If you were counting on that $20 to make up for it you would've been waiting forever, so the glue fix was honestly the move. I had the same thing happen with a figma a while back, shoulder joint was loose out of the box and the seller tried to lowball me too. A little super glue and a steady hand and it's been sitting on my shelf for two years with zero issues. Long as the peg isn't snapped off at the root you can usually save these things yourself.

Wait, are you really gonna let one new guy mess with what's worked for you for a decade... I mean, that flat angle was probably saving your wrist from all that extra pressure, and now you're gonna chop slower to keep your knuckles from getting a little raw? That's part of the job, man. Plus, if your blades were dulling fast, maybe you just needed to sharpen them more often instead of blaming your grip, cause a 15 degree angle on a cheap house knife is gonna chip like crazy on those pepper stems. I've seen guys chase "perfect angles" and end up with sliced fingertips or bent tips, and then they're back to flat again by the end of the week. Not saying Miguel's wrong, but I'd wait a month before you go rewriting everything you've learned...