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Souvla, a Greek restaurant with a devoted following, serves spit-fired meat two ways: in a photogenic sandwich, or on a photogenic salad, either available with a glass of Greek wine. The garnishes are thoughtful: pea shoots, harissa-spiked yogurt, mizithra cheese. The small menu is so appealing and the place itself so charming that you almost forget, as a diner, that you have to do much of the work of dining out yourself. You scout your own table. You fetch and fill your own water glass. And if you’d like another glass of wine, you go back to the counter. Runners...

CHICAGO (AP) - Shares of beleaguered electronics retailer Circuit City Stores Inc. rose Monday after a report said the chain may close at least 20 percent of its stores to shore up its finances and avoid filing for bankruptcy protection. Citing "several people familiar with the matter," The Wall Street Journal said the nation's second-largest consumer electronics chain was considering closing at least 150 locations and slashing thousands of jobs to avert a Chapter 11 filing. Circuit City operates stores in Greensboro, High Point and Winston-Salem. Closing dozens of stores would allow the retailer to liquidate $350 million in inventory...

MBTA officials say rampant absenteeism is hurting bus and subway service, discouraging riders, and eating away at the agency's finances by forcing it to pay overtime. ...about 35 percent of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's roughly 6,000 employees were absent for 11 or more days in 2004, and 16 percent were absent 26 or more days. Khalida Smalls, coordinator for the watchdog group called the T Riders Union, said yesterday that excessive absenteeism directly affects passengers. ''People stand at their bus stop at 4:45 waiting for a bus that doesn't show up," ...

(Waterbury-AP, Nov. 18, 2005 6:35 AM) _ First, a McDonald's employee in Waterbury was accused of stabbing a co-worker in the neck. Now, a Burger King worker in nearby Watertown has been charged with slashing the throat of a customer who complained about a food order. Police have charged 41-year-old Harold Lewis with first-degree assault, after they arrived at the Main Street fast-food outlet to find the 34-year-old customer bleeding profusely. The victim is in serious condition at Waterbury Hospital. Tuesday at the McDonald's next to Waterbury's Brass Mill Mall, a male employee stabbed a female co-worker in the neck...

Rail passengers angry at service delays torched at least 26 train carriages near Johannesburg on Wednesday evening. Carriages were burnt at three different locations south of the city, causing 200m rand ($30m) worth of damage. The arson followed service delays reportedly caused by technical faults. A shortage of trains has now caused services on one route to be suspended. It was the second time in a week that trains have been torched because of poor services. On Tuesday, passengers burnt four coaches after service delays apparently caused by the theft of electric cables. Trains are used by many poor working...

<p>As if skimpy interest rates and long teller lines weren't enough, now beleaguered bank customers have another indignity to contend with -- broken pens.</p> <p>According to a survey in the banking meccas of New York and San Francisco, banks treat their customers poorly when it comes to meeting the simplest needs -- such as providing clean and well-maintained check-writing desks with pens that actually work.</p>