Sometimes they’re mechanical glitches, and other times they’re oversights in the fine print, but loopholes are everywhere. If you’re clever (or lucky) enough, you can be like these Redditors who exploited loopholes in the system to make huge profits, get sweet deals on merchandise and services, or trick machines. Have you found any secret loopholes?
1. Scrambled Eggs
In high school science, we did that egg drop project. You know, the one where you gotta stop the egg from cracking when it falls. The task was "make it fall six feet without breaking". Now, this teacher was super strict about rules and details. Even got mad if you wrote the date wrong.
Project day rolls around and this one kid steps up. No egg-saving gadget in sight. He goes up to the six-foot mark, lifts his egg half a foot higher, and just drops it. Egg goes splat. Teacher says he's failing. But the kid had the perfect reply ready.
"Why? The egg fell six feet without breaking". Wish we had our phones to record that look on the teacher's face. Priceless. Sure, the teacher tried to argue but we all reminded him of "stick to the instructions".
So, the teacher let him pass with an A. The next year, trust me, those instructions were watertight. Hilarious.
2. Three For Free
So, the local Walmart near me had this craft beer display (Lagunitas, if you know the brand) in the alcohol section. There were these massive boxes, each containing four six-packs, piled up to form the display, along with single six-packs on top. But someone messed up big time.
Seems the four-pack boxes had the same barcode as a single six-pack, and the self-checkout only charged me for one pack instead of four. It was like grabbing three extra for free! I was there almost daily for a month, ending up with so many boxes it was crazy.
Even when a couple of sharp-eyed employees stopped me at checkout when they looked at my ID and realized the price was off, all I did was play dumb. They didn't do much other than making me return the box and get a single pack.
But they didn't fix the display, so I just returned the next day and repeated the routine. In the end, they took down the display. Still, that was one heck of a buzzed summer!
3. Do You Have Your Receipt?
So, when supermarkets first came to India, you'd get a printed receipt after shopping. A security dude at the exit would check your receipt and peep at your stuff to avoid stealing. But here's how people gamed the system.
You'd take your stuff home, give your receipt to another person who then went to the supermarket, loaded up the exact same things, and left without paying. They'd flash the previously-used receipt and head out. Back at home, they’d pass on the receipt to another person to rinse and repeat.
The sneaky folks who started this plan tried to keep it hush-hush, but of course, the word spread. To tackle this, supermarkets wised up and gave security guys a rubber stamp that read “delivered” or “exited", to stamp every receipt.
4. On The Clock
Once upon a time, my workplace got these fancy new keypads. Show up late and it's all "Oops, too late. Go find your boss." Then you'd endure the embarrassing ordeal of explaining yourself to your manager, trailing them up the stairs to sign your late slip.
But one day, I found a nifty trick. By adding a nine after my key code, I successfully bypassed the tardy-lock. So yeah, I took advantage of that whenever I strolled in late. But eventually, they put two and two together and a manager gave me the old "three more lates and you're toast" speech.
I reckon they didn't give me the boot right away just to avoid admitting our swanky gadget could be outsmarted.
5. Sneaky Steps
My college launched an initiative to promote walking by rewarding step counts - recorded through a certain health app - with rewards like freebies and discounts. The grand prize? A school hoodie worth about $40.
The catch? The app didn't allow manually adding steps, but it did connect with other apps. That's how I discovered a loophole - a health app that let me add steps manually. Racking up around 30 miles daily, I snagged a couple of hoodies without anyone noticing.
But then my buddy found a wild way to widen this loophole. Apparently, there’s a cap to how much a person can walk daily, but my buddy got smart, changed his height to 1 cm in the app. The shorter you are, the more steps you cover. Talk about thinking on your feet! Soon, he had enough hoodies to give away.
But things got shaky when the college sent him an email asking him to cool down unless he could prove he really walked that much.
Another friend found a separate loophole. The college rewarded points for adding friends on their health platform. My friend found a way to access all account IDs and developed a Python script that sent friend requests to everyone, earning him plenty of points.
6. Recycled Bean Juice
My dad works as a recycling guy in our town, and he's really good at it. You know those stamp cards from McDonald's where you get a sticker with each cup? Once it's filled, you get a free drink. Well, when my dad picks up recycling, he sometimes finds these cups with the stickers still on it.
So, what does he do? He peels the sticker and sticks it on his card. So far, he's collected over 50 full stamp cards this way and counting. That's one hell of a hack, right? Essentially, he's set for free coffee forever.
7. Cafeteria Cashout
A long time back, a big university thought of grouping all their services onto a single card. Meant to simplify things, but it didn't quite work out that way.
See, the system they used kinda assumed that everyone would load money into their card. They overlooked the times when a student had a zero balance. This little oversight turned into a free food pass for the students at the university food joints. Here's why.
When you bought something and swiped your card, the cashier would only see "OK" or "not OK" because of privacy rules. They couldn't see your balance. But if you didn't have enough money, or were in negatives like owing library fines, the system wouldn't let you pass.
But, if you had absolutely nothing on your card, the transaction went through every time. Yep, you got that right. Zero bucks equals free grub. You can bet this 'loophole' became legendary in no time.
Anyway, it was so widely used that they started holding meetings and disciplining people to prevent misuse. But this 'free lunch' only ended when the university got new cafeterias with a brand new payment system.
I only found out near the end of my time there, but I wasn't too bummed since I lived off-campus. Plus, the food at my college's cafe was so much better and on a different system.
It's funny. One time, a buddy of mine showed me his zero balance, bought me lunch and asked, "Do you want a free lunch?" I'm a bit miffed now that I see the bigger picture. Fabulous hack though.
Just to be clear, I'm all for free meals for students because student nutrition is a big deal. But yeah, the legalities of that are a whole different ball game.
8. Kohl’s Clothes
I used to work at Kohl's unloading goods from trucks. During my shifts, I was also tasked with handling the store's garbage collection. You're probably familiar with those "Kohl's Cash" vouchers they hand out, each worth around ten bucks, right? Cashiers are expected to rip these in half, but most of them just toss them into the bin.
Cheekily, I'd often volunteer to take out the trash, ensuring I fished out any discarded Kohl's Cash along the way. This led me to score thousands of dollars in free clothes for my fam. I also had a little secret where I'd hide discounted items at the back of the store until they hit a 90% off clearance sale. Because let's face it, Kohl's stuff is seriously overpriced unless it's at least half off.
9. What’s The Question?
In most places, kids and teens have to go through a bunch of specific tests to check out how their school's doing and to track their own progress. Not talking about those big names like APs, SAT, ACT, or TOEFLs, but state-run tests. In my case, while taking them, people discovered a kind of "loophole".
Here's how these tests work - the better you perform, the harder the questions you get. Plus, there's no timer so you can pause anytime. But here's a little trick - if you pause and then resume, you get a different question, maybe one that's easier for you.
Imagine a class of 30 or so students; they encounter a tough question, pause, quickly resume, and boom, they get a question they can solve. And you can pull this stunt over and over! Crazy right?
Thanks to this, I ranked in the top 1% in the whole state. (Bear in mind, the replaced question comes from the same difficulty level as your stumper. The new question might just be quicker to solve or simpler to grasp. So, it's a bit of a situational loophole and you still need to know your stuff!).
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10. Movie Mogul
I've been scoring free movie passes for some time. There's this Fandango app where you can purchase your tickets and it turns into a handy QR code, which the ticket person scans, and you're in. Now, if you try to screenshot it and show the pic, the QR code won't work. But if a jittery teen is on duty and they have to deal with a long line, they won't fuss over it.
Instead, they'll think the system is just being funky and let you through. Once you're in, whip out your phone and refund the tickets via the app. It'll go through since it registers that its QR code wasn't actually scanned. I've nabbed movie tickets for my buddies several times, and they reimburse me, giving me free ticket perks and some extra cash.
11. Upsized
In college, I used to work at Papa John's to cover my expenses. They had this contest to motivate us to persuade customers to "upsize" their pizza from medium to large, charging an added $2. The reward? Movie tickets! Now, a large was just $2 extra anyway. My sneaky trick was to input any large order as a medium and then "upsized" it. No one else caught on, and I snagged the prize every week. Since the customers weren't affected financially, I didn't feel bad. Plus, those weekly movie tickets were a big deal in college.
12. Trade-In
GameStop once ran this cool deal - trade in any five games, get $10. So, I checked out the used games section and grabbed five bargain-bin no-names for 99 cents each. The guy at the counter was curious when I checked out.
After paying, I pointed to the cheap games and said "I wanna trade these in". He was so amused, he gave me a high-five. He said, "Congrats, you figured out our promo! I can't let you take advantage of it, but pick any game you want".
And that's how I managed to snag Read Dead Redemption One, just for the cost of a high-five with a Gamestop dude.
13. Buying In Bulk
So, I gotta confess something. Five years ago, I was into the YuGiOh card game. They brought out a new set, costing 20 bucks. Target received these in big boxes with five sets each.
Oddly, Target didn't unpack these big boxes. So, I cheekily bought the whole box at the price of one set. I let some pals in on the bargain. We made a road trip to four more Targets, pulling the same trick.
14. Feedback For Food
McDonald's in the UK had this cool offer where you'd get a receipt with a link. If you left feedback using that link, they'd give you a code for a discounted extra value meal at just $1.99. I found out from a buddy working there that the registers don't even have an option to confirm these codes.
So, every time I'm craving some Big Mac and fries, I just flash the receipt's top portion, and bam – I land that sweet deal.
15. Saturday School
So here's the thing - my high school had this rule that you needed to show up for a certain number of classes each year to pass. If you played hooky too much, they'd send you off to "Saturday School" to compensate. But Saturday School was actually awesome. You just had to hang out, chill and read for half a day.
What's more, I noticed they weren't really keeping track of who was absent when or who attended Saturday School. So, I figured why not rack up some Saturday Schools? It meant I could take off on regular school days later in the year, whenever I felt like it. Too cool, right?
16. Sticker Stash
I worked at HomeGoods for years. They had this deal where employees collected scattered price tags off the floor. In exchange, we would get a scratch-off ticket worth discounts of $1, $5, or $20.
The trick was, you could only scratch one area. Yet, if you held it under a lamp, you could figure out which spot would give the $20 discount! This way, you could easily accumulate $20 gift tickets every time you found a sticker on the floor.
The point was to avoid letting customers misuse these fallen price tags, marking expensive stuff with a cheaper price. The company never limited the amount an employee could earn or combine. I guess they thought we wouldn't be interested. Most employees were middle-aged folks who simply didn’t want to be bothered.
That was, except for me…I was a broke student, barely making ends meet, but I was keen to make the most of these opportunities. I was usually found in the back room, loading and unloading trucks. I was the one stocked the shelves. Surprisingly, my bosses were happy to see me show interest in this promotion. They apparently wanted to impress their bosses by carrying out corporate programs.
HomeGoods, although it mainly sold cheaper home goods, also stocked classy stuff now and then. Items like cookware, comforters, linens and whatnot, were typically pricier and took longer to sell.
Since I was the one unloading items from trucks, whenever I found something valuable, I would simply stash it in a loading bay. Considering most of my co-workers were senior citizens, they would hardly reach these high spots.
By the end of one summer, I had gathered about $1100 in gift cards. I snagged a full set of AllClad copper cookware, a queen-size comforter set, dinnerware, and several kitchen tools.
Fast-forward ten years, I still have the AllClad set, which alone costs $800, and some of the kitchen tools. And guess what, I got all of these for free!
17. Change Dispenser
There's a snack machine at my job that still spews out goodies even after you've hit the coin return. You can straight up pick a snack, get your change back, and still get the snack. But wait a minute, there's more.
Lay down a buck in quarters into the machine, and then keep smackin' that refund button. It'll give you four quarters back every time. I ended up clearing out that machine one night when the place was as empty as my fridge. Now I've got a months' worth of quarters for laundry without dropping a dime.
18. Home Free
I've lucked out. I own a massive house in a fancy community, sitting on eight verdant acres. The best part? Zero property taxes or utility bills, and a free trash collection service.
Wind back the clock about 15 to 20 years, and you'd find this place was a used-up county water treatment spot combined with a garage and warehouse for roadwork. But when the suburbs grew, it demanded a new, advanced water system.
Once the old facility got replaced and the Road and Bridge Department moved to bigger premises, my future property was left abandoned for a bit. That's when the town grabbed a chunk of the county land, including the area around my place.
Fast forward a bit, and the entire eight acres were auctioned off. I snagged it for next to nothing. With some elbow grease, I turned the old warehouse into a dream home. I didn't need to spend much either because the place was practically ready to go. I got it all: spacious rooms, a modern aesthetic, plenty of garage space for all my toys, all without burning a hole in my pocket.
As time went by, an upscale neighborhood developed around me, shooting up property values sky-high. Many would sell and make a killing, but not me. I'm not giving up my no-tax, no-utilities paradise (minus the internet and electricity payments).
Why don't I pay any tax or utilities? Simple, really. The property was originally a government plot. When the county divvied up the land, they didn't include my place because it was public property. When the town rolled around and gobbled up local land, they too skipped over this old county lot, including my eight acres.
So, I live in this eight-acre tax-free, utility-free bubble. No one sends me a water or sewer bill. My trash vanishes regularly. No property tax letter comes in the mailbox. Life is good.
Compared to my neighbors living in smaller homes on teeny-weeny lots, I'm living in nirvana. They're stuck paying crazy property taxes, killer HOA dues and wrestling with pesky city rules and bylaws. Me, I'm just here, enjoying my under-the-radar oasis.
19. Numbers Game
I'm based in a country town with no uni degree, but I'm damn good at sums. Despite needing a degree, I landed this gig teaching adult math classes - it was only meant to be short-term. My boss was meant to pick up the slack once I got them up to speed.
Thing is, I'm a single dad who's managed a 180 in my life, and my kid's my top priority. My boss, who's decent at math, knows this. Yet, they stick their neck out for me, always telling higher-ups that algebra is just too tricky for them, just so I can stay employed. Ain't my boss a legend?
20. Excel-lent Idea
Back in college, there was this machine that spit out tickets for the car park. Was supposed to prove you paid the $8/day fare. So, I got crafty with Excel to clone those tickets and kept using 'em without paying a dime. But man, it came back to haunt me eventually.
I messed up when the machine broke down one day, but I still had a cloned ticket on my car's dash. Was busted after half a year of smooth sailing.
21. Retirement Fund
I used to work in this super stressful department at a hospital for about six years before I decided to go to grad school. While I was there, I always took on extra shifts that my manager would've had to deal with, so she was cool about letting me stay on as a per diem. Our agreement meant I could keep my foot in the door, just in case grad school didn't work out, and I wouldn't have to work a set amount of shifts to stay active.
We made it all official with signatures and everything. Both my boss and the HR bigwig agreed I was a solid asset they could use if I was free during school breaks. Plus, keeping me around wouldn't cost them anything. I mean, if I didn't work any shifts as a per diem, I wouldn't get paid.
Recently, the suits and the union came to a new five-year deal. This deal means per diems get a bit of cash pumped into their retirement fund every six months if they already have one set up. They did up the number of hours you need to work each month to qualify as an active per diem, but it doesn't affect me. That's because I've got this permanent agreement that I can stay active as a per diem without working any shifts. So now, I get $785 into my retirement fund every six months.
I've got no plans to quit, but most likely, I won't be working any more shifts.
22. Refueled
A few years back, I was a cashier at a grocery store. We had this cool program where the money you spent got you points which could be swapped for discounts on gas. With your card, you could also save on some products. The store checked our employee cards to make sure we weren't pinching free fuel points.
However, my mom's previous phone number was hooked to an account. So, when a customer didn't have a free account, I'd enter my mom's old number, telling them it’s the store code for discounts. I paid peanuts for gas while I worked there, without ever being caught.
23. Carded
My epic student card scheme: I'm from South Australia. Here, it's roughly $60 to apply for a university degree. This is what I did - I applied for a degree, enrolled in some classes, got my "full time student" ID, and then dropped all my classes! As long as you drop your classes before the cut-off date, you're not on the hook for any fees. Plus, they don't take your student card back!
So basically, you can get all kinds of killer student discounts. And the best part? Amazing discounts on public transport. Like me, if you ride twice a day, five days a week, it's near about $40. But with a student card, the cost gets cut in half. So, within three weeks of commuting, you've got your $60 application fee back. How's that for savvy?
24. Sub Story
Hey, so there's this certain Subway in town where my boyfriend and I always eat free. For whatever reason, the cashier there just adores us and never asks us to pay for our subs. If we grab chips and a drink, he rings up only one, and then sweeps it from my boyfriend's Subway card.
If other folks are around, he'll announce some total like, "$18, please", but then he just ends the transaction and hands us the receipt. Can't tell you when was the last time I actually paid for a Subway sandwich there. I'm not a regular, but I reckon I've scored about 20 free meals over the past year.
As for my boyfriend, the tally could be around 50 or even more free subs. The cool part is, they promoted our buddy to manager but he still hooks us up. No clue how he's managed to avoid getting into hot water, but hey, I'm not gonna moan or spill the beans.
25. Outsmarting The Intelligence Test
Back in high school, I tried my luck for a summer gig at the county. Everyone who wanted a shot had to take this "fair" IQ test - simple stuff, really. About 80 questions with drawings, and you just had to single out the odd one.
Then I noticed something. The test paper was more like a sandwich - two sheets stuck together with carbon paper in the middle. It caught my curiosity, so I took a peek inside. You won't believe what I found.
Page two was pretty much a bunch of squares. Started to notice a trend - my marked Xs on page one were being duplicated on these squares due to the carbon paper. So, I handled the no-brainer questions, but if I was in doubt, all I had to do was look where the square was printed on page two, and nail the right answer.
Long story short - I aced it, 100%. I mean, if you can beat an IQ test, you've gotta be pretty sharp, right?
26. Free Connection
So, I was using Comcast, right? Then I moved and got a new setup sorted. First bill time came and I rang 'em up, but lo and behold, no account. Fast forward a year, and despite no bills, I've still got internet. Then, another move came up. I just wondered how long this sweet free deal could've lasted.
Hey, it's not like I was trying to rip them off. I said straight up I was getting net without paying. But they were like "You're not a customer here. We can't do anything but send you over to sales." But hey, it's Comcast, so whatever.
27. One Lot To Rule Them All
I go to this massive university, and parking there is a real pain, even more so for us students. The only spots where we're allowed to park are miles off, plus permits cost a fortune, too much for us broke college kids. No wonder people risk illegal parking!
To deal with this, the campus cops have a whole squad just driving around giving out parking tickets like it's candy. They once gave me a jump start at like 4am, but mostly, it's just about tickets.
My buddy outsmarted them with a daring plan: He only got ticketed twice, which turned out cheaper than a legit pass. And guess where he'd park daily? The campus police’s own parking lot. Crazy, huh?
28. Day Off
So, my job has this system where you can only miss a certain number of days every half-year. My shift always gets cut first, but mostly, our boss tells us to ignore the schedule and just work as usual.
For the past half-year, we're supposed to work full-time, but technically, we're not on the schedule and our absences don't get recorded in the system. I'm polite enough to let my boss know when I'm not coming, but I'm making the most out of frequent long weekends and holidays since they can't hold it against me.
29. Take Your Time…Off
Easy-peasy, but profitable: our HR dude is a real goof. I initially joined as a seasonal worker for a small six-week stint to pocket some extra dough. Kept doing it annually until I landed a full-time gig.
So, that's four years of me being seasonal, now four years and counting as permanent. Hooray! Without digging into the specifics of our PTO policy, let's just say the company is pretty sweet to the full-timers, doling out a set amount plus some extra based on monthly hours worked. Seasonal workers, though? Sorry, they get nothing.
But here's the kicker: Our clueless HR guy had me listed as full-time since the get-go. So, for eight years, I've been stacking up PTO like a full-timer. In about six months, I'll hit the roof at around 800 hours, something that normally takes a full decade of proper full-time work.
30. They’ll Never Know
I work at a fast-food chain with five branches. I kicked things off making $11/hr at one branch and snagged a 25 cent raise after my first year. Soon after, they promoted me to trainer with another 25 cent bump. Unfortunately, I showed up late a few times, so they demoted me.
Feeling bummed, I took a week off and realized my pay hadn't dropped when I returned. I kept quiet and opted for night shifts to snag an extra buck an hour, taking me up to $13/hr. After six months, I'd really turned the night shift around, so my boss offered me a manager's position.
They shipped me off to a different branch for a couple months training. That branch paid me $13 instead of $12 + $1 because their payroll person couldn't be bothered to split it up. They also bumped me another dollar for working nights. Once training was over, I got a raise to $15/hr on day shifts.
Back at my original branch, that same payroll person was still on duty and grouped my pay into $15. About three weeks in, I had a falling out with the other night manager, so I bumped myself down again and got transferred to a slower branch. They didn't correct my pay when I moved, so I stayed at $15.
In conclusion, I work nights at my new branch now, which adds on another buck to my $15/hr. Plus, I get free food and barely any customers at all – maybe 20 a night. Easy peasy!
31. Double Up
I hit up "Fresh Market" for lunch on the regular. For about three months, I was stacking cash big time. Why? Because I spotted a glitch when ordering online which they've now sorted out.
Usually, their veggie rice bowls, often with chicken and some kind of sauce, cost me $10 a pop. But this one time, I goofed up my online order and picked the 1/2 sandwich 1/2 bowl option, also $10. Turned out, they'd send me a full sammy and a whole bowl. So yeah, I ended up scoring dinner and lunch over and over again, probably thanks to some young employee's mix-up. They've since patched this up on the website.
32. On A Budget
I scored a sweet deal on a cheap apartment — the kind where the landlord gets a tax break for renting it out below the normal market rate. It's on a list for social services to use for helping folks find homes, but anyone can move in.
We were buds with the landlord, who slashed a smidgen more off the rent because the last tenants bailed without paying for over a year. He just wanted to fill the place with someone he trusted to cough up the rent. Switching my electricity account from my old place to the new one went smoothly, and I ended up with a discount on my bill.
I was pumped, especially since my income was technically a little too high to qualify for the discount, but still wasn't much. For about a year I enjoyed this cut-price power till the company cottoned on to the fact that I didn't really qualify. It seems like the discount was just tied to the place because all previous tenants made the cut, so my discount slid under the radar.
When they eventually figured it out, the electric folks were cool about it. They put me on something called 'budget billing'. Normally, they'd have me pay back the difference I'd saved with the discount, but seeing my modest income, they were nice enough to waive it.
33. Two For One
Like 30-ish years ago, my folks and I used to head to Shoney's weekly. You may or may not know Shoney's - imagine IHOP, but with burgers, and an endless salad and hot food bar complete with stuff like fried chicken, meatloaf, and sides.
This was the '80s, right, so you could grab all you could pile from the salad/hot food bar for just $2.99, or toss in 99 cents to any meal. The cheapest meal was their basic "all-American" burger with some veg, plus fries for just $1.99.
So, here's the catch, add the 99 cents salad/hot bar to the burger deal and you've got a heap of food for $2.98, a penny less than the bar alone. Pretty neat, right? So, we'd fill up on the bar stuff, no doggie bags allowed, and take the burger and fries home for a later snack.
34. Dues Blues
Simply put, I found a hack to get into SAG-AFTRA. The catch 22 is you can't work in the union without a union job, but you also can't get a union job without being a union member. I went around it by getting a non-union job and then asking if they'd transform it into a union gig.
I paid the initial costs (company penalties for not choosing a union actor), got an out-of-state lawyer to legitimize the job paperwork, and then I applied for the union a month later. Flash forward three years, I'm happily working, have full health coverage, and nobody's any the wiser or bothered, since I pay my dues.
35. Under Warranty
I bought this cool wireless keyboard about eight, maybe ten years ago. Fantastic piece, except I messed up one of the keys about two years in. I called up the maker to buy a new control key thinking it would be cost-effective. But guess what? It was still covered by the warranty, so they sent me a new one.
A couple of years later, I was ready to dish out cash for a new one, but nope - the warranty reset with the replacement, landing me another free keyboard. This just kept happening.
Now, I'm rocking what’s either my third or fourth free keyboard. I've actually lost track. (The design has gotten way better over time, it's nothing like the original K800 that started it all, but still awesome. If given the chance for another replacement, I'd take it).
36. In Need Of Keys
In college, I craved to keep playing music even though my major was non-musical. The music department sometimes let non-music students use their facilities, so I tried applying for access to their pianos. With my sound classical training, I thought I was golden.
But nope, they axed my application saying their rooms were always packed and music majors got first dibs. As my studies got tougher, it was disappointing not having a piano to unwind on.
During one class day on the opposite side of the campus, I heard familiar piano tunes and followed the sound. This led me right to a building full of music rooms, each one housing a piano.
On approaching the building, a kind individual, assuming I was there to practice, opened the door for me with their key pass, reserved only for music students. I walked right in and redirected to disbelief as I discovered most rooms were empty.
So, not only could I sneak into the building, but I also had a pick of any piano. I felt so deceived, considering they'd lied about the availability of the rooms. I wasn't going to let my costly education go unfulfilled, so I decided to make the most of this situation.
Every day I'd loiter outside, waiting for a chance to sneak in. If no one was exiting for a while, I'd knock on a ground-floor window and pull the "I forgot my key pass, can you let me in" card. I always got in without hurdles.
As days went by and students saw my piano playing skills, they grew accustomed to my face and never suspected a thing. Ironically, I'd sometimes get knocks on my window from music majors who had forgotten their own passes and needed me to let them in. This continued until I graduated.
The look on the faces of my music department buddies on graduation day when they saw me receive a degree in an entirely different subject was priceless.
37. The Doctor Is In
I used to be the supplier receiver manager at Food Lion, and man, I was a huge Dr Pepper fan (though I'm more into Cherry Coke now). There was this time when we had a sale, selling 2 liters of Dr Pepper for just 59 cents. You can imagine my excitement when the delivery guy mentioned he had tons of 55 cents-off coupons for the next week.
I played it cool, asked, and scored 400 of those coupons. Good thing was, they were already live. So I got 400 two-liters of Dr Pepper just at four cents a pop. I totally wiped out two stores in my area. Now, you may be picturing me filling a bathtub with Dr Pepper and bathing in it.
You bet I did. Why? BECAUSE I COULD!
38. TV Tricks
My dad came up with a clever trick in the 80s. Just like today, cable companies would offer free weekend trials of premium channels like HBO or Cinemax to entice folks to subscribe. Our cable company would unlock these channels by sending a signal to our cable box.
To end the free trial, they'd send another signal. My dad discovered that the lock signal was only sent for a short while, so before the trial ended, he'd unplug the cable box and plug it back in the next day. Since the box never received the lock signal, we had access to the premium channel for a bit.
After a month or two, they'd normally shut it off, so we'd have to wait for the next free trial weekend.
39. A Meaty Deal
Back in my college days, my girlfriend (now my wife) and I were celebrating some random event, probably a birthday, can't recall. Anyway, I headed to Kroger to grab steaks and chose a pair of fancy filet mignons.
Typically, they'd cost around $25 a duo, based on weight, but they were on discount for $18. We'd managed our grocery budget well that month, so I thought, why not splurge?
The issue popped up at the checkout. The steaks registered at the original $25. Here's the kicker - according to the store policy, any mispriced meat does not cost a penny. So, I gladly left the store with two free steaks. Being the frugal college goer I was, I seized the moment, went back in, and filled my cart with every single pack of those filet mignons. They were all mispriced, hence, totally free.
The next few days, we were literally feasting on steak at every single meal. We had our fill of it, quite frankly, by the time we were done.
40. Copy And Paste
I got canned from my job and my kinda clueless boss handed me my termination agreement with an extra paycheck. He said I could take my sweet time signing it, even suggested I run it by my lawyer. So, I went home and gave my actual contract a glance. Man, my eyes nearly popped out of my head.
Turns out, my boss had just copied my contract straight from a VP Sales contract. It said clear as day that I was due half a year's full salary, benefits, plus any commission from sales I made. Next day, I stroll into work looking all pleased with myself and ask the CEO, "Did you actually read this?"
41. Time Out
I used to work at a checkout. They started rewarding fast scanners with "star points," which you could trade in for stuff like in-store gift cards (1 point = £1). I caught on pretty quickly that the timer only ticked when I was scanning items. Hit the total button, and boom, timer paused.
They wanted us at 18 items per minute. In the first month, I was gunning it at 40, next guy behind me was at 28. Guess who got the points that month? There was no question, I did. But I thought, better not make it look too suspicious, so I eased off, dropping to a steady 30. For a good six months, with this sneaky trick, I got my shopping for free.
42. Coin Slot Jimmy
Back in the day, at this little community center/arcade near my old home, there was an air hockey table. We figured out a trick: wiggle the coin slot right, and you can squeeze in a few extra games with one quarter.
We were all broke, so this was a godsend. The workers didn't mind, probably because we'd spend whatever cash we had at their snack bar. Man, I miss that place. They'd always have free watermelon for the kids who didn't have a penny, making sure nobody felt excluded.
43. Ticket Please
Used to commute from Liverpool to Manchester daily. Train fare was crazy high - £15 a day. So, I came up with a plan. Every Monday, I'd buy a 30-day return ticket from Liverpool for £20, then another 30-day return ticket from Manchester on my way back. Cost me just £20 too. Long as they weren't stamped, I'd keep reusing them. So I always had a legit ticket.
Being an early bird, I usually caught the first train and the guards didn't care to check tickets. While heading back, I'd hop on the rush hour train. It's so packed, they hardly check. I must've saved thousands! Felt awesome figuring this out! But that was before barriers became a thing at train stations. Bet it'd be way tougher to pull off now.
44. The Flip Of A Coin
In 2013, Papa John's had a Super Bowl deal. If you guessed the coin toss right, you'd win a free pizza. But, there was a tiny rule - you could only enter once per email. So, what did I do? Made over 60 emails, half betting on heads and half on tails. Result? I munched on free pizzas for six weeks.
45. Reseller
So, my ex-roomie bought a car using Best Buy bucks. He gathered a boatload of these through game pieces he applied for using self-addressed stamped envelopes. Every game piece had a minimum of $1 Best Buy cash, some even had $3. He discovered a quirky law in Vermont that you don't need to pay for return envelopes, so he mailed all his game pieces there.
By doing this, each game piece ended up costing him 37 cents less. After gathering them in Vermont, he shipped them to his place in bulk way cheaper than paying 37 cents per piece. With all his Best Buy bucks in hand, he went on a shopping spree buying MP3 players.
Best Buy copped on pretty quickly and introduced a $200 daily spending limit. But, my buddy would go store to store each day, dropping $200 in every Best Buy across the city. He'd then sell his purchases on eBay for slightly less than retail price but making a solid profit. That smart cookie made around $10,000 doing this. For him, it was hard work, but hey, it beats working a regular job.
46. The Rent Collector
There's this really badly designed ATM near my flat in Manhattan, just around the corner. When you try to draw out cash, it appears as though nothing's coming out even though the money's there, just hidden. Lucky for me, my place is surrounded by bars so most folks using the ATM are probably too tipsy to realize what's happening.
So, each morning on my way to work, I swing by this ATM and grab my loot. Pays my rent, easy peasy!
47. Cruising
So my wife's work buddy, the IT guy, had a budget for buying tech gear like phones and tablets. He realized he had a purchasing cutoff where he didn't have to run it by anyone. As long as he didn't go over his yearly budget or hit the company card's one-time buy limit, he was golden. But he took things too far.
For a few years, he was off on world cruises and trips every couple of months. Some eagle-eyed colleague got suspicious and corporate finally decided to do some snooping. Turns out, this guy was scoring the newest iPhones and iPads, pretending it was for office upgrades, then flogged them on eBay to pay for his holidays.
48. Open Bar
So, this super old job I had once decided to throw a Christmas party. They gave everyone a couple of free drink vouchers. The idea was, you give a voucher, you get a drink, and the company would pay the tab after the party. But man, did it go downhill fast.
Here's why: these "vouchers" were just regular filing tags with a colored dot sticker. And guess when they gave these out? 30 minutes before the end of the work day - the same day as the party. Wanna know what we had plenty of in the office supply cabinet? Yeah, filing tags and dot stickers. No wonder the bar bill ended up nearly £10,000...
49. Read The Fine Print
So I've got this lawyer pal who signed a sketchy car lease contract with a dealership. Normally in a lease, either the dealer keeps the title of the car and you basically just borrow it or you get the title while the dealership has a sort of claim on it until the lease ends.
In this case, the dealership didn't keep the title but had this claim. Unfortunately for them, their contract was so badly written, it all got void at the end of the lease, including their claim to the car. So in the end, my friend ends up with the car and the title. The dealer realizes their goof and tries to get the car back.
When they called her to ask for the car back, she just said, "Nope, not giving it back." They asked, "So you're buying the car?" To which she replied, "Nope, just keeping it, thanks." They tried to sue her, but once they had a closer look at their rookie mistake, they tried settling with her instead.
She wasn't fully convinced that a judge wouldn't side with the dealership, so she agreed to settle. The end result? She got the car for a bargain - only 20% of its value.
50. Time To Leave
I had a deal with my boss to cover my school costs and throw in some extra cash, as long as I promised to stick around till a certain date. If I bailed, I'd have to give that money back. But after signing the deal, the big boss company that owns us switched. When it came time to collect my dough, the HR boss refused to pay up.
I confronted him asking why he hadn't settled his debt to me. He said it was 'cause the deal was with the old big boss, so it didn't count anymore. He seemed cocky about it, until he noticed my amused grin.
He was clueless about my silent victory. I asked him directly if he was gonna dodge the payment and he confirmed. I reminded him our original contract said if I "leave on my own will, I'll refund the money". He was skeptical, wondered where I was going with this.
I told him if the big boss did change, technically, I did leave - but not by choice - so, no refund needed. Therefore, I'd walk away with a clean slate from this boss. He definitely didn't see that coming.
I pushed further, hypothesizing, "If I quit right now, I'm good to go without refunding a penny.” It clicked for him. He realized by saying the deal was invalid due to boss swap, he unknowingly let me off the hook.
Finally, he agreed to give me my money. And oh, guess what happened next? The guy got fired for messing up a bunch of things. Easily the worst HR boss I've ever come across.
Sources: Reddit
