Life of a Student: Part 1

Studying week....

The more I want to focus on studying, the more I get distracted. Help?

Shutting down the computer may be the best option. But most information is only accessible through the School's intranet. Boohoo. 

Marketing midterm tomorrow. The first assignment didn't do too well. Time to fight for some marks!

Travelling to Seattle on a Budget

01: Transportation

To get to a destination, the best way is knowing someone who lives in the city! If not, there's also different commuting methods to try out. I've gone to Seattle in a number of ways and here's a few:

1. Casino Bus: This is probably the least expensive, but also the most limiting way. With a small fee (<$10), they take you from Vancouver to Seattle. There's a number of casinos in Seattle that provides this service. Though its a half-day trip, it is a much cheaper alternative if you are looking into a day outta town without paying too much for gas. If you're lucky, you can visit the stores nearby after putting in some $$ in the casino. The Tulalip Casino is situated beside the Seattle premium outlets so shopping is about a 5 minute walk away.
Good for: Half-day outta town

2. AmTrak: The most expensive, yet the most comforting method! The train is rarely full (except the memorial weekend) so you can pretty much choose to sit elsewhere with an extra seat to put your belongings. They have comfy leather seats with power outlets for your electronic devices. There is a small lounge if you want to get some food/alcohol beverages. Wifi is available on the entire trip, connection is strong enough to run flash games. Going past the border is really convenient as you've gone through the inspection before you head on the train. So the border officers come on the train & asks a few simple questions. The pitfall is that the train has more stops than buses so it will take about 2-3 hours longer than a bus to get to Seattle. It is roughly $54 one way & runs twice per day.
Good for: >1 week vacation

3. Boltbus: This is the second least expensive for a weekend getaway. If you're looking to take a break & head outta town but don't want to drive, this is your best alternative. Boltbus is run by Greyhound company & offers a cheaper alternative for passengers going back and forth from Seattle/Portland from Vancouver. Their bus stops are located beside the train stations so getting to places from arriving is not a problem. Wifi is available half way (in the US). They have leather seats and the bus is usually full going to Seattle & less people coming back to Vancouver. There is a young crowd for this service & bus drivers are really helpful/knowledgable. It is roughly $19 per way.
Good for: weekend/outta town short trips

The above is all personal opinion & is not sponsor/affiliated in any way with those companies. 

What some professionals don't have: customer service.

Good customer service is important in retaining customers, its written in the books. 

But in reality, how many people do that?

At least not at Cross Roads Medical Clinic. 

As my second visit at this clinic, I am further disappointed from the once wonderful service I've had. 

I wouldn't say everyone there is not good, just a few "senior-level" who seemed to have a self-centered attitude towards its customers. Let me summarize my initial thought of brief, but a decade long visit:

So I came to the clinic at around 9:19AM and was greeted by a very nice lady in a Maroon uniform. She had a smile on her face with a light but natural makeup. She explained about the long 1hour wait and recommended us to take a walk around. I was a little concerned with the time because we paid for 1hour underground parking. In one of the busiest and expensive neighborhoods, parking is nowhere near cheap. So we waited quietly. As we waited, more and more people arrived and some got to enter as soon as they arrived. It was understandable because they made an appointment ahead of time. Through my observations, the nurses seemed to give "baby appointments" a priority over everyone else. Even if they were walk-ins. We understand that as walk-ins, we don't have ANY advantage in the queue. 

As the hour went by, we were getting concerned if they moved our spot all the way to afternoon. So I wanted to ask the nice lady but she was busy with another customer. There were three front desk ladies but two of them were rarely serving customers, they were on the computers doing who knows what. Anyways, a Filipino woman stepped up and this is when the bad part comes in. Now I was in my calmest, nicest tone possible and asked where I am in the queue because we've been waiting for an hour and it was well over the time we were told. I explained to her that we would need to pay for parking if this goes for another hour. She did not "CARE" about customers wasting our money (as if we were granted to waste money for this). She had a harsh, strong tone and told me "there's 4 patients in front of you" without looking at me. She was looking at the computer screen during the whole conversation. 

So I paid for another hour. 

30 minutes later, a Chinese lady who direct patients to different rooms were really nice and showed us the room. She knew my mom didn't really speak English and attempts to speak Chinese with her, that was really thoughtful. 

The doctor came, it was a Chinese woman who attempts to be white washed and simply: had an attitude. From personal experience, there are some Chinese who doesn't like to be classified as Asians so they disguise themselves with (1) appearance (2) attitude (3) language. Needless to say, she's one of them. So I translated my mom's conditions to her and she wrote down two things: (1) ice (2) bearnyl cream. 

Like WTF? 

I would have least expected an hour and a half of my quality sleep time for bullshit? She said before we left to "come again" if it gets worse. At this point I know what she's doing. Doctors earn money through patient's each visit. Thus some doctors like to delay the time it takes for patients to heal so they can earn more visit times. At where I came from, time is money. The medication the doctor gives patients are strong. This means after less than days, you can be all well and ready for work/school. I am not saying she's doing that, but its suspect-able.

Anyone with a high school/college degree can come up with that combination, its common sense. As I repeated the conditions, she gave an attitude of "I just said its normal, are you an idiot?". 

Some professionals are educated with an extended knowledge and taking pride in his/her work is great. However, they may lack the sense of thinking everyone as equal and be treated the same. This is heartbreaking to me. 

In conclusion, customer service is important in all industries, not just business. To think that only businesses are educated with this in mind is saddening. Professionals or not, please be advised that your actions will shape your company/workplace. Take a moment and think about it. 

Accessorize "the window to the soul"

This semester has been really hectic. 

For the past two weeks I have been preparing for my final exams. 

The countless days studying in front of my laptop for what felt like forever, has finally ended. 

While cleaning my "war-zoned" table, I realize its been a while since I've made an online purchase for glasses (with prescription). So I cleared out some plastic-rimmed glasses which had discoloration on the edge due to my crazily acidic sweat. Ordered them last Thursday and came this morning! 

Clearly contacts has been my favorite online optical store for many years. Their exceptional service is getting better and better on every visit. Their website is easy to navigate and there's always that one pair of glasses that fits you, no matter what. Mostly I take advantage of their free shipping promotion (free express shipping via Purolator, WOOT!) They come within 1-2 business days AND they don't just drop-off and leave like Canada Post sometimes does. Its annoying because your box is left to heat up under the sunshine, not good service indeed.

I usually need glasses to run errands or for school (when I am in a computer lab: no contacts please!). My mom occasionally visits her nearby optical store on Cambie for fitting purposes and to get the gossips in for the local areas. For me, I am really keen on "speed". Their products are extremely awesome that I have to share it here: 

Here's what I got in the mail today!

1. Kam Dhillon 3012 S. Gunmetal

This pair is good for attending formal events. Usually students would wear plastic-rimmed glasses but it lacks the sophisticated feeling to it. On the inner back of the ear piece, they have added a hint of sparkle to make the glasses stand out. In addition, the front of glasses (which holds the lens) is a shiny metal piece. This is very different than the matte metal color that I got a few years back. It really makes the face stand out.

2. Joesph Marc 4070 Grey Smoke

This year, it seems like ombre colored fashion is in the trend. So I decided to get this color for the "safe" look. However, it seemed like this color makes a person look more mature. Or probably because I have darker facial features that affected the age matter. After asking opinions from a few household members, they said it looked fine. This would make a good pair for running errands.

 3. Lacoste 2609 513 Purple
This was the pair that I fell in love with the moment I saw it in the email. I adore the color along with the alligator-like texture, which fits the brand perfectly. The big lenses gives it a bigger area to see from & more stylish and trendy. On top of this, I have added a UV protective coating to my lens option to avoid switching to sunglasses unless the sun is particularly strong. And look, they come with a custom case as well!

 Here are the boxes that the glasses were shipped in, very durable. Clearly contacts also have a Change the view Project who gives a pair for someone in need for every purchase.

To make sure customers are satisfied with their purchase, clearly contacts have a 366 day return policy. Personally I have made numerous returns because sometimes the real pair doesn't quite match how I imagined it to be on me... And the customer service is great. They don't really probe into your reasons and sends you the return label to ship everything back, free of charge with refund. Before they had a large piece of "postcard" like info sheet. But now they made it into a smaller sized folded card. Really appealing to scrapbooking freak like me.

 

Currently they have two promotions going on:

2 Pairs for $99 (specific ones): 2FOR99 

Free shipping over $99: no promo code, automatically deducted at checkout

Translink 10% off= transit10 

I ordered it separately so 10% off is available for my Lacoste pair in addition to the 2 for $99! Both made the mark for free shipping so its a better deal to split it.

PS. For each pair of glasses I ordered, it came with a lens cleaner and a cleaning cloth too. 

The Smile Project: Day 1

Sometimes one smile goes a long way. I remembered on my last trip to Seattle, a smile made someone's day. There was a boy sitting at a store's front steps. When I passed him he said," Hi Tracy!" My initial reaction was I smiled at him. And he smiled back. We didn't talk further because I had two bags of groceries after walking 7 blocks from the nearest Walgreens. But it shows that a smile goes a long way. I smiled because I thought it was funny and Seattle people must be outta their minds to do that. The time before that, I remembered eating at Glo's for breakfast. A guy entered the store and sat on the table beside me. He looked at my large plate of egg benedict and that's how I started talking. Its funny because Seattle is less isolated than Vancouver in terms of meeting new people in the community. People are less hesitant and more welcoming to the people they pass through everyday.

Believe me, it rarely happens in Vancouver. (Unless you're in downtown street at 11PM, the tipsy and the drunkies will probably do that)

I am going to start a mini project of capturing my smile of the day. Shyness gets to us and prevents us from thinking or expressing ourselves properly. But smile is a form of acknowledgement and a positive force.

Me spending my special day writing a 10page report due tomorrow morning. With the lack of sleep from the previous night (slept at 3AM and woke up at 9AM for meeting), my eyes can barely open