information failure.

"I bought this new induction cooker today - made by Induc. I've not actually heard of that company, but the cooker looks pretty good - it's hundred percent stainless steel, solid; it's light, easy to use, easy to clean. I got it for a good price too! It was... what, hundred and fifty, right hun?"

"Nuh it was hundred and fifty nine."

"Yeah, about hundred and fifty. Much cheaper than what we'd be paying in Australia anyway. I can't wait to try it out back home!"

"Wow, hundred and fifty is a good price. Where was it made?"

"I don't know... it didn't say on it label, did it, hun?"

"Nuh."

"That's strange. They normally print it somewhere..."

"Yeah. I've got the instruction manual here," she said, turning to beckon me, "Can you help me find out which country this is made in?" I took the booklet from her. Their eyes couldn't possibly sift through the ant font on the manual. Maybe it would've been possible (though barely!) to inch through it with their readers on, but it was always so much easier to employ the aid of younger eyes - and so they often did.

"Mmmm, it doesn't say. Can I see the box?"

She went into her room, returning shortly after with the packaging.

From the box alone, it was easy to see why she had bought it. The sleek design - a simplistic combination of a metallic grey background, a bold, red brand name in the orange title-box slanted in the corner, and the general, smart print for the other text forms, all in English - made the overall appearance legitimate, contemporary, yet edgy enough to charm housewives into buying it. It had the winning balance between looking both fresh and "established" as brand.

I quickly scanned through the box a few rounds. Nothing.

"How about looking it up on the internet?" she suggested. So I did. Google was always trusted for such situations. I keyed in "induc induction cooker"; enter. The results yielded a perfect match. I clicked on the appropriate link and all the information I needed was, strangely enough, there.

"It's a Chinese company."



Her mouth gave way to a choking moment of breathlessness. Everything she had ever feared had come true.