Tag Archive for rant

| April 4, 2013
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Identity Theft – A Real Life Example

identityMany people have seen the movie Identity Thief. I was one of the many! I truly enjoyed it and laughed. Identity theft in reality is not a joking subject. This post is about the experiences that I have had to share with my mom. She was a victim of tax identity theft. When filing her, 2011 federal tax return, she was sent a letter that her taxes were on hold. She came to visit me and we got on this right away. Below is just some of the steps and some of the happens that she has encountered along the way. Safe to say, that no one wants this to happen to them…

Once she showed me the letter. I called with her on the line, to our IRS hotline number to get a clearer picture of what has happened. The shared with us that this her return has already been sent. That they now have a second return (which was her’s), which they have flagged as possible tax identity theft. The agent on the phone gave me some basic information on next steps. I asked the all important question of how long will it take to get her the money that she is owed? He led us to believe that 30 days from when the id theft process has been done. From June 2012 till today – nothing! I guess 30 days depends on what closed or done means.

Steps that had to be taken – letter from the CPA stating that the taxes in question are in fact “her” taxes. (makes me wonder if you do them yourself – do you write your own letter?). File a report on what happened with your home fraud agency. Which she did. After some time – she received confirmation that she was a victim of tax id theft. She was given some report that definitely showed that these folks are good. They filed her taxes quickly. They had an address in Chicago (my mom has lived 2000 miles away for quite some time). They received $10K in return in a card! News to me that you would want that you can get your return in a card. Second shock – $10K in return. My mom has never received $10K from taxes in her life. The other red flag was the big deduction of continued education. All simple red flags that our IRS should have seen before they process the tax return. I guess it just is processed and looked at later.

Next was a follow up with the IRS office again (45 days had passed!). The answer to that call, was the time to process is running a lot longer than you were quoted back in June 2012. The throughput time is now more like 6 months. Nothing like adding 5 months on… That deadline came up – still no check! She calls again (as 2012 taxes are due now – which she will wait to insure that her name is cleared). They said that go ahead and submit your 2012 taxes that a note will be put in the file so they can process. Guess what? My moms 2012 taxes are held up! Because of the tax identity theft (of 2011).

My mom’s frustration level is at a boiling point. I guess just about everyone else would be just as bad. Me, I try to keep a calming approach to this. I recommend she can again and get an answer to why has this taken so long, what is needed to close this properly and express that you now have 2 years of tax returns that you are not getting that you need. Well, that call only got us to the point of the theft agency has to close the case before they can process. I guess going back to the done part – that was not clearly communicated as the done. Months go by and nothing happens and the answers you get just lead you to believe soon. The next phone call was to the identity theft agency that needs to close the case. That call was not good. They did not have an answer for when the case will close. They hinted to an additional 30 days. Mom was now passed boiling. For maybe the first time that I can remember she hung up on someone. Ouch!

She calls me… Fills me in! I can really sense the frustration. I am getting frustrated. After a few minutes of venting.. I ask her to maybe go to the local theft agency (my mom works in local law enforcement office) and see what maybe they can do from their end. What is the worst that can happen – nothing! Also, I think this one would be an awesome one to hit up the local news “on your side” folks. Maybe they can shake a tree and get the money freed up.

Morale of the story – make sure that you are taking the necessary steps to insure that identity theft is not going to happen to you..

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Category: Observations | Tags: , ,
| March 20, 2013
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Retired Guy Series: You Thought It Was Over

I know it has been a long time since an installment of the retired guy came out from me. I really am not truly retired… I wanted to share some of the experiences that I have been gathering along the way.

I continue to do lots of volunteer work. Az4Education has helped me pick up some new skills in marketing and social media. I am enjoying helping out the organization. We have tripled our donations year over year. We have given out as much of our budget in scholarships as possible. Making me want to bring in triple the donations again, next year! I am also keeping my presentation skills sharp, with Big Brothers, Big Sisters – every month or so, I present to the new crop of “Bigs” their orientation material. I truly enjoy meeting new people! Each of these volunteer opportunities have added more interesting and wonderful folks to my network.

I started my own consulting business, which is slowly gaining some new clients. I am happy that I can get out and help organizations with training on leadership, process engineering and some basic IT knowledge. Again, the people that I have met along that journey has been outstanding.

To the point of the post. I still from time to time, look for permanent employment of my “second” career. I just don’t blast my resume out there for just any job. I have plenty to keep my busy. I want to do something that I feel will make my complete life complete. My experience in looking and applying for said jobs is the point of the post. Looking for the right job is difficult… When it comes up, you get totally excited and want nothing to do but get that position. I have seen a couple that I have applied for, that would be my dream “second” career. I applied and waited. I reached out to my network to see if I could nudge the process. With some success. I still am waiting to hear. I know that there are lots of people out there looking for work. It is a companies dream to have a huge supply of folks that you can pick from. The problem is – why not get back to those that applied? At the very least, let them know the job is filled by another candidate. Don’t leave people hanging. I have plenty of experiences to share! I am able to learn new things really quickly. I am passionate and when I am in, I am all in. You get everything your wanted and then some. I have a proven track record to back it up.

What do you think goes on with potential candidates when they are out networking with each other? They are talking about what is happening in the job market. People are talking! Your organization is being discussed and an evaluation is being shared. I don’t mean sour grapes if a person is passed over. I mean the initial evaluation of a company is right there, upfront in the hiring process. First impressions are lasting ones.

What impressions do you want to leave with the hiring process?

  •  Clean and easy to use application process. Communications with the applicants as to status. Dispositions every applicant.
  •  Difficult on-line application process to maneuver. Cyber black hole of communications. No follow-up or disposition of applicants.

Human beings are feeling beings. I know from experience that I have shared some awesome feedback on companies and organizations that have done a very good job of their first impressions. I may have not gotten the job, but that is not why I shared my feedback. They did an outstanding job compared to others. They have my vote for getting the best possible candidate as they are the best possible organization to work for. Their first impression was outstanding.

For organizations, please make sure that you are making the right first impression. As you may lose a potential outstanding candidate for you position from your experiences with others. You do that to the candidates!

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Category: Observations, Volunteering | Tags: , , , ,
| February 22, 2013
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Making the Most of a Bad …

How many bad things have you encountered along the journey of life? Lose your job, get into a car accident, break-up with your partner or maybe just feel like whatever you touch goes wrong? It is part of life. I think everyone has had something happen that just did not go the way they had hoped or wanted. It all comes down to how you reacted to those situations. “Do you turn lemons into lemonade?”

There are many folks that come out of those life’s disasters with refreshed spirit to grown and flourish. How do they make that happen? Focusing on hope, faith and resilience to make the most of the worst of situations. Here are just a few ideas that I have used to help me make a bad situation better the next time around.

  • Face the brutal truth and get creative: When things don’t go well you have to face the truth. Sit down and examine the ways. When you are at work and a project is failed, you do a post-mortem. Do a personal one. Be honest with yourself. Don’t pretend that nothing is wrong. Denial doesn’t help move forward. Once you recognize the problem, then you can focus on doing some creative problem solving. If you are a person that just does the same old thing for the same situation, it is doubtful that you will get a different result next time. Think outside      of your normal solutions, get creative.
  • Avoid guilt and shame: I know I have had my moments that didn’t feel proud of something I did. If you are like most folks, those memories are still stuck clearly in your head. Can’t dwell on the past, time to let it go. Mistakes happen and they are okay. Sometimes it is good to laugh at those mistakes and have a little bit of fun with them.
  • Get and stay positive: Find your “happy” place… Having an optimistic outlook can definitely help keep your focus moving forward. Being positive is all the time is not easy. You will have moments when some negativity will creep in. Just make sure that the negativity is only there for a brief moment. Think of all of the totally negative nelly and nancy’s you know, do you really want to be one of them?

What helps you make the best of a bad situation? Please share some of your thoughts!

Category: Observations | Tags: , , , , , , ,
| December 31, 2012
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The Best of SteveBellNow

best ofAs 2012 winds completely down today, I went back over my posts for 2012 to see what all happened. I don’t normally go out and pull the analytics for my personal site too often. So, when I pulled the complete 2012 statistics, I was definitely pleasantly surprised… Over 9200 visitors this past year. Thanks folks! So, I pulled the top five viewed posts for 2012. Calling them the viewers Best of SteveBellNow.

Is your favorite on the list?

1. Emotions in the Workplace – I really enjoyed this topic! One of the most difficult tasks for a manager is dealing with emotions in the workplace. Partly because the organization as a whole, would like to keep emotions, especially negative ones, out of the workplace.

2. Managing vs Leading - I still get calls from folks on this one! From my background, I have done a lot of managing teams over my career. I even have taught “new” managers how to be successful. Since I am working with different organizations, I am witnessing struggles of managing and leading.

3. Why Is Change So Hard For Some (Most)? – I really enjoyed writing this one because those changes that did happen – worked. I have been working with some folks on making some pretty radical changes with how the non-profit I help out with will move forward in the future.

4. Learning from Tradegy – A very personal post that touched me deeply. This one was the most recent post and I was happy that it made it to the top 5. The tragedy that happened Friday, Dec 14 in Newtown, CT is one that hit home to me in many ways. First, I am a parent and a grandparent. I really don’t know how I would feel if this happened directly to me. I do know, that I was touched deeply while watching this unfold on TV. I was putting myself right in the middle of this as a parent and grandparent. Also, I am married to a school teacher!

5. New Leadership Position – You’re Up - Sharing my experiences with others really makes me continue to do what I do! A close friend as me about stepping into “new” leadership positions. Over the years, I have been blessed with getting to lead many teams. During that time, I have been able to really develop my approach to new situations, teams, people and competencies.

If you read those… Thanks. If not, take a look – many others have.

Again, thanks folks for 2012. I had fun with my blog. I am looking forward to 2013…

Category: Leadership, New To Management, Observations | Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
| November 5, 2012
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Email and Productivity

I have read plenty of blog posts, books and articles that focus on email and how it really hampers productivity in the workplace. I doubt that there are many that would argue that they do not spent a bunch of their day inside of email. Do a quick study with your co-workers about how many emails they get a day? Or how much time they think they spend inside of email (throughout the day and night)? There have been plenty of studies that have happened over the years about those very questions. For me, I always seemed to feel comfortable with these statistics. The average corporate user spends two hours and 14 minutes per day on email. During that time each person is working through some 114 emails. You have to ask yourself. “is this a good use of their time?” I truly think not.

I used to do some different things to help me be more productive in the office (which I have carried over to my outside interests as well). Here are my tricks:

  •  Only be download email 3x per day! I would only connect to the email server 3x per day (9am, 1pm and 4pm). It was a way for me not to get distracted with the next “new, big or shiny” thing… This did not mean that I was not working with emails that I have already received, it just meant that I was not going to get any new ones.
  •  Block time for email. Within my calendar I would block regular time for doing email. It is easy to get started working within email and get completely lost on time. I actually had blocked a complete day for making sure that I completed my team’s performance appraisals. Made the mistake of taking on a few emails and at lunch time, I left the email world. That was a whole half of a day that I did not use for the intended use of my time. I ended up spending my evening from my family completely my tasks.
  •  Communicate with your team about how to get a hold of you. Since I was not longer looking at my email inbox 100% of the time, my team was worried that they would not get ahold of me, when needed. I told them that we still had IM and the land line for emergencies. If I was not available that way, they could always call my cellphone. All I asked of them was to insure that “this” was needed instant communication. If they could answer that with a yes – then by all means IM or call.

I know that some folks are going to say that their work is really needed ASAP. That there is no way that they can leave their email inbox not connected to the server. To those folks, “it must be great to know that you are more important than everyone else in the world.” Emergencies do happen, we all know that. When was the last time that an emergency came in on email, that had to be acted on within seconds of the email being sent? Is email really the best mode of communication for emergencies? No way!

I am not a fan of email. I get that it has its importance! I worked in a culture that when the email server went down, the complete company wondered what to do with themselves. Email is a time sync and sometimes that time spent is wasted. Think about what you are trying to do with email. Is it the best tool for your mode of communicate?

Category: Observations | Tags: , , , , , ,
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