The Slice: No questions asked

Feel free to disagree.

But I think things have gotten better in at least one regard.

Stores now accept returns without hassling you.

Have you noticed this?

OK, it didn’t happen overnight. And I am sure there are plenty of exceptions. But it seems like the process of taking something back to the store where you bought it has gotten a whole lot more congenial.

Remember when they used to tie you to a chair and shine a bright light in your eyes?

All right, perhaps that is overstating how unpleasant it used to be. But I clearly remember that those in charge of handling returns always seemed intent on proving that you were the problem, not the jacket or wrench set.

I suspect the change has simply been a response to market forces and competition. Whatever. I’m all for it.

Slice answer: After asking where readers would take food writer Calvin Trillin if he came back to Spokane, I heard from my friend Jim Kershner.

“I would send him to Lovitt, the excellent Colville restaurant,” he wrote. “Trillin loves regional specialties and Lovitt has made an art form out of using local ingredients, like morels, from the north woods.”

Faces carved on Mount Spokane: Dennis Foster had no problem starting with Mark Few, which another reader suggested last week. He would round out the quartet with Chief Garry, Tom Foley and King Cole.

Slice rerun from 10 years ago: Mike Storms’ father once declared “Cats are taboo in this house!” In the years that followed, the family would have a number of cats named Taboo.

Warm-up questions: How many GU students listen to GU’s radio station? Who has the most extensive collection of the maps that come with the National Geographic magazine? How many decades have to pass before you are willing to try listening to vinyl records again (after too many albums presented skips or phrase-repeating defects no matter how many nickels you stacked above the needle)? How many parents of Spokane high school kids have one child attending G-Prep and one attending a public school? Has there ever been a punch thrown at your workplace? Do you enjoy online tours of residential properties even though you have no intention of moving?

Today’s Slice question: If you were suddenly placed in charge of your office’s holiday parties, what would you change?

Write The Slice at P. O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210; call (509) 459-5470; email pault@spokesman.com. Why would you think of Benjamin Harrison on Wednesday?