What is the most likely thing to happen if I must plug in the very short cord of a small electrical appliance into an extension cord or power strip rather than a wall outlet? What's the worst that could happen?

Yes, I know that the instructions say not to do this but they never really say why. The cord for the unit is really really short (only 3 ft.)

(I do know better than to use an old, frayed ext. cord and the unit will be on a dining table right up against a wall so that nobody can trip over the cord.)

Unfortunately, this house is notably deficient in electrical outlets (generally) with zero in the dining room.

Using the kitchen is just not an option for reasons too much to go into detail. Please don’t tell me to use the kitChen.

I’ve never done this in the past because I never had any urgent need to bypass the warnings.

The unit in question is a small rice cooker with a 5 cup capacity (when cooked, not dry)
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http://www.qvc.com/CooksEssentials-5-Cup-Digital-Perfect-Cooker-w-Recipes.product.K44485.html