Rina Piccolo

About

Tina's Groove

What do you get when you mix quirky co-workers, questionable customers and a sensible, lovable career waitress? The answer is TIna's Groove—the comic strip that delivers quick wit, lively humor and lots of laughs.

Centered on the life of Tina, a server at Pepper’s Fine Dining Restaurant, TIna's Groove chronicles the daily challenges of a waitress trained in the art of maintaining composure in the midst of madness. At work and at home, we follow Tina as she copes with friends, relationships, and the day-to-day interactions of a working woman living life on her own terms.

Serving readers since 2002, TIna's Groove continues to be the comic strip that’s frequently clipped from the page and pinned to cash registers, fridges and cubicle walls.


Characters

Tina

Tina is the Everywoman of our time: smart, funny and real. She’s not waiting for her life to begin – she’s living it. Wherever her groove takes her, Tina is happy being Tina.

Suzanne

Always looking for a wild time, Tina’s best friend and fellow waitress knows where to find it. As she puts it, waiting tables is the blight on her career of living vicariously through her own self. We all have a friend like Suzanne – she’s the girl next door … that is, if you live next door to a frat house.

Gus

Tina’s new boyfriend has a challenging role to play: he’s the new guy in a circle of old friends. Will they accept him? Can he make Tina happy? As the man behind the bar at Pepper’s, and one genuinely sweet guy, he’s already halfway there to being “one of the gang.”

Monica

One wonders if Monica is having deep thoughts or if she’s counting the tiles on the ceiling. Never “the hostess with the mostest,” Monica only wishes she were somewhere else. Others say she’s already on another planet.

Rob

If you happen to catch him without his clipboard, you won’t recognize him. Being the general manager of Pepper’s Restaurant is serious business for Rob, even though it’s not what he went to college for. A control freak at heart, Rob is a shy bachelor whose idea of having a good time is loosening his tie while attacking the inventory sheets.

Chef Carlos

With the ego of six men, Carlos is a man’s man. Whether he’s having a beer with the boys or spicing up the rigatoni in the kitchen at Pepper’s Restaurant, you’ll find he’s big on talk …
especially when he is the topic of conversation.

Ma

Sometimes, her wisdom is from another generation. But, most times, it’s from another wave-length … She’s proof that mothers and daughters don’t have to be on the same page to love each other.

Jake

Bar patrons are talkative, and that's just fine with Jake, who prefers to listen from behind the bar. Quiet and reserved, sometimes you wonder if he's even there.

Claud

There is never a dull moment when Claud drops by Pepper's. He is bizarre, outlandish and full of strange stories. If you ever hitch a ride in his cab, you'd better take along a grain of salt.

The Complainer

Patronizing a restaurant where no one knows his name, and no one cares to ask for it, "The Complainer" does just that: complains.

Author

Rina Piccolo

Rina Piccolo’s cartoons have appeared in The New Yorker, Barron’s, Reader’s Digest, Parade and more.

Her daily comic strip TINA'S GROOVE is syndicated in newspapers and websites worldwide. She also draws the Wednesday cartoon for the King Features Syndicate newspaper panel, SIX CHIX.

Rina lives in Toronto in Canada, where she was born and raised.

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