Hey Thoughty2 here.
Do you ever get the feeling that people are talking about you behind your back?
Well that’s because they are.
Pretty much every shop, restaurant and bar in the world uses a system of secret codes
to communicate between staff members without alerting customers to an alarming situation,
or to simply insult customers without them realising.
Transport for London, often called TFL, have been using secret codes in abundance for a
long time.
As one can imagine, being in charge of all public transport in the city of London means
there are literally hundreds of issues to deal with on a daily basis.
From someone ejecting their dinner on the bus or something more serious such as terrorism
– TFL have a code for it.
As you would expect from a public transport operator, most of their codes are used to
request clean-ups of various bodily fluids ejected from commuters.
To start from the beginning, code 1 means blood, code 2, urine and/or feces, code 3,
vomit, code 4, general spillage, which is probably the least disgusting on this list,
code 5 is broken glass, code 6 is litter and finally a code 7 is anything that doesn’t
fit into the previous categories.
You know, for those odd times when something comes out your body and you think to yourself
“what the hell is that”.
But TFL have a far more serious secret code… by the name of “Inspector Sands”.
Which is used to alert the police and other authorities to either a fire or a bomb scare,
without causing the general public to panic.
This is a recording of the chilling announcement played in an underground tube station.
If the issue is not investigated within 3 minutes, then the station will be automatically
evacuated.
The message was played on repeat across all London tube stations during the 7/7 London
bombings.
The world’s largest retailer Wal-Mart, has a whole array of staff codes that are blasted
over the tannoys, in various situations.
From Code Blue which is a bomb threat to Code Green which means there’s a hostage situation.
But Wal-Mart is best known for creating a code that is now widely used by thousands
of establishments across America – Code Adam.
In 1981 a 6-year-old boy named Adam was abducted in Sears department store in Florida.
Public service announcements were made across the store that Adam was lost.
After a long search he was found decapitated.
In memory of Adam, Wal-Mart introduced code Adam to signal a lost child in one of their
stores.
But it’s more than just a code, there’s a step-by-step system that all employees are
trained to follow.
If a child is reported missing “code Adam” is announced across the store and all exterior
exits are immediately locked.
A description of the missing child is paged to all store employees and they will begin
a search.
If the child is not found within 10 minutes, then law enforcement is called.
The doors are only unlocked once the child is found unharmed or law enforcement takes
over the case.
The system works so well that in 2003 congress passed legislation that made it a legal requirement
for all federal buildings in the US to implement Code Adam.
Another code that signifies imminent danger is “Time Check” – it’s used commonly
in department stores in the UK, specifically John Lewis and IKEA.
It means there’s an ongoing bomb scare.
If employees hear “Time Check” announced, then they must immediately stop what they’re
doing and search for suspicious packages or unattended bags.
Emergency codes are even used away from dry land.
Even when there are no icebergs about there’s still a lot that can go wrong on a cruise
ship.
And with the average age of cruise ship passengers being over 50, they are basically floating
nursing homes.
So it’s no surprise that over 200 people die on cruise ships each year.
To accommodate this all cruise ships actually have morgues on board.
But what happens when someone passes away, do the crew members hastily wrap them up in
bed linen and push them to the morgue on the drinks trolley?
No, they have a secret code of course.
“Operation Rising Star” is broadcast across the vessel when a passenger has passed away.
And if you hear “Operation Bright Star” that signals a medical emergency.
Emergency codes are also heavily utilised up in the sky.
Airlines use secret codes to communicate more frequently than most other companies.
You’ll often see cabin crew uttering gibberish into walkie talkies.
One of the most serious is a code 7500 which means the plane has been hijacked.
There are other codes such as a 7600 which indicates a radio failure, but there’s also
a code 7700 which means a general emergency.
So it could be anything from the toilet being blocked to a couple of holiday makers panicking
because they left their son Kevin at the airport.
But rather strangely there’s also “Code Bravo” which is the complete opposite of
all the other codes we’ve discussed, because it’s intended to intentionally cause panic.
A flight attendant will repeatedly shout “code bravo” loudly if they want passengers to
panic in order to distract their attention away from something more serious going on,
on the plane, that needs to be dealt with, without interference.
Of course, secret codes can be used to make fun of people without them having any idea
what you’re going on about.
IT departments across the world share a common code that’s often used when assisting muggles
with their never ending computer problems.
The code is PEBKAC and it stands for “Problem Exists Between Keyboard and Chair” – in
other words, the computer isn’t broken, you are.
IT professionals have been known to write this code on incident report forms the world
over.
Oh and lasty, bartenders across the world have a large numerical code system, such as
a code 300, which means a guest needs assistance, or 86, meaning a product is out of stock.
If you’re in a bar and the bartenders say “690” it means a hot girl just walked
in.
So there you go, you now know all the secret codes intended to stop you from panicking
in an emergency, so in the future you can now be suitably panicked; you’re welcome.
Thanks for watching.