Inside Zappos : January 2009
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Designed by our very own Kyle S.
It was a dark and stormy night A request was submitted by Laura S. It asked for a series of posters to be made for the different areas of KY Content Team.
It all started when all of KYCT team got to pick and vote on the names of certain work areas! I used elements from the Zappos branding guide, including color, typeface, and graphics, and combined them with 'fun' design elements that relate to the Fulfillment Center's superhero theme.
There was a total of 5 posters made:
Hall of Justice = The Meeting Room in studio 2
Strobe City = Live Studio/Studio 2
Heavy metal Graceland = Studio 1
Area 51= Live Studio area in Studio 1
Hall of Illusions = Images area
In a nutshell, I bled for this project. ;)
Written and Designed by Kyle S.
Today we take a look into the life of the OG HelpDesker… Brooke James!
Brooke was the very first person to start the Help Desk department. She was the main liaison between Merchandising and CLT. Her days were full of answering emails from CLT, driving shuttles, and doing random projects.
Hmmm… does that sound familiar to anyone? :) Brooke started in 2004 and was in the department for about a year. We at the Help Desk owe it all to Brooke’s visionary ways.
Brooke mentions, “I would always look forward to vendors coming into the office. They were always the highlight of my day.”
Nowadays Brooks is busy buying some pretty snazzy handbags for our site. Check out her greatest accomplishment to bring to Zappos – Dooney and Bourke Handbags!
Yes, it was that time again on Tuesday in the Zappos offices...with the new season of the much-beloved talent competition back on the air, we had to roll out another chance for our Zappos Jukebox Heroes to strut their stuff with Zappos Idol karaoke!
Many tunes filled the air and some beautiful voices graced us during the lunch-hour here in the Vegas offices. We actually karaoke a lot here, even in Kentucky. In the warehouse, there is actually a stage set up at all times for Rock Band and Karaoke! It's just another way that we love to let our employees show those hidden talents.
Can't wait for next round!
Things were a Rockin’ at the MGM, inside the Studio 54 and Game Works last Saturday. Since December is such a busy month for Zappos, we have our holiday party in January. I went around Monday Morning and asked people of various departments what they liked most about the event this year . Here are some of their responses!
“It was really good to see all the people I haven’t seen in a while” -Erin H.
“The Music and Dancing!” - Jenn S.
“Just Having a good time with Co-workers” -Jon. D
“Drinks, Good time with co-workers, and generally just how the bar was laid out.” -Derek F
“Seeing everybody in their Glad Rags ” –Katrina J.
“I don’t remember much” -undisclosed
“Seeing everybody Dressed up and Pretty”- Joanna C.
“Lots of Fun and Dancing!” –Lauren C.
If you could’nt tell by the short responses, everyone was very eager to get back to work!! Rock on team!!
Thank you Rosanna V. for the images!!
Today, Christina C. in the CLT department treated her team to Manggong Cake, Treat Bags, Chinese Food and…. MONEY?! You Heard right, Christina’s team is celebrating Chinese New Year, which is her 2nd favorite Holiday! Her Row is adorned with Chinese Lanterns, Good Luck Drawings and those sweet Gift Bags pictured below.
The date of this widely celebrated holiday is always changing, and is marked by one of 12 Animals . For instance, next year will be the year of the Tiger, and will land on Feb 10th, 2010. In China, the Chinese New Year is referred to as “Spring Festival” , and is celebrated between the Fall Harvest and Spring Planting season.
Here's to Embracing other Cultures!!
Better known as the Zappos Winter Bash 2009!
I have been to three Zappos holiday parties since being with the company, and I have to say Thank you Zappos for the best KY holiday party yet! It was so cold outside, but way hot inside the Horseshoe Casino in Indiana. It was so much fun! I couldn't even begin to put into words how awesome it was! From the huge Ice bar to the beautiful decorations, the dancers, and all the in between...drinks!
Thank You!
Here is what a few of my co workers had to say about the party as well:
"I didn’t realize this until after I had left but the entire bar was made of Ice. Had it entirely melted, that would have been astonishing. I feel next party we should combine a sort of ice/glacier theme and get a live polar bear or at least Viking dancers--All in all, a great party and lots of fun!"--Jon B.
"As Juvenile banged 'Back That Thang Up' over the speakers, after the 4th shot of rum settled uneasily in my battleground of a stomach, before spilling my bourbon and coke on an innocent bystander, I had a thought… 'This is really fun'"-Kyle S.
“The Zappos party warmed my heart. Though it was a bitter cold night, the ever flowing tequila shots, Merlot, and puffs of ham and cheese brought a warmth over me that won’t be replaced until the next Zappos Holiday Party.”-Erin R.
What did you think of the holiday party?
(Thanks to Angela T for the photo!)
This week in the world of Zappos sandwich making, we return to the totally awesome sandwich board and converse with the creator of the “Toasted BBQ Beef”. With the experimentation of Toasters, Microwaves and BBQ sauce in the Zappos Break Room, this Sensible, yet delicious sandwich was born.
Most of us don’t want to spend too much time making a sandwich, But Max M. reassuringly states that it can be created and consumed in less than 15 minutes!
How to make it:
-While lightly toasting your bread, melt roast beef and Swiss cheese in the Microwave for about 25 seconds.
-Place the perfectly melted cheese and roast beef combo onto a slice of toasted bread, and add BBQ sauce.“Mayo is optional”
-Place other warm and toasty bread slice on top and enjoy!
-This is a perfect example of BBQ sauce being used to make the world a tastier place!
Thank you Max M. for keeping it real!!!!
January 21st was “Twins day” at the Zappos corporate offices here in Henderson, NV! Members of several departments “Doubled up” to embrace our culture, and each other's similarities! We would like to thank everyone who participated!
Twins day is just another way we show each other that we not only appreciate working together, but also like to call one another the night before and ask what they will be wearing! Not that we do that often....well, actually....
The week of January 5 through January 10th was a mighty crazy week for the Help Desk Team. While the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) brings thousands of folks to Las Vegas, it also brought a few people through Zappos. During that week the Help Desk had a grand total of 109 shuttle runs and 42 tours!! 38 of those 109 shuttle runs were done in one day.
Right smack dab in the middle of the week was the merch quarterly recognition happy hour and a party hosted by Zappos and Intel... Both of these parties were done on the same night :) It was definitely one of the busiest weeks that I have seen while working here! By the end of the week I think that we were all a little delirious! Thanks to everyone who helped the help desk with all of the tours!
Well, not exactly. Recently, MetLife, the insurance giant, visited our offices in order to offer our employees their services. And they brought along hundreds of little Snoopy stuffed animals to give away. (He is their mascot, as you may know)
And being the nice people that they are at Metlife, they decided to leave a huge amount of them behind to hand out to Zappos employees that didn't get to visit them while they were here.
So our Help Desk sent out an email at 11:28 AM, letting everyone know that there were a huge box of the canine dolls in the front lobby. And, by 11:32, they were gone! It's definitely a childhood love for us...we all love Peanuts!
Thanks Metlife!!!
The Help Desk Team wants to give a big shout out and warm welcome to Dory D.!! Dory comes to the help desk via the Safari Outlet by way of Willows, California.... Dory started with Zappos in our very first warehouse/retail store.
She joins the Help Desk to lead the services team and we are so excited to have her with us! Dory is mama to two Labradors, Tess & Suzie, she is also an avid volleyball player and swimmer. Her favorite foods are brussel sprouts,ice cram and pizza... hopefully not all together :)
She grew up on an actual ranch, where her family raised beef cattle. Of the many hats that she has worn in her life, Dory also taught high school English and Art, as well as coached girls volleyball for 6 years. Whew!! We are so juiced to have Dory at the help desk with us!!
You may remember Terry I. from a past episode of Things On My Desk, Well, now he has a lot more things on his desk thanks to co-workers Robert P., Jennifer G., and Alison C. They really wanted to give him a white birthday this year, so they wrapped his keyboard, mouse, mouse pad, chair, monitors, scanner, and pretty much his whole desk in white paper. Then, to top if off, they made it nearly impossible for him to reach his desk this morning by making a web of streamers and yarn around his work space.
What a great present guys. I'm sure unwrapping his desk is just what he's always wanted for his birthday!
The Ultimate Meltdown
Created By: Cheese-A-Holic
Demonstrated By: Tiffany G.
This weeks sandwich featured on our Totally Awesome Sandwich Board is a ham, turkey and four kinds of cheese melt known as, "The Ultimate Meltdown." Now this sandwich is not joking around when it comes to cheese. For the days when you're craving comfort food, I recommend turning to this bad boy and give mac and cheese a rest.
Here's how this beast is made:
- Toast Bread (calls for white, but really,anything goes)
- Spread mayonnaise on one side and mustard on the other
- On the mayonnaise side: add ham, shredded cheese and american cheese
- On mustard side: add turkey, swiss and provolone
- place in microwave or toaster oven until cheese is nice and melted
- Combine slices for "The Ultimate Meltdown"
She's at it again. Rosalind S. baked the most sinfully delicious snickerdoodle cookie sandwiches I've ever tasted! She wasn't able to make 100 (like she usually does with cupcakes) so she's picking people at random in order to hand them all out.
And since these are worth baking at home, here's secret recipe:
1 pack of sugar cookies
4 table spoons of sugar
2 table spoons of cinnamon
Roll the sugar cookie into 1 inch balls
Mix the sugar and cinnamon together then roll the sugar cookie in the mixture
Place on a baking sheet and bake at the temperature and time given on the package of the sugar cookie
The FILLING
1 pack of cream cheese soft
4 table spoons of honey
2 table spoons of cinnamon
Mix the cream cheese, honey and cinnamon with a mixer until blended well
Now you can make your sandwiches!!!!
On Wednesday, the whole company got a very weird email, our very own J.D. CC'ed the entire company on an email meant for one. What was a small mistake actually turned into a bit of funny business for the rest of us.
J.D. is in our IT department and he inadvertently carbon copied the whole company to let us know about a token that needed to be replaced. We have a special way of recognizing those who reply to all here at Zappos.com, we make some noise, have them put on a special hat and take a picture, then to top it all off we write a blog to let others know.
Technically, one might say that this is not a true 'Reply-all', but the effect was the same.
This is all done in good fun and it is a way that we build a positve team & family spirit...as well as keeping our email servers working :)
It’s T-minus 6 hours before the annual Zappos Holiday party and the whole Photo department is abuzz in anticipation. I’ve already been stopped repeatedly by some of the other guys in the department wanting to know if I’ll be “suiting-up” for tonight’s festivities. First-timers are asking questions relating to the cornucopia of food Zappos will be providing and whether or not there will be a coat-check. But the most interesting notation came as I walked past one of our studio bays on my way to the break room. As I strode past I heard music playing and the vocal count, “One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.” Peering inside I discovered that Amanda, Katie, April, and Tracy were rehearsing for their big Thriller performance.
I’m not sure how it came about, but during one of our start-ups this week someone had questioned what kind of dances everyone would be doing. Answers ranged from the “stanky-leg”, to “the microwave”, to “the Thriller”. It was at that point that Amanda offered to teach anyone who was interested the Thriller with step-by-step instructions. Keeping true to her word she and the girls took some extra time from their lunch to rehearse. Judging by how high they jumped after turning around (and seeing me with camera in hand) I can honestly say that they didn’t expect an audience. Looks good ladies, and I can’t wait for your debut tonight!!
Written by Dan C.
Happy New Year Everybody!
It's Danielle from the Casual Lifestyle Content Team. I administer an event at our bi-weekly content meetings called Super Awesome Descriptions. The entire team nominates descriptions that are super awesome and I choose the creme de la creme (super awesome description of the week) to read and applaud in the meeting. A description is considered "super awesome" when it informs, romances, excites, and ultimately wows the reader. Yesterday at our first content meeting of 2009 I unveiled the 1st annual Super Awesome Description Award of Excellence awards ceremony. All of the super awesome description of the week winners were presented with a spiffy award to post at their desk or frame and hang above their fireplace! Twelve content coordinators received the award.
Here are some of the super awesome descriptions (prepare yourself for greatness):
http://www.zappos.com/n/p/p/7464321.html - written by Angela C.
http://www.zappos.com/n/p/p/7423902.html - Amanda W.
http://www.zappos.com/n/p/p/7485405.html - Hannah E.
http://www.zappos.com/n/p/p/7387650.html - Mike F.
http://www.zappos.com/n/p/p/7485977.html - Andrew N.
Here's to more super awesome descriptions in 2009 - happy writing!
Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/Zappos_satiricd
The Zappos culture is not only about servicing the customer, but is very much about the employee and helping them to not only become great Zapponians, but also to become the best people that they can be.
We even have an in-house coach here at Zappos, Dr. Vik, who's daily blog can be read here. And every year, he compiles the Vision Planner, and every employee is supplied with one. The planner not only serves as a calendar, but as a goal-setting tool, full of tips, quotes and note entries that all reflect the Zappos culture and values.
And now, these wonderful tools are being offered to everyone! Go here to purchase the Zappos 2009 Vision Planner. We love to share all of the knowledge and wisdom of our Coach and our culture with the world.
Get one today!
Just in case you forgot about our totally awesome sandwich board in the lunchroom, we're going to start posting the sandwich of the week on our blogs so that all of our readers and Zapponians who forget to look at the board can join in in our sandwich making fun.
This week's Sandwich is an oldie but goodie. The name "Just Like Ma's" and it's a toasted peanut butter and jelly sandwich that's guaranteed to bring nostalgic flash backs and warm you up on a cold winter day.
How to make it:
Toast two pieces of bread (I'm a sourdough bread fan myself).
Spread peanut butter on the bread and watch as it melts into pure gooey goodness.
Then you take the jelly and you spread it on the other piece of bread or on top of the Peanut butter.
Now enjoy!
You see, I told you this one takes you back to grade school.
And thank you Terra E. for demonstrating how to make the sandwich of the week!
Zappos.com today announces the offering of a limited edition “Cease and Desist” service and t-shirt designed exclusively for Zappos.com and available at http://www.zappos.com/50k
The rare collector’s item comes with a hefty price tag of $50,000 and a guarantee by Zappos to permanently disable a significant other’s Zappos.com account for life. In addition, the “Cease and Desist” t-shirt will be personally hand-delivered by a member of the Zappos Customer Loyalty Team. The hand-delivery service is yet another illustration of Zappos’ commitment to providing the ultimate customer experience.
The limited edition t-shirt is being introduced in early 2009 due to the tsunami of calls received in 2008 by the Zappos Customer Loyalty Team from spouses of loyal customers lamenting that the web site was causing relationship and financial strains.
"As a customer service-focused organization, we receive hundreds of suggestions from our customers on a daily basis for new product and service offerings. The 'Cease and Desist' t-shirt and service was conceptualized and produced after conducting comprehensive consumer market research and careful analysis of our customers' needs," said Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.com. "We are confident that any buyer of the t-shirt and service will be 100% satisfied with the purchase. More importantly, we will be satisfied with the $50,000 that we receive and the relationships we save."
Some of Zappos’ top customers spend well over $10,000 annually. The purchase of this limited edition t-shirt gives the buyer peace of mind in knowing his/her significant other will never be able to shop at Zappos.com again. It is the quintessential gift that keeps on giving.
The limited edition shirt is available in five colors and choices suitable for wife, husband, girlfriend, boyfriend or “it’s complicated”. Additional information can be found at http://www.zappos.com/50k
It's the thought that counts, right? Well, even though it was a thoughtful gift, that doesn't mean that you have to keep it.
Turn in all your unwanted gifts this season to Human Resources and they will give you a ticket that you may redeem for another unwanted gift from a fellow employee.
Hey, you already got the thought you wanted, now get the gift you want. But you better get on this because the gift exchange is officially over January 7th.
Here at Zappos.com we love books, or should I say, we love free books. If you have had the chance to tour our office, then you know what I'm talking about. We like to keep employees and visitors up to speed in a wide range of topics from marketing, business, creativity, wine tasting, etc., so we stock up a library in the front of both of our buildings for everyone to take and read whatever they please.
Now these books don't stock themselves and for that we have our very own Joanna C. to thank. So thank you Jo Jo for keeping our library in tip-top shape and for making me feel like I'm stealing a book whenever I go to grab one, regardless of the fact that they are, well, FREE.
You Rock Jo!
Oh, that Tony Hsieh. He knows that no New Years would be complete without a limited edition Zappos.com "pencil holder" (as our legal department would say) or a "measuring glass" (as Grandma calls it), but this New Years gift really can be used for all types of things. I'm gonna try to put some liquid in it, just for kicks.
Happy New Year, One And All!
