All that glitters is not goldmight be a cliché, but it’s a cliché for a reason. Reminding us that not everything is as good as it might seem, it can be fitting to describe nearly everything, including all sorts of industries. While some appear to be nothing but positive, they can bear a hidden dark side, typically not well-known to everyone.Members of the ‘Ask Reddit’ community recently discussed such industries, after the user ‘attilabodnar’ asked them which ones are a lot shadier than they seem. Fellow redditors shared their views, covering everything from cosmetics and wigs to hearing aids and nursing homes, among other things. Scroll down to find their answers on the list below to learn more about what industries people consider shady and why.This post may includeaffiliate links.

All that glitters is not goldmight be a cliché, but it’s a cliché for a reason. Reminding us that not everything is as good as it might seem, it can be fitting to describe nearly everything, including all sorts of industries. While some appear to be nothing but positive, they can bear a hidden dark side, typically not well-known to everyone.

Members of the ‘Ask Reddit’ community recently discussed such industries, after the user ‘attilabodnar’ asked them which ones are a lot shadier than they seem. Fellow redditors shared their views, covering everything from cosmetics and wigs to hearing aids and nursing homes, among other things. Scroll down to find their answers on the list below to learn more about what industries people consider shady and why.

This post may includeaffiliate links.

Funeral Business. Guilting little old ladies into spending money they don’t have to give their husbands a funeral “they deserve”.

“Who Knows What They Put In These Things”: 30 Industries More Shady Than You Might Think

Department of human resources in every industry. Despite the name, they are not there to help the employees. They are there to keep the employers out of trouble.

“Who Knows What They Put In These Things”: 30 Industries More Shady Than You Might Think

Recycling. A lot of stuff gets shipped to Asia or just dumped in a landfill.

“Who Knows What They Put In These Things”: 30 Industries More Shady Than You Might Think

College book industry

“Who Knows What They Put In These Things”: 30 Industries More Shady Than You Might Think

Insurance. Life insurance, car insurance, health insurance, whatever.People tend to trust insurance companies, which is nuts. Nice-seeming people wearing nice business clothes, sometimes in a nice office, with nice, neat forms to fill out and nice, long contracts to sign. Everything seems proper. Everything seems fair.These companies DENY claims at every opportunity. That makes up a lot of their profit, the denial of valid claims. The more you pay per month the happier they are and nicer they seem, but that doesn’t make them any more likely to give all your money back (and then some on top) when something supposedly insured-against happens.If an insurance company CAN deny any claim, they WILL. It’s pure profit. Then they’ll often raise your rates, seemingly as punishment for daring to file a claim.

“Who Knows What They Put In These Things”: 30 Industries More Shady Than You Might Think

Fine art dealers. Apparently it’s a massive unregulated “grey market” that is largely about money laundering.

“Who Knows What They Put In These Things”: 30 Industries More Shady Than You Might Think

Healthcare (at least in the US).

“Who Knows What They Put In These Things”: 30 Industries More Shady Than You Might Think

Nursing Homes

“Who Knows What They Put In These Things”: 30 Industries More Shady Than You Might Think

“Who Knows What They Put In These Things”: 30 Industries More Shady Than You Might Think

Cosmetics. The industry is highly unregulated and there’s not a lot of consequences for making false or misleading claims about products. Who knows what they put in these things.

“Who Knows What They Put In These Things”: 30 Industries More Shady Than You Might Think

Not exactly shady, but the restaurant/bar industry is pretty wild. Everyone is on drugs and sleeping with each other. Highly recommend, it was a great time.

“Who Knows What They Put In These Things”: 30 Industries More Shady Than You Might Think

The wig industry. There are pretty much only 2 wig makers in the world and they repackage the wigs according to what company you buy from. So a Beyoncé at one company, might be another company’s Auburn blonde. Also when I worked for a company we had a lifetime guarantee on the wigs, so people would have it for a few years then return it. All we did was wash it in an industrial washing machine, restyle it then sell it as new.

“Who Knows What They Put In These Things”: 30 Industries More Shady Than You Might Think

The addiction treatment industry. Trust me, there are some good program, but a lot of very greedy, evil people that capitalize on providing you treatment, then you relapsing, and getting you into the cycle of treatment/relapse/treatment. Very shady.

“Who Knows What They Put In These Things”: 30 Industries More Shady Than You Might Think

Anything related to eye glasses.

“Who Knows What They Put In These Things”: 30 Industries More Shady Than You Might Think

The defense industry. The largest defense contract ever, the F-35 joint strike fighter, is a cost plus contract. Meaning there was no fixed price. Lockheed gets paid whatever they spend plus a percent as profit. Trillions of tax dollars will be spent on it.

“Who Knows What They Put In These Things”: 30 Industries More Shady Than You Might Think

Car dealerships including both sales and the service department. When my car was still under warranty I used to take it to the dealer for service. Every single time I’m there for an oil change they do their scare tactics; we recommend this service. Whenever I ask, do I really need it they always say if you skip it this and that bad thing will happen. One time they did a brake job on all 4 wheels. The following appointment they again said I need a brake job on the rear. I was so livid and asked them, what do you mean I need a break job? You just did it on my last appointment! So, what did I pay for the last time I was here? I caught them with their pants down. The service manager apologized (didn’t really work, I was still mad) and said they’ll do the rear brake job for free. I never did get a proper explanation but it this happened years ago so I don’t remember. That was the last time I went to that place for service.

“Who Knows What They Put In These Things”: 30 Industries More Shady Than You Might Think

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Realtors.

“Who Knows What They Put In These Things”: 30 Industries More Shady Than You Might Think

Automotive repair and it is getting worse. What we need is investigators that take vehicles in with known problems and prosecute the criminals that misdiagnose or just plain sell parts and services not needed. In the 80’s California shut down all of Montgomery Wards service departments in the state for abusing customers.

“Who Knows What They Put In These Things”: 30 Industries More Shady Than You Might Think

Hearing aids. Lots of unqualified people selling hearing aids with a 500% markup or more.

“Who Knows What They Put In These Things”: 30 Industries More Shady Than You Might Think

Property management

“Who Knows What They Put In These Things”: 30 Industries More Shady Than You Might Think

Many nonprofits are extremely Shady. I was program manager for one of the larger nonprofits in America. I didn’t know at the time, my real job with teach corporate Executives, how to make millions using the non-profit system. Worst job I ever had. I left after 6 months. Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying all non-profits are shady and bad, they’re not. Most are not. However if you want to make an ungodly amount of money, nonprofit is great for that. Just make sure to give up your morals, your conscience and your values.

“Who Knows What They Put In These Things”: 30 Industries More Shady Than You Might Think

Most consultancies.It’s very rare you get a specialized service. They come up with a common method for doing things, apply it to most projects, and charge thousands a day for it.

“Who Knows What They Put In These Things”: 30 Industries More Shady Than You Might Think

Universities and Colleges.

“Who Knows What They Put In These Things”: 30 Industries More Shady Than You Might Think

“Who Knows What They Put In These Things”: 30 Industries More Shady Than You Might Think

Fertility industry

“Who Knows What They Put In These Things”: 30 Industries More Shady Than You Might Think

Almonds. They suck California dry of water.

“Who Knows What They Put In These Things”: 30 Industries More Shady Than You Might Think

High end sports memorabilia and high end used cars. Just legalized money laundering that often times is never reported. Game used Brady jerseys sell for $500k.

“Who Knows What They Put In These Things”: 30 Industries More Shady Than You Might Think

The ‘financial services’ and ‘financial advisors’. They portray themselves as organized and honest but they’re stealing a lot of us blind.

“Who Knows What They Put In These Things”: 30 Industries More Shady Than You Might Think

Academia

The Non-Profit Industrial Complex.Turns out, a lot of do-gooder liberal types are shady hucksters just like right wing grifters.They do funny things like acknowledge the original natives of the land they’re on while intimidating and pressuring employees not to form a union.

“Who Knows What They Put In These Things”: 30 Industries More Shady Than You Might Think

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