The Slice: You’ll go far if you know your pickle

Here’s how to get what you want from a Spokane business or organization.

Step 1: Recognize that lots of people around here have been made to watch the customer-service training video “Give ‘Em The Pickle.”

Step 2: When negotiations about a price or service appear to be going nowhere, say, “I want the pickle.”

Step 3: Don’t take it personally if the person has not seen the video and says, “Hey pal, I got your pickle right here.”

“Just wondering: Who holds the Inland Northwest record for consistently failing to notice interior decorating changes in the home?

“Loyal Dogs Department: “I definitely believe that dogs have an instinct about people,” wrote Sherry Kisamore of Priest River, Idaho.

Here’s her story.

“About 30 years ago, while living in the Valley, a young man came to the door stating that he was the meter reader,” she wrote. “At that time, the meter readers seemed to change every month or two, so it wasn’t unusual that I didn’t recognize him.”

But Kisamore’s cockapoo, Midnight, didn’t like the looks of the guy. The dog snarled and barked so emphatically that Kisamore picked her up.

The guy asked where to find the meter. He was directed to the basement.

“After he went downstairs, it dawned on me that he didn’t have the usual clipboard with paperwork.”

Kisamore looked outside. There was no familiar vehicle with the power company’s logo.

“Feeling fearful, I remained by the door with the dog in my arms.”

When the guy came back upstairs, Midnight started snarling again.

The guy looked at Kisamore, looked at the agitated canine and then left.

She later heard about a woman one block away who had been assaulted by a man posing as a meter reader.

“I have no doubt that my dog saved me from a very devastating attack.”

In another story, Russ Meacham told about the time a young man visiting his home came in from another room and appeared scared and shaken.

“What happened?” Meacham asked.

“I looked in the crib,” he answered.

The man had no intention of harming the 2-month-old baby, of course. But the family hound dog, Bones, didn’t approve of unsupervised strangers getting too close to the infant.

And Bones had put the fear of God into the guy.

“Focus on the future: Spokane Valley fifth-grader Chenoa Durheim wants to write children’s stories when she grows up.

In fact, she’s already started. “The Moon Faced Bird” and “Blueberry Drop and Holler” are the titles of just two of the stories she has written.

“Whenever I write, I seem to fall into a deep daydream,” she said. “I dream of what is going to happen next in the story.”

“Today’s Slice question: What did you do when you realized your boat was sinking?