| Work at Home: Where are the Legitimate Jobs?
You've seen the ads...work from home and earn major money. Are they true or just hype? The idea of working at home certainly sounds appealing: save gas, work at your own speed and wear whatever you want. But are these jobs real, and how do you find one? It would be nice if your commute consisted of stepping to the kitchen for a cup of coffee, then to your home office. Now, thanks to the internet, plenty of people do it daily. Scott Malcom, who works from home, says, "Best commute in town…very short. Takes me about 30 seconds. We get to choose our own hours so it allows me to have the flexibility to do things with my wife and my daughter." Malcolm works for Alpine Access: they provide customer service reps to some of America's biggest companies. So there are real "work at home jobs" out there: although finding one without being ripped off in the process could be a job in itself. And legitimate companies aren't hurting for hires.
Home health-care workers feel pinch
PEORIA - The union representing 70,000 home health-care and home child-care workers statewide says low wages and a lack of health insurance contribute to high worker turnover, which in turn, reduces the availability of quality care for consumers who need it.Representatives from the Service Employees International Union Local 880 released a report Monday that highlighted the inadequate pay and lack of benefits, saying as a result, the home-care work force in Illinois experiences annual turnover of 40 percent."As the need for quality, in-home care grows with the aging population, the state will experience a shortage of qualified home-care workers to provide quality, in-home care, forcing consumers with disabilities and seniors to turn to more costly facility-based care," said Wendy Voegele, regional director of the SEIU Local 880, during a news conference Monday at the Advocates for Access offices in Peoria.Personal assistants make $9.35 an hour, have no health insurance and receive poor job training, which is undermining long-term care for senior citizens and the disabled in Illinois, she said.The union is in contract negotiations with the state and is seeking higher wages, health insurance and better job training.Most Americans say economy worseGANNETT NEWS SERVICE WASHINGTON - More than three-fourths of Americans say economic conditions are getting worse, the highest reading since the Gallup Organization started polling on the question in 1991, according to a Gallup survey released Monday.Overall, 20 percent of Americans are satisfied with the direction of the country, the most dismal reading since May 1992, according to the Gallup survey of 1,014 adults conducted from Nov 11-14.The Gallup numbers track other gauges of consumer and business confidence, which have been falling in recent weeks as Americans have been buffeted by falling home sales, a falling dollar, rising energy prices, a credit crunch and turmoil in stock markets.The Gallup poll numbers indicate that although the unemployment rate in October was a low 4.7 percent, conditions feel increasingly lousy.
The Reliable Source's 3rd Annual Snip & Save Thanksgiving Talking Points
Once again, it's time to make the trip back home for the annual family feast -- and already you're panicked about how all your relatives will be demanding inside dirt from you, the Washington insider. You could finally just break down and admit you're not that inside. (Mom . . . Dad . . . I work at the Germantown Starbucks.") Or! You can cheat your way through the conversation with our handy-dandy insidery (although not necessarily true) talking points. Primaries .
Columbia man shot as he walked home
COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) - Columbia police are looking for whoever shot a 20-year-old Columbia man. The family of Ryan Creech wants to know why someone would shoot their son as he walked home from work. Ryan's aunt Henrika Bates says, "He didn't deserve it, and we are just in shock right now." Bates doesn't know much about what happened to her nephew. For now, the family is fearing the worst for the 20-year-old father. As of late Monday, his family says he's in serious condition. Bates says, "We are devastated. The seriousness of it is shocking. We didn't expect it." Bates says Creech had just left his job at Arby's when he was shot late Saturday. Police are looking into the shooting on Middleton Street in Columbia. Neighbors say three young men were walking down the street when someone inside a van pulled up, fired one shot, then drove off.
The Holidays Northwest Arkansas style
Well it's that time of year again. Every day when I come home from work, I have an assortment of magazines from Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn, Dean and Deluca, and others with all of their new holiday merchandise. I must admit, I truly love this time of year. I think that we would be safe in calling it the holiday period, because it essentially starts in late September and goes through New Year's. Starting with the period before Halloween and ending with the New Year's celebration, its just three months of parties, celebrations, friends and family. It seems to all blur together. Of course the granddaddy of all of this is the period between Thanksgiving and Christmas. It can get a bit hectic and crazy. Between the office holiday parties (which always seem to resemble the ones from the show “The Office" to family functions) it can be exhausting.
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