For almost 3 years Zappos has been most fortunate to have Dr. Vik as our inhouse “Coach” to help Zapponians empower themselves for overall wellness, life planning, perspective and balance. And so it was one year ago today that Dr Vik, started posting a daily thought about not just these areas but on other newsworthy topics. His first post kicked off our May Wellness month last year. Here’s his 365th post.

Some people better watch out…

By Dr Vik | April 30, 2008

Because I know we All can get happy at the drop of a hat.

Whether it’s in a super market, standing in line, at a restaurant
or at work…we may just bust out in sheer unbridled laughter, which
usually puts the kibosh on anyone even trying to be serious.

We can attempt to not think about all the funny things and great
times we had and will have, but occasionally we can slip up and change
the vibe of everything around us…so if you are always serious…you better watch out.

Yours in “Life is Pretty Sweet” - Coach

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And please visit DrVik.com where you can learn more about Dr. Vik and also view the archive of his posts from the past year.

The Wolf is a Production Assistant here in on our Creative Services team. He claims to be part tomato. We fear that he is lying to us. The Wolf actually came to us from our Customer Loyalty Department almost a year ago, many moons indeed. We chose him for his quick wit, archery skills and Photoshop mastery. Upstairs in our Vegas headquarters, adorned upon a wall, is a large graffiti Zappos logo that the Wolf spray painted for our CLT friends. He is a wild beast with a spray paint can, let me tell you.

The Wolf comes from the wilderness, and he shows not his face due to the poaching threat. (He also is just having a bad hair day and forgot to wear his hat, that might have something to do with it) Jenn B. stood up for an interview with this fine man-beast to ask him of his love of Zappos, Pigs and smooth 70's arena rock.

Wolf: We salute you.

We’ve got another round of conference room redecorating going on and I’d like to show you a couple of them. Zappos employees are forming groups, coming up with concepts and then doing the painting and other installation details. The first room should be called the “War Room”, because Pink Gorilla Dude and Team Carrot Sweetie are throwing down. I think I heard them muttering “Carrot! No Banana!” but I think I also heard “Sweetie” say “that won’t meet code monkey man.” I think some of the back story is that Pink Gorilla Dude is actually doing the room decor but Orange Jump Suit Sweetie thinks he is intruding on her color space. And if it isn’t obvious, the room is a work in progress. It's going to be a stunner!



The second room is obviously the “Peace Room” and this picture was taken this morning at their open house complete with lemonade, cookies and other treats. There are some great hand painted details that aren’t really obvious like the siding on the back wall. I got a big kick out of the kiddie clothes line on the rightside wall.
These words pop into mind for me when I see this room cozy, serene, tranquil. Great job!

The Bridge the Gap Project (BGP) put together a "Sweet & Greet" today in the lunch room of the Henderson office. It ended with a good old fashioned eating contest.

Bryan of Merchandising, Amanda of Customer Loyalty, and Jay of the Content Team sat down in front of a crowd of thousands (slight exaggeration)with three minutes on the clock. Who would be crowned champion of this annual event? (This was actually the first one, and likely the last.) Who would claim the $1 Million prize money? (Prize money not actually awarded.) So
many questions were yet to be answered (many of which were made up by me).

The contestants readied themselves, cupcakes in hand. Last minute coaching advice from their trainers: frosting is filling; don’t eat the wrappers; why are we even doing this?

Ladies and Gentlemen, ready your stomachs! DING, DING! And they're off!

For those of you who know Bryan, you may be thinking, "No Contest! The Bull has it in the bag!" And it seemed – for a time – that you might have been right as Jay from Content was easily vanquished by the ravenous AB from Fashion. But the competition was not without its drama! Oh, no, my
friends. There was a dark horse looming on the horizon (or more accurately,
just to Bryan's right). Amanda from Customer Loyalty surprised the capacity crowd and brought fear to the eyes of even Bryan himself!

As the final buzzer rang, the judges announced the unthinkable! WE HAVE A TIE! Bryan and Amanda had each put down ten cupcakes in the three minute round! The results announced, the crowd shouted its anger! "SUDDEN DEATH" was the chant that echoed throughout the halls (actually, I think I was the only one that said it).

And in a One Minute Sudden Death Overtime, Bryan was able to silence his critics as the underdog Amanda fell behind due to an unexpected improvement in judgment! No such improvement on Bryan’s end, I’m proud to report.

14 and a half cupcakes consumed Merchandising favorite son! That’s 13 and a half more than is legal in most states!

Congratulation to all involved, and THANK YOU to the Bridge the Gap Project,
proving that we’re all on equal ground when it comes to our desires to see people makes fools of themselves!

Here's Erika (in front of very tall Fred) and Rena forming the front of our symbolic bridge. The smaller but equally important faces in the back are Terry, Dave, Valencia, Andrea and Latrira, the program committee contact.

Being able to handle the rapid growth at Zappos but still preserve our close, “small company” culture is a constant challenge. Another promising step that has just been taken today is the new Bridge the Gap program. Basically people can apply with a brief essay to participate in an overview program of either the Merchandising or newly renamed Content groups. The plan is to eventually have all the departments offering overview programs that give people from other areas a strong sense of what that group does. This not only helps our culture but it also gives a big picture perspective on how Zappos runs and how actions by other groups can keep things in sync vs disarray.

At today’s kickoff event in the lunch room, there were reps of the program explaining the details and also offering “decorate your own” cupcakes. Naturally I showed up soon (but how often?) and made a rather peculiar cupcake. And there was a spectacular closing event – there was a cup cake eating contest with the surviving cakelets. Graham has the video of this “neck to neck” frosting packed contest! Over to you Graham!

Ever walked into that red room, next to the huge blue photo room in the middle of the warehouse? Yes? No? Well, I guess you can't necessarily just walk in, unless you have a special badge to get you in...but you can knock anytime! If you haven't, you should stop by sometime and see what we're all about!
Either way, welcome to the Images room! It's where all the color correcting, switching images, and Photoshop magic happens. Enter at your own risk, to the no bully zone with the huge pictures of our faces, and unexplainable drawings on the board. If its real quiet, all you will hear is the ongoing typing and clicking that comes with image processing that is going on!

Beware if you're near the fridge and an awful smell comes out while you wait under the unearthly, airport-like lighting. What can I say? It is what it is! People love all kinds of food, and we need special lighting! If you don't like it, thats cool, we have a punching bag in here somewhere. I say somewhere, because since we had some mannequins move in our room, we don't go on that side of the room much. It's kind of eerie. They're pretty life like, so it looks like headless nude people standing in a group with clear plastic bags over their bodies. Reminds me of the scene in the Silent Hill movie. Yeah...

While visiting, if you have, you may or may not have noticed the little yellow notes stuck to our walls or our computers, with weird little faces drawn on them. Those are drawn by our very own Jon, sometimes we call him Johnny. He's been at Zappos for almost 2 years now. You know he loves it! We always wondered why Jon draws these weird faces, and what they mean to him. So we decided to bother him and ask. We like to put Jon on the spot!

Here are the many faces of Jon!
Many Faces of Jon -Posted April 30th 2008

Next time you come by, you should ask Jon to get your very own post it face! You never know, he could be famous for it some day!

In Celebration of Spring, the Merchandise Planning Team is hosting May Day!

Zapponians have the option to create their own basket full of goodies or buy pre-made baskets at the Maypole. Baskets are $1.00 which includes free delivery to your favorite Zappos friends on May 1st. All proceeds will go the Nevada Children's Cancer Foundation.

Derby is a fun time of year for Kentucky. We have a lot of festivals that start a few weeks before the big day in May. My favorite festival event that has started in the last year is the Happytail Hour! Metro Animal Services (MAS) hosts HappyTail Hour, which is the only "pet inclusive" cocktail event. This event allows people to bring their pets along to have a bite to eat, some good drinks and to socialize. It provides a fun opportunity for the pet loving community to come together to listen to the music, mingle, play games with their dogs and hang out at Waterfront Park. They also have S.P.O.T. (Stop Pet Overpopulation Today), which is MAS's 34-foot mobile adoption unit on hand with adoptable animals! It was great seeing MAS reaching out to the community in this way to help awesome dogs find great, loving homes. I hope many people have a new addition to their family today.

A group of us went out there Monday night, and the weather was really chilly and rainy. Despite the weather, there were a few pet owners who came out anyway to support Metro Animal Services. I'm sure if the weather would have been better, there would have been much more of a turnout. I brought my two dogs, Charley and Molly. Charley is still a puppy at 9 months old, and it was her first time out in public with other dogs! She did very well, and I learned she's afraid to walk over the bridges at the Waterfront park! We had to carry her each time. They had Frisbee games and treats for all of the doggies. There was also a band jamming out some live music.

We walked around and visited other dogs and the Chow Wagon. If you don't know what the Chow Wagon is, I think you're missing out! Everyone should visit this delight if you get a chance at Derby time! Basically it's a lot of booths that serve all kinds of carnival food... All kinds! Corn dogs, BBQ, cotton candy, funnel cakes, frozen custards, frozen lemonade, and so much more! Yummy!

Anyways, back to the dogs! So we walked back to the car all cold and wet, dried the dogs and left. Soon as we pull out of the parking garage, the sun came out, bright as it could be! That was a bummer, but, at least we had a nice drive home! On the way home we passed a couple of the Gallopalooza horse statues that are all over Louisville. I took a picture of one for you! Happy Derby everyone!

A group of 15 Zappos employees, led by Robin G. of CLT, presented Tony and Alfred (CEO and CFO/COO) each with a certificate designating a star that has been named for them. Robin explained to me that it was to thank Tony and Alfred for making the great working environment at Zappos a priority and for the generous 10% employee bonus. What an interstellar idea!



Starting from the left, Alfred, Jean, Robin, Angela, and Tony.

Below is a glimpse into your standard insanity of a Zappos Happy Hour. Not for the faint of heart!


And....the slap heard round the Inn Zone.

Today the American Cancer Society came in and showed us how to use these Dynaband exercise devices.
It was nicely paced and conducted and we all got these cool snappy blue elastic straps to use at our desks. We were first shown how to do some stretching and flexing exercises then we used the Dynaband in some pretty creative and effective ways.

There were 3 classes today and there will be many more wellness sessions, both Dynaband and other types throughout the month of May. It’s our traditonal wellness focus month. Here’s our very first class in action today.

I decided to go with this picture because it would probably generate the fewest death threats for me. Some people are pretty uptight about having their pictures taken, especially while exercising. The guy in front is Jason, he wants to be in movies, so we’re good. The next person, in the expensive red shirt, that's Jonathan and he’s a gentleman and a scholar, so no worries there. The smiling young lady is Kari, she’s obviously joyful - I'll be interviewing her, her mom and brother soon - they all work at Zappos. Now the 4th person, that’s Stacy, not StacEy, Stacy. Yep, if I turn up missing, that’s where the focus should be. Yes siree bob!

Zappos, POWERED by Flat Snappy Blue Latex Elastic Straps

As most of the world knows, the Kentucky Derby is a HUGE deal for KY. Each year, from the kick-off at "Thunder over Louisville" to the "Chow Wagon" and "Hot Air Balloon Race" and all the way to the main event, the actual Derby race, the entire city is in celebration.

Here at Zappos we are no different, having our own mini-version of several events.We spend an entire night dedicated to the festivities. Having some "Kentucky HotBrown" for dinner, with our supervisors and managers serving nachos and cotton candy to the team, followed by our own horse racing (actually hopping), a horse decorating contest, AND a Derby Hat contest!



Each department and shift received a stenciled foam-core horse to cut out and deck-out for display by our break-room. Night shift photo department took an hour of our friday night to enjoy some pizza dinner and decorate our horse.


We decided to focus our horse in the direction of two fashionable and flashy brands, Ed Hardy and Betsy Johnson. All complete with an actual Betsey Johnson jockey and finished off with a pair of New Balance running shoes to win the race. We are very proud of our "Zappotariat" A.K.A. "Betsy Hardy".

Lots a great comments to me personally (though none posted) about Andrea's Winged Sunglasses art project from Happy Hour last Thursday. Here's a few more! Steve, Andy, Chris Jerry, Brian, Meg, Brett, Richard, Thad and Tony himself! You're all ready for Bingo Night at the Trop!

So, Andrea.... what will you be doing for the next happy hour?

There has been a pretty big change here at Zappos.com. What was once known as Product Information, Photo and Imaging has now officially made the change to the Content Team. It makes sense when you look at the inner workings of the site.

Here’s a quick breakdown of what each area is responsible for:

Product Information (PI) is in charge of all product descriptions on the site. Yes sir, that means every piece of leather, canvas, nubuck or tweed that is on the site must be described by Product Information first. PI is also in charge of creating the brand “about text” which gives the customers a quick rundown of the brand history and what they bring to the table. PI reads every single customer review as well. No simple feat might I add. There is so much more, but Ash touched on that stuff in his past blog here.

The Photo and Imaging teams in Kentucky and Las Vegas have also fallen under the Content Team umbrella. Photo is in charge of all of the product shots that we have on the site. They make sure the customer gets a good idea, visually, of what they are getting. After Photo takes the pictures, the Imaging team makes sure the pictures are in the right places and that the blue you see is blue and the pewter you see is pewter. How many of you guys would order something with out seeing it? It’s important that we all work hand-in-hand, since I would never buy anything without being able to read about it either.

That’s just the quick nuts and bolts of it all. In short, say hello to the Zappos.com Content Team.

LV Content Team

Look out for the KY Content Team coming soon!

Um, those of you who think a blended RedBull Pretzel mixture is the epitome of distastefulness should stop right here. Yes, the title of this post is accurate. You see I am the notorious ZSG – Zappos Smoothie Guy. About a year ago, I brought in my own blender and started whipping up smoothies with stuff from the lunch room. Some of them were really yummy – and that’s not just me saying that but from my enthusiastic consumers, some only so so yummy, and some quite intentionally un-yummy. Perhaps the foulest intentional smoothie I’ve made is the Sauerkraut SlimJim Smoothie. This is “for reals” and here are some pictures. SORRY!

Bon Appetit!

This is another example of Zappos putting the money (show me the money!) where their mouth is. Basically, any employee who is in good standing and has been with the company for 90 days can grant a $50 bonus to another qualified worker just because “You Feel They Deserve It!” How cool is that?

I’ve passed out quite a few of these and you know, cynical me is almost convinced it is better to give than receive. Yeah, yeah – the money is not coming directly out of my pocket – see, I am cynical. And on that note, yes there have been some chuckleheads who didn’t quite work “to the spirit and intent” of the program and changes were soon made after the original rollout. So much for the downside.

The upside is we can quickly and directly recognize the people we know make Zappos a better place. Another part of the program is that we are encouraged to present the award sheet “in the most creative way possible” to the recipient. I’ve tucked a couple into empty beer bottles and then used my capper to seal it up. Today I presented one to Renee in Training (the best department at ZAPPOS!)



I taped the folded up form to a CD that had a funny title. I was going to gently toss it to her like a Frisbee but then I saw a red toaster lying around. (Random Red Toaster = Classic Zappos) so I dropped the CD into the toaster, walked over to Renee and ejected the CD. She’s accustomed to such antics from me. So why did I feel Renee deserved this Award? Two reasons, first, (and mostly) because she has done such a great job with our Las Vegas Encounter program for our Kentucky people. And second, because her cube has provided some great photo ops for me.

So what are the other examples of Zappos showing the money? Well, the 10% employee bonus bought a big bunch of credibility.

And did you know that when our Customer Loyalty Team new hires are in training, they are told that if Zappos wasn’t what they expected, they can opt out be paid a severance sum to help tide them over. Did you ever hear of such a thing before? You’d be impressed how few people take the offer. When I was in new hire training, a few confided that they were tempted, but no one took it.

Another example is that all employees go to new hire training. Not only does this mean we are away from our “real jobs” for 4 weeks, but Zappos also loses some job applicants because they either cannot complete the program or they “refuse to do phones.” It’s best to find this out as soon as possible because they probably aren’t Zappos culture matches. Zappos feels in the long run it is worth it for everyone to be firmly grounded in our Customer Service philosophy and practices. And people who refuse to “do phones” just aren’t the type of people for the Zappos culture. I was amazed how nice you, our customers, all were when I was in training. Thank You!

Hello world!

This is my first Zappos blog entry, and I am excited to be introducing myself and the photo department to the rest of you, inside, and outside the company. My mission here is to give your hungry eyes a feast of photo department fun. We are a very active group of creative people not only looking to please our vendors and customers, but have a lot of fun in the process.

The core values are held in high regards in our studios. I have been with the company for about 3 years myself, and I couldn't imagine myself anywhere else. As I post more blogs, and you read further, I think you will understand why we all love it so much! ( As if all the other bloggers haven't given you enough reason already!)

Be looking for our department "quotes out of context" (coming soon) for a good laugh!

"Theirs but to do with triple ply." <groans heard around the world!>

No one knows or is fessing up why
to what role, rhyme or reason Marlene’s desk
was “decorated” last week.


Zappos, that's how we roll

Do you know what your Zappos Buddies in Kentucky are doing today, April 28? Yes, we are going to get orders out the door super fast. Yes, we are going to play Rock Band at lunch and on breaks. On top of all that, we are off to the races; the Kentucky Derby Festival Bed Races that is. Our team is loading up the bed right now, doing sprints in weighted vests, and watching "Braveheart" on repeat to get psyched up.

Last week, yours truly and a couple others ran the Bed through some time trials. It was the Zappos version of the wind tunnel, also known as Quadrant 3 of the Warehouse. Yours truly is also in the Red Shirt calling out cadence to the others; my not-in-marathon-shape Zappos buddies are pushing with me; and Mindy is piloting this lightning-fast Bed thoroughbred. Team Zappos will give them a run for their money; you can put your $2 bet on that.

Since this is our first year competing in the bed race, we're out to have fun. Next year, watch out UPS! Zappos will rock you!

Well last Friday I was riding pretty high. I had the high heel gift blog which was so popular, all of you lovely, voyeuristic people melted down our blog server with the flood of clicky clicky.

Later that night, I covered the monthly Critical Mass bike rave here in Vegas. Several of our Biker Boys from Company Z are regulars at this event and I figured it would be a good topic. Basically a couple of hundred people, mostly quite young and fit , gather at the Fashion Show Mall on the last Friday of every month and then go on a mass bike ride down Las Vegas Blvd. I got this one picture at their halfway point just before they rushed my vehicle, one of the Zappos Shuttles, and then flipped it and set it on fire because it is a gas guzzler. Young people nowadays have no respect!



If that wasn’t bad enough, on Saturday morning, things took a turn for the worst, but I didn’t know it at the time. See, I posted a comment to Tony’s Boot Con blog entry and I guess he didn’t like it so the next day he fired me.

So I’m posting this via something called a VPN Tunnel backdoor that my 14 year old niece setup for me when I gave her a Zappos tour about a month ago. She’s scary smart. She also set me up with a covert mesh network with videocams to pull video and audio and stay on top of goings on back at Z HQ. At the time, I just wanted a way to see when new food arrived in the lunch room and various other snack hotspots. Funny how that worked out eh?

Yeah, so I am hunkered down in this Ibiza place, it’s kinda nice, lots of scantily clad people out and about but I think some of them are vampires because they seem to only come out late at night. Enh, I like garlic. Later!