Written by lifehacker
You might think that you have to wait in line, buy only what’s offered to you, subject yourself to advertisements, and generally go through you day accepting nuisances because that’s just how the world works. But just like on your computer, there are easter eggs hiding out in the real world just waiting to let you unlock the bonus levels of life. Here are our top 10 favorites.
10. Get Free Money
As far as cheat codes go, picking up some extra coins was always a pretty sweet deal. You might be able to do the same in real life by searching unclaimed money sites likeMissing Money and TreasuryDirect. Not everyone has free cash with their name on it (like me, sadly), but it only takes a few minutes to check to quickly become a little bit richer.
9. Eat for Free On Your Birthday
When it’s your birthday, you shouldn’t have to pay for food. That’s how I feel, anyway, and a lot of restaurants agree. If you join their rewards programs, you can pick up tons of free goodies. Sometimes it doesn’t even matter if it’s your actual birthday, but rather just your birth month. Either way, there’s plenty of free food with your name on it.
8. Find Your Car Easily by Using Yourself to Amplify Your Keyless Entry Remote’s Signal
When you can’t find your car in a parking lot, pressing the lock button a few times will generally make it beep and honk so you can track it down quickly—but this only works if your car is in range. Putting the keyless entry remote in your mouth and pressing the lock button can help extend the range. Some Reddit users suggest that you just need to put it under your chin and it works because the signal resonates in your skull.
7. Open an Airplane Lavatory Door from the Outside
Those airline bathroom doors? You can unlock them from the outside. All you have to do is flip up the lavatory sign on the door and slide open the lock. You don’t want to be doing this to unwitting strangers, of course, but this could be useful in case of emergency (or just to play a cruel joke on a friend).
6. Order Secret Items at Fast Food Restaurants
Just because it’s not on the menu doesn’t mean you can’t have it. There are plenty of secret menu items at plenty of chains. Starbucks has a tiny-sized coffee for light drinkers. Chipotle will make practically anything that can be accomplished with their available ingredients—like quesadillas. Wendy’s will make you a "meat cube" burger, knowing as the Grand Slam, that consists of four heart attack-rendering beef patties. In and Out, on the other hand, offers a grilled cheese that is essentially a hamburger-less hamburger (but somehow really tasty). And if you’re torn between being a carnivore and vegetarianism, Fatburger will make you "The Hypocrite"—a veggie burger topped with bacon. You don’t have to order what’s presented to you. If there’s something you want, ask for it. You might just get it.
5. Get Shopping Discounts by Pretending to Be (or Actually Being) a Tourist or Student
Several retail stores give you discounts for being a tourist. You don’t necessarily have to actually be one, but just say you are. At most you’ll have to provide some sort of out-of-state identification (which you can always say you left at the hotel if you’re unable to provide it). Being (or pretending to be) a tourist can save you around 10 to 11% off your purchases, so it’s always worth asking if the store you’re at provides that kind of discount.
Getting student discounts forever is also pretty easy (and likely more useful than when you’re actually a student and don’t need them as much as you do when paying off loans). For online verification, you can generally just Photoshop the date on your ID. If you need to send an unofficial class schedule and make it look official, it’s not that hard to spoof an email address. Alternatively, pay some college kid a few bucks to get the discount for you or enlist a student you know. You have plenty of options, so these discounts are pretty easy to come by if you’re okay with bending the rules.
4. Go Directly to Voicemail When Making a Phone Call
Do you ever have a phone call to make that would be a lot easier if you could just talk to an answering machine? Rather than leaving it to chance, or trying to call when you think the other person won’t answer, just use slydial. All you do is call 267-SLYDIAL, enter the phone number you want to call, and you’ll get sent directly to voicemail so you can leave a message.
3. Get Discounts Without Giving Up Personal Information
Discount cards can be great, but you’re essentially selling your personal information to the store in exchange for a few cents off a head of lettuce. How can you avoid this and still get the discount? There are a couple of effective ways. First, companies can often look up your information via your phone number and we recently learned that you can just tell them that your number is 867-5309—a number that’s almost always in the system. Alternatively, you can just say you left your card at home and ask the cashier if they’ll use their own card. If there’s a rewards system in place, they’ll often be happy to do this. Finally, you can always just say you want to sign up for a card, let them scan it, and then say you’ll bring back or mail in the signup form when you’re done. Of course, you won’t actually do that.
2. Don’t Wait on Hold
Calling customer service is not something most people look forward to, and that’s often exacerbated by traversing phone trees and waiting on hold. If you’re just trying to get a human, doing nothing can trick the system into thinking you have a rotary phone(assuming it’s not a voice-based system). If it is, just talk incomprehensibly until the computer gives up on trying to understand you and sends you to an actual person. Or just use GetHuman. If you want to avoid the hold wait, try LucyPhone. In some cases they can even help you avoid navigating through the phone trees, too.
1. Skip Television, DVD/Blu-ray, and YouTube Advertisements
When you’re watching TV, DVD movies, or content online, ads can be annoying, but you can skip them all! Obviously the advent of the DVR made this especially possibly, even when watching live-ish television, but there are easier ways. If you have a TiVO, you canenable a 30-second skip button to make passing through ads especially easy. If you’re using Windows Media Center, you can set it up to skip ads all together. Several other DVRs and HTPC softwares include ad-skipping options as well. For your disc-based content, there is, of course, the stop stop play trailer- and ad-skipping trick. Finally, if you’re on YouTube, just reload the page to skip the ad.
Got any other great real-world Easter eggs or cheat codes? Share ’em in the comments!
Bonus: Mr. Potter…
Very nice eggs.. ha ha ha.. I’ll try that tourist discount trick. 😉