First the good news. more

A manager, speaking to an older employee who has a box on his desk, says “After watching the clock for 25 years, it’s only right we send you off to retirement with a watch.” more

Last week, the Stockton, Calif., City Council approved a petition for bankruptcy, the largest of a city in U.S. history. Municipalities all over the country are in fiscal distress, but few are actually declaring bankruptcy. What went so badly wrong in Stockton, and what lessons can other cities learn? more

School is out and summer jobs are in. But are they? more

Customer-service expert Ron Kaufman has a radical notion that great service shouldn’t be as hard as it seems to be for so many businesses to deliver. “Service is everywhere,” said Kaufman. “But there’s a disconnect between the volume of service we need and the quality of service we are giving and receiving. Businesses have turned a simple concept into a catastrophic cliché. They remain blind to the fact that true service comes not from demands and dashboards, but from a basic desire to take care of other people.” more

Like many professionals, Robert C. Atwood enjoyed his work but had the desire to have his own business. “The company I was working for at the time wasn’t interested in pursuing the hazardous-waste world, so I started on my own,” he said. more

Lighting a home – or any space, really – is a tricky business. Such design work involves careful and intricate planning, establishment of sourcing, careful product selection and, finally, decoration that celebrates a job done well. more

Are some appraisers failing to see the improvements in real estate values under way in local markets that have recently bottomed out and turned positive? When multiple bids push a house price thousands of dollars above what the seller is asking – not unusual in neighborhoods where demand is particularly robust – are appraisers still coming in with values below the agreed-upon contract number? more

BOSTON – Twenty-nine private truckers and food-processing companies, including several in Bristol County, Mass., will receive $817,896 in federal and other grants to install technologies to reduce the diesel exhaust emissions of 63 long-haul trucks and diesel engines serving local wholesale markets and warehouses under MassCleanDiesel, a state-sponsored grant program. more

BOSTON – A survey by the Mass. Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation found that Bay State consumers can save money by shopping around for low-cost checking accounts. more