The Slice: There’s still time to show off that beach body

Officially speaking, summer has a week to go.

So maybe there’s still time to get into a squirt-gun shootout and scarf down a few s’mores.

OK, let’s move on.

“Failure to communicate: As you might know, the Spokane Public Library has an automated notification system. When materials you have requested are available, a computer calls your phone number and lets you know they are ready to be picked up.

Well, a woman whose last name is O’Brien received just such a call the other day. But, inexplicably, the robo-voice pronounced her name “Chatterbrain.” (She played me a recording of that message.)

She wasn’t offended, just amused.

I wondered if this sort of thing was common. So I asked Pat Partovi, library director.

She, in turn, queried her staff. That did not turn up any memorable tales. But along the way someone suggested that stories about momentarily confused reference librarians might be funnier.

OK, Pat. Take it away.

“One librarian reports that he served a child who asked for information on Plato,” she wrote. “So he researched children’s books on Greek philosophy, etc., only to discover that the child wanted books on Play-Doh.”

“Feedback on Tuesday’s Slice: Noting that stores already have pumpkins on display, I had wondered what early purchasers would do with them since Halloween is still a ways off.

“I haven’t carved pumpkins since my kids were grown,” wrote Theresa Hill. “They make lovely porch decorations as is, and can be displayed from early October through Thanksgiving. And punk kids don’t smash them on the street.”

“Slice answers: I had asked what little kid gets most excited about seeing trains.

“My husband, Ed,” wrote Lynda Dohrman of Tensed, Idaho. “He’s 63.”

And in the matter of specific downsides to the location of your work station, a reader whose desk is near a local animal shelter’s dog kennel said barking sometimes makes it hard to conduct a phone conversation.

“There are certain parts of this city I’d advise him not to invade: If you do a single Google search for “Spokane” and “Godzilla,” you get 128,000 hits.

“Spokane once upon a time: Dave Nemitz remembers that, back in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s, holding an elevator in the ONB Building would prompt a recorded message: “Please let the doors close, you are delaying service.”

“Today’s Slice question: What do people in Seattle and Boise have in common?