Life is hard. We get it. But when you have a boss like Joe Exotic or Doc Antle, you may be better off getting mauled by a tiger (and you probably will). At least the animals are there for a snuggle when you need some support — before Joe asks you to put them down, that is. From Saff getting his arm torn off to Barbara sleeping in a horse stall infested with roaches, these exotic animal park alumni have some wisdom to impart after working in such mercurial environments. Here are five life lessons you learn after working for a Tiger King:

1. Always remember to back up your drives in case your boss decides to torch the studio and alligator habitat.

- Courtesy of Rick Kirkham, producer

What happened? When Rick Kirkham came on to produce a reality show starring Joe Exotic, he got everything on tape, the good, the bad and the ugly. But this man made his fatal mistake when he forgot to make any copies or back up his footage. When Rick’s studio, with all his material inside, mysteriously burns down in Episode 4, Joe Exotic goes straight to pointing the finger to his enemy, animal rights activist Carole Baskin. But Kirkham wasn’t sure that Joe himself hadn’t set his own property — and alligators — on fire to stop the world from seeing the real Joe Exotic.

5 Life Lessons You Learn After Working for a Tiger King, Clip 1

2. Listen to your dad and don’t fall in love with your cultish boss.

- Courtesy of Barbara Fisher, Doc Antle’s apprentice from 1999–2007

What happened? When Barbara Fisher dropped everything to become an apprentice at Doc Antle’s T.I.G.E.R.S. preserve, her dad warned her not to fall in love with the ladies man. “He met Bhagavan and was like, ‘Oh, my god. This guy is a chick-getter,’ ” she recalls in Episode 2. It’s sound fatherly advice, considering that Doc Antle’s “utopia” was full of young female apprentices, and he had a reputation for securing multiple girlfriends.

5 Life Lessons You Learn After Working for a Tiger King, Clip 2

3. Don’t film every moment of your life.

- Courtesy of Saff Saffery, animal keeper

What happened? As Saff Saffery tells us in Episode 1 of Tiger King, Joe Exotic filmed everything, from the start of the day to the end of the day, all in pursuit of making himself a star. Well, come Episode 5, and Joe is severely regretting that decision, because he was caught shooting at his tigers on tape. Why? Purportedly because they were sniffing his feet.

5 Life Lessons You Learn After Working for a Tiger King, Clip 3

4. Don’t attend your ex son-in-law’s wedding to his new husband without seeing the guest list.

- Courtesy of Cheryl Maldonado, Travis’ mom

What happened? Two months after her son Travis died, Cheryl Maldonado was shocked to see Joe Exotic move on to a new husband so quickly. When Joe invited her to the wedding, little did she know the only guests in attendance would be her, the cameraman, and the flower girl. As Cheryl remembers in Episode 5, everyone on social media would say, “Well, Travis’ mom is fine with it so everybody else should be.” But afterwards, she never heard from Joe again, and she realized it was all for the sake of appearances. “He was done with me.” 

5 Life Lessons You Learn After Working for a Tiger King, Clip 4

5. Don’t do business with Joe Exotic, because he will keep records of your illegal trafficking of exotic animals and rat you out to PETA from prison to possibly reduce his jail sentence.

- Courtesy of Everyone

What happened? After Joe Exotic is thrown in jail in the finale, he’s out for blood and wants to bring everyone down with him, even resorting to making PETA his ally when he used to be their Public Enemy No.1. “Did I ever dream that PETA would be my ally right now?,” Joe says in Episode 7. “Fuck no, but I’m done with the animal world. So let’s just shut all the troublemakers down.”

5 Life Lessons You Learn After Working for a Tiger King, Clip 5