The Slice: Many of them deserve a nod

Maybe this happens to you.

You’re in a grocery store. Most of the checkout lanes are clogged with shoppers pushing full carts.

So you head toward the one cashier whose line doesn’t seem ridiculous. And someone else gets there at just about the same time.

Then that shopper, perhaps noting that you have fewer items in your basket, indicates that you should go first.

I love those people.

Sometimes these strangers don’t even speak. They just smile and nod their heads toward the checkout aisle. You know, the “after you” gesture.

Perhaps it’s not really a big deal. But I sometimes think of this public moment as proof that there’s hope for us yet.

Now I don’t pretend that this is unique to our city. But Spokane is where I live and it happens to me so often that I have to conclude that we have a critical mass of civility and decency in our midst.

Sometimes it’s easy to forget that.

Somewhere along the way, a bunch of parents did their jobs.

Rescue plan: Jennifer Piani, a Spokanite living in Venezuela, has dropped her cell phone in the toilet twice.

“I was told to take the battery out and place the cell phone for about 24 hours in a sealed plastic bag with uncooked rice,” she wrote.

It worked.

Elsewhere, Lois Hattenburg’s son dropped his phone into a septic tank. He did not try to retrieve it.

Warm-up question: What percentage of those who still watch ABC’s “Lost” do so because they enjoy looking at certain actors and actresses and not because they think the hilariously convoluted storyline makes a bit of sense?

Today’s Slice question: Who did you decide to blame after your young child surprised you by spouting an off-color expression?