Now that I have been using Siri for a couple of days, I’d like to report something funny that happens whenever I interact with her. My parents raised me to be exceedingly polite and I can’t seem to resist the impulse to tell Siri how much I appreciate her. Every time I ask Siri to do something for me, I wind up interjecting the word “please” as part of my request. For example:
Me: “Can you please remind me to replace the weather stripping on the front door?”
Siri: “When would you like me to remind you?”
Me: “Tomorrow at 9 am.”
Siri: “I will remind you.”
In that case, being polite did not get in the way of Siri accomplishing the task that I set out for her. However, if I use the word “please” at the end of my request, Siri gets confused. Here is an example:
I think that this has to do with how Siri parses a command:
[COMMAND] [INTENDED PERSON (if none, default is you)] [ACTION ITEM]
Commands: (Send a) Text, Play (a song or album), Remind (me), Call, Email, etc.
Action Items (examples): “I’m going to be late,” “Buy milk at the store,” etc.
Believe it or not, I have been trying to stop myself from being Siri-courteous, I just haven’t been successful. As a matter a fact, when I was dictating the example above, I started to feel self-conscious about my lack of civility, and attempted to end my request in a polite manner. The result of which is that Siri thought I wanted to text the word “please” to my brother, and that isn’t at all what I had intended to do.
By the way, after Siri successfully has completed a task, I experience a similar impulse to express my gratitude. Here is an example:
Me: “Can you please remind me to flip and rotate the mattress?”
Siri: “When would you like me to remind you?”
Me: “On Saturday.”
Siri: “I will remind you.”
Me: “Thank you.”
Siri: <No response>
The trouble with this, of course, is that by the time I thank Siri, she has already finished her algorithm and turned herself off. As a result, Siri does not acknowledge my gratitude and I am talking to no one but myself.