Have you ever risked your integrity to feel like part of the crowd? It's more a young person's game, really... We trade in our core self, vying for something we think we want. It's a tempting switch. But those of us who have traveled the road know that the cost is not worth the payoff. Sure, we might find short-term gratification in the sense of belonging. Ultimately, though, we're better off not being members of some club that won't take us as we are.

But what if the stakes were higher? What if it were career maneuvering that asked this of us? And what if, worse still, there was a time crunch, and you didn't have the chance to truly weigh the options?

Ray Romano, in a 2019 interview with NPR, recalled a tricky scenario from when he was still newer to the industry, before he'd starred in his own show as the great we know today.  

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I'll tell you one little story. I'm kind— I'm a kind of superstitious guy— and sometimes too superstitious. But the night that I did the first Letterman, he was doing a bit about— it was springtime, so he was doing a bit about cutting your pants— summer-izing your pants. And he took someone from the audience, and he cut their pants into shorts. And then he took Paul Schaefer, and he cut Paul Schaefer's pants into shorts. And then Mel Gibson was the first guest. And he took Mel Gibson's, and he cut his. And then he said, well, I've got to do mine. And he cut his own pants into shorts.

Now the pressure was on, with all eyes set to be on Romano in only a matter of moments. 

So I was backstage, and I'm watching this. And you know— so I'm talking with my manager. And we're like— and I'm like, "Should I— do I cut my pants? Do I go out with my pants?" And they're like, "You've got to do it." And one of the writers— producers came over with, like, scissors and says, well, "You've got to go out— when they introduce you, you've got to go out with your pants cut." And I— we literally were— I had the scissors in my hand. I'm making a big deal out of this, and I probably shouldn't.

Ray Romano stood at a crossroads. 

But I had the scissors in my hand, and we were ready to cut my pants into shorts. So when Dave Letterman announces this new comic— Ray Romano, here he is— and I walk out, you're going to see my bare calves and knees and I'm part of the joke. And at the last second, I thought, I'm not going to do it. I'm going to just— I don't want to assume I'm part of the clique. I'm part of— you know, I'm the— they don't even know who I am. And now I'm going to go out and be in on the joke. And I don't know. It's too presumptuous; it's too whatever. So I decided not to.

And I went out, and I had the— what I thought was probably one of my best TV sets. And it turned into this— and I still believe had I cut those pants into shorts, the dynamic— something's different. Maybe I have a good set, but there's something. And who knows whether or not all of this happens if I cut my pants into shorts?