Oktoberfest: it's synonymous with FUN! The sheer mention of that glorious German word conjures images of beer & babes that dance in the heads of people all over the world.

At Zappos, we do things a little differently. Our beer ended up being root beer candies we politely chucked at passing coworkers, and our "babes"... well, you'll just have to check them out for yourself!

Who doesn't love arts & crafts??

(First of all, that was a rhetorical question for all you naysayers!) :p

Well, apparently, craft activities are extremely stressful for some people. As long as you're able to let go of your inner perfectionistic critic, though, they can be a fun-tastic outlet for creativity!

The training team was all set & psyched to go race cars at Pole Position (with Ray A. threatening to put Loren B. "into the wall," of course).

Unfortunately, this off-site team building event had to be cancelled due to the busy week we were having. :( But, thanks to Renee N. and Marcela G., we were still able to spend some quality time together and build something for all to enjoy! :)

It definitely wasn't easy, though. First, the rest of the training team was called into a room under pretenses of having a meeting (about what, we didn't have a clue, though we were all suspicious). Mysterious graphs leered at us from a stand at the front of the room, and there was a wheel to the left with each of our names on it. "We will spin the wheel and the person whose name it stops on will give us their ideas for the direction the team will be taking over the next year," we were instructed.

Just when everyone was about ready to start hyperventilating (our Boss Lady especially!), the offending graphs were pulled aside to reveal a box of clay tiles and paints, and trays of yummy snacks appeared on the side tables.

"SURPRISE!! We're having a team building event today regardless!"

Relieved as we were to not be having that meeting, most of us were still stressed out about what to paint on our respective tiles. But once we stopped over-thinking it and remembered how to let loose and be a big kid again, our imaginations poured out onto the tiles through our little plastic paintbrushes.

Renee and Marcela even took them to be glazed and fired for us, and they came out beautifully!



Soon we will be building a "wall" with the tiles for all to see and enjoy when they come visit us over in the training area. Look for a new entry coming to a blog near you! ;)

As most people know by now, at Zappos.com we like to promote fun and a little weirdness (core value #3). So, since that particular core value is the Core Value of the Month for July, we decided to host a Sadie Hawkins dance, of sorts, on the 23rd.

No dancing was really expected to occur; the basic idea was to ask someone else to be your dress-up buddy for the day and come to work in matching clothes to take silly pictures. During the week before the event, there was obviously buzzing around the office about who was going to dress up like whom and what people were going to wear. But, for the deviously creative people in the training department, the real fun started with a simple email.

We've all done it at some point: you're reclining back in your desk, you take a sip of your caffeinated drink of choice, and you casually begin to compose a new email message to your buddy about some event or cheeky joke of the day that you're currently musing over. You start to type in their email address and, lo and behold, your super high-tech email program auto-populates it for you. You hit "Send."

Shortly after hearing the jeers and giggles of your coworkers start like a wave around the building, you double check your sent folder. Oh SNAP!

One of our Zappos family members inadvertently sent an email out to the whole company asking if a particular person wanted to dress up in matching Social D shirts with jeans and white shoes for Sadie day. The training team got such a kick out of this that we schemed to create matching "Social D" shirts and don them for Sadie day in honor of our muse, the email's sender (and to create a positive team & family spirit through laughter, of course). The sender actually loved our idea so much that she even personally autographed our shirts, and even the Zappos Mayor (Mr. Jerry T., helpdesk manager extraordinaire) joined in the fun!



As far as the rest of the event went, in true Zappos spirit, there were some fabulously creative costumes: a giant pair of handcuffs, two aspiring Guitar Heroes, and even Dog the Bounty Hunter and his--ahem--rather bosomy wife, Beth. All three actually won prizes, including Most Original for the handcuffs, Cutest Couple for the Guitar Heroes, and Most Creative for the dynamic bounty hunting duo.

I am humbly proud to say, though, that the training team did get an honorable mention... ;)