diff --git a/salt/postgres/files/init-users.sh b/salt/postgres/files/init-users.sh
index b07dfcdb0..e1be5df19 100644
--- a/salt/postgres/files/init-users.sh
+++ b/salt/postgres/files/init-users.sh
@@ -20,7 +20,6 @@ EOSQL
 # Bootstrap the Telegraf metrics database. Per-minion roles + schemas are
 # reconciled on every state.apply by postgres/telegraf_users.sls; this block
 # only ensures the shared database exists on first initialization.
-psql -v ON_ERROR_STOP=1 --username "$POSTGRES_USER" --dbname "$POSTGRES_DB" <<-EOSQL
-    SELECT 'CREATE DATABASE so_telegraf'
-    WHERE NOT EXISTS (SELECT FROM pg_database WHERE datname = 'so_telegraf')\gexec
-EOSQL
+if ! psql -U "$POSTGRES_USER" -tAc "SELECT 1 FROM pg_database WHERE datname='so_telegraf'" | grep -q 1; then
+    psql -v ON_ERROR_STOP=1 -U "$POSTGRES_USER" -c "CREATE DATABASE so_telegraf"
+fi
diff --git a/salt/postgres/telegraf_users.sls b/salt/postgres/telegraf_users.sls
index 920367fab..8972ce510 100644
--- a/salt/postgres/telegraf_users.sls
+++ b/salt/postgres/telegraf_users.sls
@@ -34,10 +34,9 @@ postgres_wait_ready:
 postgres_create_telegraf_db:
   cmd.run:
     - name: |
-        docker exec -i so-postgres psql -v ON_ERROR_STOP=1 -U postgres -d postgres <<'EOSQL'
-        SELECT 'CREATE DATABASE so_telegraf'
-        WHERE NOT EXISTS (SELECT FROM pg_database WHERE datname = 'so_telegraf')\gexec
-        EOSQL
+        if ! docker exec so-postgres psql -U postgres -tAc "SELECT 1 FROM pg_database WHERE datname='so_telegraf'" | grep -q 1; then
+          docker exec so-postgres psql -v ON_ERROR_STOP=1 -U postgres -c "CREATE DATABASE so_telegraf"
+        fi
     - require:
       - cmd: postgres_wait_ready
 
diff --git a/salt/telegraf/etc/telegraf.conf b/salt/telegraf/etc/telegraf.conf
index 334b62888..fd614a68b 100644
--- a/salt/telegraf/etc/telegraf.conf
+++ b/salt/telegraf/etc/telegraf.conf
@@ -110,8 +110,8 @@
   # Every metric table is a daily time-range partitioned parent managed by
   # pg_partman. Retention drops old partitions instead of row-by-row DELETEs.
   create_templates = [
-    '''CREATE TABLE {TABLE} ({COLUMNS}) PARTITION BY RANGE ("time")''',
-    '''SELECT partman.create_parent(p_parent_table := {TABLELITERAL}, p_control := 'time', p_type := 'range', p_interval := '1 day', p_premake := 3)'''
+    '''CREATE TABLE {{ .table }} ({{ .columns }}) PARTITION BY RANGE ("time")''',
+    '''SELECT partman.create_parent(p_parent_table := {{ .table|quoteLiteral }}, p_control := 'time', p_type := 'range', p_interval := '1 day', p_premake := 3)'''
   ]
 {%- endif %}