Author: Frank Dominguez

How do I approach my Digital Security?

Growing up I really worried about stolen items like jewelry, a bike but in my mind, it was a burglar in a mask that came and stole something from me. As I have hit my 30’s things have changed a lot and what I find that holds value when talking about stolen property. I don’t care much for the bike or the jewelry but my information is a Digital Security that I proudly protect and means so much more in this modern age.

Everything we do around us uses technology to track and keep details of you like a profile. These tools help paint a better picture of their customers/consumers. This helps companies help organizations when tailoring promotions or creating a target for different demographics. It would make sense that after a few weeks of your information being used you usually receive mail from other vendors about offers that are similar. This a risky way of having someone sell you a false product or scammers trying to gain more access to your information. So what did I do?

The truth is that I once had my banking information taken from me and the person got away using $1,499.00 worth of items. I was stressed because I only had enough money to get me through the summer. This was the worst thing that could have happened during that time.  I made calls to the bank informing them of bills that I had to pay and the stress I had trying to figure out when this mess would me have taken care of. The bank assured me that everything would be okay that if I didn’t have the money, I could always take out a loan with no interest-free which I thought was nice that my bank trusted me to cover my half. Later in the mouth, the case was closed I was refunded all of the money that was taken from me and my credit was not affected.

WHAT DID I LEARN?

I’m more aware that my information can be easy access, for example, the website Whitepages

While using Whitepages I was able to find my name and the address that I live in in a matter of 30 seconds. You could imagine how shocked I was since I would consider myself very conservative and that I don’t post on any platforms due to consequences. I’m always reminded that I am never safe from becoming a victim in this digital age. So I practice what I know best:

I do not share my SSN over the phone unless they have identified who I am and whether I am the account holder.

I read in new ways (Protecting Your Digital Life in 9 Easy Steps) hackers are stealing information so that I can stay ahead of the new trends.

Always stay skeptical about the information that I read and share with the platforms that I use.

I live by these three rules and have done very well in keeping my information safe. I honestly feel that you have to be consistent in the way you secure your account and information and who you give it to and how they safeguard your items.

In this blog post you will describe what you think is the best approach to help a friend or loved one understand the importance of not sharing false or misleading information on social media.

The best guidance that I could give my family and friends when posting false or misleading information on social media, is that you should fact check and follow some key rules when sharing. I always have a belief that before I post or share content. I always bring a subject amongst my friends to get a better understanding of the material. I explain the key points in my arguments. This is one step that I trained myself to do with the content that I reshare or post about. I don’t want to ever purposely hurt anyone’s feelings but to give my insight on how I’ve encountered this subject. My credibility should be valued by others that share my story. I’ve always listened with an open ear about other beliefs and know that people are raised differently. I think when you find the conversation becoming more complicated with the opinions leading the conversation, more than facts. The outcome can be complex leading people to have arguments. I also like to research the writers of an article and check on recent work they have covered. In my opinion, this gives me an insight into how the writer evaluates situations.

I do not personally post much on any of my platforms because i don’t have the energy to fight about small issues. I keep my life busy with the many activities I do around my daily work week. I avoid conflict with my opinion because I will always believe in what I find to be true or correct. There is nothing you can tell me that will make me switch over to unless you give me info that I can think over and evaluate. I find it very important that people don’t fall in the traps and bait wars that trolls on the internet practice, every time they are logged in the web. I would always keep in mind your audience because you never know who could be watching and how it can affect your personal and work life. We should always keep in mind and pratice these skills and tools that are given to use to change and write the stories of our lifes.

Here is some recommendation of a curated playlist of mine that I use to gather research and information in the Food Industry. In my recent blogs, I’ve found big News Network coverage like the New York Times or BBC, which are great when covering the topic. But in my opinion, miss out on the small pieces that make us whole and relatable. With a business that comes in many forms and different cultures. Food is an event that brings us together leaving us with happiness and joy. In a saturated business, there’s a lot that needs to be covered. Some business are here one day and the next day has gone!

It’s no mystery that it’s a demanding field and competitive business. Here are my top 5 Curated Playlist: 1-5

National Restaurant Association

If there is any restaurant wanting to have any credentials or wanting to begin the Nationa Restaurant Association is your one-stop. 

Eater

Eater is a great resource for a younger generation delivering news on food trends and food-related scandals. Eater also has a youtube channel from interview to cooking lessons easy to follow and listen to.

Restaurant News Resource

This site gives updates on businesses financial quarters as well as giving resources on the development and research for your business.

Restaurant Business Online

Restaurant Business Online is the Forbes or cosmo of the food industries with how topics, to a listing of the hottest new trends and what in the future.

Nation’s Restaurant News

Nation’s Restaurant News Covers all business in the U.S. They cover topics from the new CEO of a business, to change the industry will experience. This is similar to the Restaurant Business Online always nice to have two sources.

Hope this helps, feel free to write back with comments or questions.

In the article written by David Yaffe-Bellany in the New York Times, Hiring Is Very Hard for Restaurants These Days. Now They May Have to Fire.

One problem that every restaurant has is a high turnover rate it doesn’t help that it’s been a continuous issue and has become a now bigger problem for all owners in the industry. You may wonder what is the main reason for employers not being able to keep their employees, is it the drug epidemic, is it the I can’t find a babysitter excuse being used to many time, or is it that nobody wants to work in a stressful career field with low pay?

The truth may surprise you and frighten you in the ups and down that, the restaurant industry will see in the future.

The problem is Labor shortages and the U.S. crackdown on undocumented immigrants, this has left owners either firing people or face the consequences of doing nothing about it and having “constructive knowledge” meaning big trouble.

Yaffe-Bellany stated that across the country that restaurants were suffering from labor shortages. That it all began in March and April, when the Social Security Administration sent letters to business owners, notifying the name of employees that their SSN didn’t match on their tax forms. These document would be called the “no-match letters”, giving fear to the owners and undocumented employees.

Yaffe-Bellany quoted Carolyn Richmond an employment lawyer in the state of New York. About the fear restaurant owners have and the vast population of undocumented people in the workforce. He also stated that he followed two different owners that received these letters divided themselves in two-part. One that would soon fire their employees and second owner that would say nothing as if nothing was happening.

The article got more in-depth about how both groups sought help from lawyers and what legal actions would come of this if they chose to make a decision on handling the “no-match letter”. In the first group, many employees quit due to attracting attention from ICE and being raided. The owner would soon then fire employees as well as adopting an E-verify for new employees. The other owner in Manhattan decided not to tell any of her employees due to the fact that all her employees were undocumented. That if she had to fire anyone the business would be ruined.

The truth is that Yaffe-Bellany interview Mark Hinkle the agency’s acting press at the Social Security Administration where he stated that they did not plan on raiding anyone, they just want to make sure the names are spelled correctly or if data was entered incorrectly. If all the requirements were fixed and correct there was nothing to worry about if not the other departments like ICE would have an audit with the owners. What I found interesting and forgot was that the Trump administration was part of this movement and realized this was a bigger picture in the U.S. and not just in the industry.

Yaffe-Bellany then discussed the low unemployment and how the young that no longer fills those positions, and how oversaturated the market has been with restaurants. Many owners are not liking this push. It’s safe to safe that Chain restaurants have the highest rate of non-turnovers when hiring qualified candidates since they spend most of the money on E-verify programs and third party companies for doing background checks.

Overall I thought this article was great talking about the ongoing situation with undocumented employees and the choices many owners are choosing. I thought Yaffe- Bellany did a great example of getting multiple views from high education, the department of unemployment, owners, Social Security Administration, and provided a link of the raids happening in the U.S.

Being in the industry working with independent restaurants you hear this a lot from the owners but really never any of the choices and consequences they may have to make. I felt like I saw enough number and stats from this article to help me evaluate these issues and help my customers advance and find new ways of processing new candidates. Overall I give this article an A Yaffe-Bellany was not biased but gave an equal view from each side.

One topic I constantly hear at work and in the news is how successful the food industry is doing right now as we speak. I’ve been in the food industry for about 15 years and have always been curious about where this information was coming from whether it was true or not. What are the drivers for this statement? As many know in the industry we have many factors that we are constantly watching. The cost of labour, the cost of food the horrible pool of unqualified candidates to hire from, these are just to name a few. What we do understand is that with time technology advancements will grow and help change the face on how we conduct business and the obstacles that wait. so does the food industries as we find new ways to stay afloat and produce profits. 

Being able to determine whether topics about the industry were news or opinions was somewhat hard to determine. What I found useful was breaking down the articles to how much facts and references were used in the piece of material and how the author personally felt about the situation. 

The first article I read discussed how the food industry was at an all-time high for consumer spending this year of 2019. The article brought up the reason for the increase in sales from newer demographics of people wanting quick and fast service due to technology. CNBC kept it important to reference organization like the national restaurant association.

The second article was again from CNBC but talked about topics like the turnover rate of employees and the technology of AI taking over the front and back of the house of the food industry. What this meant is that the food industry would see a huge number of employees being let go due to kiosks devices and mobile technology. Many of the facts that were proven came from the official Bureau of Labor Statistics. I thought this was a very interesting read since the first article I read was how well the industry was doing.

The next article I found was from the Restaurant Business magazine. There’s More Than One Way To Do Delivery, was more of an opinion piece more than the news that was covered in facts and references. I can spot that this was written in the idea that all the information it was giving was common knowledge and was more of a piece on evaluating how the technology has changed the industry in purchasing products and the true cost that is involved when you use these apps. 

Last but not least was another article from the Restaurant Business magazine. In The Know, was a quick review on how technology has become a fear to the most executive owner to switch over to and that only 1 out of 4 have. the article expanded the importance of conforming to tech and the positive impact it can make. Many restaurants were able to reduce labour cost. This article referenced two studies but never gave complete references as CNBC did. You can see the difference from a news source to an article that is written by a magazine as if whatever they say is an original idea. I wonder if this form of media helps magazines stay relevant.

Picking My Topic

I decided that I would talk about the food industry and the growth it has made over the years. I would also like to talk about the category and the struggles that many restaurants have to deal with to compete with each other. I’ve been in the food industry for about 14 years and currently work as a food rep for Shamrock Foods. I understand the cost of food from the farmers that grow to the unpredicted weather and seasons that play a big role in harvest time. I also have seen the logistics of getting products to a warehouse and on a truck to your favourite place to eat. I know food prices, trends and consulting businesses in ways to stay competitive. Even though my organization gives us marketing trends weekly I always like to see the outside source and what the public can see. My sources are Nation’s Restaurant News, Restaurant Business online, and the most important one that I’ve been apart of in the National Restaurant Association.

These sites are used by many people in the industry when forecasting the ups and down of the business. The food industry is constantly changing with fads and trends that we all must discuss the value and where the industry will go next.

Throughout this weekend I really paid close attention to the news I was intrigued by while using social media. My main outlet for social media and any news I would have to say is on Instagram and Facebook. Sometimes it is hard to determine whether or not the news is fake news or real. The main news that  I had a lot of questions and concerns was when I was scrolling through the feed on Instagram in regards to the fire in Brazil, the rain forest that is referred to as the lungs of the earth. Where 20% of our oxygen comes from. I was concerned because it was barely being reported as important news after it had been going on for over 19 days. How could the local news not find this to be more important than all the negativity that they always report? The concerns of global warming and climate change, how this is going to have a huge impact on the earth, what now? After scrolling and being lost in my thought process I then came across a post about a police officer urinating on a little girl and filmed it. I was really disturbed by this. I always take interest in seeing others opinions and point of view on these stories. In the comment section I found it to be even more disturbing. People were blaming this on race and the actions of others, some were blaming the parents for this happening to their child even though she was at school. Made me question who are these people that are not looking at the bigger picture to question what is wrong with this man and his thought process? How did he think this is okay?

Maybe he needs special therapy that no one has given him since he was a child. As I continued to scroll with disbelief of all the negative remarks made in the last post I decided to leave Instagram and go on to Facebook to see what’s going on there. I notice a post one of my friends had posted about a study that was done stating that the more time children spend with their grandparents the happier they will be when they are older. I began to read more about this study to see how this was something that could actually be studied but after reading through their findings and how they conducted it I was amazed. After reading this I scrolled some more to just see more pictures and others message for the day or moment so I decided it was time to end my day of social media and focus on what is going on around me. I am trying to spend less time on social media and focus on the things in front of me.

Hi, this is my first post here.