(Best Of) Secrets of Trades & Life’s Little Easter Eggs [Reddit Community]

via Shhh! Share the secrets of your trade/ Lifes little easter eggs.. : AskReddit (Best of comments, so you don’t have to scroll through the rather huge list of tips)

Next time you lose your phone charger, don’t buy another one. Go to a hotel and say you think you lost it there. It’s the #1 most left behind item at hotels, so most places have a big bin filled with every phone charger imaginable.

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Hotels use “smart” TV systems to sell you pay per view movies, allow you to view your bill, advertise the in house restaurants etc. It is basically a networked PC streaming from a movie server.
Now, these computers require diagnostics just like any other. The problem is that the machines are separated by walls, locked doors and several floors from the server room. Therefore they have got built in hacks which are accessed by entering a code on the unit’s remote control.With me so far? Good. Now, next time you stay in a hotel that uses a Nokia TV system, enter the following code using the remote control:

2 – 2 – 1 – Down Arrow
then push and hold down the “OK” button.

Voila! Free pay-per-view movies!

As long as you hold down the “OK” button, you can continue to watch. You can even scroll through the movie channels whilst holding down the button.

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to get free air (for your tires) at Shell gas stations, press the button on the side of the pump three times. The pump will start without you having to insert any coins.

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When you wake up in the middle of the night to do something, cover one eye with your hand and leave it there until you return to darkness. The eye that was covered will have retained its ability to see well in the dark so you will not run into the dresser on your way back to bed.

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I subscribe to Comcast and they have the same policy. Just tell them the cost is too high and you can’t afford to keep paying for it. They will do anything to keep you on board, which usually involves giving you one of their current “new subscriber” deals. My current deal is $40 per month (just the cable, not internet) with all the normal channels + HBO/Encore/Starz. Once a year they try to bump me up to like $70/month or something like that, and I call and say “sorry it’s too much, cancel me” and they drop it back down again. Going on my 5th year, now.

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actually this is an industry standard for many retailers (food to clothing) xx.95 is regular price xx.99 is the sale xx.97 is last call clearance before it is sent to liquidators.

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If you’ve got hotel reservations and need to cancel, but you’re already within however many days prior to arrival your cxl policy stated, just reschedule for a future date (for which at my chain there’s no penalty), call back, get a different rep and cancel free of charge! The odds of someone checking the history to see if this is what you’ve got up your sleeve is infinitesimal. I’m telling you cause I love you reddit, keep it on the dl.

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I work at a car dealership, and I’m always amazed at how easy it is to get a rock bottom price on a car, especially new.

Once you’ve chosen the car you want, go inside the building and let the salesman show you his offer. Tell them you’re going to go to another dealership (preferably the same size or bigger) and see if you can get a better offer. The next price you get will likely be unbeatable. Follow through anyway just to be safe.

With used cars, you will want to find two nearly identical cars at different dealerships. Follow the process above, though you might have to go back and forth a few times.

If you don’t give your last name or phone number, they’ll feel extra compelled to give you a reason to come back. Dealerships would rather have you be their customer than someone else’s, no matter how little they make on the deal. Also, you’ll be better off doing business in person. All in all, this should only take a day.

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If you want to buy anything expensive from Apple on their website you can save 15-20% . Log in/create an account, go to the configurator and spec out what you want, then go to checkout, but do not buy. Do nothing else for about 7-10 days. You should then get a call from Apple offering a deal if you buy then and there. Worked for my iMac.

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You will be able to get a discount 90% of the time when there is a “enter promo code” when buying something online. Just google [company name] + “coupon code”.

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(This is a throwaway.)

I’m a 911 operator on the graveyard shift.

The very first thing you should do to ensure your safety—especially in life-threatening situations—is to state your location. Cell phone triangulation is imperfect, and sometimes landline info is out of date. The moment an operator has an address or intersection, the police can be dispatched.

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A bum once told me he secret to life was owning stocks. I thought he was going to tell me that he was really a millionaire, but it turns out he just owned lots of different stocks so he could get steak dinners at all the shareholder meetings.

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If you encounter the “old school” parking meters wherein you need to turn a handle in order for the time to appear on the meter:

  1. Do not put in any money
  2. Turn and hold the handle so it is horizontal. The handle should be attached to a spring or something else inside the meter that causes tension, so you will need to place your fingers on the left side of the handle in order to balance it horizontally.
  3. Take the fat, hard end of your wallet and hit the handle on the right hand side (as if the handle was a hand of a clock and you were trying to make it go clockwise from :15 minutes to :45 minutes).
  4. Time will appear instantly on the parking meter.

edit: You may need to experiment with the amount of force required (from the wallet hitting the lever) in order to make time appear on the meter. Took me a few whacks the first couple of times….afterwards, it became second nature.

edit2: It helps if you use your thumb to support the bottom of your wallet (closest to your body) and your pointy finger to support the top. I think your pointy finger that supports the top of the wallet works the best. 🙂

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If you’re at a rave and don’t feel like paying $5-$20 for a bottle of water, which is how we make the majority of our income, tell a member of the staff (preferably an organiser [we shuffle around a lot and talk on walkie talkies]) that you were given some kind of pill and now you’re feeling dehydrated.

The last thing we want is a hospital run, and unless I’m really busy I’ll personally bring you over to the merchant table and lift a couple of bottles for you.

This may also work in nightclubs and at festivals.

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hold down all 4 corner buttons on the credit card machine to reboot it and piss of the next customer in line (behind you) who wouldn’t shut the fuck up.Edit: Credit for this one comes from an issue of 2600: The Hacker Quarterly I read a few years back.

From my experience this is a universal reset code for a lot of CC machines out there. I’ve had it work at several grocery stores as well.

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Many elevators have a code system for accessing restricted floors. A common one is to simultaneously press and hold the top two vertically oriented buttons. In this example it might be either 8 and 6 or 7 and 5. In fancy hotels this can get you onto the concierge floor without a key to snag free food. Just walk in like you belong, the guests change too frequently for them to keep track of everyone.

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From a past job: grocery stores stack product by sell date, so oldest in the front, freshest in the back. Always grab from the back.

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Don’t get fish on Sunday or Monday.

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On keeping your nice pens yours while letting someone else use it. Always keep the cap. No one accidentally keeps a pen w/o the cap.

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Write your name and contact details on a piece of paper, take a photo of it, and leave this on the memory card in your camera. This way if someone finds your camera, theres a much better chance of you getting it back! You might even want to include a text file with all your details, too.

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Small tips to see wether a person is lying or not:

If someone is telling you the truth, their palms are often open and visible somehow. If they are hiding their palms in some way, they are most likely NOT telling the truth.

Also, if a persons pupils are contracting or rapidly changing as they speak, or they have some other similar micro-expression, they are most likely lying.

And some other thing, if you want a person to do a task for you, like move an object from a location to another, you should not point with your finger. You should be submissive. They way to do this is to point with your hand open, making the inside your palm face upwards. This will make the person feel that you are being polite, and will happily do the task right away.

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If you are with ATT and have a smart phone (non iphone unless its been unlocked/activated/hacked) Call them and tell them you broke your phone and you are currently using another phone , read the IMEI off of an older phone (non 3g , non smart phone)

Ask for just the $15.00 unlimited internet, since its a non smart phone, Then, continue to use your smart phone, just don’t max out the 3G, they will never know the difference. Saves $15.00 a month, works with the iphone as well

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If you’re not in some very cold country (like northern Norway), always sleep with a window open. Even if it’s freezing outside, your body will adjust (or start doing it in the summer= easing the adjustment). You WILL sleep half an hour less, and be much more rested

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1) if you leave your razor blades in a jar quarter filled with vegetable oil, they will last quite a long time – because the lack of rust means they stay sharp.

2) For Aussies, quite often books and medicines are cheaper to order from overseas, even with expensive shipping.

3) It is pretty easy to custom make fly screens for your house. All you need is screen, framing, rubber cord, a hacksaw, and a mitre. A custom screen may cost $100 or more, making on costs about $20.

4) If your car is out of warranty, you can do the services yourself and save big money.

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Instead of listing all of the brilliant minds that created this, let me point you to the page. The quoted above was written by reddit users.

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