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We're with you all the way

While parents are regularly urged to become more involved in their children's education, no one really expects them to go so far as serving detention with their offspring. Yet, that is just what the mother and stepfather of Jessica Kunkley did recently. Administrators at Pearland Junior High School East in suburban Houston ordered Jessica to report to detention hall for being late six times. But Susan Manis, her mother, appealed the one-hour punishment, claiming, "We're more at fault than she is." Reason: The family van wouldn't start. When the administrators wouldn't budge, however, Mom and Dad simply joined Jessica for a little unexpected family time.

Grocery chain leads nation as pleasing place to work

Happy customers make for good businesses. So do happy employees, which is why Fortune magazine ranks the best 100 companies to work for each year. Wegmans Food Markets, which operates 67 grocery stores in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia, is No. 1 on the 2005 list. Company chairman Robert Wegman says employee satisfaction is a business goal. "It's hard for me to walk through a store without customers stopping me to say, 'Mr. Wegman, you've got a great store, but, wow, are your people something else.'" he says. The best US employers, as selected by Fortune, and where each is based:

1. Wegmans Food Markets Rochester, N.Y.
2. W.L. Gore & Associates Newark, Del.
3. Republic Bancorp Ann Arbor, Mich.
4. Genentech Inc. South San Francisco
5. Xilinc Inc. San Jose, Calif.
6. J.M. Smucker Co. Orrville, Ohio
7. S.C. Johnson & Son Racine, Wis.
8. Griffin Hospital Derby, Conn.
9. Alston & Bird (law firm) Atlanta
10. Vision Service Plan Rancho Cordova, Calif.