So last time I was talking about when we moved into our house and some of the nasty little surprises that came with the place....yeah it had its share of decomposing furniture and handles that fall off in your hand etc. but it gradually shaped up. That is, once Ma got her entire plastic collection moved in...my Ma had it all: the plastic flowers, fruits, lampshade and couch covers! Anyhow I have mentioned my parents a lot so far and I know that you don't know them so here is a brief description(I will talk about Pops for now and do Ma next time) My Pops -Barnaba Baffilini, but everyone calls him Barney (he hates Barnaba). He really always reminded me of Dom Deluise (RIP), but just a bit scruffier. Pops always wore until sometime in the 90's, brown leather workboots. The thing is, none of us kids can remember him ever taking them off! Even in the summer! It's like they were fused to his feet or something. He was(he's retired now) a barber and opened up his own shop in the basement of our house because he lost his job shortly after we moved which brings me to a funny little story.....You see, Pops had worked for 15 years for a man we will call "Rocco", he was his best friend's uncle and a long-time mentor. Well, the day came when Rocco had to let an employee go because he just couldn't afford to pay so many barbers, and Pops who has always been rather blunt with people was not the most popular, so in spite of his seniority, Rocco fired him. Pops was so furious on his way out he pulled down Rocco's barber pole-you know the striped, swirly thing and took off. Shortly after he arrived home, barber pole in toe, Ma showed up and he knew she would be very upset that he took it, so his solution was to clumsily stuff it under the living room couch. At first he thought Ma would not notice, but then Bruno, my little brother went digging under the couch because his matchbox car rolled under there and he unwittingly ratted Pops out. Pops spluttered trying to say it was broken and someone had put it out for trash and he was going to fix it, but then Bruno had the bright idea to plug it in and the thing lit up and started spinning! Ma was not impressed. Just then, practically on cue, the phone rang and Ma answered-it was Rocco asking if Pops knew anything about the whereabouts of his barber pole! Then Pops had no choice but to come clean and admit to Ma he had lost his job. The icing on the cake was when the doorbell rang (if you could call that farting sound a ring) and there stood Nonna, who Bruno proudly announced to that Pops had lost his job and stolen a barber pole! Poor Pops had this "just shoot me" look on his face.....I'll never forget it! This was one of those classic "hand in cookie jar" moments, any of you guys have any embarrassing tales like that?
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