Top Dog – March 2009
Just call her angel of the morning!
Elise Lindborg is our March Employee of the Month because not only did she say “rabbit rabbit, white rabbit” at 1 a.m. on March 1st but because of her stellar morning hair. This photo was snapped during a recent chat with the Chili dog. March is going to be a great month.
Kelli – April 2009
Gesundheit!
Kelli wins employee of the month for breaking the office record (maybe the world record) for the most consecutive sneezes. On April 3, Kelli had a sneezing fit that lasted slightly more than 30 minutes. When she finally stopped, she couldnt talk (raw throat), her eyes were watering and she may have thrown her back out.
So we have decided to share a little information about sneezes! Enjoy!
Many people have become accustomed to saying “bless you” or “gesundheit” when someone sneezes. No one says anything when someone coughs, blows their nose or burps, so why do sneezes get special treatment? What do those phrases actually mean, anyway?
Wishing someone well after they sneeze probably originated thousands of years ago. The Romans would say “Jupiter preserve you” or “Salve,” which meant “good health to you,” and the Greeks would wish each other “long life.” The phrase “God bless you” is attributed to Pope Gregory the Great, who uttered it in the sixth century during a bubonic plague epidemic (sneezing is an obvious symptom of one form of the plague).
The exchangeable term “gesundheit” comes from Germany, and it literally means “health.” The idea is that a sneeze typically precedes illness. It entered the English language in the early part of the 20th century, brought to the United States by German-speaking immigrants.
Virtually every country around the globe has its own way of wishing sneezers well. People in Arabic countries say, “Alhamdulillah,” which means, “praise be to God.” Hindus say, “Live!” or “Live well!” Some countries have special sneezing responses for children. In Russia, after children are given the traditional response, “bud zdorov” (“be healthy”), they are also told “rosti bolshoi” (“grow big”). When a child sneezes in China, he or she will hear “bai sui,” which means, “may you live 100 years.”
For the most part, the various sneeze responses originated from ancient superstitions. Some people believed that a sneeze causes the soul to escape the body through the nose. Saying “bless you” would stop the devil from claiming the person’s freed soul. Others believed the opposite: that evil spirits use the sneeze as an opportunity to enter a person’s body. There was also the misconception that the heart momentarily stops during a sneeze (it doesn’t), and that saying “bless you” was a way of welcoming the person back to life.
Sue – May 2009
Wowza!!
Sue kicked organizing booty last month! We have boxes and shelves full of ZippyDogs give-away items. Over the course of time our Zippy Gear area started looking like a tornado went through it. Sue cleaned, organized, and labeled boxes. Now we know what is where! She did the same thing with all our tradeshow boxes! AND then she generated all the shipping labels and packing slips for over 25 back ordered Ciggy Buttz costumes. This has worn me out just writing about it. Thanks Sue!!
What is a Ciggy Buttz costume you ask?
Small Dog – Lily – July 2009
“Rejected or Respected”
At ZippyDogs we don’t like to hand out our Zippy plush dogs inside plastic bags; what fun is that? But this year each dog came to us in sealed polybags – ick!
Lily, the self-titled “Small Dog” has been freeing the Zippy dogs for us! Literally, bustem’ them out of their polybags and then quality checking each one to insure they have all their arms, legs and eyes and in the right spot.
As our Quality Control Agent, she coined the phrase “Rejected or Respected” and we are happy to say in this go round, no dogs were rejected. So far the hard working Lily has freed approximately 1,500 purple and blue dogs from bags.
Lily may look young but she is actually 63 years old (in dog years).
Sue – Celebrates 1 Year as Diggity Dog – August 2009
We all said woof to Korean BBQ day!
June 10th marked Diggity Dog’s first anniversary as a member of the ZippyDogs pack. As per industry standard, the bosses scheduled a review, but Diggity decided she wanted to do something additional, and a little different: she wanted to thank Kelli and Elise for a really great year full of good times and growth.
So, Chef Diggity invited them to a Korean BBQ that she prepared, grilled and served! There was kalbi (short ribs marinated in the yummiest sauce ever), rice and half a dozen different kinds of kimchi, ranging from cabbage to turnip to tofu. Yum! It was a fun way to commemorate a great event.
Happy Anniversary!
