Not a hoax, you just have to READ THE FINE PRINT! Make sure you know what you're signing up for. There is a portion where they try to entice you into the Shopping Essentials thing, but it's not "unknowingly." It says very clearly that by entering your information, you are authorizing them to have access to your account.
Take a minute and read, people. Personal responsibility? Remember?
I just said "no thanks" to that one and skipped off with my gift certificates - thanks SO much, Xin!
As a 20 year old Economics major, and a father who is an exrtemely successful financial advisor, I'm fairly biased with respect to stocks. Historically, and in the long run, stocks have outgrown all other means of investment. Now is the time to invest at the current lows. The Dow Jones Industrial Average seemed to increase exponentially from the 1930s to about 2000. The last time we saw numbers this low was the beginning of 1998 and between mid 2002 and mid 2003. Investing now will yield tremendous returns in the long run. My grandmother once told me that you have to look at the stock market like a little boy walking up a hill with a yo-yo. The yo-yo goes up and down but he's still walking up the hill. Until the 21st century this seemed very true. However, our day in age is more complicated. Now it looks more like a football game, with each player on the offensive lines either eating dirt or standing tall with each play. Personally, I think it's time to take the punt and let our defense do their thing and we'll try again.
What's important is that stocks have historically been premier. The valleys in the market allow for greater growth so invest at these points. Stocks avoid inflation and, in my opinion, the exchange rate that belittles our American dollar. Also, as mentioned in the article, expecting high rates of return in the short run exposes the investor to extremely high risk. Unless your going to quit your job and become a day trader, avoid all of this by diversifying in quality national and international mutual funds. By quality I mean 4s and 5s.
I'd love to continue but I got to go to class!!! Please critique me if you do not agree, I believe I still have much to learn.
It's not evil for businesses to allow human feelings to grow between workers and managers or between salespeople and customers or between collection agents and borrowers. In a sense, it's inevitable--people are people, and when they interact such feelings will develop.
For corporations to use these natural feelings in order to hurt people--to get them to buy things they can't afford or forego an opportunity for career advancement--is evil, but I don't expect my saying so (or many people saying so) will change the way business is done.
Mainly, I just think people need to be aware that there's a difference between real relationships between people and the sort of mock relationships that business contacts are prone to engender. As long as people keep that in mind, they're a lot less vulnerable to being taken advantage of.
Kiri:
>>>I bet hearing that hurts a few peoples sensibilities. Sometimes it's hard to accept that you are the sort of person that does thing just to impress. How many people people who say "i'm not the sort of person who wear seconds clothes" also says "i'm not the sort of person who trys to impress".
-------------------------------------------------------
While the "trying to impress people" line has always looked a little overused to me, this time it's just silly. How does buying new clothes impress people? I buy most of my clothes new at Wal-mart; not only is no one impressed, but a few years ago I was occassionally mocked for it. Meanwhile, Goodwill commercials claim they have a lot of name-brand stuff, and undamaged used clothes look the same as new clothes. Therefore, if you want to impress people, you can easily do so by buying used clothes.
I live in Iowa where we didn't have these insane prices. And I watched HGTV and all of these shows where people look all mad because their house ONLY appreciated $120,000 in three years. People weren't sharing their windfalls because they were just rolling them into their even bigger, newer house, but now that sanity is back, they want to take their ball and go home. I say, BOO HOO!
I check my account regularly online, at least once a week, sometimes more. This allows me to catch anything fishy or out of the ordinary. So far this year, my bank cashed the same rent check twice causing me to be overdrawn. They noticed their error and redeposited the 2nd withdraw, however, they did not take back their overdraft fee! Just this week I went to the bank ATM to take out $40, the ATM was out of money yet the $40 was still showing up in the statement.
The problems, though a pain, were easy to fix. The check issue I had remedied by phone and the $40 ATM I sent an email through their secure server. Both were fixed within a few days.
Two things- first, we are going thru this with my grandpa and he has had 3 mental tests by 3 different doctors/agencies. So to someone on the outside, it seems like this is a logical step... however, you can see it is not that easy. If an elderly person can cook, clean, dress themselves, talk to neighbors, give money to scammers... it's all the same and cannot be considered mentally incompetent.
Secondly, a loss of inhibitions is the first stage of Alzheimer's. While grandpa has not been diagnosed with Alzheimer's, it may be coming around the corner. So to all those out there, please watch your eldery loved one for a loss of inhibitions or slight changes in personality. It can very easily become a NIGTHMARE for all involved.
If anyone knows of any organizations that can help, please, please, please! post them now. Many are dealing with this with no place to turn.....
I worked for corporate America for 14 years, and this article rings true.
The worst case? A government contractor involved in space exploration.
Yes, the end result of what we did -- launching spacecraft onboard large rockets, parking a spacecraft around another planet, gathering around to hear what scientists learned about the planet from our data -- it was all fascinating.
Yet, like any company, this one was out to get as much as possible from the employees with as little money and benefits paid out as possible.
The situation was made worse by the fact we weren't the bread-and-butter division of the company (the government pays more for military contracts than space exploration contracts!).
What's really sad is that the company capitalizes on people's strong interest in space exploration. Many of the guys really, really believe in the work and sacrificed much.
The dingy building, poor trash collection, barely average raises, the push for mandatory overtime (only a small chunk of which was actually paid overtime!), water leaks, mice running around, cramped offices (if you were there long enough for an office), management not offered good training, little upward career mobility, divorce, heart attack, serious illness...
Yet these guys keep doing what they do, and they do it well. They may not be heralded for it like at a public space agency, but they are a critical backbone in what we do in space.
It's just sad that they have to sacrifice so much.
In my case, I was a fish out of water for my years there. I eventually suffered a serious illness and couldn't take the stresses any longer. I found employment briefly elsewhere before becoming a WAHM.
Anyways, this is a much longer comment than I intended!
last year we succumbed to this restaurant.com freebie - we were very hungry waiting for the food which was promised and never arrived.we called the restaurant several times. ordered by email - by phone -
I agree with this conversation so far as dirt and germs go. But I remember the time I saw a man who worked for ChemLawn go into a fast-food place for his lunch. He had on his rubber boots that undoubtedly still carried residue from his morning of spraying chemicals on people's lawns. He got his lunch and left. Anyone coming in afterward who maybe dropped a napkin, money or pacifier where he walked would pick up those lawn chemicals. So it's not always about 'germs.'
The company I work for takes pride in the service we provide, and I have seen higher executives shout at people when the service is bad.
But despite this, there is a very deliberate marketing effort to create these "personal" relationships with our customers. We are collecting more personal info, and linking a customer relationship system into a marketing database to provide targeted offerings to people.
I work for an ethical company, so I don't think we are actually doing anything evil with this, however there is a deliberate attempt to push products and services that you really might not need or even want.
My advice is to don't EVER buy anything from a telemarketer, no matter how nice he is. Think about the offer, and if it really is good, you can call the company back.
Don't ever give money to a charity that calls you, no matter how worthy it is. These calls are often from telemarketing companies that take a percentage of your contribution. There are other ways to donate.
Treat all of your business as if it was grocery shopping: Make a list and stick to it. If a telephone salesperson makes a great offer while your are buying something, say no until you have had a chance to think about it. They'll be happy to take your money if you come back later.
And don't ever accept a companies marketing promotion without fully understanding it. I walked into a bank for an unrelated issue, and the gentleman I spoke with made me the most convoluted, twisted, unintelligible credit card offer that I ever heard. I still don't understand it, but I am absolutely certain that they expect to take my money if I accept it.
There were no deals in my zip or the surrounding zips for fifty miles, and I don't live in a rural town. Some deal. I feel like I just opened my email up to more spam.
Learned something essential recently from subscribing to www.bizsum.com and eventually being able to read their blogs. The good point I want to share is:
"It’s often been said that business success is overwhelmingly dependent on hiring the right people. But you must know that it’s not only hiring the right people that’s important – it’s also knowing what to do with them – what jobs to give them, how they should progress in the company, even how or whether or not they should be given management positions – even after the hiring process is through (and as a matter of fact, you will only really be able to know your people after they’ve been working for your for some time)."
I don't know, there were some pretty nice restaurants, as well as a few cafes where you'd never be able to spend the $35 minimum without a sizable group. I signed up and bought 4 coupons and will use them as gifts for Xmas, thanks for the tip!
Put Restaurants.com and scam in Google and see how many hits you get.
From what I have read when you buy the gift certificate you are also, unknowingly, signing up for promotions from Shopping Essentials and they will continue periodically charging your credit card. It seems it is very hard to get them to stop too.
Something seems fishy about this. I went and check the restaurants in my area and they were all restaurants that I had never heard of and a lot of the street names were misspelled. Enough things were wrong to get my spidey sense tingling.
I have been on a job for 22 months and my co-worker leaves early without telling the boss,goes off the job site to run personl errands,makes and recives personal phone calls all day.
I have been called on the carpet more than once saying that I was rude to the patients that I serve after I have reported my co-worker to the boss.My mistakes are always the first ones searched out but my co-workers are alays said to be human err.When I bring my co-worker up to the boss he says that they are working on it but it gets worse daily.I want to sue for being in a situation before I get fired.What do I do?
My co-worker may have a bad dayand goes to the boss saying that I am the one that is causng these problems,when I am doing my job and covering her ass.
While I do think that people are sometimes too loyal and get burned by companies, I do think that it's important to treat people like people -- even if they're your coworkers or boss.
While you may leave a company, your actions there will likely leave a lasting impression on people there. And if you leave under bad circumstances, that's sure to stand out.
Remember, you might have to deal with these people again some day. They may join the new company, or others might ask them about you, or you may want to work or the company again, or you may have some other dealings with them.
So, don't burn bridges if you don't have to. That doesn't mean that you can never leave a company, but if you said that you were going to do something, then consider the consequences of going back on your word.
The only thing I really remember from reading a Suze Ormon book years ago was the idea that when you have debts, you pay people back before corporations for several reasons, among them that you have a relationship to preserve with people in a way that you don't with corporations. Using that advice, I paid debts to my parents back long before my credit cards, even though the parental loans were at a lower interest rate (my dad's a bookkeeper and congenitally unable to loan money at 0% interest). I definitely found that paying off those loans removed a layer of stress between me and my family members, and keep the bank of mom and dad available for reasonable requests in the future.
I've used Layaway for years, or Lay-By as we call it in Australia. Most of the major chain stores offer it often having a special counter you take the goods to to arrange the lay-by.
Many of the smaller "mom & pop" type stores do it as well. I know it is a very popular way to buy Christmas presents amongst my friends, with the local toy stores and Target store doing a special pick up on Christmas Eve arrangement with lay-bys.
The only downside is that you have to be a bit more disciplined than with credit cards and that you have to go into the store to make the payments. But it is a very handy way to buy something you want when you don't have the cash right then and without the nasty interest payments and credit card fees.
This was a fitting post. I just accepted a new job and telling people at my old job that I was leaving was incredibly hard to do. Of course, we work in a state agency that deals with disaster recovery, so a lot of people are emotionally attached to what they do.
Not a hoax, you just have to READ THE FINE PRINT! Make sure you know what you're signing up for. There is a portion where they try to entice you into the Shopping Essentials thing, but it's not "unknowingly." It says very clearly that by entering your information, you are authorizing them to have access to your account.
Take a minute and read, people. Personal responsibility? Remember?
I just said "no thanks" to that one and skipped off with my gift certificates - thanks SO much, Xin!
AMEN, Philip.
I am dumbfounded by the people at my office who work 60+ hour weeks constantly just because of their sense of loyalty. It just boggles my mind.
I chose restaurants that I know and love but can't afford to visit. Thanks for this tip!!!
kj
As a 20 year old Economics major, and a father who is an exrtemely successful financial advisor, I'm fairly biased with respect to stocks. Historically, and in the long run, stocks have outgrown all other means of investment. Now is the time to invest at the current lows. The Dow Jones Industrial Average seemed to increase exponentially from the 1930s to about 2000. The last time we saw numbers this low was the beginning of 1998 and between mid 2002 and mid 2003. Investing now will yield tremendous returns in the long run. My grandmother once told me that you have to look at the stock market like a little boy walking up a hill with a yo-yo. The yo-yo goes up and down but he's still walking up the hill. Until the 21st century this seemed very true. However, our day in age is more complicated. Now it looks more like a football game, with each player on the offensive lines either eating dirt or standing tall with each play. Personally, I think it's time to take the punt and let our defense do their thing and we'll try again.
What's important is that stocks have historically been premier. The valleys in the market allow for greater growth so invest at these points. Stocks avoid inflation and, in my opinion, the exchange rate that belittles our American dollar. Also, as mentioned in the article, expecting high rates of return in the short run exposes the investor to extremely high risk. Unless your going to quit your job and become a day trader, avoid all of this by diversifying in quality national and international mutual funds. By quality I mean 4s and 5s.
I'd love to continue but I got to go to class!!! Please critique me if you do not agree, I believe I still have much to learn.
It's not evil for businesses to allow human feelings to grow between workers and managers or between salespeople and customers or between collection agents and borrowers. In a sense, it's inevitable--people are people, and when they interact such feelings will develop.
For corporations to use these natural feelings in order to hurt people--to get them to buy things they can't afford or forego an opportunity for career advancement--is evil, but I don't expect my saying so (or many people saying so) will change the way business is done.
Mainly, I just think people need to be aware that there's a difference between real relationships between people and the sort of mock relationships that business contacts are prone to engender. As long as people keep that in mind, they're a lot less vulnerable to being taken advantage of.
Kiri:
>>>I bet hearing that hurts a few peoples sensibilities. Sometimes it's hard to accept that you are the sort of person that does thing just to impress. How many people people who say "i'm not the sort of person who wear seconds clothes" also says "i'm not the sort of person who trys to impress".
-------------------------------------------------------
While the "trying to impress people" line has always looked a little overused to me, this time it's just silly. How does buying new clothes impress people? I buy most of my clothes new at Wal-mart; not only is no one impressed, but a few years ago I was occassionally mocked for it. Meanwhile, Goodwill commercials claim they have a lot of name-brand stuff, and undamaged used clothes look the same as new clothes. Therefore, if you want to impress people, you can easily do so by buying used clothes.
I live in Iowa where we didn't have these insane prices. And I watched HGTV and all of these shows where people look all mad because their house ONLY appreciated $120,000 in three years. People weren't sharing their windfalls because they were just rolling them into their even bigger, newer house, but now that sanity is back, they want to take their ball and go home. I say, BOO HOO!
I check my account regularly online, at least once a week, sometimes more. This allows me to catch anything fishy or out of the ordinary. So far this year, my bank cashed the same rent check twice causing me to be overdrawn. They noticed their error and redeposited the 2nd withdraw, however, they did not take back their overdraft fee! Just this week I went to the bank ATM to take out $40, the ATM was out of money yet the $40 was still showing up in the statement.
The problems, though a pain, were easy to fix. The check issue I had remedied by phone and the $40 ATM I sent an email through their secure server. Both were fixed within a few days.
wait so how many casn you get? i need alot for a project im doing and i was wondering if you could help.
Two things- first, we are going thru this with my grandpa and he has had 3 mental tests by 3 different doctors/agencies. So to someone on the outside, it seems like this is a logical step... however, you can see it is not that easy. If an elderly person can cook, clean, dress themselves, talk to neighbors, give money to scammers... it's all the same and cannot be considered mentally incompetent.
Secondly, a loss of inhibitions is the first stage of Alzheimer's. While grandpa has not been diagnosed with Alzheimer's, it may be coming around the corner. So to all those out there, please watch your eldery loved one for a loss of inhibitions or slight changes in personality. It can very easily become a NIGTHMARE for all involved.
If anyone knows of any organizations that can help, please, please, please! post them now. Many are dealing with this with no place to turn.....
Thanks for your help in advance!
I worked for corporate America for 14 years, and this article rings true.
The worst case? A government contractor involved in space exploration.
Yes, the end result of what we did -- launching spacecraft onboard large rockets, parking a spacecraft around another planet, gathering around to hear what scientists learned about the planet from our data -- it was all fascinating.
Yet, like any company, this one was out to get as much as possible from the employees with as little money and benefits paid out as possible.
The situation was made worse by the fact we weren't the bread-and-butter division of the company (the government pays more for military contracts than space exploration contracts!).
What's really sad is that the company capitalizes on people's strong interest in space exploration. Many of the guys really, really believe in the work and sacrificed much.
The dingy building, poor trash collection, barely average raises, the push for mandatory overtime (only a small chunk of which was actually paid overtime!), water leaks, mice running around, cramped offices (if you were there long enough for an office), management not offered good training, little upward career mobility, divorce, heart attack, serious illness...
Yet these guys keep doing what they do, and they do it well. They may not be heralded for it like at a public space agency, but they are a critical backbone in what we do in space.
It's just sad that they have to sacrifice so much.
In my case, I was a fish out of water for my years there. I eventually suffered a serious illness and couldn't take the stresses any longer. I found employment briefly elsewhere before becoming a WAHM.
Anyways, this is a much longer comment than I intended!
Great article.
last year we succumbed to this restaurant.com freebie - we were very hungry waiting for the food which was promised and never arrived.we called the restaurant several times. ordered by email - by phone -
it's a cruel hoax.
I agree with this conversation so far as dirt and germs go. But I remember the time I saw a man who worked for ChemLawn go into a fast-food place for his lunch. He had on his rubber boots that undoubtedly still carried residue from his morning of spraying chemicals on people's lawns. He got his lunch and left. Anyone coming in afterward who maybe dropped a napkin, money or pacifier where he walked would pick up those lawn chemicals. So it's not always about 'germs.'
The company I work for takes pride in the service we provide, and I have seen higher executives shout at people when the service is bad.
But despite this, there is a very deliberate marketing effort to create these "personal" relationships with our customers. We are collecting more personal info, and linking a customer relationship system into a marketing database to provide targeted offerings to people.
I work for an ethical company, so I don't think we are actually doing anything evil with this, however there is a deliberate attempt to push products and services that you really might not need or even want.
My advice is to don't EVER buy anything from a telemarketer, no matter how nice he is. Think about the offer, and if it really is good, you can call the company back.
Don't ever give money to a charity that calls you, no matter how worthy it is. These calls are often from telemarketing companies that take a percentage of your contribution. There are other ways to donate.
Treat all of your business as if it was grocery shopping: Make a list and stick to it. If a telephone salesperson makes a great offer while your are buying something, say no until you have had a chance to think about it. They'll be happy to take your money if you come back later.
And don't ever accept a companies marketing promotion without fully understanding it. I walked into a bank for an unrelated issue, and the gentleman I spoke with made me the most convoluted, twisted, unintelligible credit card offer that I ever heard. I still don't understand it, but I am absolutely certain that they expect to take my money if I accept it.
There were no deals in my zip or the surrounding zips for fifty miles, and I don't live in a rural town. Some deal. I feel like I just opened my email up to more spam.
Learned something essential recently from subscribing to www.bizsum.com and eventually being able to read their blogs. The good point I want to share is:
"It’s often been said that business success is overwhelmingly dependent on hiring the right people. But you must know that it’s not only hiring the right people that’s important – it’s also knowing what to do with them – what jobs to give them, how they should progress in the company, even how or whether or not they should be given management positions – even after the hiring process is through (and as a matter of fact, you will only really be able to know your people after they’ve been working for your for some time)."
Very nice post! :-)
With no problems. Definitely not a scam.
Linsey Knerl
I don't know, there were some pretty nice restaurants, as well as a few cafes where you'd never be able to spend the $35 minimum without a sizable group. I signed up and bought 4 coupons and will use them as gifts for Xmas, thanks for the tip!
Put Restaurants.com and scam in Google and see how many hits you get.
From what I have read when you buy the gift certificate you are also, unknowingly, signing up for promotions from Shopping Essentials and they will continue periodically charging your credit card. It seems it is very hard to get them to stop too.
Something seems fishy about this. I went and check the restaurants in my area and they were all restaurants that I had never heard of and a lot of the street names were misspelled. Enough things were wrong to get my spidey sense tingling.
I have been on a job for 22 months and my co-worker leaves early without telling the boss,goes off the job site to run personl errands,makes and recives personal phone calls all day.
I have been called on the carpet more than once saying that I was rude to the patients that I serve after I have reported my co-worker to the boss.My mistakes are always the first ones searched out but my co-workers are alays said to be human err.When I bring my co-worker up to the boss he says that they are working on it but it gets worse daily.I want to sue for being in a situation before I get fired.What do I do?
My co-worker may have a bad dayand goes to the boss saying that I am the one that is causng these problems,when I am doing my job and covering her ass.
While I do think that people are sometimes too loyal and get burned by companies, I do think that it's important to treat people like people -- even if they're your coworkers or boss.
While you may leave a company, your actions there will likely leave a lasting impression on people there. And if you leave under bad circumstances, that's sure to stand out.
Remember, you might have to deal with these people again some day. They may join the new company, or others might ask them about you, or you may want to work or the company again, or you may have some other dealings with them.
So, don't burn bridges if you don't have to. That doesn't mean that you can never leave a company, but if you said that you were going to do something, then consider the consequences of going back on your word.
The only thing I really remember from reading a Suze Ormon book years ago was the idea that when you have debts, you pay people back before corporations for several reasons, among them that you have a relationship to preserve with people in a way that you don't with corporations. Using that advice, I paid debts to my parents back long before my credit cards, even though the parental loans were at a lower interest rate (my dad's a bookkeeper and congenitally unable to loan money at 0% interest). I definitely found that paying off those loans removed a layer of stress between me and my family members, and keep the bank of mom and dad available for reasonable requests in the future.
I've used Layaway for years, or Lay-By as we call it in Australia. Most of the major chain stores offer it often having a special counter you take the goods to to arrange the lay-by.
Many of the smaller "mom & pop" type stores do it as well. I know it is a very popular way to buy Christmas presents amongst my friends, with the local toy stores and Target store doing a special pick up on Christmas Eve arrangement with lay-bys.
The only downside is that you have to be a bit more disciplined than with credit cards and that you have to go into the store to make the payments. But it is a very handy way to buy something you want when you don't have the cash right then and without the nasty interest payments and credit card fees.
This was a fitting post. I just accepted a new job and telling people at my old job that I was leaving was incredibly hard to do. Of course, we work in a state agency that deals with disaster recovery, so a lot of people are emotionally attached to what they do.