Round Rock Express Game 2010
Living Direct's annual baseball outing took place this week at the Dell Diamond in Round Rock and it could not have a been a more perfect evening for the event; the sun was shining, the sky was blue, the hamburgers were deliciously greasy and the beer was cold. Year after year the outing provides employees with a casual forum to get to know their co-workers from other departments within the company. Employees and their families congregated in the Texas Party Suite, enjoying the opportunity to meet one another's spouses, rugrats and friends. Once the sun set and temperatures subsided, it was out to the box seats to cheer on the Round Rock Express team to their 11-7 victory over the Sacramento River Cats. The game was much more exciting than anticipated, and although our accountant Kelly was almost nailed by a line drive, we all escaped unscathed and only slightly tipsy. Then again, I left before the chugging contests started (see evidence below).
All in all, it was an evening of camaraderie that many employees of other companies are not lucky enough to experience. Thanks to all for coming out and a special thanks to Rick for making the event possible.
Customer Appreciation Month at Living Direct & CompactAppliance.com
Chances are, if you placed an order on any Living Direct Network site in the month of May or early June, you received a handwritten note from one of our employees and maybe even a Living Direct tote bag.
Living Direct Tote Bag & Cards
We wanted a genuine way to show our customers that we appreciate them. We didn't want to be gimmicky or cheesy and send out generic printed notes typed up in a font that looks like handwriting. While some customers might think a note like that is nice, it doesn't show any sincerity or any real thought behind the action. Instead, we wanted our notes to be from real people in our company expressing their authentic sentiments.
Every employee at Living Direct, including the CEO and other executives, received 100 notecards on which to write their thanks to our customers. A few templates were provided to give an idea of what should be written, but many chose to write their own original messages. Some of the standouts included the phrase "paragon of a perfect customer" and a pen drawing of Van Gogh's "Starry Night." We hope that our obvious enthusiasm and creativity made at least one customer's day.
The feedback from this project was great. We received emails from customers that wanted to thank us for our thank you note, which was both funny and very nice to hear. Many customer service representatives also reported receiving phone calls from customers who were touched by the cards.
Unfortunately, not every order was able to be sent with a card or a tote bag, but we tried. If you didn't receive a card with your order, whether placed during Customer Appreciation Month or any other time, then please enjoy this note from Cynthia in Customer Service. We appreciate our customers year round and hope to continue proving this through our excellent service and products.
Thank You Card from Cynthia
One Sandwich to Rule Them All
Yesterday was our first annual Double Down Thursday. Our opportunity to have our own private episode of (Wo)Man vs. Food and/or a coronary bypass.
For those unfamiliar with the Double Down, it is a true American celebration of gluttony consisting of two pieces of fried chicken surrounding tasty strips of bacon and the finest processed cheese. If you really want to show your national pride, be sure to wash it down with a Diet Coke!
Future possible Thursday’s may involve the Elvis Double Down, the Krispy Kreme Burger , the Happy Meal Pizza and, of course, Meat Cake.
Our Oath:
He which hath no stomach to this sandwich,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made,
And crowns for a salad put into his purse;
We would not dine in that man's company
That fears his fellowship to dine with us.
This day is called the feast of Double Down.
He that outlives this day, and goes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is named,
And rouse him at the name of Col. Sanders.
Let the feast begin!
The Result:
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- Stacking
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- 16 Double Downs
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- The Rush
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- The Beast
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- Lana’s First Bite
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- Digging In
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- Pure Bliss
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- With Taters & Gravy
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- Big Bite
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- Thumbs Up
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- Here We Go
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- Dipping
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- Carnage
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- The Aftermath
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- Doubled Over
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Keepin’ It Classy
It's time to play catch up on some events that should have been written about awhile ago.
Coming to work day after day can get monotonous in any office, if you let it. So we do our best to shake things up from time to time at Living Direct. Back in November, or Movember as we were calling it, the weather was finally getting chilly enough here in Texas for people to start wearing jackets and coats.
On one Thursday, blazers began appearing.
And on that day it was declared the following Thursday would be known as Blazer Thurzday. And everyone, men and women, would be asked to participate by donning a blazer. As part of the festivities, we held a “Blaze-In” during the lunch hour at a nearby restaurant.
And it even included a guest appearance by one of the office little ones.
More recently, we held "Tie Friday." While most offices like to keep Fridays casual, we've always preferred to be a little more unique. Some kept to their usual Friday attire and simply added a tie, while others dressed to the nines. Many of the ties were actually provided by the ladies of the office and had been screenprinted with designs.
Also, check out the bandages on our arms. Tie Friday also happened to be the day of our blood drive. We were able to reach our goal of 2 gallons! So it was a very successful day, indeed.
Play-Doh Birthday Sculptures for Florent
Another unusual way we celebrate office birthdays...
Every month we have birthday cookies to honor our comrades in the office, and many times, we do something a little extra special to celebrate, usually odd things, like hand-drawn birthday cards or wearing colored shirts that match a birthday boy or girl's last name.
This week some humans in the office commemorated Florent's "Annual Creation Date Checkpoint" (the robot equivalent of a "birthday") by creating Play-Doh sculptures to decorate his cubicle, err, docking station.
Microsoft Excel Terminator
You see, Florent is believed to be a humanoid robot built in France 25 years ago. Many speculate that engineers designed him to be a Microsoft Excel Terminator, but like Skynet, he became self-aware and downloaded other programs that make him a lethal adversary in competitive activities such as: Pool, Golf, Ping Pong and Swing Dancing.
However, any similarities to the Terminator end there as Florent is a very affable and lovable French robot. Everyone in the office feels fortunate to have him crunching numbers on our team, and moreover, happy to count him as a friend.
Happy Annual Creation Date Checkpoint, Florent!
2009 Living Direct Christmas Party
Our annual Christmas party was held December 11, at Cool River in Austin, TX. The slideshow above is just a glimpse of all the fun we had. There was food & drinks, pool, a white elephant gift exchange with Santa and a live band.
We hope you have a very Merry Christmas and we'll see you in the new year!
The Gift of Free Stuff Friday
Fridays are not always the best day of the week. They usually involve very early mornings for some of the staff and can be slightly stressful at times. But this Friday was different.
It began like normal with the lucky early risers being treated to bagels by our president, Jason Roussos. Then things started getting good:
Coffee & Cheesecake Compliments of UPS Supply Chain Services
We were treated to Starbucks coffee and cheesecake by UPS Supply Chain Services.
At 11:30 am, Mid-Tex arrived with a BBQ lunch:
BBQ Lunch Compliments of Mid-Tex
Everyone was satisfied with the day's delights, but the free food didn't stop coming. By 3 pm, we had received not one, but TWO gift baskets full of cookies, dried fruit, cake and an assortment of nuts:
Ravaged gift baskets from Demandware & Gen3 Marketing
Needless to say, we were stuffed.
Eric Stuffed with Gift Basket Packaging
Then the bow on top of the gift that is "Free Stuff Friday" arrived:
Beer! Courtesy of John (seated).
And we rejoiced.
Living Direct Goes Hollywood: Employee Video Contest Results
Last month our CEO, Rick Lundbom, organized an employee video contest at Living Direct. His objective was to get us thinking about the products we sell in creative ways.
The way the contest worked was everyone was divided into random teams of 3-4 persons, then each team selected a product to feature in a short video. Rick announced that the videos would premiere at the quarterly meeting in October and provided handheld video cameras to each team.
Teams had until October 30th to complete their video entries and post to YouTube.com. Cash prizes were offered for the following achievements:
- $1500 to the team video with the most YouTube hits
- $1000 to the team video voted the funniest
To add even more excitement to the event, the quarterly meeting was held at the nearby Alamo Drafthouse movie theater. It was an absolute blast watching these "films" on the big screen. And based on the amount of laughter, applause & camaraderie I witnessed, I would say the entire company enjoyed it. Kudos to our video winners, "The Unfaithful Kegerator" (funniest) and "Cruzin Cooler Joust" (most YouTube views).
Leave a comment with your favorite.
1.) Moron eats habaneros for stupid bet.
2.) Cruzin' Cooler Joust vs. Daft Punk - Aerodynamic
3.) The Most Coolest Man in the World
About CompactAppliance.com
CompactAppliance.com is a division of Living Direct, Inc., a family owned and operated business established 1999 in Austin, Texas. Compact Appliance was created to provide solutions for people in search of space-saving appliances and specialty home goods. Over the past 10 years, the company has grown to become one of the top 500 internet retailers in the U.S. by providing superior customer service, quality products and a simple shopping experience.
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Sites
Compact Appliance on Twitter
- Happy Labor Day Weekend! Save an extra $10 off any Full-Size Kegerator on Kegerator.com with coupon code 10KEGSEP! http://bit.ly/95U7cV
- Do you have a blog where you write reviews? We're looking for people to review kegerators, ice makers & wine coolers! DM for more details.
- EdgeStar 5 Liter Mini Keg Beer Dispenser | Gear Patrol http://bit.ly/c6cO2Y
- Gear up for Football Season: Kegerators, college-logo beer coolers, even a grill shaped like a football & more! http://j.mp/ftbllssn
- I'd say so! @angieahrens Does filling a keg for our #kegerator, purchased from you count? :) @OfficialCA Got any big plans for the weekend?
Living Direct on Twitter
- Mmm. We have birthday cookies in the office today from @tiffstreats. The smell is making it hard to eat just one! ^CW
- Football season is finally starting! Who did you cheer for last night? We were conflicted here as Cowboys & Longhorns fans.
- Lucky Customer Wins Backyard Makeover from Internet Retailer, LivingDirect.com http://shar.es/0nN0I
- Our Pres/COO, Jason Roussos, will be speaking on a panel at eTail East on assessing keys to growth. Don't miss it! http://bit.ly/9NHWoc
- New Blog Post: The WINNER of our 2010 Outdoor Entertaining Giveaway is... http://bit.ly/dpsCct ^CW