Today's Zapponian Spotlight, Beth M., is a ZCLT rep on the graveyard team. So, if you happen to call our customer service lines at night, you just might get Beth helping you on the other line!

We decided to get to know Beth a little bit by asking her a couple of questions:

What brought you to Las Vegas?

B: I was living in Portland, OR and had just lost a job of 8 years. I came here to visit my mom at Thanksgiving, shortly after my Dad had passed away. By the time I left, I decided that there was nothing holding me in Portland, and job opportunities were probably better in Vegas. Plus, I was a little worried about my mom being alone, and I wanted to live closer to her. I moved here in January of 2009, and got hit with the lucky stick by Zappos in August.  Surprisingly, I love it here. I grew up in So Cal, and came here a lot on weekends, but never imagined I'd live here!

What is your favorite musician or band?  

B: I love classic rock, like Santana, the Stones and Eric Clapton. I also love Kid Rock!

What 3 words describe your personality?

B: Silly, off-the-wall, and happy.

What do you like to do for fun?  

B: I'm a home body a lot of the time! I like hanging out with friends, going out to eat, gambling.  I love to garden, too, but all I have is gravel now so everything is in pots.

Working the Graveyard shift means I sleep most of the day, and I'm working when most people are out having fun, like on the weekends.

I really look forward to Zappos events like the awesome picnic we just had because I get a chance to reconnect with my Zappos Family!

What is your favorite core value and why? 

B: #3 - Create Fun and a Little Weirdness!  Anyone who knows me understands why. LOL 

What is your most embarrasing moment?  

B: Actually, not too much embarrasses me. However, I went to a Harvest Festival in Oregon with a friend who was visiting from L.A. There was one of those sling-shot things where you launched a pumpkin and there was a target to hit wayyyy off in the distance.  I was pulling it back really hard for a good launch, when my friend thought it would be a good idea to pull ME back (to help). The minute she pulled me, my feet slipped and I was flat on my back in a pool of mud. When I finally got up, there was a line of people who watched it happen. I was horrified! I had to finish the day walking around with the entire backside of me covered in mud!

Just when we thought last year’s entries for the annual Zappos Peeps Contest couldn’t get any better, this year’s 30 “peeptacular” entries proved us wrong!

In the spirit of Easter bunnies, chicks, marshmallows and all things sugar coated, Zapponians flexed their creative muscles to create some impressive Peeps™ dioramas depicting all kinds of pop culture themes—from Justin Timberlake’s hot new “Suit & Tie” video, to the ubiquitous “Harlem Shake” phenomenon and everything in between!

The grand prize winner went to team S.S. with their ode to the classic Converse Chuck Taylor® All Star® sneakers.

Great job everyone! Can’t wait to see what next spring’s Peeps Contest has in store!

Trish C., a Receiving Exceptions Coordinator, was recently recognized as the recipient of the MOQ (Merchandiser of the Quarter) award for Q4. It is given quarterly to an individual who consistently goes above and beyond what is asked to make everyone's life a little bit easier and a whole lot more awesome.  We caught up with Trish and she shared some thoughts on the award and her shrewd thrifting skills, among other things.  She has a big heart, a warm personality and is a real team player.  It's easy to see why Trish was recognized for the MOQ award!

Congratulations, Trish!  How does it feel to be recognized by your Content peeps?

TC: I love Content!  Each department at Zappos is entwined in some way or another, but I like to think of Content as being one of my closest siblings.  It is such an honor to have them say I’m a superstar!

You are part of a very unique team as a Receiving Exceptions Coordinator.  Can you briefly describe what you do and how it relates to the Content and Merch departments?

TC: Briefly?  Oy.  LOL!  Basically, I communicate very closely with our fulfillment centers to ensure that product that gets stuck in the system somewhere gets resolved as quickly and painlessly as possible.  Product comes in that either wasn’t ordered, doesn’t have a PO (purchase order) attached to it, is the wrong color or isn’t even in our system.  I work with both Content and Merchandising to figure out what it is, why we have it and where it goes.

Share with us the single most crazy-busy day you have experienced so far at Zappos and how you persevered, WOWing those around you.

TC: I am nothing without my Peeps... and the ZCafe!  These are the things that keep me sane.  Crazy-busy day?  With 333 unassigned tickets in our queue, every day is a crazy-busy day!  LOL!

What is the coolest thing you’ve ever acquired from a garage sale?

TC: Probably one of the coolest things I’ve ever gotten at a garage sale would be an electrical insulator bought for $2 that I turned around and sold for $2500!  Wooohoooo!

As a fan of the written word, which book has offered the greatest impact in your life?

TC: The Secret by Rhonda Byrne

Finally, the big question!  NFL quarterback Peyton Manning, actress Alyson Hannigan and actor Steve McQueen all share a birthday with you.  Of these three, whom would you most like to meet and why?

TC: Steve McQueen would be my choice.  He was a great actor, he drove a motorcycle and he starred in epic films like The Blob (1958)!

Zappos is composting! It’s true; we have partnered with A1 Organics to collect and compost the food scraps and paper products that are generated in the Z-Bistro. For the last few months, we have been testing the compost collection system inside the kitchen where food scraps from daily prep are separated and collected for composting. Recently, we extended the reach of the collection to include the leftover food scraps, napkins, and paper plates from the dining room. More than 1,000 meals are served a day - this makes for a lot of scraps!

Just to be clear, we are not composting on-site since we don’t have a worm farm out back (but how cool would that be!). Rather, we are sending our compostable materials to A1’s facility north of Las Vegas. A1 has over 50 acres of land dedicated to making 24,000 tons of mulch and compost a year from the food scraps collected from Zappos, supermarkets and Strip casinos, and green waste from many local landscaping companies and golf courses. After 90 days of processing, the mulch and compost returns to the city and is sold at local nurseries – a great life cycle story.

In typical Zappos style, we had a party to celebrate our composting initiative. The day-long “compost party” featured education from LEAF and A1 Organics and muddy cup treats from the Z-Bistro kitchen team. Mmm, tasty!

Happy Halloween!

Here at Zappos, we sort of have a long-standing tradition of trying to "outscare" and "outprank" each other. So we thought, what better time than Halloween to show you how to properly scare the daylights out of your friends for fun!

The LEAF (Leading Environmental Awareness for the Future) Team is always looking for ways to introduce new eco benefits to our fellow Zapponians. Last week, LEAF set up new, convenient Cell Phone Recycling Centers across our campus. We’re asking employees to clean out that drawer full of old cell phones, power cables, old school pagers, and even Zack Morris cell phones! (We know you have one!) It is time to get rid of that iPhone 1 or Razr you’ve been holding on to.

LEAF has partnered with Newsweek’s #3 Greenest Company in America, Sprint-Nextel, to launch this exciting initiative. Here’s how it works: LEAF collects the devices from employees and Sprint-Nextel recycles the equipment in an environmentally responsible manner. To seal the deal, Sprint-Nextel donates proceeds from the recycled material to a charity of our choice!

Stay tuned for updates about this and other green initiatives here at Zappos HQ!

Make it a safe Halloween for your kids by inspecting their trick-or-treating haul first! Darren shows you how:

Hello, World! I'm Tony, from Michigan (GO BLUE!!!), and I'm pumped to be interning for Zappos this summer.

Here's a photo of me with some of the other Z-Interns!

I'll spend my summer at Zappos coding with the search team in the Website Systems Department.  They're a crazy, tight-knit team that really embodies the company's work hard, play hard mentality.  Search work is both challenging and interesting.  The entire team is extremely supportive, making it a great environment to learn and grow as a computer science student, and as a person.  

This team reeks of Zappos culture. (It's a good smell. Everyone showers, I promise!) During the day we take breaks to crank out some push-ups.  At the end of a day of coding, we take time to challenge the other web systems teams to a game or two of Zing Zong: a Zappos mix of ping pong and volleyball.  The search team also tends to hang out together after work pretty often.  Even though this is a job, it's easier to think of my teammates as my big brothers, rather than co-workers.

Here's to a great summer!

Cheers,
Tony Ghita