Steak n’ Shake Waitress Scores $446 Tip on $6 Check

Medioimages/Photodisc(INDIANAPOLIS) -- If service with a smile results in a good tip, then Steak n’ Shake waitress CeCe Bruce is smiling from ear to ear.

Bruce, a waitress for the past two years at a Steak n’ Shake in Indianapolis, is $446 richer after a longtime customer left her a tip in that amount on a $5.97 order.

“My first reaction was, ‘Miss Jo, I’m not taking your money,’” Bruce, 31, told ABC News.  “It was crazy.”

The customer, identified only as Miss Jo, eats at her local Steak n’ Shake at least once a week and was evidently feeling very generous when she came in for breakfast Wednesday morning.

“She asked me if she could leave me a ridiculously large tip, but I did not know that it was that large,” said Bruce, who described Miss Jo as a middle-aged woman -- “my angel.”

“She didn’t even give me time to tell her, ‘Thank you,’ or anything,” Bruce said.  “When I went back to get my manager, she took off out the door.  I went outside and she said, ‘You’re going to take that money,’ and drove off.”

“I haven’t had the time to even express my gratitude to her,” she said.

What Bruce has had time to do is put the $446 tip to good use by paying her bills.

“I’ve already spent it,” said Bruce, who, in addition to her full-time waitress job, is a full-time student at Martin University studying psychology.

She is also already back at work at Steak n’ Shake, speaking to ABC News in between serving customers.

As to her secret for delivering service good enough to warrant an approximately 7,000-percent tip, Bruce was humble in her own praise.

“I’m not exactly sure,” she said.  “I just try to have a nice personality.  I do my job to the best of my ability every day.”

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

Taco Bell Sued By Prisoner for ‘Stealing’ Doritos Locos Idea

ABC News(NEW YORK) -- Where do wildly popular fast food ideas come from? According to Gary Cole: Prison.

That is the contention of Cole, who claims that it was he who invented Taco Bell’s famous Doritos Locos tacos while doing time in maximum security federal prison in Florence, Colo.  He is so adamant about it that on May 15 he filed a federal lawsuit in Dallas alleging that Taco Bell, along with Pepsi, Frito Lay and Taco Bell parent Yum Brands, stole his idea.

Cole has been incarcerated since 1997, when he was given a 25-year sentence  for “delaying interstate commerce, conspiring to do so, and using and carrying a firearm in relation to a crime of violence,” according to court papers. Fellow inmates include alleged September 11 co-planner  Zacarias Moussaoui, shoe bomber Richard Reid and Unabomber Ted Kaczynski.

Cole claims that in 2006 he sent his lawyer a notarized document with a list of nine products he devised, the Dallas Observer reports.

The majority fall under a brand he called “Divas and Ballers,” which include hot sauce, body oil, clothing line, and shoes and accessories. But second on the list was a “Tacos [sic] shells of all flavors (made of Doritos).”

In his 35-page handwritten complaint, Cole -- who is representing himself -- alleges that in 2010 he had sent his original list via certified mail to Janice B. Cole and Keonia K. Cole. That letter, he maintains, was “stolen through the United States Postal Service Brand and Submitted to Frito Lays [sic], Taco Bell, Yum Brands.”

He contacted the FBI, and also sent a Freedom of Information Act request to Taco Bell, asking to be sent documents relating to the invention of Doritos Loco Tacos. Private companies are generally not subject to FOI laws, however.

He also wrote to the IRS, that “a check was made out to a person for a large amount by Taco Bell, Frito Lay, and Pepsi Co. Inc. for an idea or invention that was submitted to them by theft and fraud.”

While Cole did not specify a monetary amount in his civil action, he did ask the court to place “a lean [sic] and moratorium” on “Taco Bell, Frito Lays, Pepsi Co, Yum Brands, et al. for the fraudulent and concealment, theft, lying, and covering up, to violate patent and trademark, invention and United States Constitutional Rights, to steal the taco shells made of Doritos of all flavors.”

In an email statement to ABC News, Taco Bell spokesperson Rob Poetsch said that “Given the unprecedented success of Doritos Locos Tacos, we are not surprised others may seek to claim credit.  The reality is, the suit is completely without merit as our product innovation team continuously develops and tests new menu concepts, and as a policy we do not accept unsolicited ideas, period.”

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

Consumer Confidence Rises to 6-Year High

iStockphoto/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -- American consumers are feeling better about the economy.

Consumer confidence rose this month to 83.7 -- better than expected and its highest level since July 2007, according to the University of Michigan’s Consumer Sentiment Index. In April, the figure stood at 76.4.

“Overall, a number of indicators in the economy have been improving,” said Rebecca Jarvis, ABC News’ chief business and economic correspondent, “and that has positively impacted the mind and the psychology of the American consumer.”

“The Dow above 15,000 for the first time, the S&P 500 hitting new records every day -- that helps when you think about the mind of the consumer,” Jarvis said. “As does housing values improving, as does the fact that gasoline prices have sunk to a large degree over the last couple of months.”

There is one place where there’s still room for improvement.

“The jobs picture,” Jarvis said. “It has improved to some degree, [but] it’s still not where we would consider normal.”

U.S. employers added 165,000 jobs to their payrolls last month, taking the unemployment rate down to 7.5 percent.

“A normal jobs picture would be with unemployment more like 5 or 6 percent,” Jarvis said, “and we’re still a ways away from that. The reason we care so much about a number like this is that it looks at what the future of our economy could hold and it looks at it from the perspective of the consumer.”

“Consumer spending accounts for 70 percent of economic growth and so when the consumer is feeling better, the consumer tends to spend more,” she added.

In a separate report, the index of leading indicators from The Conference Board -- a non-profit business research group --  rose 0.6 percent last month. The index aims to predict future growth and was pushed higher by the housing recovery.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

Microsoft Hides Job Posting in Web Code

ABC News(NEW YORK) -- Looking for work?  Well, just finding out this Microsoft job exists is work.

Microsoft has posted a sort of secret job listing for a Bing software development engineer inside the code of their Bing.com search site, as found by The Register.  The only way to stumble upon the link to the job posting is to visit Bing.com using Microsoft’s Internet Explorer with debug mode enabled.

Once the page is loaded, a pop-up will ask, “Do you want to debug this webpage?”

Inspecting the page with the Internet Explorer developer tools console will uncover a message --  "Interested in creating Bing.com experiences?  Apply today." -- and a link to the job listing on the Microsoft careers website.

Be warned: the requirements for the position are more than just employing the skills to find the hidden listing.  Applicants are expected to have at least a Bachelor of Science degree in computer science and experience with multithreaded programming in C# and/or C++ and other web coding languages.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

Don't Work Too Hard: Seven Secret Sins at Work

Ciaran Griffin/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -- While some career killers are clear and follow common sense, the workplace can be rife with hidden dos and don'ts.

"There are lots of different ways to get fired, and sometimes you'll never know what you did wrong," said Cynthia Shapiro, a former human resources executive and the author of Corporate Confidential.

What's more, these secret no-nos can be behaviors people think are good, morally and professionally.

Below is a list of potential secret sins. 

Being Popular

"Being popular can erode your job security very quickly," Shapiro said.  "It leads to sharing too much personal information at work.  I have sat in meetings where the CEO or the higher executives said, 'I heard this person is going through a nasty divorce; let's not promote them.' ... Friendships need to be very strategically crafted."

Bringing Yummy Treats for Colleagues

"This is particularly a mistake for women," said Dr. Lois Frankel, author of Nice Girls Don't Get the Corner Office.  To be taken seriously, she said, leave the baking to Betty Crocker.

"It's a nice thing to do," Frankel said.  "[But] if you do it too much, you'll just be seen as the mascot, or the department mom, and you don't want that."

Multitasking

Studies show that dividing your attention between tasks can decrease efficiency and accuracy, Shapiro said.

"Companies say multitasking is what they want.  It's not really what they want.  What they really want you to do is focus in with laserbeam focus on one thing and then switch to another and switch to another and switch to another," Shapiro said.

Talking to HR

Even though your company may say it's best to take your troubles to HR, that can hurt you, Shapiro said. "They don't work for you; they work for the company.  The company cuts their paycheck," Shapiro said.

Most people assume that what they tell HR is confidential.   "All that means is, they are not gonna blab it to the other employees.  But they will absolutely tell your boss," Shapiro said.

Overdecorating

"Companies will say, 'Here is your space' ... do whatever you want with it," Shapiro said.  "It's kind of an unconscious test of loyalty and values, because if you fill it with troll dolls or crystals or religious things, it's gonna make them feel really, really uncomfortable."

And don't go crazy with family photos. "It's telling the employer that this person would rather be at home with their kids," Shapiro said.  "One professional shot, and that's it."

Bringing Kids to Work

"It's really not a good idea unless you can guarantee that your kids will be absolute angels," Shapiro said.  "If your kid decides to have a temper tantrum, it will reflect on you.  'If he can't control a child, how's he going to manage the company?'  That kind of thing."

Working Too Hard

Believe it or not, burning the midnight oil can backfire.  Research shows over-working can decrease performance because it deprives you of sleep.  Most bosses don't care how long you work -- just how much you get done.

"Working 24/7, where you're always accessible, where you just kind of seem harried because there's always so much to do -- you're not seen as someone who manages their time well," Frankel said.

Watch the full story on 20/20: Work War: How to Win It, How to Wage It Friday night at 10 ET.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

Powerball, Mega Millions: Odds of Winning Both Jackpots?

Photodisc/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -- The Powerball jackpot has swelled to $550 million after no tickets matched all the winning numbers during Wednesday night's drawing.  And the top prize is continuing to grow ahead of the next drawing on Saturday night.

The Mega Millions jackpot, meanwhile, is up to $190 million ahead of its Friday night drawing.

While the chances of scoring either jackpot are 1 in more than 175,000,000, what are your chances of raking in the combined $740 million?

"If you buy one ticket for each game your odds are about 1 in 30 quadrillion," says Jeff Bergen, a math professor at DePaul University.  "That's a one followed by 16 zeros."

And, he notes, that's much better than in March, when your odds of guessing a perfect NCAA basketball tournament bracket were 1 in 9 quintillion.

"That's 300 times harder than winning both of these jackpots at the same time," Bergen says.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

Bill Gates Is World's Richest Person Once More

Sean Gallup/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- It’s good to be number one, especially when you’re topping the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

That honor belongs once more to Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, whose worth is valued at $72.7 billion, up 15 percent from this time last year.

Gates hasn’t been number one on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index since 2007.  He replaces Mexican cellphone mogul Carlos Slim, who slipped to second place because shares of his America Movil dropped 14 percent. That means Slim has to make do with just $72.1 billion.

Meanwhile, Berkshire Hathaway Chairman and CEO Warren Buffett winds up being the world’s third richest person worth $59.7 billion, while Amancio Ortega Gaona, the head of the Spanish fashion apparel company Inditex group, is fourth with a personal fortune of $56 billion.

Wealthy folks also high on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index include Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, and Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

Google Glass Gets Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr Apps

David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images(SAN FRANCISCO) -- Google might have been mum on its much-buzzed-about glasses on day one of its big Google I/O Developer's Conference, but on Thursday the company has announced a series of new Glass-based applications.

Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and Elle magazine all unveiled new applications for the connected glasses, which overlay digital information in the physical world. The Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr options all allow Glass wearers to share their photos on the respective social networks straight from the glasses.

While the Facebook app is restricted at the moment to just sharing photos taken with the glasses, Twitter allows for that feature and some other notification options. The app will also allow you to see Twitter notifications and respond to messages.

"In addition to sharing photos, you can also keep up with the people you follow on Twitter through notifications — for mentions, DMs and Tweets from users for whom you've turned on notifications. As always, you can reply to, retweet or favorite these Tweets," Twitter engineering manager Shiv Ramamurthi said in a Twitter blog post Thursday.

ABC News tried out the Facebook and Twitter apps and can report that they did work as promised. We snapped a photo on the glasses, tapped it once to share and then we were able to select the social network to share it with. However, installing the sharing-based apps are a bit clunky at the moment. You must install the apps from the Glass app on the phone and then enable sharing in the Web-based Glass control panel.

The other new media apps like CNN and Elle are easier to get working. Similar to The New York Times app, both CNN and Elle show snippets of information from the respective publications. For instance, with the Elle app, users will receive text and photo-based updates throughout the day about fashion news.

Google Glass is not yet available for purchase; instead, Google has begun selling an Explorer Edition for $1,500 to early adopters and software developers. At this week's Google conference the company is holding sessions teaching software makers how to make Glass applications, instructing developers about the software tools and suggesting the apps that aren't too distracting.

Google told ABC News Wednesday it plans to bring its new Hangouts app and more social functionality from its Google Plus network to Glass sometime soon. Google Plus is already deeply integrated into Glass -- you can share and see notifications from friends.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

More than 200 Million Travelers Expected to Fly This Summer

Hemera/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) -- Get ready for a busy summer in the air. Airlines for America (A4A), the trade group representing most domestic airlines, says 209 million passengers will take to the skies this summer.  That one-percent increase from last year is narrowing the gap to the peak summer of 2007 when more than 217 million travelers flew, according to the group's annual report.

International travel on domestic carriers is expected to be at an all-time high, with 27.4 million passengers flying to overseas destinations.
 
"As we enter the peak summer travel season, Airlines for America expects U.S. airlines to see modest year-over-year growth in both domestic and international travel, including an all-time high for passengers traveling internationally," said A4A Vice President and Chief Economist John Heimlich. "It's a great time to fly as airfares remain a bargain and airlines are delivering strong on-time performance."

What does this all mean for you? A4A projects 2.27 million people will fly each day.  The days expected to be the busiest -- which you might want to avoid -- are Thursdays and Fridays, mid-June through the first week of August. Load factors, the industry measures for how many seats are taken in a plane, are expected to be between 86 percent and 87 percent.
 
A4A attributes the robust summer travel projection to an improving economy and “relief” in energy prices.
 
Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

Markets Snap Winning Streaks; Dow's Worst Day in Weeks

Hemera/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -- The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished Thursday trading down 42 points at 15,233.22 , the first loss for the blue chips index in three days and its worst session in weeks.

The Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 also closed lower Thursday, with both indices snapping four-day winning streaks. Just like the Dow, this was the worst day for both averages in over two weeks.
 
The Nasdaq closed six points in negative territory at 3,465.24 after touching a 12-year high earlier Thursday. The S&P gave up eight points for the session, closing at 1,650.47.
 
Meanwhile, the number of Americans seeking unemployment aid rose 32,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 360,000, the most since late March. The jump comes after applications fell to a five-year low.
 
Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio