Hour 1 of Ottawa Now for Tues. March 12th, 2024

It takes more muscles to frown than to smile. And as it turns out, positive emojis could also wield a bit of currency power. A new study, published in the International Journal of Hospitality and Management, determined that a smiley-face can actually boost service tips by more than 30 percent. What motivates you to leave a better-than-average tip? Kristy Cameron digs deeper with Laura Boman, who works at the Department of Marketing at Georgia’s Kennesaw State University. She is also the co-author of this study. Here at home, several residents are hopping mad, as aging tickets and fines are causing Ottawa’s credit scores to dip. In fact, some of these unpaid tickets date back to 2003. The main problem at play: These residents allege that nobody contacted them. We speak to one frustrated resident later in the show.