From her vantage point on the park bench, Kates watches several men and women make their way through the streets. One young thug approaches a group of mafiosi preparing a hit. As they fervently whisper their plans for the attack the young man approaches them and shouts.

"Good read!"

As the men and women stare at him in shock, Kates raises an eyebrow. Off to her right an old Capo is stumbling out of a bar, drunkenly telling a story. A goomba walking behind him listens for a moment, pats his back, and exclaims.

"Good read!"

The drunken Capo is left speechless, looking around for some kind of book or pamphlet that the man might have been referring to. Kates begins tapping her fingers against her knee and biting her lower lip. Taking a deep breath, she starts walking calmly towards her favorite spot: the bridge overlooking the gentle river. As a civilian who just arrived in the country grabs a purse and begins sprinting past her, Kates smiles at the origin of another mafioso. But before they could make it more than a few steps the civilian is forcibly apprehended by a a Wise Guy, who shouts...

"I really enjoy your story!"

Kates stands very still for a moment. And it almost looks as if she'll walk away, until she swiftly grabs the Wise Guy and pitches him off the bridge. Visibly perturbed, she addresses the somewhat shocked crowd.

Obviously, not everyone in our line of work is going to be a Rhodes scholar. Some of us, in fact, wound up leaving school at an early age to pursue other interests. Rampant stupidity, however, I'd hoped would be out of the question. But I have been greatly disturbed by the number of fools skipping around the streets and saying things like "good read" lately.

Now yes... SOMETIMES a mafioso may write up a story or recollection of their events, in which case it would be appropriate to comment on their writing, grammar, spelling, or other aspects of that ilk. The majority of us, however, do not write down stories and pass them in the streets. Some people may speak stories. But most of us just go about our work in this thing. I recall a while back I was trying to pull off a particularly difficult job. More than one person came up to me and said "Good read" or "Nice story". Now what in the hell was going on with these people? Were they insane? Just stupid? Drunk?

Regardless, there's no excuse. Again, unless you're in a rare case in which someone is actually passing out pages in the streets, saying that sort of thing will make you look foolish. Nobody's perfect. Everyone says something crazy or in error now and again. But lately it seems that certain trends of stupidity have been expanding. Randomly saying "good read" or "nice story" is one of them. Please stop. For your own good.

Kates whispers "For the record, replying 'good read' to this is neither amusing nor constructive.

Glares in the general direction of her Detroit compadres as they look dejected.

Listens intently and nods her head.

Yes, I too have seen this Oocitis outbreak.  The goodread flu seems to be some sort of pandemic, my own tales have been plagued with outbreaks of this excited fit.  I would suggest that these same people, drop us a mail, even if they choose not to see if we would care to let them help us in our exploits, at least send us a mail instead of ending up coughing on the streets like some lunatic. 

Tips her hat. Thank you for bringing up such a pertinent discussion.

As Jack MacLeod  idly strolls in the late evening chill he heard a pathetic wail, followed by a "splash!"  Looking up from his smoke, he nearly inhales the whole smoldering cigarette when he sees the irate face of his mother as she begins to yell.  Luckily for him, she's not looking down.  He listens to everything the Don has to say and nods.  He almost shouts "here here!"   But realizes his mother still doesn't know he is back from his trip.   Flicking the butt of his smoke into the water, he keeps walking, hoping the words of his mother are taken to heart.

Couldn't really agree any more with this.

It makes me want to bang my head against a wall when I see this practice going on. I highly doubt many of the speakers even witnessed the events they are claiming to have read in the first place.

I'll be shooting anyone from Las Vegas who drops a 'good read' unless they've just their bible from now on.

Oh and good read Kates.

~T~ Neither amusing nor constructive

This was a good read!!!!!!!!

Perhaps the same genes that controls bipedal movement in humans, also controls other various brain development mechanisms in early childhood.  I'm not quite sure as to what the causes for this form of retardation in language abilities are, apart from these genes, but surely there is a scientifically responsible way of categorizing these individuals.  I shall have to speak with some of my colleagues in Harvard and in Cambridge to better assess the abnormalities in responses seen in our streets.  It is indeed, quite the challenge that awaits us all. 

If you could Ms. Kates, please use all of your power to gather these individuals and take them to our lab for some "tests" to determine what defect causes what some colleagues of mine are now calling, the "lazy" gene.  I personally believe it is the same DNA that is illustrated when you take a shiny light and/or metal object and attempt to distract an individual suffering from this condition, from a more "train-of-thought " or intellectually stimulating and challenging activity. 

Now, I know what you are all thinking here, and it is quite common for individuals who have not had the scholarly background and good fortune to attend a university, to believe that these individuals are simply "eunuchs"; or in other degrading terminology, victims of simple devolution.  Of course, such simplistic categorization is irresponsible at best.  We cannot just "toss aside" these individuals, hoping that the fall will rid the world of meek genetics...

Or can we? 

Contritely yours,

GoodFeIIa

wow..finally this topic was a "must need" for all mafiosi..that Kates eratically explained brings us all that in the streets we just dont reply nonsense and stupidity to earn respect or to be known in streets rather to promote an impression on the one who is posting (a bit OOC). This goes to show that leaders and vets are not really dumb enough to your lousy replies and pointless exclamation..Bottomline : Use (your) mind..the mind can distinguish a guy storytelling or its happening at all..unless you dont have it..you got yourself an exception.

-Puck-

Fayth steps forward blushing slightly, she hangs her head and scuffs her foot at an imaginary stone hoping Kates wouldn't pitch her over the bridge as well

I have to say that this never even crossed my mind and I am definately guilty of doing this quite a lot. I think people never think about it until its been pointed out and I can see how we appear moronic and stupid, I say this in the knowledge that not only have I insulted others but also myself which kind of evens it out. I hope I dont do this any more as I have no wish to appear stupid.

McKnighter shakes his head at some of the comments.

"I agree that we need to crack down on some idiots who go around shouting "Good read!" Or "Nice story!". They have lost their already insane minds, and now it looks if they have formed a cult, to which the aforementioned words is their chant.

Not too long ago, I was in a middle of a bank robbery, and not one, but TWO young mobsters came in the middle of hails of bullets and car chases, and said "Good read."

These idiots are going to get themselves killed if they are not careful.

I appreciate what you're saying.  And I definitely agree with the concept.  I do hate it when people come out here and that is their only reply.  And if I find anybody from my family doing it, well - there will be serious consequences.

Runs off briefly to write a love letter to his family.

But that's what I want to talk about is consequences.  Until you can get together with the other family heads and come up with a punishment that you/we all agree upon, then your speech here will fall on deaf ears.  If there is no consequence to this action, those people that come here for the sole purpose of shouting out "good read" or "good point" or "nice story" will continue to do so.  Without threat of a consequence, there will be no change.

I hope I'm wrong.  And like I said, there will be consequences if people in my family are caught making such a ridiculous statement.  But I am only one.  It appears as though Tallien will do the same.  Now you only have 1...2...3...4...a lot more of the crewleaders to get on board.  I hope they do. 

Let me add my name to the List of the Discontented (tm). This absolutely does my nut in. What's more, it's been brought to attention several times lately, yet still it continues to grow in regularity.

I agree Will, it will take some cooperation to stop it completely, but even a small step in the right direction - which we have here - is a start I suppose.

Well actually this can be quite confusing to people just off the boat as there are so many people telling stories at the moment. By this I mean people who aren't handing around pieces of paper but just stand up in the streets and begin talking randomly in the 3rd person about some guy called benny the fixer, tony the driver, larry the lamb etc. and how they managed to kill 100 people before lunch. This usually only lasts for about a paragraph of clumsy sentences and bad grammar before everyone agrees it was a very good read.

Because of this when a gangster sees a detailed, complicated bank robbery, hustle, protection racket or whatever actually occurring in real life they get so confused that often their only reply can be something along the lines of a mumbled 'good read.'

Until you can get together with the other family heads and come up with a punishment that you/we all agree upon, then your speech here will fall on deaf ears. If there is no consequence to this action, those people that come here for the sole purpose of shouting out "good read" or "good point" or "nice story" will continue to do so. Without threat of a consequence, there will be no change.

I plan on hunting these people down and inflicting various levels of torment upon them. Beginning with friendly reminders and ending with dangling them from a thin rope above a pit of starving crocodiles.

And a good point, Mr. Bateman. But my issue isn't with the newly arrived mafioso who confusedly mumbles "good read"... it's the fact that the same person seems to continue that practice indefinitely.