Did you know there are over 1,100 Dunkin’ Donuts within a 50-mile radius of the city of Boston?

The first question most people ask is: Why? Why why why why why? It doesn’t make sense. However, what you probably never knew is that Dunkin’ Donuts originated in Boston. That’s the reason it’s so popular and so well-received.

It’s a known fact that communities will tend to stand by a business that started in their hometown than businesses from outside the area even if the products are better. In the last few years, Krispy Kreme tried building a few stores in the Boston area. It didn’t go too well. Even though Krispy Kreme’s donuts may have been better, Bostoners stuck with their heritage.

Something to keep in mind if you ever try to start a business

If you can teach someone how to tie a tie without showing them, you might be cut out to be a teacher.

One thing I learned as a lab instructor in college was that being a teacher meant more than just knowing your stuff. A good teacher not only knows the material, but teaches it in such a way that it makes sense (“clicks”) for the student.

In one of my classes, our professor challenged us to describe how to tie a tie without actually showing him. It’s hard. You’ve probably experienced it when talking to someone over the phone. Not the easiest thing to do.

So when it comes to teaching, you have to walk the walk and talk the talk.

If employers are contacting you and not vice versa, you can do better.

Nothing absolutely wonderful comes easy. You have to work for it, whether it be grades, a girl/guy, or losing weight. I think the same thing applies to job searching. If you find yourself immediately getting job offers as soon as you put yourself on the job block, you can probably do better. The best job is usually the one you have to go out and find yourself.

So don’t sell yourself short and jump on the first opportunity that comes through the door. Work for it and you might find an awesome job

Using brain teasers as interview criteria is one of the worst decisions you can make as a recruiter.

When I interviewed for internships back in college, many companies tried to test how well you think “outside the box” by asking these brain teasers like: “You have 9 jars that are filled with marbles that are 1 gram in weight…” I strongly oppose the use of brain teasers in job interviews.

If you want to find out how good I am at what I do, ask me to solve a real-world problem. Don’t ask me to figure out which jar has the 0.9 gram marbles. I’ll take a page from SNL here and say: Really? Did you really think that because I couldn’t solve that brain teaser, I’m not a good candidate? Really?

Really.

Decisions, decisions. Do you buy what you want?… or buy what you need?

I’ve run into this situation so many times before. For example, when I moved to Boston, I needed a hand mixer. Naturally, Target had a variety, from basic 5-speed to 7-speed with retractable cords and multiple attachments. You know which one I wanted Of course, I also didn’t want to spend too much and the difference in prices was significant enough. Should I invest now in the expensive mixer or buy the cheaper one and wait until I have more money to buy the better mixer? If I wait, I’ll be buying 2 mixers, and if I don’t, I’ll have less money now.

What do I usually do? The balance often leans towards buying the cheap one now. Even though it’s not as nice, it gets the job done and that’s what counts. That’s what I need. When I have the money, I’ll buy what I want. You need to put on that “I’m responsible” hat and know the difference between want you want and what you need.

Who knew? Customer service actually makes a difference.

Everyone says it: “the customer always comes first”. But you never think about that until you experience the good and bad sides of customer service first hand. When I lived in Rochester, the Wegman’s grocery store pushed the importance of customer service. It was nice… every time I paid for my items, the staff smiled, asked me if I found everything alright, and wished me a good day.

Even though that’s so minor, the difference is obvious. Now that I live in Boston, the employees at Shaw’s don’t talk to you half the time and don’t wish you a good day. I’m not complaining, but if you ever start a business, remember that even the small things like a smile can make a difference

No matter how you look at it, a lot of medical research will always be a double-edged sword.

A few months back I was talking to my brother about my frustration with laws regarding stem cell research. My opinion was that this research could be doing so much more if it weren’t for the fact that we have laws restricting what people can do. If these laws had existed years ago, medicine would never be where it is now.

Unfortunately, this is a double-edged sword. By allowing certain experiments, we endanger people’s lives which is obviously unethical. Where and how do we make the call between the risks of new, experimental research (endangering lives) and the rewards that they bring (saving lives)?

Following my recent post on patent reform, there needs to be a crackdown on scalpers and a reform in scalping in general.

Scalping tickets is such a huge business. Back in October, I read a story about tickets for pop star Miley Cyrus being sold out minutes within their release. Who bought so many of those tickets? Scalpers. Tickets sold at $65 were being re-sold in the aftermarket for $200-$250. Understandably, it’s hard to crack down on these scalpers without a nationwide law and with the use of the Internet.

However, you have to think that something’s wrong here. It seems like the wrong people are benefiting from public events only because they have the technology or connections to beat your average parent to the punch.

The patent system is one of many parts of our society that has to be reformed. Even if the dramatic number of patent submissions has been a result of increased litigation amongst companies (especially software companies), the government should have gotten a wake-up call a long time ago.

So many countries have already reformed their patent system, so it’s nice to see that we’re slowly following their lead with things like Community Patent Reviews. It’s funny to watch companies like IBM, Microsoft, Google, and others treat patents like nuclear missiles. The big boys have a huge arsenal, but as long as you don’t fire at us, we won’t fire at you. However, as soon as someone fires, we’ve got a patent holocaust.

I never realized that turning down a job offer almost feels like breaking up with a girlfriend.

If you ever get the unique opportunity to interview with a bunch of companies, you naturally will have to turn down a few offers. Unfortunately, it gets a little awkward because the e-mail conversation sometimes goes something like this:

you:	I appreciate the offer, but I don’t feel it will be a good fit for me at this time.
them:	Is it the money? Let’s talk about this.
you:	It’s not about the money.
them:	Is it something I did? We can work this thing out!

It feels like it becomes a game of poker: “I’ll call your raise. And raise you another 10!” But some companies don’t realize that the deciding factor is usually something that can’t be negotiated, be it the people you’ll be working with or the business you’ll be working in.