Friday, November 27, 2020

Office romance is on the rocks

In the wake of economic recessions, the #MeToo movement and the pandemic, young workers are turning their backs on office romance as they contend with a turbulent job market and increased scrutiny of workplace harassment. Millennials and Gen Zers are increasingly shunning workplace romance as a “bad idea,” but that hasn’t killed office love just yet. While some companies have completely banned romantic relationships between certain employees, others are experimenting with disclosure policies, so-called “love contracts” and other dating provisions to help manage the flame. (The Wall Street Journal)

California prisoners defrauded the federal government of hundreds of millions of dollars

According to a special law enforcement task force, inmates filed 35,000 claims totaling $140M in unemployment benefits between March and August, but thousands of California federal prisoners may have received as much as $1B through the fraud scheme, which centered on pandemic unemployment benefits, said Sacramento County District Attorney said. “We are paying hundreds of millions of dollars in the name of serial killers, rapists, and child molesters,” she said. Some claims included false names but others featured real names, including 133 of the state’s 700 death row inmates. $420,000 was paid to death row inmates. Claims were filed by, or on behalf of, notorious murderers, including Susan Eubanks, who murdered her four sons in 1996; and Scott Peterson, who killed his pregnant wife in 2002. The District Attorney noted that the fraud scheme was possible because California’s system does not crosscheck unemployment claims with the state’s jail and prison roster. There have been reports of fraudulent unemployment claims being filed in other states, including Massachusetts, Illinois, and Kansas. (The New York Times)

Grandparents Send Family Cardboard Cutouts Since They Couldn’t Travel For Thanksgiving

Two grandparents from Rockwall, Texas who couldn’t travel to their kids’ house to see their grandchildren for Thanksgiving, they had to get creative. So they brought out their tripod, snapped a photo of themselves, and told their kids something would be arriving for them in the mail. Next thing their grandchildren knew, the life-sized six-foot tall cardboard cutouts of them had arrived at the doorsteps of their son in the Texas Hill Country, and daughter in San Francisco, California. It may not be the same, but the Grandma says giving up one big moment, for next year’s little moments, is worth it. (CBS DFW)

Dating app exclusively for bald people goes viral after launching this week

It seems just about everyone these days has turned to dating apps to help their search for a partner. Luckily, there is now a dating app for just about everyone, as services with specific user criteria continue to pop up on the internet. Now, a new dating service exclusively for bald people has gone viral, gaining over 1,000 new users since launching earlier this week. It’s called “Bald.dating”. If you’re single & bald or like bald people then tag anyone you think is a perfect match. Bald Dating is a new service that looks to match bald people with people interesting in their look. No longer will bald people have to choose photos with hats in order to convince someone to go on a date with them. The website is currently using the tagline, “heads & personalities shine.” (Bald.Dating)

Oxycontin Maker Purdue Pharma Pleads Guilty To Criminal Charges

The drugmaker pleaded guilty to three charges related to its role in the opioid epidemic. Purdue Pharma has pleaded guilty to criminal charges for its role in the opioid epidemic. The Oxycontin maker admitted fault to three felonies including paying to intice doctors to write more prescriptions. Last month the company agreed to pay $8.3 billion in a settlement with the justice department. The recent hearing brings an end to a federal investigation. (CNN)

Rescue workers have found two wedding rings belonging to an Algerian couple who survived a migrant shipwreck in the Mediterranean

On November 9th, a rescue boat run by an NGO called Open Arms found the remains of a recent shipwreck, including a red backpack with two wedding rings inside, as well as clothes and other belongings. Open Arms shared images of the rings on social media in a bid to find their owners. When Doctors Without Borders staff saw the pictures, they realized that the rings belonged to a couple that had survived a shipwreck that happened on October 25th in which five migrants had died. The couple were rescued by a fishing boat alongside 13 other survivors. They are staying at a migrant center in Sicily. (The Guardian)

Crisis unmasks ‘secret parenting’

With many now toiling from home, the pandemic has done a lot to expose the realities of “secret parenting”, in which working parents downplay their childcare obligations to prove their commitment to a job, but inherent biases against working mothers remain, along with the associated judgment and discrimination. Concerned that the crisis could have an extended impact on working mothers, who have left jobs in greater numbers than their male counterparts, experts say normalizing childcare responsibilities, especially for fathers, is crucial in order to create real change. (BBC Worklife)

A winter threat to service jobs

With cold weather approaching and states grappling with an aggressive resurgence of the coronavirus, the restaurant and hospitality industries are staring down a bleak winter. A combination of chilly conditions and new virus restrictions threatens up to 2.8 million service jobs, according to a new study by Gusto, as restaurant, retail and other hospitality businesses fight to survive. Some are investing in heat lamps, creating outdoor “bubbles” and doing what they can to keep their businesses running, but many fear they won’t be able to survive another shutdown. (Gusto)

‘Buy now, pay later’ is growing

As online shopping booms, a slew of new financial companies have sprung up that allow consumers to pay for items in interest-free installments, threatening the dominance of credit cards for e-commerce transactions. Instead of charging hefty interest for late payments, firms such as Klarna and Afterpay have shifted fees onto merchants, of which tens of thousands now use the services to attract customers not ready to pay up front for purchases. Pay later programs have spiked among younger Americans over the last year. (Financial Review)

Millions risk losing homes in 2020

Millions of Americans are worried about losing their homes by the end of 2020, according to a U.S. Census Bureau survey. As the pandemic upends personal finances, some 5.8 million people said they were “somewhat” to “very” likely to face eviction or foreclosure in the final months of the year, roughly a third of the 17.8 million adults in households are behind on rent or mortgage payments. A temporary moratorium on evictions ends December 31st, unless extended, while those who signed up for relief under the CARES Act could face foreclosure by March. (United States Census Bureau)

Man gets extra prison time for skipping sentence, opening pizza shop with fake name

A 34-year-old man who jumped bail and fled to Tennessee to open a pizza shop under a fake name was sentenced in Cayuga County, New York Court. The man received a longer sentence that what was initially promised in February when he pleaded guilty to felony weapons charges. The man didn’t appear for his sentencing that had been set for June, which prompted the Judge to issue a warrant for his arrest. The man’s attorney said that his client has health conditions and was scared of contracting COVID-19, in which is why he left New York. The Cayuga County Sheriff’s Office discovered the man was in Tennessee after he was interviewed by news outlets there in order to promote a pizza shop he was running under a different name. The sheriff’s office eventually caught wind of the publicity and collaborated with the U.S. Marshals Service to apprehend him. Later, he was extradited from Franklin County in Tennessee. The Judge ordered the man to serve four years in state prison, followed by three years of post-release supervision on his charges of second-degree attempted criminal possession of a weapon and third-degree criminal possession of a weapon. (Auburn Publishing)

Ohio man tips $3K for beer before the restaurant closes over rising coronavirus cases

Right before an Ohio restaurant temporarily closed its doors because of the state’s rising coronavirus cases, a customer stepped in to buy a $7 beer and left a $3,000 tip for the staff on his way out. The owner of Nighttown in Cleveland, Ohio, posted about the generous tip on social media. According to the post, the customer ordered his drink right before Nighttown closed for the night, which was also the restaurant’s last day before it temporarily closed. The owner said that after the man paid for his beer and handed back his credit card slip to the owner, the customer “wished me well while we sit out our voluntary shutdown.” The man also told the owner to share his tip with the wait staff. According to the owner, there were four people working that day. According to a picture of the receipt that was included in the owners post, the beer ended up costing only $7.02 with tax included. “As he walked out I looked down at the tip and realized he left a whopping $3,000 tip on a single beer purchase,” the owner wrote. “I ran after him and he said no mistake we will see you when you reopen!” (Nighttown Facebook)

Friday Gets Krunk With:

• Bavarian Cream Pie Day
• Black Friday (Day After Thanksgiving)
• Buy Nothing Day (Day After Thanksgiving)
• Craft Jerky Day
• Day of Listening (Day After Thanksgiving)
• Flossing Day (Day After Thanksgiving)
• Fur Free Friday (Day After Thanksgiving)
• Maize Day (Day After Thanksgiving)
• Native American Heritage Day (Day After Thanksgiving)
• Random Acts of Kindness Friday (Friday after Thanksgiving)
• Sinkie Day
• You’re Welcomegiving Day (Day After Thanksgiving)