients

The problem is more that they don't wash them for long enough.

Freshly grown christmas trees are anything but organic. They receive at least 4 sprays of pesticide each year.

R7 is full of shit. 70 percent of families on welfare get off of it within 2 years. Same with food stamps.

Medicaid is life saving. Social Security has been successful in keeping elderly people out of the soup lines for 90 years.

The problem is that wages are too low and housing and living costs are too high due to capitalism gone amok. We need social services.

UK here. I work in the NHS. The amount of cover ups of serious misconduct in the organisation would horrify the public who pay for it.

LPN stands for Low Paid Nurse.

RN stands for Rich Nurse.

Crypto currency is basically a Ponzi scheme

r58 sounds like HRC.

R75 Ty…an ahole on FB was bragging about his Bitcoin gains…I try not to wish ill will but I hope he loses it all in the end.

I'm a book editor. Don't think for a moment that we care about anything or anyone other than our bestselling authors, who make up 90% of our profit. We may say we do promotion, publicity, and advertising, but that's only for those who have track records. Otherwise, all we do is place your book in a few bookstores and expect you to do everything else.

And if you don't have an agent, don't even think your book will be published.

And if you don't have a way to get to an agent, don't even think you'll have an agent.

Guys at the Dunkin bakery get lonely overnight, be wary of Creme filled donuts.

R5 And you surely know TV stations cars are "trades." Station gives $1000 in spots in exchange for use of vehicles.

At Wendy's when a customer leaves any hamburger on the plate, it becomes tomorrow's chili.

Yes, the “plates” at Wendy’s.

R20 Italian Funeral Home secret. More than one gangster who disappeared was buried in the bottom of a casket with someone's granny. No wonder it was so heavy.

Italian funeral home next to a Rays’s Famous Pizza. Don’t ask..

My brother was a Verizon service guy in Manhattan. He told me never eat in the Chinese restaurants in Chinatown. The basements and kitchens are infested with rats, like running over food infested.

[quote]Hospitals use vendor data to figure out within 24 to 48 hours how rich or poor each of their current inpatients is. Bells go off in the development department if a patient is estimated as capable of making a major gift.

I used to work in a hospital where a senior nurse manager would target the “VIP” patients for special/luxury treatment in hopes of getting them to make a donation. She was also a huge cunt to everyone beneath her and was reported multiple times for rude and unprofessional behavior.

If you work for a large corporation, you would be shocked to know the disparity in pay between workers in the same jobs at the same level.

I inherited lots of teams from other leaders and was shocked. Like, top talent was often making a pittance compared to people who were lousy. And HR is never going to reduce someone’s salary, but they also will rarely allow a salary adjustment for those criminally overpaid.

A lot of it has to do with who is doing the hiring. Most don't care if their (unproven) new hire is making way more than current staff.

I had a gap of like $400,000 between my highest and lowest paid and those on the low end typically were stronger contributors. It was insane (and the fault of previous managers).

When you piss off the server, you'll be eating some sort of bodily fluids, from seven, piss. Spit or phlegm.

R78, I’m a book sales rep. Don’t that I do anything extra to place your books into accounts until the email chain from the angry agent makes its way to my inbox. This includes books by your big name authors.

Most of book publishing has quietly quit with the exception of those who spend their time managing up.

Sorry, that should be “Don’t think that”

I worked in restaurants for 20 years and never saw anyone contaminate someone's food with their body fluids.

• medical students sometimes practice performing gynecological (pelvic) exams on anesthetized female surgery patients

• according to some posters on the DL thread titled "I Watched a Guy Die Last Night," CPR actually isn't all that useful or lifesaving as people think

Although I admittedly don't have a lot to contribute myself, I really expected more from everyone else. I'm with R6 and R63, this entire thread turned out... disappointing as hell.

R11 what is scary about lifeguards being trained to look for signs of child abuse on kids' bodies? That's a great thing to know.

R39 your post has fuck-all to do with the point of this thread.

R92 that's my point -- it wasn't "scary" at all, and that was an example of what was on the Reddit thread

R11 and R92, lifeguards might be mandated reporters in some states.

All of your data, ssn, credit card numbers, everything is already exposed and out there. It is just a matter of luck if you have not been compromised.

[quote] When you piss off the server, you'll be eating some sort of bodily fluids, from seven, piss. Spit or phlegm.

Former restaurant worker here (5 years). It happens, but it wasn't widespread, IME. The only incident I was involved in was with a really rude manager who would sit at a back table and eat/drink and order the servers around.

I also saw a bartender put eye drops (Visine) in a customer's drink. Customer was someone that the bartender had dealt with outside of the restaurant (had a bad experience with).

What does visine in a drink do?

"Some people have heard that slipping someone a "Visine mickey" will give them a bout of sudden, but harmless, diarrhea.

Visine does NOT cause diarrhea. But people have been severely harmed after ingesting Visine as part of a practical joke.

The active ingredient tetrahydrozoline is a vasoconstrictor found in several OTC eye drops (Visine, Murine Tears Plus, etc). Swallowing even small amounts can lead to seizures, cardiovascular collapse, and coma.'

There’s a true crime from about ten years ago in which the wife killed the husband with Visine

My coworker (who put Visine) in the drink was hoping to cause diarrhea. I don't think it worked. Customer sat there, comfortably, in the bar, for quite a while.

Also, I remember from Forensic Files (or another show like that) that the Visine formula has changed. In the past, I guess it really was deadly. But how deadly could it have been if you're supposed to drop them into your eyes.

I worked in a high end medical spa the estheticians did not properly sanitize their tools between patients. The “high end” products they used were things you can get at the drug store.

r101, nooooooooo that is nasty.

Old folks die of over medication in nursing homes. They can lie down on a pillow and suffocate because they can’t lift themselves up.

Doctors raise the morphine levels on older people about to die anyway so they stop breathing

There is no such thing as harmless diarrhea. There is frivolous diarrhea

When doctors determine your family member is in Hospice, they prescribe morphine patches.

The nurse tells you the day your patient will die. Then, the nurse drops by to pick up any unused morphine patches.

This is when you find out you have junkie relatives who have used your mother’s meds and you (a clueless moron regarding drugs) don’t understand. Someone has died and your family members are going through withdrawal.

This is us. I’m so happy I never reproduced.

I don't use drugs, but I would probably try out a morphine patch if I had access.

Some of the people who work in special education are verbally, emotionally and physically abusive to nonverbal kids. I have reported it so many times. Nothing EVER happens to the abuser. It is so distressing. I just transfer or get the person transferred.

I came to this thread to write the exact same thing as R101. A relatively who worked in a spa shared the same info with me.

Reading this thread makes you wonder how anyone gets out of a hospital or restaurant alive.

For R110, here’s a story about someone who didn’t. I knew a surgeon who disregarded the “no jewelry in the OR” rule and killed a priest when the clasp of her necklace broke and her pearls fell into the guy’s abdomen during surgery. He died from the subsequent infection: those pearls weren’t sterile. He was an old priest, retired, and luckily for her, had no close family. The hospital never said a thing, presumably because there was no one asking. Likewise her colleagues. I’m told she billed the Archdiocese for the surgery, too.

The “no jewelry” rule has been rigorously enforced there in the decades since.

In the Diamond District of NYC, there’s a ton of diamond switching. You look at one and love it. They switch it for one that looks similar but is less valuable

R111 Good to know , but junior mints are ok

[quote]Doctors raise the morphine levels on older people about to die anyway so they stop breathing.

Glad to hear it; hope I get one of those doctors when I'm in hospice...

R111 nearly made me ill. Can I ask which year/decade and state this event took place in? Also, I'm assuming some INCREDIBLY fucked-up workplace politics also played a major role in the poor man's death.

Surgeries are always performed with many people watching, do you have any inkling as to how the incident never got reported by anyone else?

If you or a loved one are in serious pain, beware those morphine patches. I really don’t think they work as well as the needle drip.

My mom was in home (her house) hospice and towards the end, the patches seemed to have no effect. She was suffering badly.

We put her into the hospice and she calmed down i think due to the needle drip.

If your child is below grade level in reading at the end of third grade he is unlikely to graduate high school with his peers.

Sometimes elderly people put in their advance health care directive that they want to be resuscitated. Frequently their ribs are broken during CPR and their quality of life becomes much, much worse. CPR is for younger people with stronger bones. When you get old, go for the comfort care.

I didn’t know Jeb Bush (R117) posted on Datalounge.

I worked in a restaurant and some fast food places, including an IHOP, during high school. The advice I give is very simple. Do it and you will be fine.

ALWAYS be kind to the people who are serving you food. Kindness goes a long way. Just remember to maintain your politeness until you actually receive your food. If you want to take leftovers home, request a doggie bag and do it yourself. If the server isn’t doing a good job, you can express your dissatisfaction through the tip. This also applies to Amber or Sh'quita working the drive-thru window at Burger King. I've put my hand in a couple of drinks before I handed it to the customers. Not something that I'm proud of but these people were AWFUL. Treated me like gum on the bottom of their shoes. I HATE people, but it doesn't take much effort to be at the very least respectful. I'm always kind to customer service unless I feel attacked.

ALWAYS check your silverware under the light. If you notice anything questionable, ask for plasticware. The silverware is likely to have been washed with hundreds of other pieces in hot water and left to dry.

Bring antiseptic wipes for the tables. Those tables have been wiped by the same towel that's wiped 10 other ones.

[quote] ALWAYS be kind to the people

That's good advice in general.

R115 Late 1960s - early ‘70s. Massachusetts. It’s a story with a lot of layers I heard about a decade later - some nurses (fuck HIPPA), especially when drunk, will tell you what Paul Harvey used to call “the rest of the story.”

This tale’s about pretty privilege, social privilege, fame privilege, ancestry privilege, the non-transferability of skills from one field to another, the less-professional medical training standards then in effect, the interruptions of that training when she was young and perhaps - this is by no means a certainty - the effects of her being possibly groomed as a child by a lesbian member of one of America’s most notable families.

Her first husband was a very rich, very nasty man whose drinking (and her occasional injuries as a result) was locally legendary. I was told her colleagues felt sorry for her as at that time she was essentially a single mom in a shitty marriage whose medical training was far from today’s national standards and is no longer allowed. Of course there were other people in the OR - how would I know about it otherwise? Since the decedent had no relatives, who would complain? Patients get post-op infections: it happens. I was told the hospital saw no upside to reporting it (I have no idea what the hospital was required to do 50-plus years ago) and the surgical department quietly stopped her from operating for a period of time. I don’t know if she jumped or was pushed, but soon thereafter her interests moved from surgery to research and she no longer operated.

Finally, I was told by another surgeon in a different case that even if you fuck up and kill the patient on the table, the lawyers make sure you send a bill to the insurer or guarantor. Failure to do so is seen as evidence you knew it was your fault in a malpractice case.

There’s one detail I won’t repeat because to reveal it would reveal her identity. She’s still alive if elderly now, and while today her license would at least be suspended while her actions were investigated, back then it wasn’t. She was treated like Laura Bush when she killed a guy by accident: the first time doesn’t count.

Hotels seldom (if ever) wash bedspreads/blankets/comforters.

That incompetence, complacency and laziness is so rampant in the medical field, you would be absolutely shocked. Hardly anyone is trustworthy nor even cares. They are just checking the boxes, kicking the can down the road and CYA as they say - Cover Your Ass. Mistakes are commonplace. Insurance companies call all of the shots now and you will be released from the hospital, or even have treatment withheld even though they know it's a death sentence. It's got so much worse in the 40+ years I've been working in hospitals and doctor's offices that I finally left the field.

Don’t expect your produce to have been washed in a restaurant.

R80 Knew of radio for sale that couldn't prove its value. Everything in the place was bartered.

R8 Farmer told me Scrapple is "everything but the oink."

Don’t rely on your restaurant coffee to have caffeine. It might be decaf in a pinch—or because someone doesn’t care. When was the last time a restaurant told you they were out of coffee? They do run out and serve you unleaded.

R20 Funeral homes have been known to put victim of Mafia hit in casket, underneath someone's granny. No one knows how he disappeared.

R32 There is a video called “Meet Your Meat” narrated by former DL fave Alec Baldwin. It’s awful to watch.

That almost all social-science research is crap and that universities are no better than the GOP House of Representatives when it comes to operating like sane people are running them.

(some) restaurants have a very loose definition of "fresh".

Especially Asian ones.

Never mind.

I just saw the ID of the cretin posting this thread.

Can't they swarm elsewhere, these cunts?

The fat ones are stingy

That when he get testing done by a medical lab it's often mishandled or improperly handled by low wage morons who have either no clue or no care about you or your specimen.n

[quote]R61 Not for Profit Organization - Yes, no profit but that's after all the CEOs, CFOs, and staff receive their compensation.

I made a low salary while at a non-profit, but did have very good benefits.

Devotion to the cause or institution used to guarantee you lifetime employment with good benefits, less $$$ but better benefits and retirement money. You had to play a long game. It took patience. When you’d jumped all the hurdles, they paid off better than most of downsized and disappeared corporate America.

[quote] When I was teaching, I wasn't allowed to fail anyone, even if they blew off the final, or rarely came to class, etc. I spoke to many other college professors in my travels, from small private schools to large public ones, and they all said the same thing. That was 15+ years ago.

I'm a tenured professor (and have been teaching since the 1990s), and I've taught at three institutions: one a large private research institution, one a large state university, and one a small liberal arts college. I absolutely could fail students at all three institutions, and I did fail them at all three. I remain free to fail them at my institution now. They could do nothing to me if I do: that is one thing tenure means.

[quote]R78 And if you don't have a way to get to an agent, don't even think you'll have an agent.

It really is important to use contacts while you can. I used to be a story analyst (glorified reader) for an important talent agency. I told one of my best friends I could submit her husband’s novel there. He froze and wanted to address some things in it.

A year later when he was ready I had a new boss I hadn’t built a friendly relationship with - so I couldn’t do it. Before it would have been fine, but if you wait - -

What’s sad is he had a graduate degree from UCLA. It was probably a decent novel, because I liked a play of his I’d seen.

Worked in restaurants. I never saw them recycle food that had been served to customers. They throw out a lot of food. I don't believe the bear claw thing. They wash produce. Most are concerned about cleanliness.

Decades ago 98% of restaurant workers would not mess with someone's food even if provoked. Most still would not, but there's more bad workers now, especially in fast food/low end places. It's certainly a bad idea to be repeatedly capricious or abusive to food service workers. Seek help if you do that.

I teach at the leading university in my country (not the US). A lot of the teaching is done by adjuncts who might be PhD-qualified or nearly there, but still earn less than 10k a year, or less than a supermarket shelf-stacker would make per hour. They will be teaching classes of 20+ undergraduates who pay thousands of euro each in fees. The difference goes to big capital projects or top managers' salaries. Unsurprisingly, turnover is very high. My department saw 20+ staff pass through it in only five years. Other universities I know have even employed final-year undergraduates to teach first years.

A literary agent will actually be your first editor (if he or she is decent) in addition to pitching your book to acquisition editors.

An editor at a publishing house does very little traditional editing at all — he or she is looking for properties that can be made lucrative.

Self-publishing in hopes of getting a traditional publishing deal is a fool's errand. Sure, there are exceptions like the Twilight series, but once in a while someone hits the Powerball too. It doesn't factor in the millions and millions of tickets that were sold. Same with self-published books.

If you want to self-publish for your own pleasure as a hobby, that's fine. But the few reviewers who are left at major publications won't even look at a self-published book.

R142 NOW you tell me!

I work in Cybersecurity on the sales side. I cannot tell you how cheap huge companies are, knowing they need to protect your data but would rather risk a billion-dollar fine than spend 500K to protect your data.

Soooo I should close my Onlyfans account before I get exposed, R144?

R33 that's American. Lots of European countries have open admissions and then cull for two years to reach management numbers and the taxpayer supported budget. So many students fail.

R145 surprisingly they take security seriously.

R124 You are so right. I started seeing a new doctor, and I was kinda shocked when she set a timer at the beginning of our appointment.

I mean...I get it. The elderly talk a lot, but AT LEAST be discreet about it. I felt rushed the entire time.

I've had the opposite experience as r148. I just want to get my BP meds refilled for a few months and leave. Last time I ended up with three doctors in the room interrogating me even after I told them to just authorize refills for my prescription and that was the only thing I was there for.

Amazon Fulfillment Centers. Warehouse recruiters source employees from places like halfway houses, homeless shelters, sober living facilities and work release programs . The number of emotionally unstable ,mentally unstable and potentially violent workers in those facilities is much higher than average than a standard warehouse location in the US. This is done obviously to meet recruitment goals and use tax advantaged programs offered by the state to offer employment to people with background issues.

They have a program in place to identify ,remove people from the workplace temporarily and have them evaluated by a mental health professional that is administered by corporate HR for individuals who may present a threat to themselves or others. Many individuals non compliant to psychiatric meds despite having full benefits.

Speaking of Corporate HR, that organization is full of 20 something and 30 something people with a predominance of white straight females. These individuals work anywhere between 60 and 80 hours per week average, Adderall abuse is rampant within those ranks. Turnover is extremely high even with the director level and executive level ranks. The whole organization changes face every two years on average. Which is that corporate culture's mainstay to recycle people. Very few examples of people with a tenure of 4 plus years.

The corporate culture is toxic on all levels from the hourly warehouse worker to the VP level. The level of "wokeness" programs in HR is overwhelming and in direct conflict with meeting productivity requirements.

*edit: I am putting the "tl;dr" before the actual post before someone tells me (justly) to get a blog):

tl;dr: The media lies to you. surveys are bullshit, news mostly does not represent the truth in any shape or form unless it is unavoidable. TV makers are cynic and entitled. Source: I was a tiny wheel in the process.

I worked for public television stations in Germany approx. 20 years ago (and for several years) and even then, large portions of the news was just what the editor-in-chief thought was the message he or she liked. Whenever we did a street survey, what was broadcast afterwards (whether it was news or a 30 min or 1 hr feature) never followed the gist of what the interviewees had been saying. One example: Neckarwestheim, nuclear plant. We were asking people in the small town of Neckarwestheim whether they were afraid of a nuclear disaster. (The editor who was the interviewer tried to be really suggestive with his questions too.) Every man, woman, child, and even people who could barely walk anymore said. "Actually, ... no, it's nice here." "We don't mind." "It's pretty cool." etc. It took us almost two hours to find soundbites that could be misconstrued as 'people living in fear under the shadow of the nuclear plant'. It would be funny if it was a school project. However, it is the reputable media that most people trusted yet back then. It was news clips and features like the ones I participated in that swayed public and politicians' opinions firmly against nuclear energy - and most of it was bullshit and just the very insular opinion of a wealthy media "elite". (They surely thought of themselves that way.)

Also: When you saw some shit on the news like 'war zone a, guy shooting at people from a roof' it is most likely staged or not what you think you see. There are agencies that sell that kind of clip to news agencies since the latter cut costs and are not present anymore in the actual war zones. (And if they are, then they are just there for decoration and have demonstrably no f*cking idea what they're doing. The CNN freeing the torturer - that could have been German TV too.) If a clip is shown and the anchor says "today in x.".., the footage often shows something that was not happening that day and sometimes even a different war.

Fun fact: Before working for the public television stations I worked for QVC Germany which was ironically more moral and straightforward in its business practices. Most of the stuff QVC sold at the time (20+ yrs ago) was amazing and it was fun working there. Good times!

R149 Same. To get refills I have to have an appointment on the calendar so I make an appointment a year in advance and then when ti come sup I just keep rescheduling it.

That’s what hospice is at R104. Personally I couldn’t make that call.

Which is why the family waited until my weekend off and my client died.

[quote] Fun fact: Before working for the public television stations I worked for QVC Germany

Hi Germania!

Only scary to your wallet but dental crowns cost pennies to make.

Not in the hospital field but adjacent to many who are: one can often dramatically reduce one’s hospital bill by negotiating a cash rate. You just need to have the cash, obviously.

R7 sounds MAGAish.

Some states are moving away from differentiating insurance premiums due to age, gender and zip code? Anne Heche is gonna pay the same as grandma who only drives to church in Sundays.

Anne Heche ain't gonna pay SHIT!

R155 hi back! I just added this because on paper, it is a separate corporation.

About the salaries at non-profits: the CEO of a not-for-profit classical music radio station in Portland is paid about $350,000 per year. She just spent a few million dollars on fancy new offices in a new location. The staff is made to do multiple days-long fundraisers per year, ONE of which goes entirely to pay her salary. And they recently hired a well-known union-busting law firm to help them exploit their workers. Since it's not a business per se, there's very little accountability.

R92, a stranger perfumed CPR on my partner then the EMTs took over and he miraculously lived through it and made a full recovery.

Wtf

I bet he smells terrific to this day, R163.

Coming soon “ER: Naked & Afraid”

On The DataLounge there are only two ancient crypt dwelling queens who start 90% of all threads.

Datalounge is 88-95% female now, white and over the age of 50.

R167 Scary indeed.

DL aka Frau McFrauen

Low-key need the smelling salts after threads like these. The climate change comments are by far the most alarming to me. I have a friend who works as a marine biologist and he’s told me horrifying tales that actually brought me to tears.

I found one of these threads on Reddit. One thing I’ll never forget now is that the radiologists can clearly see your penis in abdominal X-rays. Googled it and, yes, nothing is left to the imagination.

My own contribution just echoes what somebody else said about the publishing industry. Unless you happen to be a big name with a proven track record, even if you get published you’re basically on your own when it comes to publicity and sales. You’ll be lucky the get the bare minimum promotion.

R167 I think that’s Fraubook (especially red state Fraubook)

To the poster asking about how long we have left, I encourage you to read 'Limits to Growth' and all the subsequent revisits over the decades that bolster its hypothesis. We will make it to 2040 until full collapse - if we are lucky. But you don't need a scientist to tell you that we've entered the downward slide. It is only going to get progressively worse on all fronts, sometimes shockingly fast.

I don't mind if airport security and radiologists see my dick.

Anyone who does mind has a small dick

R87, I negotiated a higher salary when I joined my current employer so I started a bit higher than most. I've changed jobs 3 times in 19 years (same employer) and make low 6 figures. My manager started as a part-timer so her salary is based on that. A few years ago, she told me I make more money than she does! My company doesn't share salary bands but they have to be pretty wide for something like this to happen. In fact, that may mean that some new hires (with less education and/or no certifications) makes more than their managers.

It happens everywhere, Cosmo. A friend who is the chairman of her department at Berkeley (there 30 years) makes less in salary than some of the new junior faculty hires.

And boy, she is pissed.

R176 it probably shouldn't happen that much at a state university but at private rich university they pay for the stars they want as professors. Even if they know the star will only stick around 5-10 years. Also, they hire successful professional people - not academics - and pay them a lot.

I understand. Harvard has tried three times to lure an academic from Stanford who takes the HU offer each time and goes back to Palo Alto so they can top it. Friends say the university-owned MCM house on campus isn't enough: what he really wants is a vineyard.

My friend at Berkeley said the same thing. Fortunately, her books, consulting, and lecturing are keeping her from living in one of the poorer parts of Richmond or Oakland.

Search committees for tenure track professors are often mere shows. If there is an internal candidate amongst the final three candidates, he/she will get the job, and the university visit, research lecture, and teaching demonstration are pro forma for the other two. Even if the other candidates are better scholars and teachers, the guy or gal who has the inside track will get the job offer.

R33 is correct.

R40, you're a good man.

I am an attorney. As you probably know the judicial system in this country is a cluster fuck for a lot of reasons.

1. Most judges are nominated to their position, and once there are untouchable unless they do something really outrageous. I knew of one judge who was arrested a few times for DUI. He was allowed to sit on the bench and hand out DUI sentences to other people. And he was the worst. There was racist judge who was known for being a racist that was kept on the bench until he could retire in 2021. Of course there is a judicial firm set up to watch over the judges. But they are usually made up former judges, friendly lawyers, and ass kissers. So very, very few judges are ever punished for their rudeness, lack of social grace, or the continued behavior that cheapens the law and the courts.

2. Many judges are just dumb. You don't have to be smart or worldly to become a lawyer. The typical path to judgeship is usually: law school student who edited the law review, then a firm or teaching or being a state's attorney, kissing so much ass that it's indecent, and finally serving on the bench until you are 70.

3. Dumb lawyers are another reason. More and more lawyers are so into making money, or being a partner, that their understanding and devotion to the clients is mostly an act. The Jewish lawyers over charge their poor clients. The black lawyers will only take a case where a great deal of money is involved. The white lawyers run the show so they don't care about anyone except themselves. And a great many of these lawyers are dumb. You wouldn't want to place your future in their hands. Either they don't know the law, or twist it to help themselves, or just don't care.

4. The whole system is rigged in one way: to protect the rich, to scare the middle class, and to oppress the poor. Yes there is plenty of racism, and class snobbery. But the real problem is that a great many lawyers and judges are misogynists, males mostly but you would be shocked at how many female lawyers are treated like shit by other female lawyers, and especially by the female judges. But the real problem is that when you look down on women you tend to look down on their offspring, and the way they were raised. A great many lawyers come from well off to wealthy people without any real knowledge of how the other half lives . So they tend to think of women in limited ways that really are about marginalizing them and their children, who are defendants.

5. Finally when the courts are abused by the rich and powerful, it sends a terrible message to the average person who doesn't get that benefit, and often wonders where it is. They have no respect for the court system and the court system has no respect for them. So the public act accordingly.

R172 's cat is named Apocalypto.

For those asking about animals, there was this shocking film from about 40 years ago. Maybe you can stream it from somewhere.

When I was about 21 years old many years ago now, I worked as a waiter/barman in a restaurant.

A middle aged customer was being absolutely vile, rude, loud and demanding that I get him a Gin and Tonic in a glass with ice. When I went into the back room the other guy I worked with said I should refuse to serve him. I said no I’d rather get him his drink. I unzipped my pants, got out my thick uncut cock, and wiped it around the outside rim of the glass. I then took the drink to the customer, smiled, and said enjoy.

That’s the only time I did that and I don’t regret it. But for sure I would never piss of a food server or barman.

A story to confirm R156. I get most of my dental care in Los Algodones Mexico. 3 years ago I had a root canal + crown there that failed somehow less than a month later, and had to be re-done. They tried to save the crown but it cracked when they removed it.

Because Mexican dentists are far less money-grubbing than U.S. dentists, they did not charge me for this second root canal. I insisted on paying them something, and the dentist said, "I guess you can pay for the replacement crown." Price? $45. The crown was made across the border in the U.S., btw. Total cost for 2 roots canal and 2 crowns? $645.

R184 Did the same dentist do both? Because if the crown failed within a month, it sounds like they fucked up and redid it to fix the original error.

Geez, R184, I've had three crowns crack or chip, all from the same dentist and lab. Their lifetime seemed to be about 3 or 4 years before something happened. I'd like to kill that guy (figure of speech). With the first one, I told them about it and asked why that would happen, when I wear a guard every night faithfully. They didn't have an answer and didn't offer any restitution, just said I could get it redone but it was only a cusp that broke off. I stopped going to that dentist for another reason; it's not an interesting story but was an episode that made me further question their ethics and judgment. I went to a new dentist and got a fourth crown that's working fine so far, but it's going to be at least $700 WITH INSURANCE, so I'm putting it off and looking for another new dentist.

It's such a scam! When you pay that much for something that's supposed to withstand normal use, you should really be treated better. Maybe I'll go to Mexico, too.

P.S. I had been going to that dentist for something like 20 years. I'm still very annoyed even though it's been two years since I quit them.

[quote] I unzipped my pants, got out my thick uncut cock, and wiped it around the outside rim of the glass.

This is supposed to disincentivize me from being rude to my server? I'd pay extra for that!

r180, you must practice in the U.S. District courts. Most judges who are not on the federal bench are elected and have to run every six years (at least in my flyover state) and it is VERY expensive to run a successful campaign. Also, you can't say anything to anyone without fear of retribution. I once attended a CLE for judges that suggested we call them "clients" instead of "defendants" because the latter was too demeaning.

Every nursing home in the country is understaffed. They're more interested in sucking the last money out of the system than providing care.

literal cocktails!

[quote] Farmer told me Scrapple is "everything but the oink."

I mean, anyone who's from PA knows that from the get go.

[quote] I unzipped my pants, got out my thick uncut cock

Photos please!

I believe R151. While there are still worthy news organizations out there, the big corporate news names thrive on conflict and sound bites.

Actual deep coverage of most stories is never seen or heard.

R186, I made the switch to Mexican dentistry when my longtime dentist bought an airplane. Before that, he did a filling that had a painful ridge on it, and I asked him to fix it. He tinkered and then said there was nothing wrong. He billed me and my insurance for the visit. A few days later, the ridge broke off with a portion of the filling. That was over 15 years ago. Mexican dentists are great, and about 1/3 the price of U.S. dentists. A few Mexican dentists accept U.S. insurance, but consequently charge higher rates.

Insurance is a fucking racket.

Thanks for telling us, R190. No one else knew that.

I want to see R183's cock too!

Or at least have a cocktail where it's been rubbed on the glass.

Amazed that everyone seems to believe 183's ridiculous story.

It's the DL, hon. Of course we believe in thick uncut cock.

It's harder to find than Tinkerbell....

[quote]Some of the people who work in special education are verbally, emotionally and physically abusive to nonverbal kids.

That is true, but to be fair, the reverse is also true. Some nonverbal kids wreak real physical damage on people who work with them, often when those people are trying to prevent them from harming other kids in the class. Often they're just thrashing around having a meltdown, but sometimes it's a case of neurodivergence plus sociopathy, which is by no means an inevitable duo but which does happen. When it does, woe betide anyone who gets in that kid's way. The parents will always deny it's the kid's fault because they're terrified the school will expel the child and make it their problem again, and at its extreme this can result in false accusations of abuse by workers. I'm not at all saying such abuse never happens, but I suspect that (as in ordinary schools) abuse by children of teachers is more frequent these days than the other way round.

R203 I completely agree and I am the one who wrote that post. I have been in sped for 14 years and taken a ton of abuse. I have seen more than I’ve gotten. For whatever reason, kids are allowed to hurt the adults now without much recourse. You can defend yourself and restrain but there are trainings on how to do that the right way. But the kids have something of an excuse. Adults without mental disabilities have no excuse to hurt the kids.

Hold My Beer!