The Slice: Celebrating diversity can be excellent way to demonstrate cluelessness

It’s not true that Spokane’s Russians never smile.

You just have to say something funny.

I noticed a line of Russian on Olga the bank teller’s I.D. badge.

“Does that say ‘Higher Standard’?” I asked, cheerfully referring to an English phrase printed above it.

Olga grinned. She seemed tickled by the fact that I had nyet clue.

“No,” she said. “It says I can speak Russian.”

Tim Osborn wonders: How many others keep an eye out for people wearing Inland Northwest-themed T-shirts when watching movies and TV shows? (He recently spotted a guy in an old Bloomsday shirt on a Discovery Channel program.)

Fill in the blank: “If I had bought real estate back when I lived in (), I’d be all set now.”

Slice answer (memorable wedding invitations): Jerry McGinn was once asked if he could “fix” one word in a batch of raised-letter invitations produced by another printer.

The invitations said the recipients’ “presents” was requested at the ceremony.

Wonders of the workplace: “Why is it that people take the last food item (licorice, cookie, doughnut, etc.) and don’t throw away the container?” asked a friend.

She suspects sneakiness.

Spread out: Is anyone else concerned that little kids today aren’t learning the essential Three Stooges expressions?

Accessories for Spokane Barbie: “An SUV with no turn signals,” wrote Leslie Jaqua.

“Skin-tight jeans,” said Gail Woods.

Fred White suggested the doll would also be known as “Divorce Barbie” and would come with Ken’s car, clothes and bank account.

Slice answers: In the matter of noisy early risers, University of Idaho graduate student Jeannie Olmstead recalled growing up on a farm with her dad, Joe. He used to step onto the front porch and blast away at starlings with a shotgun at 6 a.m.

And lots of readers remember what music was playing during key moments of canoodling. But Ken Stout’s story is a bit different. He blew the transmission on his ‘57 Chevy while power-shifting to the strains of “I’m a Man” by the Spencer Davis Group.

Two for Tuesday: 1. You aren’t the only one who flips flailing beetles over onto their feet or pats an old car’s dashboard when it performs well.

2. KXLY’s new weather person, Meredith Croke, is another media type who could turn in a decent Bloomsday time. She ran both cross country and track in college.

Today’s Slice question: Did moving to Spokane make you rethink where you fit on the national spectrum of social attitudes/politics?