Some years ago, I had an employee who was not pulling his weight, and that was unfortunate because his position was critical to the organization. As I kept warning him about his failure to perform his job, our working relationship became strained and began to decline. Things were getting bad and I had to [...]
On a whirlwind trip to Europe after graduation from college, a friend of mine introduced me to a Spanish kid named Tico. I asked why his friends called him Tico, and he said – completely deadpan – that he started using a nickname after the third time he got beaten up for his real [...]
Comedian Mike Marino has made a career out of spoofing ethnic Italians (of which he is one) and the State of New Jersey – usually both at the same time. He’s a hilarious guy, and he’s found plenty of material for parody on both accounts. While I don’t advocate most of his stand-up routines [...]