Category Archives: Golden Rule

Aimee Picchi, Special to USA TODAY Published 8:01 a.m. ET Dec. 21, 2019 | Updated 11:02 a.m. ET Dec. 23, 2019

Tipping your serverissecond nature at restaurants, but what about leaving a little something in other situations?It's a question that stirs confusion andanxiety more often during the holidays than at any other time of the year.

It turns out many Americans arent tipping their service providers at the holidays, according to a recent survey of more than 2,500 consumers by CreditCards.com. About half said they never tipped their childrens teachers or childcare providers, while 60% said they dont tip their mail carriers and another 70% said they dont tip trash collectors.

Many Americans arent tipping their various service providers at the holidays, according to a recent survey of more than 2,500 consumers by CreditCards.com.(Photo: AndreyPopov, Getty Images/iStockphoto)

If these are people who are helping you out throughout the year, it's a nice thing to do," saysTed Rossman, industry analyst at CreditCards.com.

It may not be entirely your fault that you're remiss in tipping. Many people are likely unaware of social norms that surround tokens of appreciation.

Rossman sayswhen he worked as a camp counselor, for example, parents often tipped him at the end of the summer. But his parents had never tipped because they didnt know about the tradition.

They found out they were being inadvertently cheap, he recalls.

Holiday tipping: Here's who you should include and how much you should give them

Travelers, beware: Automatic tipping is everywhere. Here's what you can do about it

Tipping norms are also rapidly changing due to the shifting economy, says Steve Dublanica, the author of Keep the Change: A Clueless Tipper's Quest to Become the Guru of the Gratuity and a former waiter.

Leaving a gratuity is now more widespread because of the rise of payment apps and gig economy jobs that didnt exist before smartphones, he says. On top of that, many workers are toiling in jobs that neither pay well nor come with benefits, which means theyre increasingly dependent on tips, Dublanica says.

That may be why tip creep is occurring in restaurants, coffee shops, and taxiand car services, he notes. A decade ago, the standard tip was 15%, but now the base service tip is considered to be about 20%, he says.

Consumers who snub tipping because they believe employers should pay their workers more are only hurting the workers, not the employers, he adds. Sometimes when people say, I'm not tipping, they are insulating themselves from the reality of the person in front of them.

Consumers who snub tipping because they believe employers should pay their workers more are only hurting the workers, not the employers.(Photo: Julia Thompson/USA TODAY)

Along those lines, not tipping at the holidays is terrible, Dublanica says. Offering a gratuity is the recognition that you are of value and of worth.

Workers who dont typically receive a tip but provide you a service throughout the year should receive a reward at the holidays, he adds. For instance, handymen, landscapers, dog walkers and babysitters are among those you should tip around the holidays.

Store closings: Who are the biggest victims of the retail apocalypse

For these workers, provide a tip thats equal to the cost of one service. That means if you have a personal trainer who charges $75 a session, tip the trainer an extra $75 before the holidays.

But, experts say, tipped workers like hairdressers and your favorite barista should also get a little extra at the holidays. A hairdressershould receive the cost of one service. Your favorite baristas or waiter should get a generous tip of around 40% on the price of a holiday meal or drink, Dublanica says.

There are a few cases when tipping gets tricky.Because they are government workers, mail carriers arent allowed to accept cash or gift cards that can be converted to cash. And any gift must be worth less than $20, according to postal regulations.

Food items, crafts or even a handwritten note can be a thoughtful holiday gift for your mail carrier, CreditCards.coms Rossman says. He pointed to a viral video posted on Facebook earlier this month that showed a delivery drivers reaction to a basket of sodas and snacks left out for him.

American hotels:: Here's how much and whom you should be tipping

He was so thankful and appreciative and surprised, Rossman says.

Tipping teachers, especially for families with teenagers, may also be tricky because families dont want to be seen as bribing the instructors for better grades or college recommendations, Rossman adds. But cards, food or small tokens of appreciation can be well-received without crossing any ethical lines.

Even so, because tipping is based on social norms, there are plenty of grey areas.

Dublanica says his final rule of thumb is the golden rule.He says: If it was you, what would you want?

Aimee Picchi is a business journalist whose work appears in publications including USA Today, CBS News and Consumer Reports. She previously spent almost a decade covering tech and media for Bloomberg News. You can find her on Twitter at @aimeepicchi.

Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2019/12/21/tipping-make-sure-youre-leaving-gratuity-your-service-providers/2687413001/

Original post:

Not tipping is 'terrible' during the holidays, but many Americans aren't doing it - USA TODAY

Whats the secret to a great roast potato for my Christmas dinner?Tracey, Guildford

Forget the turkey, sprouts and all the rest: the spuds are by far the best bit of any roast, Christmas or otherwise, and dont listen to anyone who tells you differently. They cover every base, from carbs, crunch and salt to fat, umami and delicious excess.

Theres not much of a secret to them, either, Tracey, so long as you use the right type of potato and the fats hot enough to begin with. While waxy ones crisp up nicely, they just dont hit the requisite level of softness inside, so for most of us that means using floury maris piper, desiree or king edwards, though if youre lucky enough to get your hands on some, kerrs pinks or golden wonder would be even better.

Once youve picked and peeled your potatoes, the next step is to boil them, which is where our modern kitchen gurus start dishing up confusion. Nigella boils them for only four minutes, Delia gives hers 10 and Jamies get 15, while Heston Bloomingheck takes his to the brink of disintegration by boiling them for up to half an hour, which is just an accident waiting to happen, and best avoided on this of all days. (Mind you, his tip to add the peeled skins to the boiling pot is bona fide genius, because it really does make the potatoes taste exponentially more, er, potatoey.) Some then dust their drained spuds in flour or even semolina (*hard stares La Lawson*) to help them crisp up, but theres no real need: so long as they go into very hot oil, theyll go crunchy enough anyway.

But enough of the culinary slebs, already: before we all reach for the Aunt Bessies, lets ask some folk who actually make roasties for a living. According to Steven Smith, chef/owner of The Freemasons Arms in Wiswell, Lancashire, When you think about it, the best part of a roastie is the bit submerged in fat, because its really crisp but stays all fluffy inside; the bits that arent under oil often dry out and go rock-hard.

These days, Smith doesnt actually roast his potatoes at all; he deep-fries them. While thats perhaps a bit much for the home cook and the uncharitable among us may well be asking, Isnt that a chip, then? Smith does this because it ensures consistency; hes clearly on to something, too, because his pub is always up near the top of the annual Top 50 Gastropubs list. Anyway, he says, the cooking medium isnt as pivotal as letting the spuds dry out properly first. We put ours uncovered in the fridge overnight, to give them time to lose all the moisture they pick up in boiling.

Nathan Richardson, head chef at the award-winning Guinea Grill in Mayfair, agrees with an overnight dry, but if thats not possible, give them at least an hour to cool and dry before roasting. This guy makes 200-plus portions each and every Sunday, so knows his way around a roastie better than most. And give them a shake to rough up the edges only once they are cool, or youll risk destroying them entirely and ending up with roast mash.

As for the fat you use, take a leaf out of Delias book and match it to what youre serving. Richardson uses dripping Why waste money on duck or goose fat when you can get a block of dripping for less than a pound? as befits a man who runs a kitchen famed for its steak, but whatever you use, he says, It has to be smoking hot before the spuds go in, because it coats them better and prevents sticking.

Its the finishing touches, however, that really set the professionals apart: Richardson dusts his roast spuds in dried thyme, rosemary, salt and white pepper, all ground to a fine powder, while Smith tosses his first in browned salted butter flavoured with garlic, thyme and rosemary before seasoning with yet more salt, rosemary and thyme.

Finally, as everyone knows, the golden rule is always to make way more than you think you need, because few mouthfuls are more pleasurable than a leftover roastie straight from the fridge. If I had my way, Richardson says, Id avoid eating them with roast dinner at all. Theyd make the perfect bar snack if only I could guarantee people wouldnt ask me to heat them up.

Do you have a culinary dilemma? Email feast@theguardian.com

Read the rest here:

Christmas dinner: whats the secret to the perfect roast potato? - The Guardian

Ha! If it werent for the music I get introduced to by Lyft drivers, I would literally not listen to anything but Talking Heads and Broadway cast albums. Im always disappointed when they take note of my sensible shoes and reading glasses and turn the party off.

Theres a difference between radio that is simply not to your taste and radio that assaults the mind or senses. You can ask a driver to turn down the first and turn off the second. The golden rule of car radio is that drivers choose the soundtrackfrom a generally acceptable menu. Passengers shouldnt be exposed to excessive volume, profanity, screaming, insults, religious proselytization, or sexually explicit material. This is the case regardless of the demographics of either party. Earphones or buds are also your friend, and using a ride to catch up on voice mail, or listen to the news or a podcast, makes your request for quiet about you, not about the drivers choices.

Does this make you feel more comfortable? I must say, life gets a lot easier if you stop worrying what service providers think about you as a person. You want them to think well of you as a customerone who pays and tips well, gives relevant feedback, honors their time constraints, communicates clearly and respectfully, and so on. But its really OK if they think youre scatterbrained or awkward or have awful tasteor whatever. Silently judging the customers is part of the fun of every job. Dont take that away. Your drivers might think youre old and out of touch. So what? We live in an explosion of diversity and information. Everyones scope is necessarily limited.

Miss Conduct is Robin Abrahams, a writer with a PhD in psychology.

Visit link:

Advice: Can I ask my driver to turn off the music? - The Boston Globe

Speaking as someone who writes about television for a living, the 2010s have absolutely broken me. It all used to be so simple. There were five channels, three of them good, and you watched whatever they decided to show you. It didnt matter if it was rubbish, either. Soap operas. Game shows. So many documentaries about the British Transport Police youd call me a liar if I tried to list them all. We watched it all, because thats what was on.

In retrospect, it was a golden age. Because now when you sit down to watch television, you basically have to choose between every single thing that has ever been made. The channels are still going, just, but theyre outgunned by streaming platforms with libraries that swell by the day. Netflix throws a new original series out every few days, plus a bank of buzzy imports. NowTV keeps you up to date with all the shows that get recapped by the sites you like. Amazon isnt easing off either, especially now that competition comes in the form of Apple and Disney and Facebook and Snapchat.

Its too much. No wonder people are lying about what they watch. I do. I do it all the time. Not in print, of course, but socially. Isnt The Good Fight amazing? a friend will ask me. What choice do I have? Of course The Good Fight is amazing. I know its amazing because people wont shut up about how amazing it is. But that doesnt mean Ive watched it. I keep promising myself Ill get around to it, but I know I never will. Whenever an opportunity to watch The Good Fight arises, Ill immediately find myself wedged in a bottleneck of newer drama. Ill never watch The Good Wife. I have already said my goodbyes to it.

But my friends dont need to know that. Yeah, its amazing, Ill lie in response, knowing Ill be able to bluff my way through the next two minutes of vague interrogation by praising the actors and the premise before grabbing the conversation back by telling everyone how much I preferred Braindead, Robert and Michelle Kings little-watched Good Wife predecessor. Nobody watched Braindead. I am the only person in the entire world who watched Braindead. So now its my friends turn to feel inadequate.

The list of shows I havent watched this decade is vast. I dipped out of The Walking Dead after a season, The Affair after a season, Divorce after a season. I couldnt convince my wife to try Rick and Morty, so Ive only seen a handful of those. I still havent and I shudder to admit this seen all of The Wire.

There isnt anything wrong with failing to keep up with the flood of television. Being honest about not watching something is admirable. But sometimes it just isnt possible. So in the spirit of end-of-decade good will, please allow me to share my top tips for lying about television you havent seen.

This is usually the safest bet. You are a person on the internet in the year 2019, so you will have been exposed to all kinds of tweets or reviews of things youve never watched. Use them. If people talk about Shrill, tell them that you think the casting of Aidy Bryant was alchemical (Emily Nussbaum, March 2019), then use that as a tangent to talk about a SNL clip you just saw on YouTube. If they talk about The Deuce, tell them the characters were more impactful than the political statements (Alan Sepinwall, October 2019). If theyre talking about After Life, tell them its mawkish and bad (Stuart Heritage, March 2019). This will probably be enough to get you by.

This is trickier, but it can be done. If people are discussing a show thats been on for a while, you can get away with claiming that one specific season is your favourite. As a rule, pick an earlier season if its a drama (because that will be when the premise was still intact) and a middle season if its a comedy (because they were still working out their patterns in the first season). Never, ever tell anyone that the final season of a show was your favourite. What if theyre talking about Dexter? Youll look like a maniac.

When in doubt, go obscure. If theyre talking about a show you havent seen, hit them back with a show they havent seen. Tell them how much you loved Crossing Lines or Dix Pour Cent or Kidding. But be careful; if your friends are a certain type of person, theyll volley back by singing the praises of an even more obscure show, and youll all end up discussing something nobody has ever seen. I believe this is the only reason why people ever talk about Sorry For Your Loss.

Read this article:

The decade that broke me! Could anyone keep up with TV's golden age? - The Guardian

Shutterstock

When clients first contact me for rsum help, they often say things like I heard that you should never or I was told to always Most of these rules are just plain wrong, because they contradict the one Golden Rule of Rsum Writing: your why you should hire me message needs to jump off the page in the 15 seconds or less that your rsum is being reviewed (one study says your rsum is looked at for only 7.4 seconds).

Keeping the Golden Rule in mind, lets look at the top four rsum myths that Ive come across in my work with clients.

Your rsum should not be a literal list of all the things you did in your career. Instead, make it a document that quickly tells an employer how you can help them by using selective emphasis and inclusion. That is, keep the Golden Rule in mind. For example:

If you are too literal in describing your experiences, both you and your prospective employer might lose out, the latter because they wont truly understand your value.

Most rsum reviewers are not thinking oh this rsum is on two pages (or three pages), forget it. What they are thinking instead is I only have a few seconds to look at this and figure out if a conversation is worthwhile. You therefore need to prioritize ensuring that your rsum can be quickly scanned for value over having your rsum conform to a predefined length.

I too often see rsums with fonts that are too small, margins that are too narrow or space between jobs or experiences that is almost nonexistent all to make the rsum shorter. The result looks like a wall of tiny text thats difficult to quickly scan. Address these issues if present in your rsum, and make use of white space so that the reader can quickly skim through your rsum and pick out the key points.

Similarly, too many rsum writers leave out highly resonant accomplishments for the sake of one or two-pages, which is counterproductive. Dont hurt your case in service of a rule that most rsum reviewers arent thinking about!

The benefits of de-prioritizing page length in favor of these other factors have been evident in the results from my work with over a thousand clients, where their one page, two page or even three or four page rsums have landed them interviews. My career-coach colleagues longer yet concise rsums are similarly being selected for interviews and high praise as well. To take one of many examples, my work with universities enables me to see which undergrad rsums recruiters select out of a pile. Very often, they select the rsum that goes onto two pages out of a bunch of one-page rsums.

That said, ensure your rsum is as concise as possible (remember the Golden Rule). Make every word count. For example, when I see that a rsum is just over two pages, Im usually able to find and remove unnecessary words or phrases to get it onto two.

This myth violates the spirit of the Golden Rule, as you can see in these examples.

The bottom line: add experience to your rsum if it helps, take out or deemphasize experience if it doesnt.

Some jobseekers feel they need to use a different rsum format to hide issues with their experience. These issues include long gaps in employment, relevant experience that is old, or perceived experience gaps resulting from an attempt at a career or industry change.

Look, Im all for breaking convention when doing so will help you to get across your why hire me message more effectively. But dispensing with the reverse chronological format will have the opposite effect. The rsum reviewer will get confused by a different format than the reverse-chronological one that they see on 99% of rsums; they either wont take the time to figure out what youre doing, or they will think youre hiding something.

Theres a better way to handle problems, and its called a Summary Section. Place it at the top of your rsum (the first thing the reader sees), and think of it as your elevator speech or pitch.

Include: 1) your target position, i.e. what box you would fall into within an organization chart, 2) what differentiates you from your competition, and 3) your summarized greatest hits hard hitting bulleted accomplishments so they dont have to go searching on page two to find that amazing accomplishment you want them to see (you may repeat these accomplishments later in the rsum if appropriate).

By the way, the analysis of myths one and three applies equally to your LinkedIn profile.

Follow this link:

The Top 4 Rsum MythsBusted - Forbes

Ken Nordstrom received the individual award and Keith Randall, owner of Signs by Tomorrow, received the business award when the Interfaith Council of Murrieta & Temecula Valley presented its Humanitarian Awards at the annual Night of Gratitude, held at the Temecula United Methodist Church.

Nordstrom is a member of the Temecula Valley Elks Lodge, Boy Scouts of America and Grace Presbyterian Church of Temecula, whose pastor, the Rev. Neal Neuenschwander, nominated him for the award.

In his nomination, Neuenschwander said, Ken demonstrates the IFC (Interfaith Council) values of compassion, support, dialogue and respect. Ken has beenserving our community in many and varied ways for decades, active in the Boy Scouts, the Elks Club, the Temecula food pantry and the church, according to a press release from the Interfaith Council.

As chairman of Grace Presbyterian Churchs missions committee, Nordstrom is involved with projects including the Temecula TEAM ministry, which helps homeless people; an annual soup supper that benefits Habitat for Humanity; and Troop 384s Scouting for Food program.

For many years, he headed a team from the church who provided used furniture to families of Marines stationed at Camp Pendleton and he has led church teams to support a gleaning program on farms in Central California, according to the press release.

Nordstrom also supports Rancho Damacitas Children and Family Services and Camp Alandale, which serves abused and neglected children, and he has served as a disc jockey at fundraising events and as an auctioneer at charity benefits.

Keith Randall, left, winner of the Interfaith Council of Murrieta & Temecula Valleys 2019 Humanitarian Business Award, with Interfaith Council member Barbara Matthews Scott. (Photo by Marti Treckman, Interfaith Council of Murrieta & Temecula Valley)

Ken Nordstrom, left, winner of the Interfaith Council of Murrieta & Temecula Valleys 2019 individual Humanitarian Award, with Interfaith Council member Barbara Matthews Scott. (Photo by Marti Treckman, Interfaith Council of Murrieta & Temecula Valley)

Sound

The gallery will resume inseconds

Interfaith Council member Craig Smedley nominated Keith Randall for the Humanitarian Business Award.

In his nomination, Smedley said, Keith Randall and his business, Signs by Tomorrow, exemplifies the IFC values of generosity, service to the community and the Golden Rule. I was first made aware of Keiths generosity when I was looking for signs for an Eagle Project in 2013, followed by signs for Cub Scouts and other banners, according to the press release.

Randall who opened his business in 1986, has donated labor and materials for signs for golf tournaments, funerals, church activities, Scouts, Chamber of Commerce functions, family projects and reunions, according to the press release.

The Interfaith Council presented engraved crystal awards to Nordstrom and Randall, donated by Steve Butterworth of Fallbrook Awards.

Interfaith Council member Barbara Matthews Scott solicits nominations for the Humanitarian Awards from all the faith organizations that are members of the council and from the public.

The Interfaith Council of Murrieta & Temecula Valley meets noon-1:30 p.m. the second Tuesday of every month except July and August at Miller-Jones Mortuary, 26855 Jefferson Ave., Murrieta. Guests and new members are welcome. The next meeting is Jan. 14.

For information, call 951-698-6116 or email martimusician@verizon.net.

Read more:

Here are the winners of Humanitarian Awards presented by Interfaith Council of Murrieta & Temecula Valley - Press-Enterprise

Aside from the golden rule, theres probably nothing more ingrained in us during childhood than the importance of trying. As long as we do our best, were told, we can be proud of ourselves no matter the outcome. While that age-old wisdom is absolutely true, it falls short of telling the whole story. Exerting maximum effort all the time isnt just a matter of hitting a switch, and its not even an entirely conscious process. We all have days when were listless, whether personally or professionally, and I promise youre not alone if youve ever mailed in an assignment or two. The question, then, isnt so much whether we should do our best, but rather how we can go about doing it.

Have you ever had that moment at work when you realize youre just going through the motions? Times when your doing the task in front of you with as little engagement as possible, as if on autopilot? I think weve all been there. Almost all of our jobs include some repetition, drudgery, or otherwise mundane work. When we focus on these tasks exclusively, its easy for our work to feel meaningless and unimportant. But thats exactly the wrong mindset to have.

Breaking through a sense of fatigue begins with looking at yourself. When I think about this topic, I always come back to a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson, who says, The reward of a thing well done is having done it. Think about that for a second. Engagement and effort, Emerson is saying, animate even the most boring processes. The reason why activities feel meaningless when youre going through the motions isnt because of the activity itself; its precisely because youre not giving it your all. Taking half-measures also leave you unsatisfied.

A great example of this principle is the art of making a carpet by hand. In some sense, the task is the very picture of busywork. Large carpets contain millions of knots, each made in essentially the same way. If you were to focus on the ceaseless nature of each knot, youd drive yourself insane. But by remembering the overall scope of the task, you can painstakingly attempt to make each knot as perfect as possible. In doing so, you go from tying an infinite amount of knots to creating a single beautiful work of art. Its simply a matter of perspective.

If youre ever struggling to find the right perspective on your work, there are tons of quick practices that can snap you back into shape. Ive found mindfulness techniques to be a great way to re-center and refocus myself when the stressful and always-connected nature of the modern workplace begins to grind me down.

The other piece of the proverbial doing your best puzzle comes in the form of motivation. Despite the fact that we talk about motivation all the time, most people dont understand how it works. We like to pretend that motivation is a straightforward matter of willpower. As awesome as that would be, its simply not how it works.

In his recent book The Motivation Myth: How High Achievers Really Set Themselves up to Win, Inc. Magazine contributor Jeff Haden lays out a much more constructive framework for thinking about motivation. I thought motivation was a prerequisite to starting a tedious learning processa spark necessary to get me going, Haden writes. But motivation is really a result. Motivation is the fire that starts burning after you manually, painfully, coax it into existence, and it feeds on the satisfaction of seeing yourself make progress.

Understanding this concept has huge ramifications on how we go about our days. In the case of starting a new fitness regiment, were unlikely to truly buy in until we start to see results. In the case of our work, we need to feel like were doing well and making an impact. Once we do, were energized to do even more. When we believe our hard work will deliver results, its a lot easier to fall in love with the process. If youre a leader, remember this idea when youre trying to get the best from your team. You cant demand motivation without offering a true sense of satisfaction for a team members engagement.

The beauty of doing our best is that its results begin to compound quickly. There are times when we fall short, but nobody wants to be the person who looks like a zombie or robot at the office. The real reason we should do our best is because it just makes everything more worthwhile.

======

Amy Vetter is a CPA.CITP, CGMA is an accomplished c-suite executive and board member with deep experience in cloud technology and transformation, creating go-to- market (GTM) strategies to scale businesses nationally and internationally.

Excerpt from:

Perspective + Motivation = Reward: How to Unlock Your Best Self - CPAPracticeAdvisor.com

The Forgotten City, a game based on the award-winning The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim mod downloaded over two million times, has been delayed from its original launch date and will now release in Winter 2020 for PC and Xbox One. It'll be published by Dear Villagers, the publishing label owned by Plug In Digital.

Nick Pearce, managing director and founder of studio Modern Storyteller, stated:

Dry Drowning Review A Macabre and Murderous Visual Novel

From the start, I wanted The Forgotten City to be meaningful, personal, and rich with detail to reward curious, intrepid players. The support of Dear Villagers has already been an incredible boon, allowing me to focus on a world and narrative more detailed than I ever imagined when working on the mod.

The Forgotten City is a reimagining of the mod featuring entirely updated visuals (through Unreal Engine technology), a new setting and story, professionally voice-acted characters, new puzzles, and an original orchestral score. In case you're not familiar with the premise of the mod, here's a recap:

In ancient Rome, in a secret underground city, twenty-six lost souls live in fear of the mysterious Golden Rule: The many shall suffer for the sins of the one. Haunted by these words, the people fall in line. For in this precarious utopia, a single sin by anyone will kill everyone.

Leap through time and relive the final moments of the city and its people in an endless loop. Gather intel and collect items of intrigue to navigate puzzles only time travel can solve. Blaze a trail through issues of morality, modern society, and humanism. Act carefully, as every decision will change the course of the day and the fate of its people. Unravel an epic mystery en route to multiple endings.

Below you can check out the brand new The Forgotten City teaser trailer shared by Modern Storyteller, and a special announcement video from the developers.

Share Submit

Continue reading here:

The Forgotten City Now Scheduled to Launch in Winter 2020 for PC and Xbox One - Wccftech

BRYAN, Texas As we get closer and closer to Christmas day, its time for procrastinators to kick it into high gear and get those last minute gifts.

Some high in demand holiday gifts could be sold out in popular retail stores, and if you were to search and come across a random site that offers these items, even at a discounted price, you might want to think twice before purchasing. The Better Business Bureau is warning about fake offers online.

"If you suddenly find a surplus of them somewhere that isn't one of the regular retailers of the product, that's something to look into," says Amy Rasor, the Fort Worth regional director for the Better Business Bureau.

Rasor said the first thing to do while shopping online is to do your research.

"Check out the company," Rasor said. "See if they have any negative reviews, any costumer complaints about the product or delivery."

The Better Business Bureau said to also keep in mind one of the golden rules while shopping. If a deal is too good to be true, it probably is.

"You also want to look for discrepancies when checking out and researching the companies to see if this product that you're purchasing could be counterfeit," Rasor said. "There are a lot of counterfeit goods being sold, especially on the internet right now."

Sometimes our email inbox could get a message about a deal for that 'must have' item we've been scouring the internet for, but be careful before you click on that link.

The Bryan Police Department says you should head directly to whatever website is offering that deal.

"You could get an email from Amazon or PayPal and it looks legitimate but it's not," said Officer Kelley McKeathen. "The number one rule is that if it comes to you in an email, don't click on it."

As the years go on, scammers are getting smarter and coming up with more ways to get your information and money. But by doing your research and only heading to sites you trust, you can stay one step ahead of them this holiday season.

ALSO POPULAR ON KAGSTV.COM:

2,168 Angel Kids Receiving Presents This Christmas

HOLIDAY BLUES: How to cope with seasonal grief and sadness

Chilly Wednesday morning temps and an uptick in moisture by Friday

See the original post:

Better Business Bureau warning people to be safe while shopping for popular items - KAGSTV.com

The countdown to Christmas is nearing single digits. Just a handful of shopping days left. With the time crunch comes the hustle and bustle of everyone buying those last minute gifts for their loved ones. Stores are packed. Stock is limited on those must have items. Tempers begin to flare when an item cant be found. People huff and puff when they arent helped immediately. Blame is placed on retail workers who are working tirelessly to keep up with demand. Rants are taken to social media complaining about the business rants that can be dangerous to small, locally owned businesses.

That is why this year we would like to provide a friendly reminder that retail workers are humans too. Most of them are trying their best to please every person that walks through their door. Theyre working extremely long hours during the holiday season and some of them for not the greatest of pay.

Let me say right here that regardless of what retail workers (including wait staff and fast food workers) get paid, no one gets paid enough to be screamed at, sometimes for things they cant even control. No one deserves to be cursed at or belittled for working a job that is providing income to feed and clothe their families. Even when complaints arise, theres a more fitting way to resolve the issue. Talk to a manager or owner. Let them know why youre upset, but do so in a way thats respectable. More often than not, you catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar.

These workers are people who deserved to be treated as such with dignity and respect. I will leave you with this thought. The Golden Rule most of us were taught as youngsters; Matthew 7:12 says, So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

Read more:

Column: Treating each other the way we want to be treated during the holidays - Duncan Banner