The Slice: When sticking with a fib seems easier

A grocery clerk was helping Jody Hamilton take her purchases out to her car.

“As you know, the baggers seem to be instructed to ask ‘How is your day going?’ Considering it was early Sunday morning and in reality I had not done a thing, I fibbed a little bit when I was confronted with this question and responded, ‘I have cleaned my house and made breakfast.’ The clerk didn’t really hear me over the clanging of the moving cart and responded ‘You made bread pudding?’ Not wanting to repeat my fib, I went along with her interpretation and said yes, I made bread pudding.

“She replied, ‘I have never had bread pudding. How do you make it?’

“Yikes! I mumbled something about how you have to bake it, but fortunately we were at my car by then.”

Faces carved on Mount Spokane, continued: Karen Valandra nominated Mark Few, Louis Davenport, King Cole and Levi Hutton.

Vince Eberly seconded the motion on including Chief Garry and suggested adding Carl Maxey and Bing Crosby.

How to avoid seeing “Legally Blonde VII” against your will: Last week The Slice sought advice from readers about finessing holiday moviegoing with your extended family.

You know, how do you avoid seeing something that you know will be a crushing waste of time without coming off as a snob?

Well, most feedback was either off-point or not especially helpful. A few readers said they prefer to spend family visits personally engaged with relatives, not going to movies.

OK, fine. But people go to the movies. And I said I would weigh in, so here goes.

The key, it seems to me, is to be honest about your cinema preferences but in a cheerful, upbeat way.

It’s possible to say, “You know, ‘Car Crashes and Tank Tops’ just doesn’t appeal to me” with a smile on your face. “Would you care to check out the dark new Slovakian art-house film on being and nothingness? I read that the subtitles are unreadable.”

Then laugh.

At that point, if your relatives want to be offended by your attitude, it’s on them.

Today’s Slice question (recycled from The Slice Blog): Who in the Inland Northwest has the office with the best view of motorists slip-sliding on a precipitous incline covered with ice or glazed-over packed snow?

Write The Slice at P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210; call (509) 459-5470; email pault@spokesman.com. This is the final Friday the 13th of 2015.