good morning, america. i'm dan harris. good morning, america. i'm dan harris. >> and i'm bianna golodryga. it's sunday, november 28th. this morning, spectacular show. authorities say that's what the teenager in oregon wanted when he plotted to bomb a tree lighting ceremony. was he working alone, and what motivated him? face to face. president obama and the incoming house speaker john boehner will meet in person this week for the first time since the election. can these guys really work together, or is it all for show? tragic ending. after a week of searching, police find the body of a missing student in upstate new york. now her ex-boyfriend is charged in her murder. we have the latest. and -- [ playing the theme to "jaws" ] >> get back up here. >> when otters attack for real. they may look cute, but there is

a neighborhood in florida that is under siege by at least one vicious otter who is chasing and biting people, and it's all caught on tape. let me look at that video let me look at at v let let me look at that video one more time. this is video of a 19-year-old who is getting chased down by a nasty otter. the kid who shot this video is one of at least three people who have been bitten by that little bugger. we've got some in-depth reporting on this story coming up. >> of course, like many of you, i'm sure he thought that was just a cute, little animal. little did he know it would attack him. he said it didn't hurt so bad but it did penetrate the skin. >> some people did get hurt. >> they have. we'll tell you more about that coming up. also we talked about black friday yesterday, and, of course, a lot of you have been shopping over the long holiday

weekend. what about holiday shipping? ever wonder what happens to that gift on its destination. we'll tell you about an experiment that tracked packages and measured how well they were handled along the way. guess what shipper dropped one package five times? we'll tell you. >> looks like they're at football practice there. >> throwing them. >> as a counterweight to that story, we do have a nice story about a s sinr whose company hith at but rather tha workers, she fired herself. why did she do it, and how did things turn out company? but we are going to sta with new details on that terror the teenage suspe to make his fiappe in linsey davis has been looking into what might have mot >> good m dan no one at the holidventa ever in danger the bomb was fake, but according to the fbi, the threatry agents say the 19-year-old was committed to carrying out an attack on a grand scale. according to the fbi, mohamed

osman mohamud was working alone with no involvement from foreign groups. the alleged plot, to explode a car bomb at friday night's christmas tree lighting ceremony in portland, oregon. thousands were in attendance. authorities say the 19-year-old had even detonated a practice bomb just a month before. but the fbi was there with him the entire time, part of an elaborate undercover sting, and the bomb he tried twice to detonate on friday night, a fake. he was arrested immediately after while shouting allah akbar or god is great. >> the defendant chose this target because it was oregon and because people here don't expect it. said he wanted to attack people in their element, families celebrating. >> reporter: when undercover fbi agents warned him that women and children may be injured he allegedly replied, i want whoever is attending that event to leave either dead or injured. mohamud was born in somalia but has lived in the united states outside of portland since he was

6. he even took classes at oregon state university until late thi he told the fbi he began thinking of jihad at 15 and began taking steps toward his plotast >> he began by reaching out to a person in the northwest region of pakistan expressly for the purpose of trying to commit jihad. >> reporter: it was a classic sting, one of many recent cases. in september of 2009, a 19-year-old was arrested for placing a fake bomb at this dallas skyscraper. a 29-year-old was charged with putting a fake bomb at the federal building in springfield, lino just last month, another man was charged with plotting to bomb the washington, d.c. subway. mohamud faces a maximum sentence of life in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction. bianna? >> all right, linsey, thank you. >> we're joined by former f agent jack cloonan who was the senior agent in the bin en case in new york. good morning. good to see you.

>> good morning. >> from what we knowit w young teenaer an hi is this more of a threat that we is td s more of a threat that we especially homegrown threats? >> i think the trend lines going more home grown. al qaeda is on the cusp of doing what i like to call virtual jihad. they're reaching out through the internet and recruiting people through the same means we do and how we sell products, they do the same thing. ese oper expect to see more of frankly. >> and are young people an especially easy target? you talked about something y just s more of these magaes a websites lug em >> there is a lt th they are doing, certainly. there's all kinds of web that you can go to and that people want to use as a recrul. you cannot only go there to join but you can go there to learn the intelligence co about that. they're working very hard to particular case, that's parof efuhwarlar case, that's parof

it's because wetere and the website that this k >> and this attempe at took place in portl it should be noted not york, not in chicago, not in los angele portland is a big ctybu not as big as the other main target cities that we've been we've talked so much about these patdowns, tsa airport regulations and yet this took place at a christmas lighting ceremony. is this the m.o. we can expect to see going forward? >> it is. i want to remind everybody of he said it was the dut is wherever they find them. it doesn't matter whe's an antonio,asth message. that's what we to >> and enou be able to parn en nation if, in fethi sucl an attack is succe al we've had more and more concern and warnings about al qaeda wanting to attack before the anniversary of 9/11, the ten-year anniversary. is this something that we can expect to see more of going

> we -- anndatey it we te fra for a qo r itself. we're coming up on the ten-year anniversary, and we woud xp at christmame o enforcement, innce comt highest alert because it would be important for alq attack at that pont, y we're still relevant, still at would expect everybody to be very alert during this hdy >> well, law enforcdoes thanr jos, j cloonan. >> thank you. dan? there is a lot happening on the korean peninsula days after north korea launched one of the worst attacks since the korean war '50 today the u.s. and south korea started conducting joint military exercises, which has north korea promising "merciless counterstrikes." our alex marquardt is at the port of inchon this morning and has more. >> reporter: good morning, dan. today was the big test. how would north korea respond to those military exercises it has called unpardonably provocative?

the remaining residents on yeongpyong, the island attacked tuesday ran to bomb shelters today as the sound of artillery came from across the water in north korea. it turned out not to be an attack but really highlighted the tension here. north korea today again vowed merciless attacks if provoked. a south korean report said the north had deployed surface-to-air missiles along the u.s. and south korean warships are sta awaohe mrr jr 100 miles t tth an today called for an emergency meeting next month to discuss north korean disarmament. so tension remains high here, dan, but the first day of these four-day exercisesrs t have passedajor dene passedajor dan? >> alex, thank you. the korean crisisoe o two big geopolitical stories s t big geopolitical stories wikileaks document dump w i expected to hap todpur amas the host of "this week" is here to talk a >> let's start ws.

wrd iardt ingcalldt china is often talked aout the key player because nort korea is enthei do nk torts >> well, look, i spoke to senior white house officials and they've been disappoint china has not earlier condemned what north korea did, not just the attack but also the uranium enrichment that was discov china did not explicitly condem it as the u.s. and other al wanted. now, there's been a lo hillary clinton has caln mi a lot of the allies which deal with north korea are trying to get china, which, as you say, is the onoutrluen on nortea to so now they've decided to l for representatives of the six-party talks, that is the u.s., china, aan,kore and russia, to come together in december. that doesn't mean to say a resumption of the talks, but representatives to try to de-escalate the crisis. >> unclear whether that will lead to any real de-escalation. let me ask you about the other big sy ofmorn

the wikileaks dnt d we are expectinthisen this contains apparently so embarrassing state at cables or diplomatic communications in which our diplomats say some not so nice things about other countries. overnight the state department released a highly unusual letter to wikileaks. can you tell us about that letter and whether yo thi it >> well, what they've asked for julian assange to desist pinbic tually eis officials are saying that this p ige ae are saying that this damaging than the two previou ones that dealt with iraq and afghanistan, precisely bse they say it will expose dissidents, journalists, others who they've worked with in all sortea counterterrorism, whether its drugs, whethes h trafficking but also the day-to-day discussions with each other about foreign leaders and foreign governments, so this could be embarrassing. some have described it as potentially damaging, others embarrassing and the u.s. has been calling it outrageous.

>> unclear. so it doesn't look like he's going to stop. let me ask you before we let you go, you have a special show this morning. can yl3 can yl3 houthaning the united band together and give away it's called the giving pledge. we talked to warren uffe sunday morning. we've got melites at j. warren buffett tabout economy, tauch things which are going front and centehe cess when it gets back this week. ted turner talks about his effort, which is to reduce r wend tf course, has the poteal cthe >> perhaps the highest combined network on a sunday morning show ever. christiane amanpour, appreciate it. good to see you here in new york city this morning. lay oime, shoulr w jbbaris w he's ge re t ave a 2-oldt in the murder of his

ex-girlfriend, th col bal tol aou jenni-lyn watson had been missing for more than a week. abc's mike marusarz reports. >> reporter: searchers discovered the body par outside syruse. investigators now confirm it's 20-year-old jenni-lyn wats the disitornays remains were, dke garbage." watson's ex-boyfriend, 21-year-old steven pieper, has been charged with second degree murder. police believe he killed watson in her parents' house nine days ago. >> retreated, mr. pieper, as far as you folks were concerned as a witness who was cooperating and yet we knew very, very early on that he was our prime suspect. >> reporter: the ballerina had just come home for thanksgiving break from mercyhurst college where she was a junior and a dance major. her disappearance triggered a massive search. hundreds of volunteers passed out flyers and hunted for clues for more than a week. >> it takes an extraordinary type of individual to do something like that and let his

parents cling to hope for the next seven days that maybe their daughter would be found alive. >> reporter: investigators say watson had just broken off her on again off again relationship with pieper last month but they're not sharing a possible motive or saying how watson was murdered. an autopsy is scheduled for sunday. for "good morning america," mike marusarz, abc news. a cargo plane has crashed in karachi, pakistan. the plane went down soon after takeoff today crash nothing a g coisse more densely populated apartment buildings nearby. all eight russian crew members were killed and at least one person on the ground was injured. three young boys in michigan are miss, r they are in ex their father is in a hospital after trying to commit suicide he told police he gave the boys to an online girlfriend his suicide attempt. investigators now say they can't find the silver van she is supposedly driving or even confirm her existen the father has not beenrule

t i boyher has not beenrule and shoppers crowded the stores on black friday but spent just slightly more than last according to shoppertrak, the number of shoppers was more than 2% higher, but sales went up only 0.3%. on a brighter note online shopping was up at least 16% even before tomorrow, which of course is cybermonday for those >> and there's your sunday forecast.

dan, bianna, back to you. cybermonday, a digital camera is what i'm in the market for. >> do i take it you didn't want to get trampled? >> i didn't buy a single thing except online. >> did you know what he was actually referring to, wanted you to remember that he wanted that camera. i got you. >> you want us to write that down. >> dan will go online and get it from both of us. >> from the both of us. thanks, jeremy. well, the lame duck congress returns to capitol hill tomorrow after their thanksgiving break. but the big event this week will be at the white house where the postponed post-election session between the president and reinvigorated republicans will finally take place. john hendren has a preview. >> all: defense, defense. >> reporter: president obama, his face visibly battered, might have more sharp elbows coming. tuesday's white house summit has all the makings of a post-shellacking showdown. in one corner on home turf president obama.

in the other, republican senate leader mitch mcconnell and john boehner, the next speaker of the house, once famously combative. >> how long you can't. >> reporter: both sides sizing each other up. president obama now weakened wants cooperation, an alliance of opposites. >> i hope that we can work together, democrats and republicans and independents alike. >> reporter: but will republicans now sharing control also opt to go from confrontation to cooperation? >> it's a lot easier to run as a party of no than when you do control one of the branches. >> reporter: they'll talk top priorities, funding the government, passing routine but often contependlls and extending republicans want to keep them l. demcratr th if things go well, they could also t s.t.a.r.t. arntrl with russia and overturning don't ask, don't tell, pentagon's ban on gays serving >> we hope the president will work with us on all of these priorities.

>> reporter: for the president, it's been a bruising few weeks. a devastating election, a north korean attack, an up close and personal airport search and mr. obama's new look won't help. >> this president has yet to find his footing, and showing up at a meeting with republicans with a fat lip is probably only going to build into that narrative. >> and that was john hendren reporting. so how will the big meeting go? from washington this mornin with their thoughts, the always oft kaeir thoughts, the always finney and republican kevin madden. good morning to both of you. >> good morning. >> karen, let me start with you. i'm sure kevin will be mad at me for starting with issue num inomy of course. so is there any hope? hen o for two s to1 o&tand hinh issue? >> yeah, i think they're going have lesti enou of boehner and the house are actually more aligned with the white house than you both are up for re-election in

two years and nee you know, the election results were not really a mandate other than to say, we want you to get somethini apn pars i think they will be able to g some things donvio goio be they're also that the american people do not want to be used as political pawns. they really want to see results. ve so utora want to see results. being the party of opposition. so why should they change th >> well, because i think karen is right. i think that the republicans recognize >> you arecf1 >> yet's e even on a sung. >> mark that. >> we do recognize that it was not a mandate and that what we've got on election day was the job offer, and whether or not we keep the job is up to us. so there has to be a laser-likeo i think whether or not we get anything done going to be he's shown when heirst into office tha ver much mastered the pageantry of bipartisanship, but he didn't

have much of the substance -- in the way of su came to biparip, now the leverage lies with republicans because while it wasn't exactly a mandate for republicans, it was a rejection of president obama's policies that said that we cspenre money from the federal government and create,and od, . let me s whecif you the twos caogeh >> well, look, any time there's going t e ing t if the president is serious when he says that he wants to cut spending and he wants to engage in some sort of earmark reform, i think that there's going to be republican votes i think also on issues like energy, the president when he came into office said that he was going to find -- st h on expanding domestic exploration of energy sources. he was also going to look at nuclear.pi tere e rea agrhallon sunorinear anythng - >> no, i actually agree with kevin.

i do think though education is another area where there seems to be broad consensus, changes that need to be made n pno nd, hop that they'll be able to fin common ground on the tax issue. it will be contentious, but i d othes ce thcontentious, but i d middle class really needs tax relief, so i'm hoping we can decouple these two votes and let's deal with the middle class first, because that's an are where there's agreement, and canck a with what we'llthat 1%, and warren buffett and those christiane today. >> these , j president obama, don't have a lot in common, kaen. do you think we'll see a lot mtigs is there a potentiao re la tip o'neill and ronald ts tip o'neill and ronald to some degree i would like to see us get back to the plac where they e to scuffles in front of the cameras but behind the cameras there has to be a working relatio the pressure is on both parties to get something don it's not going to be enough for

boehner and the republicans to say they halted getting things done and obviously president obama has things thads to get d,so ope they'll have a good >> ear imis karen and kevin, thank you pevind ka finney from washington, d.c. this morning. coming up here on the broadcast, the story that we've the angry otterheck. terrorizing a neighborhood in w it peo >> you do not want to miss tha expert tips to make sure your holiday packages get where they're going in one piece. we've got a lot of mail going i yoo gee in we've got a lot of mail going i yoo gee in

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[ female announcer ] fun. easy. [ child ] wow. [ female announcer ] at pillsbury.com. ♪ return to sender ♪ return to sender >> all we can say is let's hope your packages are handled with a little more care this holiday season. now, this makes you wonder how well our stuff is treated once we put it in the hands of shipping companies. "popular mechanics" magazine put them to the test. we'll tell you the results coming up. good morning, america. i'm bianna golodryga. you know, i have to tell you that hg been m you know, i have to tell you that having been married -- just recently married, some of the gifts i received -- i can't tell you how many mugs broken. >> now you know why. >> thanks to the styrofoam. >> that's right. that's why they pack it with all that stuff. i'm dan harris. this is sunday, november 28th. also coming up, an innovative and apparently effective way to treat combat

veterans with ptsd, posttraumatic stress syndrome. dogs. this program trains service dogs to help returning vets re-adjust to life. we'll tell you about it. plus a sign of the economic times. faced with firing an employee or losing her company, a woman in florida makes a gut-wrenching decision, but it may not be what you think. we'll tell you about her choice and why her employees are so thankful for what she did. >> it's a great story. but we're going to start with that otter attack we've been talking about all morning. there's otters on the loose in south florida terrorizing the community. it might sound liokt this nmaleuit arsivuld l danger to peop matt gutman is on the story. >> cute little guy. >> reporter: it seemed almost friendly at first, but four feet of cuddly turned quickly to blood curdling. will gibbons was locked out of his home. >> what's up, little otter. >> reporter: so killing time, he

used his cell phone filming the neighborhood otter. >> swimming around the water like a close distance. i thought, okay, this is a cool otter. >> reporter: he swam away then hooked a u-turn. >> just ran after me and bit me. >> reporter: it's part of a series of three mysterious otter attacks in two days in south florida. about a mile away an otter attacked this golden retriever named chester. >> whatever is going on has me baffled. >> reporter: that's david hitsik from the bush animal sanctuary who says -- >> he could have escaped or was released and doesn't know better. >> reporter: it also could be a mother protecting her cubs, more dangerous, a rabid otter. >> there's an otter. >> reporter: one of those almost killed a 96-year-old man. a good samaritan tried to simultaneously pry the critter off and explain himself to a bewildered 911 operator. >> who's got him? >> an otter. >> an otter? >> o-t-t-e-r. please hurry.

i can't keep him off. >> reporter: hitsik says animals aren't normally that aggressive. despite suffering through six rabies shots will vows no vengeance against his attacker. >> i don't think i'll ever see it again. if i do i guess i'll call animal control. >> reporter: which is also the advice of the experts. matt gutman, abc news, miami. >> note to self, beware. >> o-t-t-e-r. otter. they look so cute. >> you're right, otter. >> they look so harmless. anyway, also looking harmless here's jeremy hubbard this morning. nice to see you. >> thank you. i was trying to figure out who was squealing louder, the teenager or the otter. >> i think it was the teenager. i don't think the otter was making a sound. it's a stealth silent killer. >> 911 call. now we've heard it all officially. good morning, dan, bianna. good morning souh nar pgaa as sound of artillery was heard

from north koea a the war of rves shots rang out saturday night a uetro pack pp critically injuto pe police say it happened when a disputewo rgs of te gue. well, today is one of the busiest travel days of the year as many of those who drove or flew for thanksgi home, so airpor could be jammed again today. and a santa claus convention in berlin, germany. more than a hundred santas gathered to learn what to do when delivering gifts to m >> and tha youy forecast. forecast. na? >> and that's your sunday forecast. bianna? >> jeremy, i couldn't risk you turning odder on me, so i moved over to the other wall here.

meantime, once the holiday shopping season is done, the next thing to worry about is the shipping. even if you wrap your packages with great care and extra padding, sometimes they still don't arrive in one piece. so which shipping company does the best job of hamming with care? becky worley is joining us via skype from her home in oakland, california. with the answer, becky, we just can't let you sleep in this weekend. >> i'm on the case for your holiday shopping and shipping needs. and, bianna, leave to it a bunch of geeks to quantitatively assess how safe your packages are in transit. the editors over at "popular mechanics" put a bunch of cool gadgets in a box to test out all of your shipping options this holiday season. you send a gift because you care. >> and there you are. >> have a merry christmas. >> reporter: and you hope when you ship it, the handler will care too, but the internet is awash with video proof that sometimes they don't.

so "popular mechanics" wanted to find out what really happens when you send those holiday packages. >> we wanted to get inside a package and see just how much damage was really going on. >> reporter: editor glenn derene teamed up with tech masters at national instruments to outfit them with motion sensors. the packages are then sent on a cross country trek from the magazine's offices in new york city to santa monica, california, then to austin, texas, and from there, back to new york. at each stop data from the sensors was uploaded to computers to figure out how often your gifts end up on the ground. >> we found that fedex had an average of around 3.1 drops per shipment. u.p.s. had 2, and the postal service had 0.5. >> reporter: that's right. good old mr. postman dropped your gifts the least, but the postal service isn't entirely in the clear because when it came down to how many times your gifts were flipped upside down -- >> the post office did the most. they got an average of 12 flips

per shipment. >> reporter: what if you write fragile on the box? that should make a difference, right? >> for all the carriers regardless of which one, whenever we specifically wrote fragile and this side up, both the drops and the flips increased. >> reporter: increased? whoops. so how should you send your package this holiday season? >> i say go with the post office. they were the cheapest, and they were the gentlest to the package. >> the post office. so, becky, unfortunately you can't travel with all these carriers to deliver and make sure that they're handled with care. what can you do taking matters into your own hand to make sure your package arrives in one ec >> well, first up, bianna, the box m newttr. this is your best protection secondly, you really want to make sure that your objects are snug inside here. when you get it all packed up with the packing

gifts, give it a shake, and if it sounds loose, put mo peanuts protecjets next, insurance. should you get it? for electronic items, for fragile hard-to-find items, it's about 3he tost factor that in when you're actually making the purchase. and if you do insure it, make sure you takeie sure you takeie aney acked that will b youyou ever need to mak >> all right, beck good tips. we appreciate it. go back to sleep. and coming up on "good morning america," a new four-legged therapy for treating posttraumatic stress disorder. how service dogs are helping combat vets reacclimate to civilian life. plus, a decision one woman made to save her company and her her employees. [ dog ] she's not coming, is she?

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when our troops come back when our tro when our troops come back from overseas, they often have wounds that go way beyond the physical, wounds that make it very hard to adjust to civilian life. now there is a new program that helps ease this transition in an unusual way. corporal avneesh arora spent four years in the marines, all of it in the violent and chaotic city of fallujah. >> it was shock after shock after shock. >> reporter: today he is in his fourth year at rutgers university in new jersey where life is considerably calmer,

however, the psychological wounds still run deep. avneesh has been diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder. >> i'm constantly on high alert, extremely irritable. i have -- sometimes i surpass anger and go straight to rage. >> reporter: but now he's getting some help from an unlikely source. avneesh recently brought home brian, a labrador retriever specially trained to help patients like himself. they study together and go to class together. brian is a constant source of comfort. >> he is making me feel less anxious, a little calmer in certain environments and a little more comfortable to be in some places if i am by myself because i have him now. >> reporter: brian was trained by puppies behind bars, one of many organizations across the country working to help veterans. the dogs are taught by prison inmates, and when they're ready, the pups are matched with patients who also have to learn the basics of living with their new service dog. this therapy is so new that

doctors are just starting to understand why and how it works. >> a lot of people suffering from ptsd have what's called hypervigilance. you know, if you've been around dogs, you know that if they're frightened or alert, their tails will go up. their ears will perk up. the dog can give a cue, which i think is enormously helpful. >> reporter: avneesh says the difference is remarkable. >> there's no more fear of, you know, who is going to get me. i can't see them coming or, you know, of being alone. >> reporter: a surprising healing match between canine and marine. joining me now from boston to talk more about this is the author and journalist sebastian junger. you may know him from his book "the perfect storm." but he's also a veteran war correspondent as well. so, sebastian, good morning to you. >> good morning. >> so i understand you've been involved in this program, dog tags, which gives dogs to returning veterans. as we said in the piece, we

still don't know -- doctors still don't know exactly why or how this seems to help veterans. but what are your insights into what might be going on here? >> well, i think this is kind of a frontier science at the moment. it's such an innovative program. i mean, i've spent a lot of time with soldiers. they're very well trained, and their sense of security and safety comes from the fact that they're with each other in a unit and that they have weapons. and i think one of the things that's very difficult for soldiers who come back and return to society is suddenly they don't have either source of security. they're obviously not carrying a weapon, and they're not in their unit, and so i think what happens is the dog provides both of those things. i mean, the dog is a companion but also in a sense a dog is a weapon. i mean everyone knows that a dog will defend his owner. >> it's incredible program, and as you said, sort of frontier science. you know firsthand from some pretty harrowing experience of

your own what it's like to be a troop overseas right now. you spent a lot of time in afghanistan, a year, in fact, if i understand it for a new documentary. i want to show a quick clip of it and then ask you about it. here's the clip. >> for the first two months we deployed, we'd get rocked hard. they would ambush us at 360 degrees. >> did everybody from this entire country come to this valley? is nobody else fighting anymore? is every bad guy in my face? >> as i said, harrowing. i understand you were following a platoon for a year in a remote part of afghanistan. the movie is called "restrepo." can you tell us a little about where you were? >> my first day at restrepo, the position was attacked four times by the enemy. there was something like 400 -- the guys i was with were in something like 400 firefights during their deployment. it was the most combat at the time in the entire country of afghanistan. >> you've been around the block.

you've covered wars before. did this story change you at all? have there been lasting impacts on you personally? >> it isn't the first time i've been with a small unit in great isolation for long lengths of time, so there was a bond that developed in that unit, which was very, very powerful, and i was sort of included in that. by the end of the year, i really felt like i was part of the platoon. i think that's one of the things that's very hard for soldiers, they get back to civilian life, and as bad as combat was, they miss it. what they miss is the fraternal bond, the brotherhood that exists in a situation like that. >> "the new york times" has called it a heroic piece of journalism, and we appreciate you coming on this morning to talk about it. sebastian junger, thank you. >> my pleasure. >> and "restrepo" premieres on television on monday at 9 p.m. on the natieogr ♪

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so we've spent about two years now talking about the economy, layoff, unemployment. but you have somewhat of an uplifting story. millions have had to sacrifice. we haven't heard something like this yet. it's about the bad economy and a woman with a good heart. when lola gonzalez of ocala, florida, realized she would have to lay off one of her employees in order to save her company, she made a pretty unorthodox decision. >> i laid myself off approximately six months ago. >> reporter: what did she just say? >> i laid myself off approximately six months ago. >> reporter: after her small background check firm lost clients in the recession, lola gonzalez realized she had to let an employee go in order to make ends meet. imagine her staff's surprise when she announced that employee would be her. >> my reaction was to just laugh because i just thought she was kidding. >> i just think that was very generous, cutting herself off

from the company to save somebody else's job. >> they said, no, who is going to run the business? i said, you are. i'll still be able to provide direction and guidance. i'm always going to be a phone call away. >> reporter: gonzalez got another job as a social worker at less than half her old six-figure salary, but her sacrifice has saved her small firm. >> she is still very real in the office. her leadership traits are still here. everything that she's taught is still here. >> reporter: wonder how rare gonzalez's sacrifice is? well, one small business trade group says although many business owners stop taking a salary during the economic downturn, they've heard of no one firing themselves. >> as her son i thought that's a role model. that's somebody that i really need to look at to model my life after, someone that is so selfless. you don't hear about that nowadays. >> because i have not taken a salary, we've been able to

reinvest into the business. >> reporter: a reinvestment that led to giving her eight loyal employees a little holiday surprise. >> actually they got a small bonus this year. not what they used to get, but they got something out of my token of appreciation because we've had a rough year. >> she deserves a bonus. >> yeah. we could use some more bosses like that. talk times a d handle all the heavy l and she doesn't plan on bac o tor a year or so until they get on solid -- >> it gives them moo kd kat cve so she doesn'rfic nothing. nothing. an for a low flat rate. yea, i know. oh, you're good. good luck! priority mail flat rate shipping starts at just $4.90 only from the postal service. a simpler way to ship.

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as a takeaway from today's show, steer clear of otters. no matter how cute they may be. >> stay away. >> see, jeremy, there was a reason for you to come in. >> i'm glad i got out of bed. >> thanks for coming in. >> so nice to have you. >> digital camera, cybermonday. >> double duty. right? >> i deserve it. >> have a great day. bye.me