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6C
CiEtarlotte Post
THURSDAY, AUGUST 3, 2006
BUSINESS
Elderly
targets of
scams
By Eileen Alt Powell
THE ASSOOArfD PRESS
NEW YORK - The man
who telephoned Henrietta
Iblhurst several months ago
claimed he had great news
for her - she had won the
$22,000 second prize in a
national magazine contest.
The caller said he and his
company would pay the
taxes, so all Tblhurst had to
do was cover $6,800 in
lawyer fees.
Tblhurst, an 89-year-old
widow who hves in Santa
Monica, Cahf, says "they
sounded so authentic, and it
got me t.hinkiTig about all the
good things I was going to do
with the money”
So she went to her bank
and borrowed the cash
against her credit card, put it
into a copy of the m^azine
as directed and handed it
over to the “courier” who
arrived at her doomtep to
collect it-
Unfortunately there was
no contest, and Tblh.urst has
httle hope of ever recovering
hea* money fix)m the scam-
mers-
Tblhurst was one of thou
sands of elderly Americans
who fall victim to securities
or lottery fraud every year.
Securities fraud covers
investment problems from
brokers who chum stock
accounts to bogus oil and gas
schemes; lottery fraud is
often of the "you may
already be a winner” come-
on variety
The problem has become
so widespread that con
sumer advocacy groups and
government regulators are
stepping up efforts to better
educate seniors about the
perils so they can avoid the
fraudsters.
Tblhurst, who is retired but
does volunteer work with
several agencies, said she is
embarrassed that she was
conned but has decided to
share her story because she
hopes it will warn others to
be careful,
Mary L, Schapiro, vice
chairman of NASD, the pri
vate-sector regulator of bro
ken based in Washington,
D,C,, said one of the most
frightening aspects of scam-
ming is how sophisticated
the con artists have become
in tailoring their pitches to
the victims,
A recent study conducted
for the NASD Investor
Education Foundation in
cooperation with the
Califoinia-based WISE
Senior Services ag^cy and
the AARP Foundation, foimd
that many of the fraudsters
worked hard to befriend the
elderly
‘Tf they thought the vic
tims were religious, they’d
pray with them at the begin
ning of a caQ,” Schapiro said,
"Or they’d latch on to some
other affinity, like an Itahan
last name. And they often
dropped the names of impor
tant people who allegedly
participated in their pro
grams,”
The study also found that
contrary to expectations,
investment fraud victims
appeared to be more frnan-
dally hterate than non-vic
tims, making them more
hkely to rely on their ovrai '
experience in making invest
ment decisions,
Schapiro also said investor
fi'aud goes dramatically
undeiTeported because
elderly victims not only feel
sOly or emban'assed that but
also fear’ that if they
acknowledge it “people will
think they’re no longer capa
ble and they’ll lose control
over thedr money or their
lives,”
movers
shakers
M&F Bank has added key members
to its business development staff in the
Charlotte and Triad markets.
In Charlotte, Bruce C, Osterhout was
named senior vice president/dty execu
tive, and Veronica R, Dawkins as vice
president/commerdal relationship
manager, Calvin Slade was named vice
president/relationship manager in
Winston-Salem,
Osterhout is a veteran banker with
over 30 years’ ejqjetience in commerdal
bankil^, commerdal credit, man^e-
ment, sales and training,
Dawkins’ background indudes resi
dential and commerdal real estate,
commerdal and ccaisumer credit and
private lending.
Slade’s background indudes broad
lending and financial services experi
ence, induding Small Business
Administration, economic develop
ment, mortgage, consumer and com
merdal lending, and branch manage
ment.
• Zerrick Bynum has been appointed
chief financial officer at
RoHoverSystems, He will be responsi
ble for the Charlotte-based company’s
finandal strategies.
Before joining RoUoverSystems,
Bynum was founding prindpal of
Charlotte Franchise Partners LLC, a
private investment firm. He was also
an investment banker at Donaldson
Lufkin & Jenrette and Bowles
HoUowell Conner &, Company where
he conducted acquisitions, mergers and
restructurings.
• Rai Glover has been named to the
Charlotte Regional \Tsitors Authority
board of directors. Glover, a senior vice
president and market development
manager at Bank of America’s
Charlotte headquarters and North
Carolina, was nominated by Charlotte
City Council.
ILLUSTRATION/JIM HUNT
Difficult but valuable
employees pose dilemma
Supervisor/employee relationships are often strained
By Joyce M. Rosenberg
JHEASSOaAJED PRESS
NEW YORK - Your most pro
ductive employee drives you nuts
_ so nuts that you realize you just
don’t like her.
But she’s so valuable to your
small business.
So. what do you do?
Any company owner who has
employees is likely at some point
to run into the problem of the tal
ented and highly competent but
difficult worker. Small business
owners who have been in that sit
uation recommend dealing with
employee problems when they’re
in the embryonic stage _ the
longer you let things fester, the
harder it will be to resolve them..
And along the way your company
including your other staffers, are
likely to suffer.
Carol Fass, who owns a pubhd-
ty firm bearing her name in New
York, recalled two workers who
were quite valuable _ up to a
point.
“They were very good publicists
and excellent writers and excel
lent with the clients, but they did
n’t create an environment here
that I enjoyed - I didn’t want to
have an environment full of ten
sion and friction,” Fass said.
So, Fass said, she asked both
workers to leave; they were poi
soning the atmosphere in the
company and Fass realized she
was losing the respect of her other
employees. Her business has sur
vived quite well without her diffi
cult staffers.
“No one is irreplaceable,” Fass
said.
But Pass doesn’t believe that fir
ing a difficult worker is the only
solution. She recalled another sit
uation with an aitirely different
outcome:
“I had one person, a yoimg
woman, and when she first start
ed working for me was fresh and
kind of presumptuous,” Fass said.
“So I said, ‘you really shouldn’t be
taikir^ to me this way’ She total
ly changed, she really got it and
she worked for me for many years
and I adored her.”
Fass was doir^ one of the most
important thir^ an owner or any
boss should do, give an employee
feedback. Human resources con
sultants advocate communicating
with workers on a regular basis,
letting them know what they’re
doing ri^t and wrong. Feedback
is probably the only way you can
get a difficult staffer to change for
the better.
Many small business owners
understandably are queasy about
confix)ntii^ staffers, for a variety
of reasons. It certainly can be an
unpleasant encoimter.
But, said Nancy Shenker, prin
cipal in the ONswitch, a market
ing firm in Thomwood, N.Y, “you
have to learn to be comfortable
communicating with people
because sometimes they may not
even be aware of the thin^ they
do that are driving other people
crazy”
Sometimes, she noted, the boss
may be part of the problem.
“Make it Sve’ - how can we work
better together?” Shenker said,
‘Maybe they have a short list of
things that you do that drives
them crazy”
Shenker said some problems
might be avoided fium the get-go.
She tells incoming staffers some
of her pet peeves, so theyll know
to avoid some of the behavior that
can cause difficulty
In the end, thov^, even if a
worker is very talented and helps
the business, he or she could be
doing aa company more harm
than good.
“If somebody really gets under
your skin and it’s a small office, it
can get in the way of work being
done,” Shenker said. “Any rela
tionship that ultimately is a toxic
relationship ultimately has to
end.”
But beware: If you do decide to
fire a worker, you need to be sure
that you have a solid case in Ihe
event that ihe dismissed staffer
turns around and sues you.
Wall
Street’s
wave of
news
By Christopher Wang
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
• NEW YORK - Wall Street managed a
solid advance last week as investors grew
cautiously optimistic that ihe Federal
Reserve might finally be done hiking
interest rates. But with so much lingering
doubt about the economy and geopofitical
tension, only one thing is certain: It’s not
over until it’s over.
A sharp slowdown in gross domestic
product growth during the second quarter
gave investors a glimmer of hope that the
Fed might indeed stop lifting rates at its
Aug. 8 meeting after two years of consecu
tive increases. Althov^ inflation mea
sures extended beyond the Fed’s comfort
zone, investors appeared to be convinced
that the economy has slowed enough. The
Dow Jones industrials had their best
weekly percentage gain in more than a
year.
“The market is telling the Fed, “Hey it’s
time to stop raising rates,”’ said Rick
Pendergraft, a research analyst with
Investors Daily Edge. “Whether or not the
Fed listens, that’s a different case.”
As always, this week’s economic data
could upset investors or give them a rea
son to push stocks higher. Analysts
nonetheless maintain that the market
should continue fluctuating as a hei^t-
ened distaste for risky investments keeps
traders to tiie sidelines, partiaflarly dur
ing the summer vacation months.
More signs of a gradually slowing econo
my in the Institute for Supply
Management’s manufacturing index and
the Labor Department’s monthly employ
ment report this week would serve to bol
ster the outlook for interest rates.
However, figures sharply above or below
expectations would dismantle what little
confidence Wall Street has managed to
muster.
Meanwhile, the persistent stream of
earnings reports presents opportunities
for gains in individual sectors, Pendergraft
said. The 64 percent of companies in the
Standard & Poor’s 500 index that have
already released r^ults have seen average
profit growth of 16.6 percent, with almost
70 percent beatir^ analysts’ expectations.
‘T think a lot of the bear sentiment that
had been built up (dining the May-June
decline) caused people to get more skepti
cal of the market,” Pendergraft said.
‘We’re seeing a bigger pop than last quar
ter because we weren’t at this point in the
cycle at the time.”
Wellness plans
offered to more
small business
employees
By Joyce M. Rosenberg
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK - At PetSafe Inc., employ
ees can earn points toward gift certifi
cates by going to the gym and the doctor.
And at Eastern Pinandai Florida Credit
Union, staffeie get $100 towai-d thdi-
annual health dub fees.
These and many other small businesses
are offering perks known as wellness ben
efits in hopes of lowering their health
care costs and promoting a happier and
'more productive work environment. And,
in turn, making themselves more attrac
tive to prospective employees.
PetSafe, a pet products company based
in Knoxville, Tfenn., has a program that
awards points to workers who go to the
doctor, donate blood, work out in a gym or-
take wellness dasses. Laurie Macnair,
whose title at PetSafe is director of talent
development, said that at the end of each
quarter, staffers can redeem their points
for movie passes, lunches, even gift cer
tificates of up to $100.
Macnair said the idea for PetSafe’s
wellness benefits actually originated-with
staffers. But the company has agreed to
sponsor the various parts of the program,
which also indudes weight loss contests
and paying for smoking cessation aids
such as nicotine patches. It has also built
a gym that’s fi:ee for all employees.