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.

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!

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!

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.

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!

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!

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!

Andrea C. brought these spiffy sunglasses to the last Zappos Happy Hour and managed to get shots of many interesting people wearing them. This series is of members of Merchandising's Casual Lifestyle time (C-Life). At the happy hour there were many things to celebrate, one of which being Shyloh's promotion to Buyer. Another one: Galen, Mr. Capital G himself, was promoted to Senior Director of both Casual Lifestyle and Performance! Way to go, boss!

More sunglasses photos will follow! I understand there's one or two of our VP of Merch as well as our Senior Corporate Counsel. Great job, Andrea!

We here in CS enjoy the finer things in life: poetry, abstract art,
throwing objects at co-workers, throwing large objects at Co-Workers, the Chicken Dance, The Money Pit (or any movie Shelley Long or anyone related to Shelley Long has appeared in) and..........Sugar-less Gum.

In particular, Brett H. and Alex K., love gum like no other grown men have ever
loved gum. They are connoisseurs of the finest, the best; we have literally traveled all over the world in search of a flavor that will fill we hearts with glee. We take photos of gum in other countries and pass them along. It all began years ago when Brett decided to cease his nasty smoking habit and began collecting gums of all different flavors....seriously, it was beginning to near an illegal amount at one point. I think someone might have called the authorities. But soon it caught on and we have been spreading the good word of our sugar-less addiction.
Below is a random snapshot of our very own Laurie-Bear enjoying Brett's
new flavor discovery. Just wanted to make you all are aware.

Good Day.....

I said Good Day, Sir!

Howzit, faithful followers?!

I really hated to title this latest HR / Training pulsating post as I did, (waaaay too many ABBA references his week for some reason), but what choice did I have??? Feast your ogling ojos on this:


That’s Zappos HR’s very own ninja prom queen, Heaven “Heavenless” T. showing us what she’s got. ‘nuff said.

Oh wait, that’s not true!! I also managed to score a pic of Jamstar’s recent glittering gift from one of her joie de vivre vendors:



Perhaps coming to a Zollar Store near you!! Sweeeeeet……

Some parting notes!

Jobs@zappos! Come getcha some!

Special thanks to p-1603, Zappos CEO, for letting me post Heaven’s performance here, instead of snatching it from my archives for his own sinister purposes, and waiting ever so patiently for me to get it out. Yer the best Tony. Love ya. Mean it.

Coming Soon!
-How HR’s Monthly Outing literally rocked! (promise this one’s coming really soon)
-An update from Training! (sorry, really needed to get Heaven’s routine up!)
-Zappos.com: Powered by Hope! (and another Dancing Queen!!)
-Random Rozzy Thoughts! (building anticipation…it’ll be worth it!)
-The Benches Are Here!!!!! (or, “Why We Love Rozzy and Rebecca L.!”)
-What’s all this about Twitter, then?!!

Until we meet again, “Yes! A brain transplant!...I don’t need it; take my brain!”
~drroo
(follow me on twitter!)

Item!
Have any ideas on how this crazy, kooky thing we call a blog could evolve? They don’t even need to be good ones! Have a burning question, or a need to wax philosophical? Need some sage advice? I’m here for you, citizens of the intarweb, and my sustenance is your comments!!!

Z Big Ball of Kentucky was elated to find that someone finally recognized him in the blogosphere; muchas gracias to Maggie M. and her blog post "Who Has the Biggest Ball at Zappos" (http://blogs.zappos.com/blogs/inside-zappos/2008/04/24/who-has-the-biggest-ball-at-zappos).

However, he was also very embarrassed at being *UNDER*-represented at a measly 10 pounds. Z Big Ball is proud to represent his Zappos coworkers in Kentucky with the following stats (as gleefully measured on 4/25/08):

• 302 pounds
• 72 and 3/16 inches in Circumference

Z Big Ball would like to extend an invite to all of his Zappos buddies in Las Vegas to stop by and say hi. Pose for a picture with him. And by all means, put on some more rubber bands!

I came across a large rubber band ball during a recent visit to our KY fulfillment center, located right at the entrance of the facility. The ball had to weigh at least ten pounds as it definitely required more than a nudge to get it moving! There are extra rubber bands scattered around the ball if any curious suspects want to try and stretch a rubber band around the ball to make it bigger. I shied away from the opportunity as I was too afraid it was going to break and go flying across the room or hit me in the eye!

With competitive balls on the mind, my thoughts wandered to the name badge balls that we have in the lobbies of both of our office locations in Las Vegas. Luckily for the LV employees these balls require no safety provisions. Every visitor of Zappos places his or her name badge on the balls. It all started back in 2004 at our Warm Springs office with one name badge that had been crumbled and left in a large basket. This name badge ball is currently located at our main building and has become so big it needs a bigger basket!

We also have a second Zappos office in Las Vegas where they too have created their own name badge ball. It is less than a year old, so the circumference of this ball pales in comparison to the others. But, if I took actual measurements and did some projections, I would say they are off to a strong start!

This ball thing seems to be a reoccurring theme here at
Zappos so one must ask, “Who has the biggest ball of them all?”



KY Fulfillment Center Ball

2300 Building Badge Ball

2280 Building Badge Ball

In my opinion Kentucky
wins the “Biggest Ball” contest. Please cast your votes.

Team building is a vital part of our company and department culture, especially with the growth and change that we’ve experienced over the past few months. Our teams are encouraged to spend 10-20% of our time outside the office walls, whether it’s for specific team building activities or just hanging out. Developing these personal relationships actually helps our teams become more effective by breaking down the typical office barriers.

Well, what better way to get to know your team members than a little fishing trip out to Lake Las Vegas? Thanks to Miss Britni and Miss Ashley we had the pleasure of learning how to fly fish for the April marketing team outing! Fly fishing in the desert? Yes, it can be done! And boy do we have fishing stories to tell?!

It wasn’t a surprise that our resident superman Darrin wins the prize for the first fish. Ask him how he felt about getting the first one and he says, “Darn, it feels good to be gangsta!” Darrin, who knew?!

Our gal Rachel wins the reward for the biggest fish! Come to find out, she grew up fishing with her dad. Fair? I think not! Her fish may not be a frog, but will it turn into prince charming someday? Only time will tell!

Since it was one of the few times he had been fishing in his life, it didn’t matter to Ned that he didn’t catch a fish. “I almost caught myself…does that count?”

And ever the optimist, Robert’s quote of the day: “It’s not the size of the fish that counts; it’s the size of the fight!”

Andy looked the part of a fisherman but was more interested in feeding and watching the ducks. “I dunno – I think they’re kinda cute!”

Did we accomplish building a stronger team? Did we build upon our personal relationships? I would say so…all in all it was a great day out at the lake. Watch for the May marketing team outing - coming soon!

There are countless reasons why people move to Las Vegas and, while each of our justifications are wildly different, here are my top five:

1) Zappos.com

2) The weather from October thru May

3) 24/7 partying

4) The Shopping

5) You can get a direct flight to almost any location from
here and vice versa.

My top two reasons for living in Las Vegas came into perfect harmony on Sunday afternoon at a Kids’ team tailgate prior to the Las Vegas 51's game. Members of the Kids team and their families came together to eat, drink, and be merry while cheering on our local team.

Zappos has made community involvement a huge priority, and in
the small realm of baseball, we not only sponsor the 51’s, but we are also active
sponsors of the Henderson Little League program! Moreover, we have a team of Zappos folks that get together weekly for a softball league.

We sure serve up a fine balance of work and play around
here! Everyone had a great time at the tailgate
and at the game (the proof is in the pictures B-) ).

BEFORE

AFTER

Thank you to everyone involved in this great event!

Fabio is a Web Producer. Fabio's brain works in a special way....and, because of this fact, he (allegedly) invented, Pluns.

*A plun, in this reporter's terms, is free association within a normal
conversation that barely threads together two objects, subjects,
vegetables, primates, lamps, etc. (Fabio loves lamp) that don't
actually have any reality-based association, but only a semantic
relation.*
Confusing enough? Here is Fabio's example of a Plun:

Person 1: "Don't put product on that page!"
Person 2: "Not unless it's 2-in-1."
+*Why it's funny: *
Product in the context of hair care should not be applied to a webpage unless it's of the 2-in-1 variety.+
*The cue: *The initial statement should correctly read "Don't put the product on that page!"
+*Explanation: *Because the speaker left out the word "the",
product can be taken as referring to product, as in hair product (gel,
conditioner, etc.).+
+*The plun: *2-in-1 is more efficient than simple product,
so if you're going to put product on a page, you may as well be more
efficient and use 2-in-1.+

Confused yet? Yeah, I am too.
Fabio is one of our favorite elements of the Web Production team. If
web production was a chicken pot pie, he would be the carrots and peas.
I'm telling you that he is the vegetable element of our favorite
poultry/pastry combination....that's an important part of any meal. And
make no mistake, the pot pie is a meal in and of itself.....and
secondly..um...what was I talking about? Oh yeah...
Fabio will be back next week to give you the Plun of thy Week with his dancer friend, Vubbles Van Pancake.

Fabio, we salute you....thanks for being in our pot pie.
Good Day, Fine Citizens.

Salutations, rapturous readers! I hope this merry missive from yours truly finds you reasonably chirpy! There was no wayI could let the week come to an end without one last update, as there was a boat-load of stuff that happened in Zappos.com's HR and Training teams since last we spoke!

So much culture, so little time…

Much of that boat-load had something to do with Jamie N., Zappos' resident Cruise Ship Coordinator! Also called “JamStar!” by those who know her best, she creates and coordinates myriad and momentous employee-related events, activities, and programs…kind of like Julie from the Love Boat, but without that 80's perm and with a bit more of an edge.

Our 4th Annual Zappos Employee Picnic was the largest to date, and ridiculously successful…


The calm before the crazy.

Kris Z. and Angela M. realizing they’re clearly outclassed. (Not that there’s anything classy about Bryan T.’s utter abandonment of all civility…)

L to R: Steve P., Mark G., Steve H., Fred M., Meghan B., and Eileen L. Winners of the Team Challenge!

...and JamStar just couldn’t resist making some mischief along the way:

“Ever since HR’s very own Dave H. won the typing contest, there have been vicious rumors aboutHR rigging results. Some of us decided to fight back. We held a raffle at the picnic, drew the winners yesterday, and sent the following email:

---

Congratulations to the following folks lucky enough to win a prize in the Picnic Raffle:

• 1 Play Station 3 (Valued at $400) = Dave W. from HR
• 1 Stainless Barbeque Grill Station (Valued at $200) = Drew K. from HR
• 2 Flip Video Camera (Valued at $155 each) = Rebecca R. and Hollie D. from HR
• 1 Espresso Coffee Maker (Valued at $100) = Christa F. from HR
• 2 Polaroid Digital Camera (Valued at $90 each) = Jacob P. and Rosalind S. from HR
• 1 Margarita Madness Machine (Valued at $80) = Eric V. from HR
• 1 Shell Gift Card (Valued at $50) = Heaven T. from HR

Wow, it looks like HR really swept the grand prizes. Luck of the draw I guess.

---

“Phones started to ring, inboxes started to blow up. It was great! Just some of the comments: Cheaters!...Jamie, that's statistically a little suspicious…this is gonna really upset people that everyone in HR won and no one else, wow…rofl!...You should send a follow-up picture of HR loading everything into someone's trunk.

“We let the team off the hook and sent the list of the real winners out. This caused another flood of emails: THAT WAS GREAT!!!... You guys are too much!... Here we all were with out mouths agape, when we got your second email…You punks!... You should have heard the grumbling goin on over here!!... Nice trick. LOL”

PS: For those of you questioning whether Dave H. actually won the typing contest last week, he's happy to go mano a mano with anyone doubting his skills. You name the time and place.

Meanwhile, the trail-blazing Training team was having an out of this world Las Vegas Encounter! Super Trainer,
Adrienne “Abductee” C. probes into greater detail for us: “Remember the exchange student program in high school? Zappos does! Every 3 weeks or so, we fly 5-10 employees from the fulfillment center (our warehouse) in Shepherdsville, Kentucky out to Vegas, put them up at the local Station Casinos hotel, and give them rental cars to run wild around town!

“They spend a week with us in our corporate office learning how the ‘other side’ lives and works. They visit
different departments and get to do some hands on stuff. Before this group left to go home, they wanted to do a parade around the office. You know how much we love parades!http://blogs.zappos.com/!!

“Sharing their Kentucky-ness by bringing the Derby to us Vegans!"

“A Vegas trip isn’t complete without visiting the sign!”

Some parting notes: Jobs@zappos! For all my friends!

Have any ideas on how this crazy, kooky thing we call a blog could evolve? They don’t even need to be good ones! Have a burning question, or a need to wax philosophical? Need some sage advice? I’m here for you, citizens of the interweb!

Coming Soon:

• How HR’s Monthly Outing Literally Rocked!
• Random Rozzy Thoughts (yer gonna love this)
• The Benches Are Here!!!!! (or, “Why We Love Rozzy and Rebecca L.”)

Catch y’all on the flip side, and remember: “We gotta find that troll!”
~Ddroo!

After 2,471 paper jams and 1 small fire, the Finance team has finally gotten a new copy machine!! And it is a big deal! Every Thursday for 2 months the old copy machine would just stop working, as if it were saying "Hey you know what? I need to take a break, so I'm going to be over here chillaxin (chillin' and relaxin')." We in finance were not being wowed by the frequent breaks, so we decided to go copy machine shopping. Someone was so un-wowed they even wrote a break up letter:

Dearest Multi Printer,
This breakup letter should come as no surprise nor cause any heartache to someone as cold hearted as you. Time and again we've tried to get you to show me how much you care. Time and again we've been rudefully rebuffed. We have emotions. We have needs.... we have love to express. But you, Ms. Selfish, just don't care that you make us feel like our needs, emotions and loving intentions are shamefully wrong. Well news flash, Multi-Printer, they aren't. So, after this long time together we are ending this charade of a relationship in hopes of finding someone who is mechanically mature enough to love us like we need to be.

Love,
Finance

Here is the little Demon Machine of Death!

Here is the Happy Giant machine that is yet to be named. (Yes that is a sombrero)

Another yummy exciting event took place today with our 1st Ever Rice Krispie Treat Day! With crazy flavors like Strawberry,Chocolate Chip, Peppermint Pattie and even a Vegan Gluten-free treat. Finance is still on a sugar buzz. Oh, and can't forget about the Zappos themed treats seen in the middle(Thanks Lakshan's Wife).

PUMA PG Saddle shoes at Zappos.com - $94.00
O'Neill Bermuda shorts at Zappos.com - $44.00
Linda Long dancing on the table at Zappos.com gathering - PRICELESS

(A little background: It was a Thursday night. The marketing department and other Zappos friends took over the Roadrunner patio. There was a farewell party for our friend Neill. There were friendships blossoming. There were funny stories being told. It started to get dark. There might have been a full moon? Hmmm...and then it happened...our very own Linda Long up on the table! Linda, we can probably never live up to that moment again but you set the standard high - you go girl!)

You can take the mandals out of the man, but can you take the man out of the mandals? Now that is the question! What are mandals you say? Well, some may call it a fashion atrocity; others may say they are simply, man sandals.

Ah, yes…meet Ned, ladies and gentleman! He's our fearless Affiliate Program Manager, commonly known for his keen fashion sense – polos, shorts at all times of the year, and an extreme love of mandals.

Those who know Ned would probably never believe me when I say that he was recently spotted without mandals at the Shop.org conference in Scottsdale. Ask him and he may deny it, but take a peek for yourself! Proof is in the pudding, my friends! And by the way, Zappos.com has a huge selection of mandals!

"There would be more peace in the world if everyone wore mandals" - Ned Farra

Welcome to the very first pulse-pounding post from Zappos.com’s HR and Training departments! For all you feverish fans out there, this is the place to learn about the activities, events, and just plain wackadoo things that we do, straight from the source!

So without further ado, let’s get to it!

From Shannon “Shanadoo” R., one of our truly amazing Recruiting Assistants:

“Early one morning, while pondering the state of the world, Eric, Jacob and I bantered back and forth about holding a company-wide typing contest. The more we talked, the grander the plans became….and the more real! Soon the call went out to all Las Vegas Zappos.com employees:

So Your Momma Can't Dance and Your Daddy Can't Rock & Roll---But CAN YOU TYPE?! Thus, the first ever typing competition becomes a reality!"
Below is a video account of our first ever typing contest!

In other news, Training Manager, Rachael B., has a weird thing for bubbles. I sit facing her and I can tell you I’ve never seen anyone sooo excited over bubbles. My phone and desk are permanently encrusted with bubble residue. To share her bizarre fascination with the rest of the company, she got HR and Training together and a Bubble Parade was born! In true Zappos (and HR / Training) fashion, wackiness ensued…

Here’s the bubble head herself, the lovely Rachael B, in the midst of the parade!


HR and Training in full bubble regalia. ‘Nuff said. ;)


Some parting notes:

What makes Recruiting blow milk out their collective nose:

Coming Soon:
-Zappos.com Annual Employee Picnic! (oooh…)
-HR’s Monthly Outing! (ah….)
-And, Random Rozzy Thoughts!! (wha…???)

Oh, and we’re hiring!!!

Today we handed out our 2008 Zappos.com Print Ad Creative postcards
to Vegas employees! They are a sampling of some of the visuals being
used in our print ad campaign, which hit the newsstands this week!

All employees received five cards to send anywhere to anyone in the world! (I suggested we send them all to Val Kilmer. I don't really know why. First person that popped in my head.)In true creative service/marketing style, we just wheeled them around the office in a wagon and dove headlong into the seas of madness that are the CLT and Merchandising Floors.

Our Creative Service and Marketing crazies filled the aisles in a very non-disruptive.....well, ok, rather disruptive manner to hand bundles of postcards to the un-suspecting masses. Every employee has been given free reign to do what they want with them...who knows, you may be receiving one yourself!
These cards are a part of the 2008 Zappos.com Print Ad Creative, which is also coming along the same time as our brand spankin' new television commercial that began airing a few weeks ago. It is airing on multiple networks throughout the U.S. T.V.-O-Sphere, maybe you've seen one....if not, and if you're nice, I'll post it right below. I'm considering it......I'm considering it.....alright, you won me over. But barely. : )
It's a great new direction for us and we are very excited about it!
Anyway, back to filling out postcards, I'm sending one to my favorite
New Kid on the Block! (I won't say who)

I've never personally been one of those butterflies-in-the-stomach, cuddle-loving, super mushy romantic types. I've had great loves, to be sure, but some aspects of love have always been beyond my comprehension. For example- having never experienced it first hand, I've always viewed such concepts as "love at first sight" with a somewhat skeptical eye.

Not to mention, I'm a creature of habit. It's not that I'm afraid to try new things, I'm just stubborn in my tastes and don't often venture outside of my box. Basic observation of the world around me, and the people therein, has lead me to the belief that when it comes to fashion, I'm a far cry from the minority in that respect. I know the brands I like, and tend to loyally stand by their side through thick and thin.

Although I don't think these are inherently bad traits, they're not exactly things to brag about. I've been working on the self improvement section of my brain. I'm trying to open myself up to new and exciting possibilities on all fronts, and working at Zappos has certainly helped in that regard (see Core Values 2, Embrace and Drive Change, 4, Be Adventurous, Creative and Open-Minded, and 5, Pursue Growth and Learning). Since Zappos.com carries so many brands (1,175 and growing!), we will occasionally have brand representatives come in to familiarize us with their products- supplying information about any new merchandise, new styles, new avenues into which they may be venturing.

Yesterday, I met our Camper representative. Admittedly, I didn't know too much about the brand going into the meeting, so I wasn't sure what to expect.

How do I explain what I saw, what I experienced? I'm still trying to process it, to be honest. They say a picture is worth a thousand words...



I never thought I'd say it, but it was love at first sight. I fell hard and I fell fast. It was my first time experiencing the sentiment, and I wasn't sure how to respond... and with Camper the hits just kept on coming.



It was unnerving at first, but it didn't take long for me to give in to the wanton, uncontrollable, fantastic, wonderful, all-consuming enthusiasm that filled my heart. And it took even less time for my favorites page to grow exponentially.

What I've come to realize is that although loyalty and caution are certainly valuable sentiments, it is worthwhile on occasion to break out of routine and try new things. Have you looked through our brands list lately? You may be surprised by how quickly the love bug can come up and bite you!

Yesterday was book fair day at Zappos, wherein half of our cafeteria was transformed into a small book shop. It really brought some of us developers back to the days of elementary school where such events were not uncommon. Perhaps this feeling was strongest of all for Shane, who discovered a gem of a book entitled High School Musical : All About Dancing.

Part story book and part instructional dance manual, nobody had seen anything quite like it before. It's true that one can get away with a great many things by saying "It's for my daughter", but I happen to know for a fact that Shane is a man who loves to dance! As soon as the recess bell sounded, Shane grabbed Becky and the two started cutting a rug- with director of development Brent calling out dance moves from the book. I was pretty surprised, but the three of them managed to pull off a pretty good show for not having had any rehearsals!

Incidentally, 10% of Shane's book purchase (and all of the other books sold that day) will be donated to the Nevada Childhood Cancer Foundation. Thanks to Suchi for the great action shot!

In the spirit of Zappos Core Value #5, Pursue Growth and Learning, Jeanne and I took a group of Assistant Buyers, Merchandising Assistants and members of our Product Information team from Casual Lifestyle on a one-day, turn-around round trip to Southern California to tour the Magdesians shoe factory. One of only a few left in California, the Magdesian family was gracious enough to open their doors to us.

They have an incredible laser cutting machine that eliminates the need for costly dies and is also 30% more efficient in terms of raw materials. For those of you who don't know, a die is, in essence, a metal "cookie cutter" traditionally used to cut the upper pattern from a sheet of leather or other material. As each size and width combination required a separate die, this is one of the highest costs to a manufacturer in production. By using this new technology, Magdesians can keep the costs, and in turn, the retail prices of their U.S. made shoes significantly more affordable.

Thank you VERY much, Magdesians! It was a great trip and very educational for all!

I suppose some introductions are in order. My name is Nikki W., and I'm the latest (greatest? Time will tell!) blogger on the Zappos block. In addition to blogs, we've got some really exciting balls rolling in the way of video content- known around the interweb as ZapposTV- that I'm super thrilled to be a part of as well. Feel free to check out the new channel. We've got a bunch of great stuff on the way, so stay tuned!

To correspond to John H.'s Zpartans blog, we created the following silly short for your viewing pleasure.


Random randomness: I love the show Cheaters (it's a guilty pleasure- don't you judge me!). Some of my favorite brands are Roxy, Privo, Puma, Earth, MBT, and Betsey Johnson. I think life is what you make it, and for me it's an ever evolving, expanding, and always thrilling adventure.

That's it for now- I'll see you around the blog-o-sphere!

Last Friday was Chrissie's Birthday and like all Birthdays here in Finance
we decorated her desk in a very crazy way, this time we added something a
little out of the ordinary!

Why cans you ask? Chrissie's desk is in a location that gets a lot of
foot traffic and visitors who stop to chat. When those visitors stop and talk
they usually set their can down on the top of Chrissie's cubicle wall and for
some reason the can is left there. When Chrissie realizes the can is still
there it is usually long after the visitor has gone. Most times the soda is
left unopened and still cold. Nobody knows why or who likes to leave their unopened
sodas at her desk and it drives her crazy. So Patrick (The mastermind) decided
to collect as many cans as he could to terrorize decorate Chrissie’s
desk.

Below is an e-mail from Loren, he participated in last years hot dog eating contest and is doing so again this year in about a week! Here is his e-mail that he sent to the masses at Zappos (with some pics from last years fetivities).

Hello Zappos,

I have heard a lot of people talking around the office about taking the hot dog eating title from me. First off, I welcome the challenge and look forward to the competition, however talk is cheap without the follow through. I was informed earlier today that only one person had signed up to challenge me. If that one person is not you,
please refrain from telling me you are going to "take me down" or "this is the end of your reign" or "Watch out, I'm gunning for you this year." This type of taunting should be reserved for people with the intestinal fortitude to put their name on the dotted line and step up to the challenge. I hope this email inspires some of you trash talkers to give it a go and try to beat me, but as you can see below my technique is unbeatable.

First off, thank you to loyal reader 6! Also known as ZC1788, nice name! There are many like it, but that one is yours! Back on track, hello 6 readers and welcome to the very first edition of Argyle Tentacles. Argyle Tentacles is what I hope will become an ongoing effort to find argyle wearers (like yourself) from across this great country, and maybe even this giant planet (relative to a kickball). The idea was born when I was boarding a Southwest Airlines flight and saw the most creative argyle piece I have ever seen. I was not man enough to snap a pic, so I will try to describe what I saw. There was this woman, from behind I could see glimpses of argyle peeking over her shoulder trying desperately to spread across her back. But no, argyle sweater maker decided that would not happen, this was an argyle in-the-front only sort of shirt. But what made this stand out to me was the fact that the argyle pattern was mixed in with deer! That's right, deer! With antlers. Deer with antlers on a shirt with argyle. Argyle Lodgewear if you will. I was too embarrassed to walk up and get in her face and take a pic for you all, I will suck it up and do so next time. Sorry, don't hate me!

Anyhoo, it seems argyle is not only popular in the Zappos office itself, but even out in little 'ole New York City! Who would have thought that a trend that started in Henderson Nevada would influence the great city of New York. But it has, so just go with it and trust me that it all started in Henderson, Nevada! The pic below is of Aaron, he works at the Adstore, the ad agency that created our latest commercial (among many other things). Not a bad top for an ad guy (sorry guys, don't hate me because I am beautiful - Was that Kelly LeBrock or something?).

But wait, there is more. While on the topic of argyle spreading across the globe (originating in Henderson if you did not catch that twice before) and advertising, I saw the below strapping lad wearing argyle in an ad. Let me give you a little history first. The caveman below toured our office a while back, saw us wearing argyle and he had his our people call our people and we were able to convince them that argyle would help sell more insurance. They bought it, so easy!

Today was an exciting day here in Creative Services; three of our
fellow CS'ers completed their last day of CLT training, and we couldn't
be more proud of them! Fabio A, Kris K. and Phil S. completed their
last day in the four week training course.
CLT (Customer Loyalty) Training consists of three weeks of classroom
time and a full week on the phones that trains all of our fine CLT
Staff! All Zappos employees, no matter what their position, go through
the training. This allows us all to see into the world of CLT and the
WOW that they deliver on a daily basis.
Phil, a graphic designer, Kris, a production assistant, and Fabio, a
web producer, graduated in style, and all of us in CS would like to
say: "Right on, fellas! Proud of ya!"
And to all of our new CLT team members, for those about to WOW, we salute you!!!!!!
-Brett H.

March Madness that is! Like always Finance went all out, this time around Finance
threw a March Madness parade. Helping spread the madness, leading the Allstar Varsity Team was Nothing but Net Jimmy and White Chocolate Johnny dribbling the team through the halls! Frank and Devlyn lead the cheerleaders and the Finance Mascots pumped up the crazy Zappos fans! The Referees and Coaches were on hand to closely watch for any foul plays!! Of course like any sporting event there were plenty of peanuts and cotton candy flying through the air to feed the crowd. Big thanks to Audrea for organizing the Madness!

ZAPPOS FINANCE WILL ALWAYS ROCK YOU!!!

Check our group photos here!

The Zappos Development team (or Dev) is currently made up of 37 people distributed somewhat unevenly across our 3 offices in Henderson and Reno in Nevada, and Shepherdsville in Kentucky. The Henderson team is the largest group and handles much of the development of the website and back office tools to manage products and any other things that might need managing. The team in Kentucky is based out of our warehouse and works primarily on software related to the picking, packing, shipping and returns of merchandise. The Reno office consists of Dave. He generally rewrites things in C (Booyah!), generates several different kinds of graphs and authors lots of LaTeX documents with complicated mathematical formulas.

We work with a pretty interesting mix of technology. Much of our code is written in Perl, but we also have a lot of code in Java and even some Ruby. We love open source software and try to use it whenever we can because it saves us some development time and is easy to customize.

One of the things that differentiates us from a lot of companies is that we don't really hire coders (or people who just write code). Our developers are also expected in some degree to be architects, project planners, designers, database programmers and system administrators. It may sound like our standards are pretty high (and they are - we do a lot of interviews!), but the most important qualities we look is self motivation and a willingness to learn. If you have those, then all of the other skills will come in time. Of course, Dev isn't just made up of programmers. We also have database administrators, QA testers, release engineers, dev support personnel and managers all under our departmental umbrella.

We're very serious about our work, but we're also pretty goofy and like to have fun. Don't believe me? Check out our group on Flickr - there you'll find shots of some of our departmental outings and a recent parade we put on that was featured in a segment on 60 Minutes:

Does it sound like you or someone you know would like to work in Development at Zappos? Check out our jobs page and give us a call. We're always hiring!

We love p-1221 in CLT, and we love it when the project
involves p-1240 and decorations. It has been said, though, that you
have to break some eggs to make an omelet. Such is the case with these
"projects." Exhibit A:

Well, it's really the only exhibit, but I've always wanted to say that
:) This is the east side balcony in CLT. This is also the aftermath
of a
couple years of hard working artists, striving to put to canvas the
creative and insightful imagery floating within their very souls. You
may even see some art within the careful and precise over spray...I
don't think the people who end up having to repair the balcony would
think so. Oh tarp in the background, when will you be put to use?
Only
time will tell.

I leave this entry with a beautiful view of eastern Las
Vegas...suddenly, I'm not bothered by the errant paint beneath my Globes.

Let’s play a quick game of word association with the operative word being princess. For me, the following things come to mind: princess cut diamonds, my new title when Prince Harry decides to marry me, glitzy tiaras, etc. Others may think of Disney princesses and go-to Halloween costumes for the Infant/Toddler crowd. However, on rare occasions events take place which require us to reevaluate our internal definitions of given words.



A pivotal event took place here at Zappos.com in March that forever changed our idea of what we associate with the word princess. During the first ever Kids Expo, an event put together where brand reps from a given category commence at Zappos to enhance brand awareness among our Customer Loyalty Team (or CLT if you will), a couple members of the Kids team decided to redefine what it means to be a princess.

I present to you Matt and Stephen from Kid’s Product Information…

Ohhh how they dazzle in pastels!! Thanks for the memories guys! Matt and Stephen are available for hire on a
case-by-case basis. I know for certain they accept bribes in the form of Zollars and Grey Goose for anyone that is interested! ;\

Daisy from Merchandise Planning hosted Girls Night last Saturday evening. It was basically a girls pig out, a movie and fun girl talk. We had a cook off, Filipino Longanisa vs. Portuguese Linguica, along with salad, cheese, Shrimp Mozambique and 20 different kinds of wine, even PINK wine, a must have for girls night! For dessert we did chocolate fondue and smores. It was definately the first of many girls nights to come. What can we say, the girls at work become some of your favorite friends :x

Hello from your Kentucky HR team!!

We decided to celebrate the Friday before Easter in style.... comfortable style that is.;) We dressed in our finest pajamas and broke out the easter egg dye! The outcome were some very creative and fancy looking eggs and a very laid back HR group!

The Magical Mountain Tour
Our wonderful web production team led by valiant knight Alex K., took a
journey on Wednesday that led them to one of the most magical places on
this fine earth.The team of 8 who work on Front End Development within the Creative Service
department here at Zappos.com, chartered a van and headed to Valencia, CA to the roller coaster insanity of Magic Mountain.

"The path was treacherous and long, but we made it
in fine form," said Alex K. "But we are a strong group of mammals, make
no mistake about that".

The group made t-shirts for the event, or battle-cloth, as they would
prefer that you call it, that had each one of them visually depicted,
which gained quite a bit of attention along the way. "Everywhere we
stopped along the way, people would stare at our shirts attempting to
match our faces to the drawing," said Ray M. "I felt famous, like Ryan Seacrest or Edgar Winter or something," he said.


The journey ended up at their destination at around 11:30 AM, and the good time happy day began.Ray M. says that although he enjoyed the roller coasters a great
deal, some of his cohorts were deeply frightened.

"I really loved the ride Goliath; it made me feel like a kid again. But Ryan was scared,
too scared to move, I tell you." (Author's note, Ryan A. has declined
to comment on this accusation, but he claims to be seeking revenge by
vandalizing Ray M.'s desk, possibly knocking over his filing cabinet.)
The group spent 6 hours riding, eating and enjoying each other's
company and, after a long day, the group finally rolled back into Vegas tired,
hungry and ready for more. Alex K. was happy with the result of his
toil, and he felt that this was a great exercise for his team to grow
closer to one another.