Our Finance Team at Zappos are quite a great bunch, and the Random Acts of Kindness award that they give to two employees every week proves that fact!

Our blog man, Jason C., happened to be on hand for their parade and presentation this week, and he caught it all on camera! Take it away, Finance!

We love to have fun at Zappos, and sometimes it's at the expense of others :) We have a special new way of recognizing those that reply to all. We now honor that person with a parade and an awesome hat!

Yesterday, our very own Cathy T. made that error and with a quick click of her mouse, replied to all. So today we busted out the new hat, the noisemakers and the Zapponians and honored her with a parade! Cathy was a good sport about wearing the hat and participating in the parade, thanks Cathy for helping to create fun and a little weirdness!

Our wonderful Finance team greets unsuspecting employees each Thursday with the "Random Acts of Kindness" award. They gather the entire team and parade through the office buildings spreading joy (and gift cards!!) to employees across all departments.

I caught up with Michelle S., one of the lucky recipients, to see how the "Random Act of Kindness" inspired joy in her life.



Question: What is your favorite Random Act of kindness that you do for others?

Michelle: " If you walk in or out a door while I’m around, I’ll hold the door open for you."

Question: What "Random Act of Kindess" do you think could change the world if everyone did it?

Michelle: "If everyone covered their mouth after sneezing it would change the world."

Question: What is your favorite core value?

Michelle: "Do more with less."

Question: How did you feel when you received the award?

Michelle: "Amazing!"

Question: Did you wear the hat around all week?

Michelle: "No. I actually gave the hat to someone else
to wear. She loved it!"

Question: Name 5 things that make you happy

Michelle: "Pancakes, Rain, Traveling, Wi-Fi and Dry Humor."

Today is the day of the Smurf here at Zappos! The halls of our offices were invaded by dozens of Smurfs just after lunch. Word has it that the Kids team was responsible for the random act of Smurf but no one will confirm for sure. ?:|



Not only did the Smurfs steal the attention of every department here, they also overhauled the Zappos Core Values! Find a few words of the wise from the creatures in blue below:

1. Deliver SMURF through service
2. Embrace and drive SMURF
3. Create SMURF and a little SMURFiness
4. Be SMURF, SMURF, and SMURF
5. Pursue SMURF and SMURF
6. Build SMURF and honest SMURF with SMURF
7. Build a positive SMURF and family SMURF
8. Do more with SMURF
9. Be passionate and SMURF
10. Be SMURF

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!

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!!!

We had another training class graduate today. Everyone at Zappos goes through the CLT training program and learns firsthand how to WOW the Zappos way. It provides a shared experience for us all and keeps us grounded to the importance of our customers. I went though it almost a year ago and I had a great time. Our training department is simply superb.

Here's a picture and a YouTube clip of the new graduates on their traditional parade. Yeah, I got a little misty.



Congratulations to the new graduates!