I walked into my local doctor's clinic last summer to get my prescription replenished. It was dark and quiet -- and deserted, except for one nurse who seemed to be just passing through. Apparently the clinic had been closed down since my last visit -- but not being able to read the "Closed" sign I'd just walked right in.

Suddenly, my doctor burst into the waiting room looking like he'd just won the lottery. "Keith!" I didn't even know he knew my name.

Smiling, he guided me to a chair. He'd closed the clinic because he was going to the U.S. for a couple of months to share research with some academics over there. He'd just spent three days unsuccessfully looking for a guide/translator to help him get an apartment there. So he asked me to go -- all expenses paid. He even offered to pay me for my trouble.

I told him that he didn't have to pay me. The trip (my first to the U.S.) would be compensation enough. He insisted. So I got paid to go to New York, stay at a five star hotel and eat at great restaurants for a week. -- Keith in Akatsuka