H is the sentimental type. He loves writing thoughtful messages on cards, printing photos to frame, creating sappy social media posts, so I'm surprised it took us over a year to have our family photo taken. We visited Lavenderland in Richmond, along Steveston Highway, and asked some of his closest friends, D and T, to help us take photos. It was surprisingly fun, wandering and frolicking through the lavender bushes. 

They've also partnered up with Blackball to create lavender flavored bubbletea options, which they were selling at the park entrance: 

H and I shared the lavender yogurt with coconut jelly, while D and T both had the lavender milk tea. $7 for a very refreshing beverage, with a creative recipe using their locally grown lavender, which is worth trying at least once.  

We gave Baby S a tiny sip, and she liked it too. 

We got home around 5PM, had dinner, put the baby to bed, and were settling in to watch a movie, when my parents showed up at our doorstep unannounced. The drop by is frankly a bit rude these days! Back in the day without internet or a phone, it would make sense for people to knock on your door to say hello and physically check in on your well-being. 

It's not even that I ignore them when they message or call, because I always reply or call back if I miss their call. I value my privacy at home, and I would appreciate the heads up. Not that I have anything to hide, and they are my parents, so I don't care if they judge me for whatever I'm doing at home, but it does feel extremely intrusive. This is why we didn't want to live in the same house, and it seems that being 10 minutes away is no longer cutting it.  

I didn't let them in.

It cracked already, barely a week old. Didn’t have a major fall, didn’t tumble it down anywhere. Note 7 has the worst glass. Do not get it if you’re into durability and reliability, or get a REALLY good case for it. Samsung customer service also highly disappointed me.

1. I went to the Richmond Centre store on Tuesday, and the sales rep there advised me to call their general customer service line. The agent on the line advised me that if I brought the phone back to the original store that I purchased it at, they would be able to switch out the phone for me. The original store was the Metrotown store, which is not along my usual route to and from work (very out of the way actually), but he guaranteed that if I went it would be switched for me.

2. I went in to the Metrotown store, and the sales reps there told me that they would have to send the phone out to get it checked, 2-3 week turnaround, and I might get a quote. That’s not what I was promised. I called the Samsung number back, and was connected with one of the rudest customer service reps I’ve ever talked to. He kept calling me “ma’am” and telling me he couldn’t hear me, so I went out of the store to find an area with better reception. Then…

Me – Can you hear me now?
Samsung Customer Service Rep (SCSR) – Yes, I can hear you better now.
Me – OK, here’s the file # from yesterday… 2…1…
SCSR – No, NO, hold on MA'AM, can you tell me what this file is regarding?
Me – *Explains the story of how I called yesterday and the Sales Reps at the store telling me a different story*
SCSR – ONE, I can’t hear you. TWO, if you cracked your screen, it’s considered physical damage and that’s not covered, so you have to send it in.
Me – ONE, you clearly can hear me if you heard that I cracked my phone. TWO, I already explained the story. Your 1st rep clearly lied to me and misled me. I wasted my time coming to the Metrotown store. SCSR – I can’t hear you, MA’AM. I can’t hear you!
Me – *Speaks louder and clearer* *Line cuts out* Hello?

RUDE. Insensitive. You should get another job, because you really suck at doing what you’re doing now.

3. I call back, and reach a much friendlier SCSR. He listens to me, realizes that I’ve been lied to and that the phone isn’t doing what I expected it to, in terms of the glass being way too weak and not gorilla-like. Eventually, he transfers me to an Executive Customer Service Agent (ECSA).

4. ECSA tells me repeatedly that physical damage is not covered under the warranty. He does not understand or listen to me at all, that their rep first lied to me. I ask to speak to someone higher up, and he says:

“I’M AN EXECUTIVE CUSTOMER SERVICE AGENT. THERE’S NOBODY ELSE YOU CAN SPEAK TO.”

I guess he’s the owner of Samsung or something. I spent at least 10 minutes arguing with him, and everytime I made a point, he would just repeat the same thing about the warranty, and end his paragraph by asking me if I had any further questions. I don’t feel like Samsung provides executive service at all, more like a service for sending you on a guilt trip, and they should really be more empathetic if they are charging regular customers $1000+ for a handheld device. Robots reading from a script, that’s all they are. It’s almost a conspiracy – if I want to make any complaints about any of them, who do I contact? The 1800SAMSUNG number and speak wo their ECSA’s, who all work together to make their customers feel worthless and like it’s completely my fault that their product uses weak glass. Samsung, if this is the message that you’d like your customers to receive, then, I’m not sure I like what your company represents.

5. I go back to the store to get it shipped in for repairs… The original Sales Rep I was working with is helping another customer, so I speak to another person, who then tries to help me wipe my phone. I ask if there’s an extra phone that I can use as backup, and he says he’ll check. Comes back empty handed. Well, that’s enough, I just left, didn’t want to fix it anymore. I don’t have time (or money) to waste, and by this time, it was an hour gone with nothing to show.  I was so tired of this bad service. I work in the customer service industry too – it’s really not that difficult to do a good job – be empathetic and listen. That’s all, but maybe I expect too much from the rest of the world. Am I unreasonable at all in all of this? Let me know what you think.

Otherwise, I’m happy with this phone. It’s smooth, everything works great, except the outer glass. If I had known, I would’ve bought a case right away, just to keep together the pieces of glass that the phone would become.

But yeah, otherwise, I’m a happy hiker.

We found an ant infestation in our basement kitchen on Sunday, and it has grown since so that I'm actually worried I'll squish a few of the little buggers when I walk across the kitchen floor without looking.  I set up ant traps around the kitchen, being extra careful to put them in places where my cat wouldn't be interested in sticking his nose, 'cause those things are toxic.  What does my dad do last night?

He goes and sprays the entire kitchen with Raid or some other brand of pesticide, then locks my cat in the basement with the fumes and chemicals.  WHY?! He could have at least let him come upstairs, but NO, that's not allowed because the rest of the people in the house do not like it when the cat jumps on them in the middle of the night.  He just wants to cuddle... Where is the love?

Pesticides are a last resort weapon, in my opinion.  They're just ants, they're not going to kill you, and there's no rush getting them out of the house.  Geez, Dad.  Thanks for thinking of my cat's health, the rest of the family's health, and the state of the world.  I'm just thinking of all the chemicals that are now drifting out from our basement...

Great way to start the morning.