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CONVERSATION WITH...Cynthia Bercowetz:
Columnist's new book mixes recipes with consumer tips
By Stacey Dresner
Published: Wednesday, August 23, 2006 2:57
PM EDT
BLOOMFIELD -- For many years,
Connecticut consumers were able to write into the "Get Help!
Tell it to George," column for help with various consumer
problems.
But unbeknownst to many who read the column, first in the Hartford
Times and later in the Journal Inquirer, "George" was
actually Cynthia Bercowetz, a writer from Bloomfield, who wrote
the column for 21 years. The column started at the Hartford Times
in 1963 - obviously a less liberated time when a man's name
carried more weight with some readers.
During the years, Bercowetz's consumer columns have also appeared
in the Hartford Courant and the Manchester Extra. For her work,
Bercowetz has received numerous awards including a national award
from the Major Appliance Consumer Action Panel for consumer
education to the public.
In addition to her newspaper career, Bercowetz has hosted consumer
radio shows on Connecticut stations, and she produces a weekly
television show on public access, Channel Five, in Bloomfield.
In 1993, she was named "Woman of the Year'' by the Greater
Hartford Business and Professional Women's Club. She also has
received awards from the state Better Business Bureaus.
A seasoned public speaker who has spoken to many groups on
consumer affairs, she also wrote the 2004 book, "Don't Get
Ripped Off! Get Help!" Her second book, just published this
summer, is "Unforgettable Recipes & Savvy Consumer
Tips." She is now working on two children's books.
Bercowetz and her husband Herman
Bercowetz, vice president of COPACO Shopping Center in Bloomfield,
are the parents of three children and have six grandchildren.
Cynthia Bercowetz recently spoke to the Jewish Ledger about her
new book and how consumers can protect themselves.
Q: How and when did you become a consumer affairs columnist?
A: Back in the 1960s I worked at the Hartford Times and my editor
wanted to have someone write a column to help the consumer, and he
asked me if I could start such a column. He sent me to study with
the "Tell it to Joe" column guy at the Boston Herald
Traveler. So I went there for one week to see how I could set up a
question and answer column.
The "Tell it to Joe" columnist was very popular in
Boston. He had quite a following -- everybody wore "Tell it
to Joe" buttons and he was known all over Boston. When I came
back, the next project was to get a name for the column. We
thought of all kinds of names, including "Tell it to
George" which came from the old adage, "Why should I do
it, let the other guy do it - Let George do it." Some also
thought it stood for George Washington - someone who was honest
and never told a lie.
Q: Did you ever mind that the column wasn't "Tell it to
Cynthia?"
A: No, I didn't want it to be "Tell it to Cynthia"
because I felt it sounded like a household column. "Dear
George" became an immediate success. From 1963 until 1976, I
received about 1,000 letters a week. People felt that George could
help them with any kind of problem. But no one knew who wrote the
column - of course, people thought a man wrote it. One time in the
1970s, Connecticut Magazine revealed who was writing it. I think
some people were disappointed it wasn't a man.
Q: Were you glad people finally knew it was you?
A: It didn't matter to me, as long I was helping consumers.
Q: How did you become such an expert on consumer affairs?
A: When I was asked to do the column, I went to meet everyone I
would probably be dealing with - I established a rapport with the
engineer in the public works department, representatives of the
housing department, legal aid services, and for governmental
problems, I made contact with all of the governors, like Ella
Grasso and Lowell Weicker who could help with things like when
someone wrote in that they hadn't gotten their social security
checks. By reaching out to community officials, my rolodex was
full of so many wonderful contacts.
Q: Looking back at the beginning of your column, how have
consumer's problems changed over the years?
A: They have changed very much. In the 1960s, they had a lot of
questions about one-way streets, and 'Why isn't a traffic light
here?' And they had television questions about black and white
TVs. And they had a lot of mail-order problems.
For example, someone would write in, "I ordered a plant and
they said it was going to grow to the sky, and it just sat there
in a bucket of water and was dead."
From that, telemarketing grew, and starting in the 1990s, identity
theft began trickling in. It really boomed in the late 1990s. We
never heard of identity theft in the 60s and 70s and maybe even
the 80s.
Q: Do you think identity theft is the biggest threat to consumers
today?
A: Yes. It is terrible. My first book, "Don't Get Ripped
Off," has a great deal on identity theft and I carried it
through to my second book, "Unforgettable Recipes & Savvy
Consumer Tips."
Q: Why do you think there is so much identity theft out there
today?
A: I think there are more con artists now than in the 60s and 70s.
People are losing thousands of dollars through identity theft. And
people are not taking it seriously enough. Thieves are doing
things like taking social security numbers from the garbage.
Identity theft is the number one consumer problem.
Q: What can consumers do to protect themselves against this?
A: I teach classes on how to protect oneself from identity theft
in Florida. People can protect themselves, but sometimes even when
you protect yourself, you can still get caught in it. You can
shred everything. Have a shredder. I teach about identity theft at
the West Hartford Senior Center and I ask how many have shredders,
and most of them do.
There is so much junk and spam on the Internet, so people have to
be very wary of opportunities that sound too good to be true.
Q: Can you tell us about your new book, "Unforgettable
Recipes and Savvy Consumer Tips? Why did you mix recipes with
consumer tips?
A: Many authors are doing that now. I thought it was an
interesting combination and my husband and I both cook. He has
three recipes in there. I have a restaurant section in there and a
section with Jewish-flavored recipes and information about the
Jewish holidays, and recipes from local people in the community.
The consumer tips include chapters on how to save money on
gasoline - how you drive can help you save money on gas; tips on
telemarketing; how to prepare oneself for a funeral. It is very
sensitive and sentimental time and many people get ripped off. And
I have a lot on identity theft.
And if it so happens that your identity is stolen, it sometimes
takes years to fix. Don't let your guard down.
Additional information about Cynthia Bercowetz and her new book is
available at her website, www.DearGeorge.org |
