April 6, 2024
Random Acts… Whirlpool’s customer service needs human help
It all started March 5, when I bought a new dishwasher at my favorite kitchen, bath and appliance store, Pirch.
Pirch, based in Southern California, opened in 2018 with luxury showrooms that were akin to a retail Disneyland. A coffee bar with free drinks greeted customers into a showroom where you could take a shower in the bath department to test out fixtures.
My favorite display shared “The Elements of Joy: A Manifesto,” which included sayings like “Live your life NOW,” “Play more, think less,” and “Don’t wait for a special occasion. Life is a special occasion.” All bits of advice I believe in.
Service was always exemplary. Even after installation and delivery, if there was a problem, a human being on the other end of the phone took care of you immediately.
So when I walked into the store in March, a salesman quickly helped me buy a Whirlpool ADA dishwasher that would fit in my limited cabinet space. A project manager contacted me the next week to get logistical details for delivery.
Then nothing.
Two weeks went by and I could not get a delivery date. Emails and phone calls were not returned. This was not the Pirch I had bought things from in the past.
Finally, in frustration, I called the store and reached a human being, a frustrated gentleman who said he was only answering the phone because he felt sorry for all the customers who were calling and didn’t know what was going on.
On March 20, Pirch’s corporate office halted operations, without telling anyone what was planned beyond “temporarily” closing its showrooms. My helpful gentleman, who was a salesperson, said most personnel read the writing on the website and just quit.
I had no idea that Pirch was in financial difficulty, but apparently the company has been unable to pay bills since last fall and is now facing numerous lawsuits. The helpful salesman on the phone looked up my order, which hadn’t been delivered to the store yet, and advised me to cancel the order on the Pirch website, then call American Express and get my money back. Since the order was less than 30 days old, there should be no problem.
Without his help, I could easily have lost the price of the dishwasher. I truly hope he’s found a new job. It’s truly sad when businesses go under, especially stores like Pirch, which had exemplary customer service for years.
Thankfully, Home Depot had the dishwasher I wanted, so I ordered it online. The following week, it was delivered. The installers couldn’t figure out how to install it because my kitchen floor was higher than expected and they couldn’t get the old dishwasher out.
The old GE dishwasher was installed back in 1991, and was just starting to go bad. They don’t make appliances to last like that anymore. Fortunately, the Home Depot installers had a friend who specialized in appliance installation, and he was able to come the next day to install the Whirlpool dishwasher.
Instead of cutting up my kitchen floor, he cut up the old dishwasher and hauled it out that way. The Whirlpool replacement fit just fine, except I couldn’t figure out how to remove the cover from the silverware basket. Instructions said the cover slid off, but it didn’t.
So I called Whirlpool customer service. The automated system said welcome to “the Whirlpool experience.” That was the first clue that the system was designed to never let you speak to a human being. After several attempts to get to one, I just gave up.
After a little online research, I figured out you have to push the sides of the basket in to make the covers pop up. Whoever wrote the owner’s manual clearly had never touched the product.
I miss the customer service at Pirch. It’s a shame that surviving companies like Whirlpool don’t invest more in human interactions with their customers.
After all, people buy dishwashers, not robots.
March 5, 2024
Random Acts… “Every Single Secret” a page-turning read
There are no secrets in life. As hard as we may wish to hide things, somehow, the truth always manages to reveal itself.
In Christina Dodd’s latest romantic thriller, “Every Single Secret” (Canary Street Press, 322 pp), secrets surround Rowan Winterbourne, as she plans revenge against Gregory Torval, a drug and arms dealer who murdered her mother and issued a vendetta against all in her family.
When Joe Grantham shows up on her doorstep, she lets her guard down – just long enough to have him blackmail her into going with him to Torval’s private island for his own private purposes.
Secrets begin to unravel as the two work together to stay alive during Torval’s decadent weekend birthday gathering. The meaning of family is explored as Rowan deals with the lonely life she’s lived in order to stay alive.
The characters Dodd draws are intense, and much of the book is a page-turner. What’s most interesting, perhaps, are the discussion questions at the end of the novel. It’s rare to read a thriller that actually has thought-provoking ideas at its heart.
Dodd reveals that the idea for “Every Single Secret” came as she wondered, “What happens when a young woman living an average American teen life has her life shattered by violence? How does she go on? What is the effect on her as she grows into an adult?”
With the constant mass shootings that seem to occur now, the threat of violence in our lives is very real. We watch news reports about young victims being killed in school and college settings, as bystanders are interviewed about those who have died. But all too soon, those reports give way to some other tragedy, and a mass shooting is quickly forgotten.
But so many people, like Rowan and Joe, are scarred forever by the violence they’ve witnessed or been hurt by. What will it take to do more than just accept violence as part of the status quo?
For the characters in Dodd’s book, who are all flawed and broken in some way, there is justice in the end. Some die, letting their broken hearts kill them. Some live, working through the pain that has long defined their existence.
It’s no secret that that’s a journey we all can relate to.
January 25, 2024
Random Acts… Who are you… really?
New Year’s resolutions are usually hard to keep, but here’s one question that may help you stay on track.
Who are you… really?
If eating a healthier diet and adding exercise to your routine is a goal, notice when you start to stray and ask yourself, “Is this who I want to be… really?”
If patience is not one of your virtues, and you’re about to criticize someone, close your mouth a minute and ask, “Is this who I am… really?”
Most of our “bad habits and vices” emerge when we’re feeling unhappy or afraid. In other words, it’s our own self-hatred that makes it hard to support and nurture ourselves, not to mention others.
Look at politicians who constantly make mean-spirited comments about their rivals. If that’s what they really think about others, what must they really believe about themselves? Do they put others down because that’s the only way they can feel good about themselves?
If you’re tempted to vote for someone solely because they’re expressing resentments that you also hold, ask yourself, “Do I want really want resentment and anger to define who I am?”
There’s so much anger and fear in the world right now. The best way to counter fear is with love, and more love.
Go on a diet, if you wish, and feed someone who’s hungry. Start with a walk around your neighborhood for exercise, and say hello to a stranger. Use your experience to mentor someone who doesn’t know what you know.
Be kind and generous – to yourself — and others. Listen to what your soul – not your ego — is telling you to do with your life.
Who we are as a society is determined by each and every one of us. We can’t, and shouldn’t, all think alike or act alike. But the more we ask ourselves who we really want to be, the more likely we are to do better, and to be better people.
Happy New Year!
December 7, 2023
Random Acts… Every connection matters in life
The title of the book is what drew me – “Escape to Florence” by Kat Devereaux (Harper, 262 pp).
The Ponte Vecchio. The Piazza della Repubblica. The Duomo. All landmarks that make a visit to Florence, Italy feel like strolling through an open-air museum. My sister and I went there for our own escape a few years ago, and fell in love with the city.
In Deveraux’s novel, two women – decades apart – find their lives converging in way that only fate (and an author) could have designed. Moving between World War II and the present, we learn about two brave women – Stella Infuriati, a 14-year-old Resistance fighter, and Tori MacNair, a writer who has moved to Florence to escape an abusive marriage, and start a new life.
Stella, who lives in the shadow of her brother Achille, a courier and undercover mechanic for a communist partisan brigade, represents the many Italian women who acted as couriers for the Resistance during the war.
When the war ends, Stella mysteriously disappears, her fate overshadowed by the tragic death of her brother. But when Tori arrives in the city her grandmother taught her to love in 2019, secrets of the past begin to emerge.
As Tori researches her family history for a book, the connection between the two women comes to light.
Deveraux’s characters are drawn from meticulous research: Don Anselmo, based on spiritual leaders who actively helped partisans with intelligence and weapons during the war; Achille Infuriati can be found in the many young men in the Resistance and race drivers in the post-war period, and even Stella’s parents, based on those who dismissed the contributions of women when the war was over.
To understand a country is to appreciate its past, as well as its present state. The beauty of Florence is centuries deep, and while World War II was fought decades ago, the far-right party (Fratelli d’Italia), which has its roots in the neo-fascist movement that emerged after the war, now rules the government.
“Escape to Florence” is a reminder that love and loss is what connects us all as human beings. If we’re fortunate, we survive the loss to love again.
The world lost an admired monarch when Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms died on Sept. 8, 2022. Her passing could not have been anticipated when S.J. Bennett wrote “Murder Most Royal…Her Majesty the Queen Investigates” (William Morrow, 284 pp), the latest novel in a series of mysteries featuring Queen Elizabeth II as the royal sleuth who quietly solves crimes.
In the book, Queen Elizabeth is looking forward to the family’s annual Christmas gathering in Sandringham when the discovery of a severed hand is found, bearing the signet ring of someone she knew. With help from her Assistant Private Secretary, the Queen decides to look into the matter, determined to solve the murder.
As far as characters go, the Queen and her family in the book are clearly admired by the author, who paints a portrait of their imagined private lives that Anglophiles would find precise and fascinating. As for the murder at the heart of the story, suffice to say the investigation was slow and plodding.
In the book’s acknowledgments, the author notes that “The news of (Queen Elizabeth’s) death came the day I handed in the proofs, so I’m rewriting this page in a state of shock, despite knowing full well this day must come.”
Bennett says much of what she wants to say about the Queen, her role in people’s lives and impact on the world is said in the book series, and “I intend to write more of them as there is still so much of her life to explore.”
It’s not easy to let go of those we love, but at some point, we must. Honoring someone whose life meant so much to so many is fine, but making money off those memories — when the person has so recently passed — seems a bit crass.
Netflix had the good sense to end “The Crown,” a hit series that follows the life and reign of Queen Elizabeth II, with a final Season 6.
Bennett’s next book in this series (“A Death in Diamonds”) is due to come out in 2024.
November 10, 2023
Random Acts… Young readers tales tell truths for all
There’s nothing as pure as a child’s heart. Perhaps that’s why the best children’s books and tales for young readers hold the truths we all need to remember.
In “The Counter Clockwise Heart” by Brian Farrey (Algonquin Young Readers, 336 pp), a fantasy tale about a young prince whose chest holds a great secret examines the meaning of magic, the consequences of lies, and what growing up really means.
The book, aimed at those ages eight to 12, follows Prince Alphonsus, a joyful child who is discovered in the royal castle one day with a clock in his chest, where his heart should be. While he grows up bringing happiness to all, his fears also grow.
When the clock begins to run backward, Alphonsus’ search for answers leads him to meet Esme, the last user of magic in the kingdom, who is herself seeking answers about her past. Before the mystery of the clock in his chest can be solved, the prince must face his greatest fear, something we all must do if we are to truly grow up.
For as Farrey writes, “There are things you learn. And there are things you are told. Sometimes, they’re the same. Sometimes they’re not. When they’re the same, pay attention. When they’re not the same, pay more attention.”
As for Esme, that very lesson is one she must also learn, for those who raised her from childhood had spread rumors about an evil witch that she must unravel. Were the rumors true? And if they weren’t true, why did people keep spreading them? (Perhaps a question we should all be asking of those who believe in unproven rumors.)
There’s a sweetness in this tale that makes you remember the importance of looking for the goodness and kindness in everyone’s heart.
Young readers, ages 12 to 18 (and older), will enjoy “Rook,” by William Ritter (Algonquin, 354 pp), the latest in the Jackaby series, set in the 19th century town of New Fiddleham, New England, where supernatural chaos often reigns.
Jackaby, the sleuth who communes with the supernatural, and Abigail Rook, his able assistant, find that their roles have reserved in this newest adventure. The power of “the Sight” has passed to Rook, and Jackaby is happy to take the role of mentor by simply letting Rook lead the way.
Rook, of course, has trouble trusting her own intuition. But when you see the truth behind everything, it’s hard to deny your own power. If anything, those who own their own power will find themselves getting impatient with how long it takes this heroine to face her worst fears. Yes, we all stumble, moan and groan toward maturity, but after four other Jackaby books, Ritter could have moved Rook along a little faster.
Granted, she’s trying to find the culprit behind the disappearance of local witches and other magical beings, while avoiding a confrontation with her parents, who have come to America to take her back to England to find a suitable match. But any woman who’s engaged to a loving, loyal shape-shifter should have enough courage to at least show her parents who she’s grown up to be before catastrophe strikes.
Still, this latest Jackaby adventure offers an important lesson for those whose arguments divide, rather than unite people – the more you think your opinion is the only one that’s right, the less right you probably are.
Hopefully, young readers won’t be the only ones to get that lesson.
November 2, 2023
Random Acts… Monticello illustrates true democracy
Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson — a Founder whose contributions and contradictions speak to life today – sits on a small mountain in Charlottesville, Va.
The only American home on the United Nations World Heritage List and a national historic landmark is a reminder of what democracy really means.
Jefferson, the third U.S. President, was a philosopher, diplomat, educator, farmer and so much more. As his tombstone says, he wanted to be remembered for writing the Declaration of Independence and the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, and for founding the University of Virginia, a public university to that would educate leaders and serve the public good.
Walking through Monticello, you learn that Jefferson was only 21 when he started to build the estate. Twelve years later, he would write, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
Today, we spend hundreds of dollars to visit Disneyland or Universal Theme Parks, but it only costs $42 for adults and $13 for those ages 12 to 18 to visit Monticello. Those younger than 12 get in free.
The first floor spaces in the home that Jefferson designed are beautifully restored and maintained. Access to the gardens, grounds and exhibits are included in the 45-minute guided tour, and more.
Monticello was a working plantation, where the existence of slavery was a paradox to the ideals of democracy written in the Declaration. Jefferson married Martha Wayles Skelton, and during their life together, they had six children. When she died in 1782, Jefferson buried her in the family cemetery at Monticello and never remarried.
However, years after his wife’s death, Jefferson fathered six children with Sally Hemings, a slave at Monticello many years his junior.
So how can we admire the courageous man who penned the Declaration, led our nation and founded a public university, yet kept slaves and thought them less than white men?
How can we move forward with a deeply divided nation in a democracy? One step at a time, with reminders that we are all equal, and that we all hold the right to “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
This journey we are all on requires courage – the courage to stay engaged with each other, regardless of our viewpoints; the courage to open our hearts, and see the love in each other.
One of the fun activities at Monticello is to interact with Thomas Jefferson, as portrayed by historical actor-interpreter Bill Barker, who meets with visitors and sparks a lively dialogue about anything you want to discuss.
If we could really meet the Founder, it would be fascinating to hear what he’d say about life in America today. But the next best thing might be to visit his home and hear the lessons that guides share about his life.
We might not be as far removed from 1776 as you think.
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For information about visiting Monticello, check out https://www.monticello.org/.
October 7, 2023
Myrtle Hardcastle tackles mysteries with gusto
When it comes to amateur sleuths, Myrtle Hardcastle is an eager young detective in the Victorian era, who always manages to nab the crook.
In her latest adventure, “Myrtle, Means and Opportunity” by Elizabeth C. Bunce (Algonquin Young Readers, 360 pp), Myrtle heads to Scotland with Miss Ada Judson, her beloved governess, who inherits an estate on a remote Scottish island. Naturally, they find a haunted castle, a missing brooch and a murderer on the loose.
When the Myrtle mysteries, which began four books ago with “Premeditated Myrtle,” in 2020, the intrepid detective was 12-years-old. With this newest mystery, due to be released October 24, you’d think Myrtle would have be in her mid-teens, but this reader could never find a specified age.
So you could think of her as a mature 12-year-old, or an older teen who still thinks like a 12-year-old. In other words, Myrtle is no Trixie Belden.
What she is, however, is a persistent investigator who’s always looking for clues. Somehow, along the way, Myrtle manages to ignore those maddening Victorian rules for Young Ladies of Quality, and fools any adult who thinks she’s just a youngster.
The females in the Hardcastle household, after all, are ahead of their time. There’s Cook, who can repair (or invent) any mechanical device that’s needed. There’s Miss Judson, who’s capable of winning over anyone – with charm, or an authoritative voice that is not to be ignored. And there’s Peony the cat, who always has something to say.
Unfortunately, the author chose to have most of the characters they meet speak in a Scottish brogue that is as illegible as it is unpronounceable. A word here or there, for flavor, would have been a better choice. Making the reader constantly stop to comprehend the dialogue is just irritating.
In this tale, we watch Myrtle search for the castle treasure while trying to figure out who’s killed and kidnapped people connected to the estate. Along the way, she does her best to makes sure that Miss Judson knows how much she is loved and needed.
For young readers (ages 10 and up), the story is a fun romp that could have moved at a faster pace. But rest assured, there’s a happy and satisfying ending for all.
August 9, 2023
Random Acts… Getting lost in Rollins’ worlds
One of my favorite authors is Jim Rollins, known for writing international thrillers; in particular, his Sigma series.
So when Rollins came out with a science fiction novel (“The Starless Crown”), I was eager to see what he’d do in this genre. The author has written other sci-fi books, but this was the first one of his sci-fi novels I’d read.
“The Starless Crown” (Tor, 549 pages) is the first in his Moonfall series, and is an engaging novel. It tells the story of a world that is threatened by a coming apocalypse foretold by Nyx, a gifted student who is nearly blind. Caught in a web of political intrigue, she must work with an outcast soldier, a drunken prince, and a thief to uncover the meaning behind ancient secrets to save their world.
Now, “The Cradle of Ice” (Tor, 655 pages) the second book in the series, continues Nyx’s journey with her friends to save their world. This time, the friends must split up to find the answers on their quest, with some traveling to an unexplored land of ice, and some navigating a realm in deadly turmoil.
Unfortunately, this second book does not live up to the first. With each setting, additional characters join the story, making it hard to keep plotlines straight. The feel of this book is never-ending darkness, with little reason to care about the characters.
While “The Starless Crown” explored themes of family, political and religious differences, “The Cradle of Ice” just feels like a slog through a superficial lost world.
Happily, though, Rollins returns to the world of Sigma Force in his latest thriller, “Tides of Fire” (William Morrow, 455 pages). This time, an international research station off the coast of Australia comes under attack when a Chinese military submarine in the area is lost.
Volcanic eruptions, massive earthquakes and tsunamis are set in motion as a hidden secret, miles under the ocean, is awakened. Commander Gray Pierce teams up with his partner Seichan and her mother, Guan-yin, to search for a way to stop the natural disasters, a way that lies hidden deep in Aboriginal mythology.
Along the way, Pierce meets a Chinese military officer who’s willing to work together to solve the global issue, something his subordinate has no interest in doing. If only we could find a way for U.S. and Chinese counterparts in every field to work together in reality.
In the book, mysterious deep-sea coral beds that are resistant to the heat-induced bleaching of surface coral — which in reality threatens the Great Barrier Reef — is one of the scientific conundrums based in fact that Rollins is so good at weaving into his stories.
Climate change is real, and while Rollins’ adventures paint potentially disastrous outcomes, his tales are often prescient. Today, strikingly warm ocean heat waves off the coasts of Florida are decimating corals and other marine life.
Rollins’ Sigma Force series rarely fails to deliver action, adventure, and thoughtful insights into today’s scientific breakthroughs and yesterday’s historical mysteries.
Be sure to check out “Tides of Fire.”
July 13, 2023
Random Acts… Humanity’s challenges reflected in ‘The Endless Vessel’
Are you happy? What would you do to grasp happiness, or joy? What would happen if you lost your ability to feel joy?
In a world not far in the future, humanity is challenged by a “depression plague” called “the Grey” that has no cure. Lily Barnes, a young Hong Kong-based materials engineer, struggles with the emotional fallout of a father who died years ago, and is doing her best to avoid getting infected by the plague. But when she is given an object that calls to her heart, she cannot turn away from taking an incredible journey through space and time.
In the 1789, Molly Calder loses her husband to a brain aneurysm, and wonders if she will ever be happy again, until she decides to explore the nature of death itself, hoping to bring her husband’s spirit back to life. She creates a ship that goes on to sail the seven seas, and that centuries later, draws Lily to its decks.
A thought-provoking novel that combines a near-future dystopian mystery with historical fiction, “The Endless Vessel” by Charles Soule (Harper Perennial/Harper Collins Publishers, 456 p.) will take you on a page-turning journey about what it means to be human.
On one level, the book explores society’s struggle to find connection and work together for a better world.
You can’t help but think about the partisan divide that plagues our nation (and the world) today. How can we connect with others when we think our perspective is the only correct one? If depression is anger turned inward, what do we do when that anger explodes outward?
On another level, the novel explores every person’s struggle to find connection and love.
The emotional journey that Lily takes is one that every daughter (or son) who has lost a parent – to death or abandonment – will relate to. Lily’s anger and fear, mixed with hope and love, leads her to the understanding that we all need other people… that we can’t go through life alone.
As the author writes, “ ‘The Endless Vessel’ is an adventure. It is a voyage, it is a treasure hunt, and a quest. This story started with a remarkably simple idea, an image I couldn’t shake – a ship that never stopped sailing, on a non-stop, centuries-long voyage. That’s the literal interpretation of the title, and we see that ship in the story.
“The more figurative version is that it’s about us – we are all endless vessels, constantly seeking to fill ourselves with experience, love, and the most important, elusive quality of all… happiness. Joy, even. Our souls are endless vessels. Humanity itself is an endless vessel.”
Here’s to getting in touch with that endless vessel…
May 30, 2023
Life is not a zero-sum game
If one person wins, does another have to lose?
No. Life is not a zero-sum game. Life is how you choose to react to whatever challenges come your way. If it takes two to have a relationship, and only one person wins, well, guess where that’s heading?
Democrats and Republicans seem bound and determined to play a zero-sum game over the looming debt ceiling, due to collapse on June 5. It’s a strategy that should get them all voted out of office.
It’s not surprising, though, since much of society holds a zero-sum game mentality.
Winning for yourself only is also the underlying premise of Anthony McCarten’s new thriller, “Going Zero” (Harper, 295 pp). In his novel, 10 Americans have been chosen to Beta test a ground-breaking piece of surveillance. Tech billionaire Cy Baxter, in collaboration with the CIA, is betting that his FUSION spyware can track anyone on earth.
If any of the 10 participants in the test can go off-grid and stay undetected for 30 days, they will win $3 million. If Baxter’s spyware wins, he’ll get a $90 million government contract to change surveillance in America forever.
The book’s other question – can anyone really go off the grid anymore, with surveillance everywhere and AI growing in human-competitive intelligence – is no longer just hypothetical.
More than 350 business leaders and public figures, including executives of companies behind AI’s development, are sounding the threat that AI’s development poses. The signatories of their public statement say that “Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war.” The statement was released May 30 by the nonprofit Center for AI Safety.
In “Going Zero,” one woman fights against Baxter’s plans and greed, motivated not by winning dollars, but to save someone she loves.
Love, of course, is what will save us all from living a zero-sum game.
Imagine what Congress could do if love was the criteria for how money was allocated in the budget. A debt ceiling could cease to exist. Demanding that people who receive food stamps work for their aid would end because there would no longer be hunger in America.
Think this could never happen? If you read “Going Zero,” you’ll see how close we are to losing privacy in America. If that version of reality can happen, why can’t we move closer to a reality where positive actions rule the day?
All we need is the will to do better, and be better human beings.
Dinah Eng 