Todd's Blog, originally posted here:
http://www.sitelead.com/blog/zappos-live-chat/2009/06/01
I'll let him tell the story.

Zappos is known for service…and for letting their service agents “be themselves”. I put this to the test tonight and threw a curveball or two at the guy helping me in a Live Chat. I used the name “Timmy” as my alias and asked a totally random question about a random product. See actual chat log below. Zappos rocks! I could not even make this stuff up, I swear.
–
You are now chatting with Jonathan
Jonathan: Hello Timmy. How can I help you?
Timmy: do you know how wide the G-Shock Atomic Solar - AWG101 SKU #7403774 is?
Timmy: i mean, how big a wrist it would fit?
Timmy: Timmy has a big fat wrist
Timmy: Timmy need watch grande
Jonathan: I’ll see what I can find out for Timmy.
Timmy: awesome. and can we please continue to talk about Timmy in the 3rd person? Timmy likes to boost Timmy’s ego by talking about Timmy that way
Jonathan: Jonathan would be happy to neglect the use of pronouns for the duration of this conversation.
Timmy: Jonathan and Timmy shall get along just fine
Jonathan: Will Timmy be able to measure Timmy’s wrist?
Timmy: Timmy’s wrist is big, but not Biggie-Smalls big. Timmy doesn’t have the required measurement instruments.
Timmy: Timmy is 6′4″ 220lbs if that helps Jonathan
Jonathan: Luckily, that is roughly the size of Jonathan’s brother, so that does help.
Jonathan: Jonathan thinks that this watch will work out well for Timmy. The watch’s circumference is 9 inches, so it will probably fit around Timmy’s wrist.
Timmy: Ok cool
Timmy: Do your watches and stuff have free return shipping like your Zapatos?
Timmy: in case Timmy wants another one or something
Jonathan: And if it doesn’t work out, as long as the watch is in its original condition and in the original packaging, Timmy has 365 days to return Timmy’s order. We will even pay for the return shipping! As always, our shipping to Timmy will be free.
Timmy: Timmy thanks Jonathan for good help
Jonathan: Jonathan welcomes Timmy.
Jonathan: It’s Jonathan’s pleasure!
Jonathan: Can Jonathan do anything more for Timmy?
Timmy: no that is all timmy needs
Timmy: timmy happy
Jonathan: Good. Does Timmy have an account se up with Zappos yet?
Jonathan: Jonathan will upgrade Timmy’s account.
Timmy: yes timmy is repeat shopper
Timmy: but “Timmy” is my alter ego and not my actual name
Jonathan: Well, what is “Timmy’s” email address? I’ll hook you up.
Timmy: Timmy has placed orders using txxxxxx@gmail.com in the past
Jonathan: Alright TODD!
Jonathan: :)
Jonathan: I’m going to upgrade your account to VIP status! This will ensure that all future orders go out with 1-business day shipping free of charge!
Just place your future orders at http://vip.zappos.com.
Timmy: Timmy Likey!
Jonathan: Good. Good…
Jonathan: Let Jonathan know if there is anything else that Jonathan can do for Timmy.
Timmy: Ok, Timmy ok now. Timmy time to go shopping!
Jonathan: Have fun!

Our CLT Team North America (aka Team Canada and friends) decided to remind Zappos how proud they are to be serving our Canadian/US customers today.
At 12:30 on Tuesday, led by their fearless leader Derek C., the team departed for a parade around the office. Dressed as Canadian Mounties, and sporting some fresh captures, the group made their way through the 2280 building triumphantly. At each stop, the team proudly delivered a loud cadence to let everyone in the general vicinity know to pay attention!

Thanks for writing, Drew G.!

Several Outdoor Brands attended our Outdoor Expo at our offices in Henderson, NV yesterday to help educate our team members on new and upcoming styles. Expos such as these allow our Customer Loyalty representatives, as well as other employees to understand how the items we carry on the website are sized, manufactured and designed. Our Customer Loyalty team strives to pursue growth and learning, as well as stay on top of the coolest styles. Big Thanks to the Scheduling team for organizing the flow throughout the day, and allowing everyone in our awesome CLT department to attend!

Over drinks and Karaoke at a Zappos Customer Loyalty Happy Hour, we discuss what CLT means to us.

John D. Is known around the office for having a love for the outdoors, an obsession with rock music and is rumored to have wrestled alligators as one of his first jobs. Lets take a look at his desk to see what kind of cool stuff he has to show us.

William has an entire wall full of items he has received from co-workers, and things he has collected in the past. Check out all the knick-knacks on his desk.

The Canadian Team here at decided that it would be a grand team building event to have a Boys V. Girls egg drop (kinda like what we did in our grade school science fairs).

Materials:
20 popsicle sticks
10 cotton balls
10 straws
10 rubber bands
5 pipe cleaners
2 ft of tape
2 ft of string
small piece of cardboard
scissors
glue

Left over materials will be given out at the discretion of Chairman Jesse and Grand Overseer Aria.

Rules: No material can be glued to the egg. The outside of the egg may not be altered in any way. Your apparatus must be easily opened to inspect the condition of the egg after each drop. Should your egg be broken during the building process, you are automatically disqualified, although you can help the other teams should they decide to let you.

Teams have 15 minutes to brainstorm an idea for their apparatus. After the 15 minutes have elapsed, teams have 45 minutes to build their design. Drops will start at an unimpressive 4 ft. After that, they will go to 6 ft, 8ft, and 10 ft. Once your egg breaks, you are out. The top two teams will win first and second prizes respectively.

Play by play: Both teams survived the 4ft drop with ease. The 6 ft
drop, however, had the girls' egg smashed and broken. The guys' egg
survived the 6ft drop, but the 8 ft drop proved fatal. The men were
declared the victor of this match. The competition was fierce, and the
stakes were high. Everyone gave their all, and we all had a lot of fun.

Teams:
Andre Narcesse, Drew Gaines, Jesse Cabaniss (winners)
Sarah Hardgrove, Porsha Pressler, Kim Noret (also winners, but they lost the egg drop)

That Abbie Morris, a Lead in our fabulous CLT department, owns 15 pairs of slippers? Neither did I, and I find it both scary and interesting at the same time. Abbie also owns 40, yes FORTY, bandannas WOW! In an effort to keep this on one page, today we will focus on Abbie's slippers, though I cannot wait to spend some time focusing on the mass of bandannas that she sports. Abbie likes to create fun and a little weirdness with stats like these:

1.She will proudly go shopping in her slippers (like a hobo).

2.She has been addicted to slippers for all her life.

3.Her sister is worse than her (wow, I didn't know weirdness like this runs in the family).

4.It drives their mom crazy (big surprise there).

5.She is impulsively driven to buy them. . . if she likes them, they are hers, even if that means skipping an actual bill that needs to be paid (now THAT is an obsession).



I couldn't put this stuff into better words myself, so now I will share what Abbie herself has to say about this blatant craziness.

“A few years ago I could be defined as the girl who had a pair of slippers and a bandanna to match EVERY outfit. It I didn't, I simply wouldn't wear it. I own over 40 bandannas and probably 15 pair of slippers. I used to have a lot more but I've worn them out. That reminds me, I really need to get some more. My favorite pair has to be my Ohio State slippers that I purchased at Zappos.com (shameless plug). I'm from Ohio and my grandfather played for Ohio State so naturally I have to represent! Aside from those I have Marvin the Martian, Ugg, Old Friend, Acorn, long haired multi-colored (with and without sparkle silver accents), slipper socks of all kinds, solid colors in black, red, blue, and off white, Ohio State(used to have UC), and countless others that I couldn't begin to name!”

Wow, what an adventure! Please enjoy the three pictures we have included that show Abbie with three of her favorite pairs of slippers, the Marvin the Martian slippers, multi-colored with sparkle accents, and her Ohio State slippers. Abbie, we hope your Ohio State slippers don't run into my Siena slippers, I wouldn't want there to be an upset.

At Zappos.com, we try to continuously find ways of doing more with less. This week we take a look at the signs above everyone's desk and our way of utilizing what we have available – it also shows off a little of our quirky personality.Take a look !

In this second edition of the Interview, our CLT Department Spotlight, we take a closer look at Danika J..

Danika has been with the company since January of 2008 and has been on our Order Verification team since July of 2008. Danika is part of the Rdesk / OV mixed use row we like to call “OR” or “RV”. Her favorite words are “dive”, “mine”, and “meow”, usually in that order, unless preceeded by three “dives”. All I can suggest is don't ask questions. Now, withour further adieu, I present Danika J.!!



1. If you were in The Breakfast Club which one would you be? The Jock, The Brain, The Princess, The Criminal, or the Basketcase?
The Basketcase, hands down! Freaking people out is more fun than a barrel of monkeys (no offense to all the barrel-dwelling monkeys)

2. Is it okay for guys to wear pink?
If Don Johnson can pull it off, any man can. It’s the 21st century, anything is possible.

3. Tom or Jerry?
Hanna-Barbera cartoons really aren’t my thing. I’d have to go with Jerry; he’s better looking, very clever and not as hairy.

4. What “bad habit” would you gladly keep if it weren't socially unacceptable to do so?
Cracking my knuckles, back and feet

5. If you could describe Zappos in three words, what would they be?
Shoes, shoes, shoes

6. What sauce do you dip your chicken nuggets into?
Sauce is for wussies. I prefer my chicken nuggets naked!

7. If you didn't have to work, what would you do?
travel, dance, party and repeat

8. What is the deal with I before E?
I wish I knew. But I do know this – there is no “I” in T-E-A-M. Any questions?

9. What magazines to you subscribe to?
TV Guide, it’s cheaper than TV

10. When was the last time you wrote a letter to someone on paper?
I had to write a resignation letter for a part time job at one of the local libraries that I worked at as a college sophomore.

11. What is your idea of fun?
A road trip to the middle of nowhere, to party all night!

12. What is one thing that not a lot of people know about you, but you wished more people could know?
I can sing karaoke that rocks the house, and I absolutely love to dance

13. If you could have one superpower, what would it be?
Telepathy, so I would be the master of finishing everyone’s sentences....mwahaha!!

14. Do you have a pet? If so, do you speak to it and what kind of things do you say to it? (If it is in “pet language” spell it out as best you can)
If you’re referring my real life pet dogs, and NOT my imaginary pet sea monkey, I say “Awww my fuzzy wuzzy sweet pea cutie pie”.

15. Where would you bury a hidden treasure?
How do you bury treasure that’s already hidden? Seriously though, wherever Jack Sparrow would go hide treasure, that would be it.

Jessica enjoys delivering great customer service as well as Frolicking, world peace and Frozen fudge pops. We get to know Jessica a little better by asking her the tough questions, as well as some easy ones as well. Do you think Zappos Customers enjoy Hamburgers and Cookies as much as we do?

The Zappos Customer Loyalty Wow Team is saving Pop Tops for a good cause in this week's segment of Do More with Less! For the next Few Months they will have Containers set up in the Lunchroom for Employees to throw their Gently used Pop Tops in so they can be donated to the Nevada Childhood Cancer Foundation! Customer Loyalty Wow Team member Jonathan W. explains.

Did You Know . . . ?

That Corina Craig, representing our fabulous CLT Department, owns 15, yes FIFTEEN, pairs of pajama bottoms? I didn't either and I find it both scary and interesting all at the same time. Corina loves to create a little weirdness with statistics like these:

1. These are only bottoms people, apparently pajama tops do not hold that special place in her heart like the bottoms do.
2. She can recite each pair that she owns from memory.
3. She never wears them to bed (and she owns them why??)
4. She hates pajama capris (interesting).
5. 99% of the time she wears them with a Hollister hoddie and a pair of Chucks (I can attest to this).



Now, I couldn't let Corina go without her reciting the list for me and I know all of you are curious to know exactly what design is on each pair, so here we go:

1. Men's red with the Trix bunny.
2. White with 3 penguins in a row.
3. Baby blue with penguins that have scarves wrapped around their necks (love the detail).
4. Red, burgundy, and silver plaid.
5. White, pink, and plaid.
6. Pink, red, and white vertical stripes.
7. Gray with “Aero” written in green.
8. Gray with “Aero” written in pink.
9. Pink and green with white polka dots.
10. Pink and green with “Hollister” written in yellow.
11. Green with “Hollister” written in yellow.
12. Orange with “Holister” written in pink.
13. Pink, yellow, and white vertical stripes.
14. Gray with “Hollister” written in turquoise (Nice job remembering a vague color!!)
15. Blue with white and green polka dots.

Wow, what an adventure! We now will leave you with three pictures of Corina in a few of her favorite pairs of pajama bottoms. Join us next week to find out how many pairs of slippers Abbie Morris owns; I know, we can't wait for that one either.

Welcome to the all new Customer Loyalty “The Interview”. In an effort to showcase our wonderful Zapponians up here in Customer Loyalty, we will be posting a weekly blog interviewing a new person from CLT. The Interviews will be chosen randomly, and the questions will also be random, generated from a list of 100 questions that are both Zappos and non-Zappos related. This will give us all a good all around peak into the lives of our fantastic CLT team members.

For our first installment of “The Interview” our very own Alicia Lo Chirco was chosen. Alicia has been in CLT since January of 2007, so she is a grizzled veteran (don't tell her I called her grizzled). Alicia has been a shade of scallywag and a bit of landlubber at the Resource Desk for the better part of the past year. We love Alicia.

1. Boxers or briefs?
Ummm . . . boxer briefs?

2. What do you do when you lose your passion for something?
If it's like a hobbie, I just stop doing it for a while and usually after some time I will get back into it.

3. Who are your heroes?
My grandma. She is amazing, patient, sweet, and an amazing cook. All the things I aspire to be.

4. What is your favorite piece of clothing?
My new dress. I love it because I bought it while shopping with Jamie N. from HR. I never shop and somehow she managed to convince me to go and I actually had fun, lol!

5. What is your biggest success and why?
My Zappos career is so far my biggest success. I feel challenged every day and because of that I never get bored, which is awesome.

6. Do you have any phobias?
Oh. . . this is a fun list. I am afraid of penguins, heights, falling, driving at night...etc...etc.

7. Do you believe in aliens? Why or why not?
Of course. It would be pretty conceited to think we are the only ones out there.

8. Do you always smile for pictures?
No.. I try to look very metal in pictures. It usually doesn't work. lol.

9. Ranch or blue cheese?
Ranch. Blue cheese smells of feet.

10. If I looked into your refrigerator, what would I find?
Right now, lots and lots of beer (it was just my boyfriend's 21st birthday). There is also some leftovers, eggs, cheese, milk, water, mixers (cranberry juice, cola), and lots of condiments.

11. What was the last book you read?
Last book I finished was Breaking Dawn (the last Twilight book). Right now I am reading A Collection of Demons (and other mythical creatures).

12. Do you think the human race will make it another 200 years?
Eh . . . it's hard to say. Hopefully we will start treating our environment better and stop taking so much for granted. Then, maybe it's possible.

13. If you were approached to come up with a new benefit for Zappos and cost was not a factor, what benefit would you like to see us have?
Discount tattoos...for sure.

14. If you were given the chance to travel to any place and time in the past / present / future when and where would you go and why?
I would probably go back to ancient Rome. I'd want to see the art and sport. What a beautiful time it must have been.

15. Do you miss anyone right now?
I always miss my babes!

Thanks for hanging with us on this inaugural installment of “The Interview”. Visit us again next week for another interview with one of our Customer Loyalty Zapponians!

Zappos is know for doing whatever it takes to help the customer. The Customer Loyalty Team is trained to take the time to make sure the customer's needs are met - no matter how much time it takes.

Jennifer talks about her record for the longest customer call here at Zappos.