The Slice: He would’ve had more time to drink his Minute Maid

What would have become of Bing Crosby if he had never moved away from Spokane?

A) He would have been a music teacher. B) He would have operated a popular tavern. C) He would have gotten involved in Spokane politics. D) He would have spent his life hearing people say, “You know, you really should have been a singer.” E) He would have been a worse golfer. F) Other.

Re: last Sunday’s Slice: Sondra Curtis noted that consumers are not the only ones with a perspective on customer service encounters. Employees also have opinions about what behavior they hope to see from customers.

Curtis said that, often, that would be a “Person who does not hold the rude, abusive behavior of other customer service representatives against you.”

Re: making the case against K-12 summer vacations: Kay Krom noted that one of the multiple choice options in a recent Slice had to do with ours no longer being an agrarian society. Not so fast there, she said.

“Local farmers still depend on high school age youths to help out with farm duties during their summer hiatus from school. And we must never forget that girls also play a part. My husband said our daughter was the best darn truck driver he ever employed.”

H-O scale: Mildred Scheel heard about a little girl in her extended family who was informed that “ho” was a bad word. The child immediately asked her father for a ruling on the seasonally Clausian “Ho ho ho.”

That’s still OK, he said.

Warm-up questions: What Inland Northwest neighborhood has the highest density of residents who know some Klingon vocabulary? Because of the song’s subject matter, do you find it unsettling to discover that you are nodding, swaying or tapping your foot in time with that old Suzanne Vega song “Luka”? When growing grass from seed, how protective of the tender green shoots are you? Are girls experiencing their first monthly cycle today more likely to understand exactly what’s happening than was the case 50 years ago?

Today’s Slice question: Are you afraid to watch a horse race on TV because you once saw a thoroughbred break its leg and never wish to see that again?