Feeling like a hermit crab...

As some of you may know, Will and I are in the process of purchasing a new home over here in Las Vegas.  The loan approval process is always extremely tedious and even the slightest delay or lack of information can send the entire thing into a bottomless pit of underwriters.

This is what I wrote to them...

I called your customer service phone center to request a Pay Off Letter for my home loan process. It is a very common letter and well known by virtually every single financial institution - except CitiBank, apparently. After requesting twice and having the customer service representative misunderstand my intentions, she finally put me on hold to ask someone else what to do. She stated that CitiBank does not offer Pay Off Letters and that I should print out my statement 2 weeks later. As a financial institution, you should understand that Time is of the Essence when it comes to the home mortgage loan approval process. I was able to obtain Pay Off Letters with absolutely zero difficulty or hesitation from Wells Fargo, Discover, and ACS Student Loans. Once I stated this fact to the representative, she consulted with someone who then said I would be receiving a Pay Off Letter shortly.

The call experience was only mildly unpleasant. I was only compelled to write this letter due to the fact that this is the "Pay Off Letter" that I received:  "Dear ALVINA Y ANDRZEJEWSKI: We're confirming that during the past 12 months, your account has been current and not in default under the terms of the Card Agreement."

If you are reading this complaint letter... I hope that you can tell the difference between what I REQUESTED and what I RECEIVED. So, here is my response.

Dear CitiBank: You failed. Thanks for nothing. I officially despise your financial institution for your ineptitude and complete disregard of my needs. I will make sure to tell everyone my experience. Even though that will hardly make a difference, it will still give me greater satisfaction than dealing with your customer service department.

As you might have guessed... I did not receive a response.  Oh well, it doesn't even matter because we totally got our loan approved anyway. *woot woot*  It's not completely finalized yet because the builders just applied for a City Permit to build the home - it's a dirt lot right now.  After the builder gets the nod from the City, then construction will begin and then I think 30 days out we can lock the rate and everything.

We should be able to get the keys to our new beautiful home in the Northwest mountains area of Las Vegas in late June/July.  The neighborhood is called Providence (http://www.providencelv.com).  It's a really nice master planned community with parks & playgrounds, a promenade, trails, big/small dog parks, and an elementary school.  We visited just about every single home builder in the entire Las Vegas basin and looked specifically at 4 neighborhood areas.  I literally felt like Goldilocks... this one's too big, this one's too small, this one's too expensive... too shabby, too many rooms, too few rooms, too confusing layout, too many hallways, too many random closets (ya, that happens here), too far off the freeway, too close to the busy road, etc.  After a lot of extremely careful consideration, we chose this one because of several factors.

Firstly, the geographical location of this neighborhood sits at a much higher elevation than the rest of Las Vegas (really, you go some small stony peaks to get there) so it is actually about 10 degrees cooler there in the summertime compared to the temperature on the Strip.  It's 25 minutes away from the Strip - we did the actual drive to the Caesar's Palace parking structure.  Next, it really was the only floor plan that caught our eye and we could see ourselves living in.  It's 2 stories with 4 bedrooms... more than enough space for us to ever grow into but we added a loft option because it was just a better usage of space - and that brought the total square footage to approximately 2300 sq.ft.  To quote the most annoying book that I began reading as an obligation and now I've ordered the next two in the series... palatial.  (ugh! buy a thesaurus!)  Also, it had a bigger lot size than most of the other models we've seen - which is important because we want an adequately sized driveway AND an adequately sized backyard.  Lastly, it was the most bang for our buck in terms of the features and upgrades that come inside the home.  For instance, the Gourmet Kitchen package is standard... so I'm going to have double wall ovens!!  *Eeeeeeeee*

So, the excitement is certainly beginning but there's still a few months ahead of us before we can move in.  In the meantime, Will and I are leasing a 2-bedroom apartment for four months.  We're going to live at the Camden Fairways apartments... and honestly, it's fancy!  OMG, even the apartments are spacious and impressive out here.  It's over 1000+ sq.ft... that's like unheard of in San Diego without breaking the bank!  So, this will be our luxurious temporary home until we move into our super awesome dream home.  And the best part is that this apartment complex allows up to 2 dogs per unit... so my babies will be coming in 2 weeks!  YAY!!

Valentine'z Day!

So, just when I thought free lunch and beverages were like amaaaaaazing... I got this crazy memo in my email:  Hyundai W. Sahara has come to an agreement to offer EMPLOYEE PRICING to all Zappos employees as well as their friends and family.  There is a "Dedicated Zappos Liaison" at this dealership who serves as a contact for this purpose.  I had looked into getting one of their hybrid cars a while ago when I was on my Smart Car kick... maybe now it will be a more viable option for the future.

And then just when I thought that memo was craaaaaaazy... my sanity got served again like two hours later!  Zappos.com Employees can now buy a car easier than ever before at Henderson Nissan with PICK and PULL PRICING!  We can show our Zappos badge and "pick" a new Nissan, then they will "pull" the invoice and we will pay the dealer's price.  Nissan Leaf was also something I was looking at... hmmm...

I'm definitely not getting a new car for like the next 5 years, so if anyone wants a new Hyundai or Nissan... it would be interesting to see exactly how pimp these employee hookups are.  So, if you don't mind buying a car in Las Vegas and driving it back, let me know!  And if it's totally a sham and sucks, then at least we will have tested it out!

Back to the lunch and beverages... I get free Soup, Salad, and Sandwiches every day.  So far I've tried the following soups:  Mushroom Barley & Beef, Clam Chowder, Chicken Noodle Soup, Tomato Basil, Cheddar Broccoli, Autumn Squash, Chicken & Orzo, and White Bean & Beef.  They were all delicious!  Hot lunches are $3.00 and we always have 3 options to choose from each day, one being vegetarian.  I've only tried 2 dishes: Vegan Falafel and Pork Loin.  I also had the VALENTINE'Z DAY LUNCH SPECIAL... it was $3.00 for Sirloin Steak, $5.00 for Lobster Tail, or $7.00 for Surf & Turf (both).  I had the Lobster Tail w. lemon butter, creamy mashed potatoes, and broccoli.  Heavenly!

Valentine'z Day is pretty awesome at Zappos.  They created a mini-festival with a game booth for raffle prizes, a photo booth w. fun props, one for free valentine's card grams to send to fellow employees, one with delicious berries, and one with PUPPIES!!  Yes!  There were 2 little puppies from a local shelter who needed to be adopted and after spending a day in the arms of doting Zapponians, both of the little guys found new loving homes!  There was also a horse drawn carriage that gave out free rides all day to employees & visitors (we have like 3 tour groups a day or something like that).  Oh, and the awesome love songs being blasted all day long at the festival and the live Boy Band created by a group of team leads dressed up in wild outfits... the video's on my facebook wall.

Anyway, suffice it to say... I have survived Week 2 as well.  I have Monday off since it's a holiday and on Wednesday I'll be taking our infamous New Hire Training Final Exam - 90% to pass... or (you guessed it) termination.  I'm going to study my butt off, don't any of you worry.  Have a great long weekend!!!

Zippidy Doo Dah!

Wow, what a whirlwind!!!  I've officially survived the first week of Zappos New Hire Training.  I say survived only because there are some very, very strict rules about attendance - if you're even ONE MINUTE LATE coming to work, returning from lunch, or returning from a break... you are terminated!  Of course, it's only if you're a slacker and decided willy nilly to be irresponsible and unaccountable...  For example, one of my classmates was over an hour late to work because his brakes suddenly stopped working while he was driving at full speed on the freeway.  Obviously, he was not fired.

 

I preselected my first day's outfit months ago.  I decided to come right out of the gate and display my love for dinosaurs.  The sweater is Zara and I completed the outfit with black skinny jeans and a pair of calf length black boots!  I'm not sure what everyone thought about it but I felt pretty great!!

 

I might have been feeling so wonderful because I was riding high on adrenaline from the excitement of my very first day!!  I met so many awesome people who are all really interesting and unique.  It's neat because every single person who works at Zappos goes through the same Customer Loyalty Training... and they're not lying, joking, or exaggerating.  In my class are a bunch of tech peeps / developers, merchandise buyers, an information security officer, 2 foot models (yeah, for reals) and a cook.  New Hire Training is designed this way because we're all integrated as one company and everyone gets the great Customer Service knowledge and skills that are the very foundation of Zappos.

 

Going above and beyond her call of duty is one of our trainers, Stephanie, who is shown in tjis photo dressed as a penguin for her presentation on CORE VALUE#3 - Create Fun and A Little Weirdness.  One of the misconceptions of Zappos is that we're ALL fun, ALL weird, ALL the time.  But, that's really not true.  We work so hard - but it's just sometimes hard to accept because in between all the hard work is all the team building, parades, free food/beverages, and general fun/weirdness.

However, every department that's come by to speak to us - even for dry topics like Human Resources and Risk Management - make their presentations really interesting and fun for us.  My new hire paperwork included a form where I fill out my shoe and shirt size... why???  Sometimes, the vendors will give away "swag" (Souvenirs, Wearables, and Gifts) to our entire company as a promotion and they want to make sure we all get our appropriate sizes.  Ummm... how amaZing is that?!?! =)

And there is a fake economy inside Zappos... a z-economy?  We get fake money called Zollars for doing things correctly, achievements, and answering question.  There is a Zollar Store where we can buy little fun knick-knacks like blankets, hats, visors, business card holders... all tagged with 'Zappos' of course... but you can also buy a donation for one of our charities where Zappos will change your Zollars into real money.  I'm saving up for a beanie to give to Will - it costs 45 Zollars and I'm only 3 away!  Gonna get that tomorrow Fo'Shizzle!  There's always a movie quote in all 3 of our lobbies and each one you get right gives you 2 Zollars...here are the ones I've guessed so far:

40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN: You know what? I respect women! I love women! I respect them so much that I completely stay away from them!

MEAN GIRLS: I have this theory, that if you cut off all her hair she'd look like a British man.

FIGHT CLUB: Hey, you created me. I didn't create some loser alter-ego to make myself feel better. Take some responsibility!

VALENTINE'S DAY: What's the greates love song of all time? 'Rock and Roll All Night,' by Kiss. That's a stripper song.

TRON: The Grid. A digital frontier. I tried to picture clusters of information as they moved through the computer. What did they look like? Ships? motorcycles? Were the circuits like freeways? I kept dreaming of a world I thought I'd never see.

Still not convinced that I work in a crazy wonderland?  Randomly last week, a group of employees came into our classroom wearing superhero masks and rolled in a giant cooler on a cart... while playing Ice Cream Truck music!!  We all got free ice cream for being our little awesome selves.  *sigh of happiness*

And it was announced on Monday morning that tomorrow is Pajama Day.  In true Zapponian fashion... haha... I jumped onto my VIP account, ordered a set of super cool PJ's, applied my sweet sweet discount, submitted my order before the cutoff time for 1-business day shipping, and got it delivered to me at work, to my very seat, today!!  I'm all set to join in the festivities tomorrow!  I can't wait!!!!

I'll update more on the rest of my life out and about in Las Vegas at a later time.  I'm going to go to bed now so I can wake up refreshed and ready to Zoom Zoom Zoom to another Zippidy Doo Dah Day! =P