Looks can be deceptive. That's true for people and objects, but, sometimes, we can also apply that to certain jobs. A line of work might seem inviting and easy from the outside, but, when you listen to what the people who actually work there have to say about it, you thank your lucky stars you never accepted that job offer.

Recently, people took to Reddit to expose the industries that have some pretty questionable hidden practices. When one user asked, "What industry is a lot more dark and sinister than most people realise?", over 7k people came in ready to answer. Curious to know what industries made the list? Scroll down and check them out!

#1

Church.

#2

Politics. However dark you think it is, it’s a LOT darker.

Image credits: Fragrant-Loan-1580

#3

Social media. They use the same strategies that casinos do to game human psychology.

Image credits: ovirt001

#4

I thought working at a local flower shop would be rosy and idyllic until I was told to upsell grieving widows on already overpriced casket sprays.

Image credits: Sure_Disk8972

#5

F*****g nursing homes.

I didn’t think the worst part of ems would be learning how most nursing homes in my area treat their patients.

But it is. By **far**.

Image credits: Jigsaw115

#6

Baby food. The s**t nestle pulled in Africa is despicable.

Image credits: ShambolicPaul

#7

This will get buried but the Aquarium industry is awful. The amount of death and fish we just throw away would shock you. On top of that so many shops sell fish to people who are not setup properly to take care of the animal.

Image credits: furious_george3030

#8

Healthcare, particularly big pharma. Look up the Merck scandal with Vioxx. Merck fabricated a journal to hide the side effects of Vioxx, which was actually responsible for causing tens of thousands of heart attacks.

Big pharma ultimately cares about money, not health.

Image credits: CangrejoAzul

#9

Surprised I’ve not seen charity sector. Funding fraud, mistreatment and underpayment of staff and focusing more on PR than actually doing anything of substance are commonplace.

Image credits: quarterlifecrisisgal

#10

Child modeling and talent shows.

#11

Academia.

Abuse. Exploiting young ambitious people. Nepotism. inefficient allocation of resources.

Image credits: MiceAreTiny

#12

The Art Industry. Paintings that look like a 5 year old made it that sell for $10 million are really just money laundering schemes, tax avoidance schemes and insurance scams.

#13

Elder care, and the care industry in general.

Image credits: AquaNautautical

#14

Gambling

However sinister you think it is... it's more than that.

Image credits: PlatterHoldingNomad

#15

Higher Education. It's become all about the dollars.

Colleges took a major financial hit over the COVID years. To make up deficits, they're doing some very shady s**t to get enrollment and retention back up to fill seats and collect money.

They're doing things like:

1. Recruiting standards have fallen through the floor, attracting students who have no business in college in the first place.


2. Institute a 'No academic dismissal' policy. You can carry a 0.0 through the fall semester and be welcome back in the spring.


3. Ruin housing. They enroll more students than they had rooms for, resulting in triples instead of doubles, converted lounges to barracks style rooms, and even put students up in local motels until they could find rooms for them. Parents are not made aware of this until move-in day.


4. Refuse to expel students guilty of criminal behavior, at least until after the deadline where students would be eligible for refunds


5. Cut the resources of their campus police and security departments so their ability to actually investigate criminal behavior is limited.


6. Actively hampered criminal investigations so that word doesn't get around that there are safety concerns associated with overcrowding and s**t enrollment standards.


7. Fire experienced department heads who can properly serve students and replace them with people they can pay lower salaries to


8. Cut support services budgets and freeze employment lines, resulting in manpower shortages in the departments meant to support students


....and more. Everything college administrations are doing is designed to pull a dollar through the door and keep it there....even at the expense of the security and well-being of the students they bring in.

Image credits: CoffeeAndBrass

#16

I'd say Sales, such as call centers and cold calling. Nothing worse than being told to hit KPIs and targets just to sell people s**t they don't want, sometimes forcefully, under the threat of loosing your job.

Been there, never doing it again, no matter how desperate. Such an unethical practice when you think about it.

Image credits: 0utSyd3r

#17

I'm going to say Finance but not for the reason most people think. I work in trading, and my colleagues are some of the smartest people on the planet. Former chemists, physicists, virologists, aerospace engineers, statisticians, materials scientists, and etc. They all get burnt out barely able to keep their research going and being for grant money, then they get recruited into financial firms to do the same kind of work they enjoy but get paid 10x or even 100x. They don't have to deal with customers, and they see direct indicators of the quality of their work.

Finance takes people who could be changing the world for the better, and once they cross the event horizon there's no going back. The other half of the problem is how difficult it is to get funding for research to improve the world, but finance is the black hole from which there is no escape.

Image credits: _toodamnparanoid_

#18

Non-profits. They like to talk all rainbows and unicorns, but they are some of the most toxic, backstabbing, nepotistic workplaces I've ever been in.

#19

Medical devices. You think your cataract surgeon thinks it's unsafe to do both cataracts in the same day? Yea right, they just can't bill as much if they do them both same day. You think that iStent will help your glaucoma?? B******t, it does almost nothing, but the surgeon gets to bill your insurance a lot of money for that procedure - so we're doing it. Oh, you have astigmatism?? How about laser assisted cataract surgery? It's great for eyes like yours. Forget that the complication rate is much higher, and that it's not covered by insurance because the outcomes are so bad. It's PERFECT for you.

I mentioned a few ophthalmic procedures, but the list goes on for every specialty. Your medicine is likely influenced by the highest bidder. I hate to say it, but you can't trust any medical provider in the US.

#20

The Tomato industry. I went to a lecture for extra credit in college on the history of the tomato. I was expecting to hear how people used it and where people started growing them and what not. What I got was essentially a full season of the sopranos. Extortion, m*rder, blackmail, vandalism, you name it...the tomato industry was rife with the worst s**t.

Image credits: Mimmzy

#21

Casinos. They setup the facade that everybody is having a great time. But they are experts in psychological manipulation and are taking advantage of every move you make. Reality is fundamentally manipulated at every turn. Truly dark and sinister.

Image credits: gallegos

#22

Horse racing.

#23

Health insurance. The moment you use them they are no longer profiting. Stay healthy or die. Nothing in-between.

#24

Chiquita Banana and any of the banana republic companies. These are companies that essentially bought entire countries in central America. Bought, paid for, and own all of the local utility companies, and they control the government. They're all behind a lot of assassinations to control these countries and keep them company owned.

Image credits: bearetta67

#25

CPS/Foster Care Systems.

Image credits: sassmastered

#26

The beauty industry. You think it’s all glam and glowing skin? Nah, it’s basically a battlefield where innocent pores are tortured by overpriced serums, and your self-esteem is held hostage by Photoshop and airbrushing. They sell us a fantasy, and we’re out here spending half our paychecks chasing it. And don’t even get me started on those “miracle” products—they're just expensive lies in cute packaging!

#27

Childcare.


I work with people who are straight dumb, some who are mean, and the well meaning get burnt out.

And your child isn't always safe from other children because there's really nothing we can do about bad behavior. They might get bit, and like there's nothing I can do about it but write up a report and scold the kid. And they'll get bit again.


Low pay, low support, lack of adequate training for any kids who fall into neurodivergency, lack of supplies, no time/space/room for one-on-one care, high turnover.


School up the street is in the middle of a police investigation. Detectives are involved. Research the center HARD before placing your kid there.

#28

In my country: window cleaners and roof builders.

They are run like mob organisations. If anyone would be stupid enough to start a window cleaning or roofing business, they can count on actual bombs, arson, intimidation and violence. The businesses that run the show have their own terfs and tresspassing will result in getting a bomb in your mailbox.

It's not even a joke.

Image credits: -----iMartijn-----

#29

Probably all of them. Every industry I ever came across tries to do the minimum required (effort/social/sustainability) to make the most (money) for themselves.
Food industry: race to the bottom for least amount of proper ingredients in their products. Pharmaceutical industry: maximize profits to the point a part of the customers go into bankruptcy. Tech industry: longevity of products just a little longer than warranty. I can go on and on.

edit: typo.

Image credits: 1_21_Jigawatt

#30

Call center. Training automatic communication on the clock f***s you up. 


Met people who were in the industry for some years and who had complete private conversations without remembering one word the person said. Not in the sense of forgetting but in the sense of just not listening.

#31

Advertising.

If publishers wanted to, they could easily identify any and all users, all of their interests, darkest secrets, and vulnerabilities. If you share location data, they know where you live, and they know exactly where you go.

Sure, it seems benign when they want to sell you a cool new brand of underwear, but that amount of data being available is the most insane vulnerability we have in the modern era.

#32

Temp agencies who provide housing.

Image credits: peathah

#33

Real estate

I'm a copywriter for a US real estate corporation and cant wait to get the f**k away from them. Disgusting industry. But right now i need to pay my bills.

Image credits: Rich-Anxiety5105

#34

The towing / tow truck industry, at least here in Toronto where it is very territorial and well connected.

Image credits: granada_anda

#35

Real Modeling (not being influencer lol).

Image credits: bujakaman

#36

Music Industry is Hell itself.

Image credits: UrAsianMastre

#37

Anything where people are involved.

#38

Dog shelters.

There’s a lot of people that breed dogs without knowing what they’re doing, and just doing it to make money.

Dogs are born with illnesses and disabilities so get ditched and left behind, ending up in a dog shelter.

Here it’s filled with dogs still “too healthy” to pass away but “too weak” to live. If we wouldn’t take care of them they wouldn’t survive for a day.

If you ever want to get a dog, please get one from a GOOD shelter. Know what you’re getting, but please don’t go find a cheep breeder.

Image credits: rigstar88

#39

The Art World, by which I mean the high-end institutional gallery art world. Gagosian, Mary Boone, etc.

I grew up in that world, and the amount of s****y exploitation that exists at every level would astonish you. I could write a book.

My advice to any young artist would be to make art for yourself first, and to not chase mainstream success. It’s not worth it.

#40

MLM’s. Toxic industry disguised as “career independence” that preys on vulnerable people.

#41

Fast fashion.

#42

I am going to go with Jewelry. A fair number of people are aware of "blood diamonds" and some people are aware of the s**t that DeBeers has pulled and therefore avoid diamonds altogether, but it is much deeper. You will be hard pressed to find a gemstone mine that isn't exploitive of its labor force, and even harder pressed to find one that isn't exploitive of the environment. It is an industry ripe with money laundering, ties to organized crime, and human trafficking. Industry standard terms are very careful to make it sound like they are protecting consumers (so governments don't step in) but actually protecting the industry. For example, a diamond that is manufactured from pure carbon to create a true diamond lattice with a hardness 10 etc. *must* be prominently labeled as "lab created" or "synthetic" in marketing. Meanwhile a low-grade diamond that has a coating on it to completely change it's color can be called "natural" and the fact that it is "treated" can be in the small print. And you can get a piece of white quartz, and sell it as a "natural diamond simulant" without problem. A "cultured" pearl will usually have less than a mm of pearl around a bead of shell or even plastic. And *all* commercial pearls are cultured.

#43

Cruise Lines. Man overboard tech exists that would drastically reduce the number of lives lost at sea but it comes at a cost. The large cruise line I worked at wouldn't even consider it unless a competitor did it first. It will never be implemented.

Image credits: akalias_1981

#44

Shipping industry, along with many different commodities. Oh you got a vessel to take your purchased cargo from some third world s**thole? Gotta bribe the port staff or your vessel gets delayed indefinitely. Or the port staff simply siphons your bunker fuel while docked and sells it back to you lmao.

You sold a cargo basis certain specifications with a lab doing independent testing upon discharge to determine the exact specs for payment settlement? Guess who’s bribing that lab?

For the US market, there are many addictives that are prohibited from being added to gasoline to improve its octane rating as they are deemed too polluting to the environment. But many US gasoline blenders buy large volumes of them anyway. Why? For selling into the Latin American market.

Image credits: abigbluebird

#45

Rehab for d***s and alcohol. .

#46

The video game industry. All you see as a consumer is a fun game, some big publishers and perhaps a few interviews with devs telling you how proud they are of element xy or the game in general.

Reality is that most those projects live off constant pressure on the devs, and a lot of it. The publisher sets a date, there are millions of dollars going into it including investments by stakeholders who want to be satisfied. Most of the times those release dates are unrealistic to say the least. This leads to a ton of pressure on the devs, working way over time and still not being able to really put out the work that would have to be done in order to put out a complete game in the end.

Thats also one of the reasons why so many games nowadays release unfinished or full of bugs. Theyre pushing the game out before its finished due to unrealistic release dates set to satisfy investors. If the game is still a success, devs go right back to work with new contracts. If it flops the work on that game gets dropped and you only had to pay like half of the work done by the devs because you released the game halfbaked.

#47

I'm older,(66) and remember a time when gambling was thought of as a moral failing.

#48

Investment/Banking.

#49

Hospitality(Hotels/Resorts).

Some issues: Money laundering, gentrification, and human trafficking. Not to mention waste, destroying natural habitats, limiting local access to resort areas, and over tourism.

#50

NCAA athletics!! Worked for 10 years in college football and it’s insane what goes on and what people don’t see. All people see is the coaches who make millions of dollars. They are the 1% of the top 1%. The biggest kept secret in the business is the way schools skirt around fair wage and labor laws to exploit young people trying to coach. They have contracts that call young coaches “interns” which allows the school to only pay them 10,000 a year or less but you will work upwards of 70-80 hours a week which includes weekends. I have been advocating for this practice to be outlawed for a very long time and is the main reason I left the profession. You get worked to death and make zero money to do it. Please realize the coaches you see on tv and the salaries you hear about are literally the peak of the profession. It would be like comparing the CEO of google salary to the owner of a small coffee shop salary. Next time you watch a college football game look at the sheer amount of staff members on the sideline and remember that there are only 10 salaried assistant coaches allowed on staff. Now think of the thousands of coaches that coach college ball at the D3 and D2 level that aren’t even on TV. The NCAA needs to step up and mandate fair pay and stop the exploitation.

#51

Aviation. You think it’s glamorous…… Pilots and attendants, you think are always all up away in exotic destinations getting wild and partying. While tha may have slightly been the case 2-3 decades ago ago now it’s a lot darker and scarier than you could imagine. The people crucial to your safety, the ones who you’d actually depend on to live or die in an emergency are overworked, underpaid, fatigued as f8*k and stressed out. Most are dealing with mental health issues in silence (so not sure how that’s defined as “dealing”) while the ones that run the show work cushy 9-5s and get most weekends off. Talk to any pilot right now from around the world(I’m looking at you Asia/South Asia) and you’ll hear a very grim reality. And let’s not get started about the exploitation of th cabin crew/flight attendants.

Image credits: FlimsyEbb8390

#52

Caving instructor, it's pitch black!

Image credits: Dark_Knight_6075

#53

Film and TV production.

- Grueling 16 hour days / 6 days a week are normalized
- Going months without working, 25 year veterans on unemployment
- Hollywood egos and abuse towards production assistants and personal assistants
- Injuries / Deaths on film sets due to unsafe workplace
- The list goes on and on, with tons of examples in the news

But people still view hollywood as glamourous and aspirational.

#54

Entertainment.

#55

Hotel management. People go to hotels all the time to end it all.