I worked in Ethiopia many years ago, and carried sweets in my jacket pocket.  When an official gave me information that I needed I gave him or her a sweet.  This was light-hearted on my part, but after a while my counterpart told me, very seriously, that people might feel they were being treated like children and take offence.

I have just converted to Windows 10 and had occasion to ask Cortana, Microsoft’s answer to Siri, how to restore the ‘search box’ that had disappeared from my screen.  Instead of simply putting it back – as a human assistant might have done – she whizzed me to a Microsoft website where fellow-sufferers exchange information.

To Cortana’s credit, it turned out to be the right place.  Lots of people had had the same problem and someone had worked out a solution.  I tried it and, with a bit of a tweak of my own, got my search box back.  I wrote a Thank-you note and described how I had tweaked the solution to suit my own set-up.

Leaving a reply entailed registering as a member of the Microsoft Community.  Almost immediately I received an emailing announcing that I had won my first Answer Badge!  For some reason my thoughts turned to Ethiopia and sweets.  Here’s a picture of my Microsoft Community badge, alongside a lot of other badges that I haven’t got yet:

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must write a glowing review of the Ankyun Restaurant.  I’m working towards becoming a Level 3 Trip Advisor Reviewer!