Potholes Are A Problem; Customer Service Is Not

Fri., June 5, 1998

By Paul Turner srpaulturner@gmail.com

Here’s how to encourage tourism.

Whidbey Island’s Barbara Hertzler was in Spokane recently to visit a friend.

“We stayed at a downtown hotel and spent two days shopping and dining in the city center,” she wrote. “While shopping at Joel, I requested the name of a music store where I could purchase a CD my 17-year-old son had requested.”

The person helping her did more than answer the question.

“John Ferris at Joel not only located a music store that stocked the CD (the “City of Angels” soundtrack), but also drove to the store, purchased the CD on my behalf and delivered it to my hotel.”

As you might imagine, this didn’t hurt the chances that Hertzler will visit Spokane again.

Just wondering: What Inland Northwest business employs the greatest number of former high school cheerleaders?

Slice answers: In the matter of how long it takes to lose the ability to insightfully compare the Spokane area to wherever it was you used to live, answers ranged from “Two days” to “Never.”

And most responses to the Gwyneth Paltrow question were unprintable.

For all you know, that old guy taking forever to buy his groceries has faced scarier sights than glaring shoppers in the express lane: Sometime on Saturday, the anniversary of D-Day, take a moment and reflect on the generation that saved the world.

Warm-up question for couples (a Slice summer rerun): How did your one special song achieve that status?

Today’s Slice question: What are the top 10 factors that determine how an Inland Northwesterner will answer the question, “How do you like living here?”

Here’s our list. We know you are entirely capable of coming up with your own.

1. Urge to have conversations about camping equipment.

2. Job satisfaction.

3. Ability to go two minutes without mentioning Seattle or Portland.

4. Desire to impress the person asking the question.

5. Reaction to climate/air quality.

6. Subjective evaluation of this region’s most popular lifestyle/cultural stereotypes.

7. Fear of seeming content.

8. Ability to be secure about one’s self-worth in the absence of hometown major league sports.

9. Family’s fondness for this area.

10. Realistic prospects re: moving to some new city and being hailed there as the greatest thing since the mute button.

Local journalism is essential.

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