My e-mail provider has done something to my e-mails. I’m not sure what, because I didn’t really properly read any of the e-mails they sent saying they were doing this.

I am now trying to frantically find these e-mails, because I am not in work and have to write this column from home and e-mail it in. However, I can’t find those e-mails because my e-mail provider has done something to my e-mails. And if I can’t find them then I’m wasting my time writing this because I won’t be able to e-mail it into the office.

This is like a bad dream, a labyrinthine, Kafka-esque merry-go-round of bureaucratic and technological nonsense.

It’s also, when you come to think about it, not really that big a deal in the scheme of things. Middle-aged white male with white-collar job having a bit of difficulty sending an e-mail. Boo, and indeed, hoo. Hear that sound? It’s someone playing the smallest violin in the world.

These things are what have become known as “First World Problems”, a phrase that is swiftly applied to complaints that start off as whines about the state of life, but which the complainer suddenly realises aren’t that bad in the scheme of things – and might even be considered a luxury in some places.

Thus, things like “my iPhone battery runs out after five hours”, “Oh, God, someone sat next to me on the train this morning” and “the coffee shop ran out of frappe :-(” are definitely First World Problems when compared to say, Third World Problems such as “oh dear, we have to walk five miles to get a bucket of river water to drink”, “no, child, you cannot go to school because you must work on the farm!” and “I do so hope those rampaging militia-men do not come to our village, burn it down, kill the men and brutalise the women.”

That isn’t to say we shouldn’t allow ourselves to get mildly annoyed at iPhone batteries, rubbish coffee and e-mail changeovers. It isn’t necessarily our fault that we have water in the tap and get to go to school. But we can, sometimes, stop and think about the bigger picture, and about how some stuff doesn’t matter all that much.

On the other hand, just because once in a while we should stop and “check our privileges” – in other words, realise how lucky we are before we pass comment on others – that doesn’t mean that we should accept shoddy treatment, especially from business.

We worked long and hard to create this consumption-led democratic society, and if we want iPhone batteries that last longer, if we want our coffees made with ice, if we want people to stop tinkering around with our e-mails just because they can even though we were quite happy with how they worked before, then by God we should have it.

I’ve a good mind to complain to somebody. Think I’ll dash off a quick e-mail...