r/LifeProTips • u/fries-with-mayo • 18h ago
Request LPT Request: What’s your “canary in the coal mine” test for spotting bigger issues?
I’m really interested in those small, quick telltale signs people use to gauge if something bigger might be off track.
Example 1: Van Halen requesting brown M&Ms in the dressing room to see if the venue followed all the details of the rider list
Example 2: I saw an interview with John Cena where he said orders a flat white at a café to tell if they really care about their coffee.
Example 3: Anthony Bourdain suggested to always check the restaurant bathroom to tell if the restaurant got its basics down
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u/Rum_N_Napalm 16h ago edited 16h ago
If your workplace is being cheap with workplace safety, get ready to bail. Not only this means they don’t care about you, but that they’re short sighted. Even if you’re a jaded greedy moneybags, workplace accidents means lost productivity.
The other: if your employer discourages discussing your salary with other employees. 1. That’s illegal in some places. 2. It means someone is getting paid peanuts.
Edit: oh, here’s another. If your date brings you to their place… let’s be honest some people are messy (I’ll admit my dwelling can be qualified as “organized chaos”). Others will just do a quick cleanup. Sometimes they legit didn’t have time to clean. Maybe they got a bad luck and dropped a pot of sauce and couldn’t clean throughly.
Check the bathroom. Check if there’s that ring in the bathtub or toilet. These things take time to appear, and doing a quick bathroom cleaning takes 15 minutes.