# Secrets You Know Because Of Your Job **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 10, 2014, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secrets-you-know-because-of-your-job/706829 "2014-12-10T07:09:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Mr.Nylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/77aa72/32.png) [@Mr.Nylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Nylock)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secrets-you-know-because-of-your-job/706829/41 "2014-12-10T18:34:23Z")
Almost all the bicycles sold in the US are made in one of three asian factories; it’s not exactly a huge secret though. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secrets-you-know-because-of-your-job/706829/42 "2014-12-10T18:59:23Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > In the course of my legal career, I have become privvy to all sorts of confidential information. That’s all I will say. This. It’s the answer you’ll get from any lawyer. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secrets-you-know-because-of-your-job/706829/43 "2014-12-10T19:06:28Z")
Being a university professor, I have access to a variety of student records. Nothing earth-shattering, but nonetheless [legally protected information](http://www.ed.gov/technology/draft-netp-2010/FERPA). ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secrets-you-know-because-of-your-job/706829/44 "2014-12-10T19:09:10Z")
> [@Lucretia](#): > > You should clean out your belly button before you go in for surgery. Please explain. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secrets-you-know-because-of-your-job/706829/45 "2014-12-10T19:10:28Z")
> [@Mr.Nylock](#): > > Almost all the bicycles sold in the US are made in one of three asian factories; it’s not exactly a huge secret though. Only three companies make most of the lead-acid car batteries in the US; Exide, Delphi, and Johnson Controls who is the largest player and continues to buy up the smaller guys. Whatever is stamped on the outside plastic, it is probably a Johnson Controls car battery. ---
**Author:** ![JuliaSqueezer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/82dd89/32.png) [@JuliaSqueezer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JuliaSqueezer)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secrets-you-know-because-of-your-job/706829/46 "2014-12-10T19:14:20Z")
Before I retired, I worked for a major health insurer and handled “sensitive” or locked-drawer cases. I saw the medical procedures performed for many Famous Folks and had to hand-process them (getting medical transcripts, sometimes arranging for translations to English, medical review, currency conversions, cut the check and mail it, then enter a dummy code into the claims system for the patient’s history). My lips were and are sealed. ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secrets-you-know-because-of-your-job/706829/47 "2014-12-10T19:14:29Z")
I used to see some very interesting Medicare claims, when they would come in for payment review. Think the show “Sex Sent Me to the ER”. One involved a guy dressed as a superhero, jumping off a dresser and hitting a ceiling fan. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secrets-you-know-because-of-your-job/706829/48 "2014-12-10T19:22:48Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > The problem is disposing of the bodies afterward. While in kitschy assassin movies there is a department of ‘cleaners’ that come and tidy up after you make the kill, the reality is you generally have to take care of the disposal yourself, which is a lot messier than you might imagine. [Evil!Skald] Doesn’t everyone know this? Every “cleaner” is a possible security breach. It is not in the assassin’s best interest to employ such services. Either work for a powerful enough organization that you don’t have to sweat the police, or hide the evidence yourself. [/evil!skald] ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secrets-you-know-because-of-your-job/706829/49 "2014-12-10T19:38:44Z")
Like most of my colleagues, I have access to a LOT of wealthy people’s social security numbers, addresses, phone numbers and credit card numbers. If I were inclined toward identity theft, well… it would be easy for any of us. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secrets-you-know-because-of-your-job/706829/50 "2014-12-10T19:39:07Z")
> [@The\_Hamster\_King](#): > > I know about a bunch of PlayStation titles that are in production but haven’t been announced yet. For example, I spent 30 minutes yesterday playing a Morpheus game. So did Cory Barlog really slip up and accidentally announce God of War 4 or was that non-announcement announcement all planned ahead of time? ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secrets-you-know-because-of-your-job/706829/51 "2014-12-10T19:49:34Z")
> [@GrumpyBunny](#): > > I used to see some very interesting Medicare claims, when they would come in for payment review. Think the show “Sex Sent Me to the ER”. One involved a guy dressed as a superhero, jumping off a dresser and hitting a ceiling fan. It’s been a while since I heard that one but I first heard it in the late 80’s. > **[Batman with a Twist](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/superhero-unconscious-bed/)** > > Man dressed as superhero knocks himself unconscious after tying his wife to the bed. ---
**Author:** ![Fallen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e99b99/32.png) [@Fallen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fallen)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secrets-you-know-because-of-your-job/706829/52 "2014-12-10T19:50:34Z")
> [@teela\_brown](#): > > It’s not too deep of a secret, I suppose. > > In some law firms I’ve worked at, highly-reimbursed partners “take” the hours of a new associate or paralegal. That is, the hours of work put in on a case by the lower-paid individuals show up on the client’s bill as work done by the expensive partner. > > It’s doubly shitty, too. Young associates are always highly pressured to keep their billing hours up, and hours taken away by a partner have to be made up by the associate. Given you’re talking about a serious criminal act, I’d be sharing that secret with the appropriate parties (after accounting for dealing with fallout if you don’t do it anonymously). State bars don’t do a lot about a host of things[1], but they usually like to make an example of folks overtly stealing from the clients. (It won’t likely be as sexy as “The Firm” in terms of federal prosecution leverage or action, but …) [1] Unless, say, you’re a judge that orders a bailiff to activate a (self-represented) criminal defendant’s shock cuff because he wouldn’t stop talking over you (admittedly rude, but not something that entitles a judge to engage in torture tactics supposedly reserved for a situation only where the defendant is attempting to throttle or otherwise harm someone … or flee. (Shock cuff was put on the guy because he decided to leave the courtroom at an earlier hearing and embarrassed the sheriffs who had to find him (in someone’s office (don’t know if he argued he was trying to find the law library).) Oh, Nalley, that’s much better than when you let the air out of the tire of the cleaning lady who mistakenly parked in your space! ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secrets-you-know-because-of-your-job/706829/53 "2014-12-10T19:58:43Z")
> [@Fallen](#): > > Oh, Nalley, that’s much better than when you let the air out of the tire of the cleaning lady who mistakenly parked in your space! That happened in my town! > **[Judge's Action Deflates His Approval Rating : Snapshots of life in the...](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-06-11-mn-2021-story.html)** > > The Santa Barbara district attorney's office says it won't prosecute the man who let the air out of the tire of a van--with a wheelchair lift on the side--that was parked in a judge's spot. ---
**Author:** ![Noelq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noelq/32/16438_2.png) [@Noelq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noelq)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secrets-you-know-because-of-your-job/706829/54 "2014-12-10T20:18:44Z")
I work in IT. Our biggest secret? This little thing called Google. Don’t tell anyone- you can usually find the answers to your problems there. Its amazing how many people don’t know about this. ---
**Author:** ![Grestarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grestarian/32/3227_2.png) [@Grestarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grestarian)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secrets-you-know-because-of-your-job/706829/55 "2014-12-10T20:24:43Z")
> [@tapu](#): > > Mine’s worth a lot. Think about it: > > I manage tests for a publishing company. Like, state tests, standardized tests, college entrance exams, etc. > > Boring, but still pretty good secret stuff. Pearson Education (and testing) ? I applied for (and declined) a job with them over here on the opposite coast from you. That was almost a decade ago. Technically, the test answers aren’t _secret_ because, after all, lots of people want those answers to be known – particularly by the test-takers – so that they can respond correctly to a substantial number of the questions and prove they know their stuff well enough to eventually get a job utilizing that information/knowledge. On the other hand, the test keys – #1 = C, #2 = B, etc. – and how to access them, are secret enough. Then again, handing a test-taker the printed key for Test ENG 160-26 probably isn’t that helpful either, since there’s no guarantee she’ll be taking test #26 or that the key is for her English test rather than an Engineering test. 😃 –G! ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secrets-you-know-because-of-your-job/706829/56 "2014-12-10T20:26:42Z")
_Macondo_ … but I ain’t talkin’. ---
**Author:** ![jharvey963](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/54ee81/32.png) [@jharvey963](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jharvey963)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secrets-you-know-because-of-your-job/706829/57 "2014-12-10T21:43:05Z")
The gasoline you buy at a gas station probably wasn’t refined at that company’s refineries. Discount gas stations may very well be selling gasoline refined by major company refineries, even if that discount gas station company has its own refineries. (Reason: most gasoline is shipped via pipeline. In order to get a better shipping rate, most gasoline is shipped “common code”. Common Code means, I’ll give you X gallons of unleaded at pipeline start and will pick up X gallons of unleaded at pipeline end. It doesn’t matter if it’s the same unleaded gasoline I gave you. To be fancy, gasoline is considered a fungible product. Some odd occurrences of common code shipping: In some cases, the shipper may actually pick up the gasoline at the pipeline end BEFORE they’ve given it to the pipeline company at the pipeline start!) ---
**Author:** ![mage-girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@mage-girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mage-girl)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2014, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secrets-you-know-because-of-your-job/706829/58 "2014-12-11T00:13:46Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > A client’s credit card was declined. She laughed it off and handed me another. Declined. Nervously tried a third. Same. She pulled out a Discover card and joked, “this one has to be good” but it wasn’t. Then she had a little breakdown. I know her socially, so I gave her $50 out of my pocket as a loan so that she could pay my business (we do no billing). I’ve told no one. It’s very sad; I thought she and her husband were really well off financially. It’s amazing how good you can get at shuffling credit around. :smack: When I was at my old job, making $25k a year, I (not consciously) supplemented my income with credit cards, overdraft protection, and paycheck advances. My mom moved in with me in 2006 and pretty much put a stop to that. :o Now my income is at least a third less than before, and I can’t do or buy some of the things I used to. It’s healthier overall, but certain friends don’t see it that way. They just see that when my mom moved in, I suddenly had less money. :rolleyes: Sorry for the digression. I hope your acquaintance and her husband get their finances together before they completely collapse. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2014, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secrets-you-know-because-of-your-job/706829/59 "2014-12-11T00:38:14Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > Clearly you don’t work in aerospace. Or automotive. Or architecture. Or…what industry do you work in? Semiconductor… [Not that our engineers aren’t off the wall brilliant, because they are.] ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2014, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secrets-you-know-because-of-your-job/706829/60 "2014-12-11T01:26:56Z")
Computer programmer - I work with private data regularly. We quickly learn not to focus too much on it. Reports I write often include salaries. They’re just numbers on paper too me. I don’t consciously associate them with people I know. Early in my career in the 80’s the place I worked sold recycled paper. The Computer Operations center collected the paper and stored it. Boxes and boxes of used green bar computer paper all stacked and waiting for pickup on a loading dock. There was a lot of sensitive and personal information there. But identity theft crimes were unknown back then. No one gave those boxes a second thought. Today I shred any computer reports that I run for testing. I can’t leave them on out on my desk and leave my office. It’s a HIPAA violation if they contain health insurance information. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secrets-you-know-because-of-your-job/706829.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secrets-you-know-because-of-your-job/706829.md?page=4)