The Slice: Getting used to a new normal

Here’s my theory.

People move here from larger metro areas with significantly worse traffic than Spokane.

For a few years, they revel in the difference. They smile. Life is good.

Interstate 90 at rush hour? Ha. Bring it on.

Then something happens. They get Spokanized. Their traffic tolerance changes.

They gradually forget about the heavy traffic they battled back in Boone City or wherever and they start to complain about the situation here.

All I have to go on is anecdotal evidence. But if you would like to add to that, you know where to reach me.

And feel free to weigh in on whether you think Anecdotal Evidence would be a good band name.

No good deed goes unpunished: Hayden’s Marje Peterson saw the question about an act of kindness you came to regret.

“Several years ago my husband and I were eating in a fast food establishment when we saw a woman drive out of a parking lot across a busy highway.”

The woman’s large wallet was on the roof of her car. “As she accelerated, naturally it flew off, spilling contents.”

Marje’s husband rushed out to the highway, scooping up all the wallet contents he could find scattered about.

He brought it back to the restaurant and gave it to the manager. That manager called the wallet’s owner and explained that one of the restaurant’s patrons had retrieved it, at considerable personal risk.

“My husband wasn’t expecting any kind of reward since it’s just the kind of person he is.”

But a few hours later, the Petersons got a call from the wallet woman’s husband.

“Not thanking us, but rather informing us that there was $20 missing from her wallet.”

Aren’t people swell?

Failure to communicate: Jerry Hilton saw the column item about voice text messages that don’t say what the sender intended.

“My wife, Gail, was working at a local elementary school and we had arranged to meet on her lunch break. Unfortunately, there was a bomb threat and they were evacuating the building and she needed to stay and help supervise the children outside. She sent a voice text to cancel our lunch date.”

That message arrived as “We are vacuuming the building because of a Mom threat.”

You have to take those seriously.

Today’s Slice question: Why are you never going to invite that couple again?

Write The Slice at P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210; call (509) 459-5470; email pault@spokesman.com. What do your grandkids call you?