You Can Judge a Book By Its Cover!!!!

1/5/11 3:00 pm Boston, MA Wow Thing

When I called Zappos I was greeted by an automated greeting and was given 4 choices - 1 to place an order; 2 for general questions; 3 for returns; and 5 for the "Joke of the Day" - so of course, I picked 5. Two Zappos employees tell this joke: Jeff: "Hey, Kerri: What do snow men eat for lunch?" Kerri: "I don't know Jeff what do snow men eat for lunch?" Jeff: "Ice burgers!!!" Then they laugh hysterically. We know in his book, Tony talks about having fun in the workplace and I thought this was a great example of how he combines work and play.

I spoke with Megan who is a three month employee with Zappos. I told her about the reason for my call, our mission and what we have been doing for the last few weeks with the book. She hasn't read it yet, but at the end of our conversation she said she is running to get a copy! She loves her job; says that the environment is like "one big happy family". There is a hierachy, and the supervisors and managers are very approachable. When a new person comes on board for the first few weeks the new people and a few of the supervisors meet for a "Soup to Nuts" session where they spend time getting to know each other, ask any questions, play games and have a few laughs. She said the environment is very creative - if you have ideas you can freely bring them up. She says they have tours every single day and invited Career TEAM for a tour. I asked her if Tony takes phone calls and she wasn't sure if he did, but she did give me his e-mail (it's also in the book - ceo@zappos.com). She says that he does have a small group of people review the e-mails and he responds to them. She said that today was a "Bistro Day". Bistro is what they call their lunch room. Everyday there is lunch provided, snacks, soups, salads, stuff to make sandwiches and that is all free. If you wanted a hot lunch it is $3.00. On Bistro Day, the hot lunch is free and it is served by Tony from 12:00-1:00. It was just high noon when I was speaking with Megan so I knew I wouldn't be able to pursue trying to get transferred to him. But she did say that she is going to let him know about Career TEAM and we are "fans" and his book has been a study as we are defining our culture and core values.

I was really excited to speak with her as I loved the book. I thought the book was a very easy read, an entertaining book - it was a story and I couldn't wait to get to the next chapter to find out - so speaking with her brought these characters truly to life for me. And I was not disappointed in what I found out - and that is that Zappos culture as described in the book is real. The culture is fun, creative, approachable and inclusive.

Sue, thanks for this opportunity and I think this last mission especially was truly inspiring. Didn't realize how inspiring it was going to be until I started speaking with Megan. I just wish I had the opportunity to speak with Tony, but hey, maybe I'll try again!!!!