In the consumer-focused society we live in, it seems you can't even walk out the door without spending 20 bucks on God knows what.

That's because big companies know exactly how to manipulate us in departing ways with our hard-earned cash.

And often, we don't realize they're doing it.

From the subtle to the shameful, let's investigate some of the sneakiest ways

you're secretly being tricked by companies.

They're listening. You're listening to be amazed.

They say patience is a virtue.

Even so, there's nothing more boring than waiting around for something.

Surely no company would make us wait for something if they could just give it to us straight

away then, right?

Wrong.

A few years ago, social media giant Facebook rolled out a security checkup.

Users who logged in were greeted by a little robotic doctor telling them their account

was being checked for security issues.

The check ran for about 10 seconds.

However, the Facebook servers are far faster than this, and actually completed the check in less than

one second. The thing is, we inherently mistrust a process if it takes a very short amount of time.

I mean, you'd be suspicious if I told you I did all the research for this episode in five minutes,

wouldn't you? So Facebook and other companies purposefully inflate the waiting times

of certain processes to ironically build people's trust in them. Damn! And there's more. In situations

where there really is a genuine reason for us to wait, like when our phones are updating,

there's always a progress bar, isn't there?

...