On-the-job angst for the boss’ son

Quick, call HR, there’s an employee emergency:

“Don can’t do any deals,” a source in the “circle” of Donald Trump Jr. told People magazine, “because he’ll be overly scrutinized. He just goes to work every day and is miserable.”

P.S.: So here we go. For happy hour at Mar-a-Lago, says Dan St. Paul, the offerings include a half-off piña collude-a. Erik Wilson passes along the nickname: Dolt 45. Adda Dada is in Hamburg, Germany, where he says the Mad Magazine Trump Special is “prominently displayed in many magazine store fronts.” The German edition includes German artists’ cartoons about Trump and Germany. And responding to the president’s tweeted observation, “The Dems scream death as OCare dies,” Janice Hough concludes that Trump does not want to be president; he’s just vying to win (#biglywinning) the Bulwer-Lytton competition, which rewards bad writing.

And Will Durst, who is performing “Durst Case Scenario” at the Marsh on Tuesdays and is taking it on the road this summer, plays close attention to Washington happenings. “Watching TV, I switch between MSNBC and the Giants games, and s— happens between batters.”

Thursday’s opening night film of the Jewish Film Festival was director/ screenwriter Rachel Israel’s “Keep the Change,” an offbeat film so engaging that at the party afterward, it was the main subject of talk among the guests. That’s not always the way opening nights go: Often, a comedy isn’t funny to everyone. A romance seems trite. People try to look cheerful about a festival’s other prospects.

But in this case, the movie was so unusual — and the following Q&A with its stars so engaging — that guests’ fervent conversations continued. The tale told is a love story between two young adults, both autistic, played by Brandon Polansky and Samantha Elisofon, both autistic. Director Israel was able to cast the film with non-neurotypical actors, who fill their roles without self-pity or mawkishness.

At the movie’s end, when the stars and director took the stage, there was none of the usual “I am humbled ...” talk. “I guess you could say I caught my big break actually,” said Polansky, basking in the limelight. “Everybody deserves a break in life ... except for O.J. Simpson . ... I’m a lot better actor than O.J.” Said Elisofon, “I want to be a big star, the most well-liked person.” So she was.

For more than 10 years, the San Francisco Mime Troupe has stopped along its summer performance route at Mitchell Park in Palo Alto. But the City of Palo Alto Parks and Rec Department, which has allowed permits for these shows, has turned down this year’s request because of a rule prohibiting the collection of money in a Palo Alto open space park.

The Troupe’s performances are free, but donations are solicited at the end. “Since we don’t take corporate sponsorship to subsidize our shows,” said an official statement, “we rely on post-show donations.”

In a phone conversation with a Parks staffer, someone from the Troupe mentioned the passing of the hat, no secret to anyone who’s ever attended one of the shows. A staffer said they didn’t know about this because performances are on the weekends, outside of staff working hours.

Newsman Harry Smith was here last week with an NBC crew filming a Summer of Love segment for broadcast. They were in the East Bay interviewing Country Joe McDonald, and then in San Francisco, they were near Lyon Street in the Panhandle when their van got broken into. Equipment was stolen, and then the thief got into a white car and was driven away. A neighbor shot pictures of the getaway car, which he shared with the crew and posted on NextDoor.

Having attended one of Tony Bennett’s performances at Davies Hall last week, Lynn Newhouse Segal reports that the singer, who will be 91 on Aug. 3, stood for the entire set, only occasionally leaning elegantly against the piano, drank no water until the third encore, and at one point put his mike aside and sang “Fly Me to the Moon” without amplification. It was a “love fest,” she says.

Lionel Richie performed at Oracle Arena on Friday night but was in the Bay Area by Wednesday, when he had dinner at Epic Steak. The restaurant was kept open later than its 10 p.m. closing time to accommodate the party of eight, plus Richie’s dog, Sylvester.