NZXT PODCAST - #054 - Sam

Episode Date: August 20, 2020

This week on the podcast, we are joined by NZXT’s Shipping Lead: Sam Sam and the crew discuss Metallica, foam rolling, and getting swole. Follow Sam on Instagram: instagram.com/sam_bsantos Listen live to the NZXT 💜 CLUB CAST on our Discord server at discord.gg/nzxt every Thursday at 10AM PT! Thanks to Sajid#6667 for the artwork!

He's a good boy. Sam's a good boy. Hello and welcome to episode 54 of the N60 Clubcast, the official podcast of the NXC community. This podcast is recorded live every Thursday at 10am Pacific Center time of the official N60 Discord server and is available to stream wherever you listen to your favorite podcast, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcast, Spotify, and SoundCloud.

So open your third eye to the possibilities and let's get subscribed, folks. How's it going? My name is Dennis. I'm with me as always is Ivan. How do you do, fellow kids? Chill in the day. How are you feeling, Evan? How's your third eye?

It's open, man. It's open at the possibility. You're like real serious like Joe Rogan vibes. Because it was like, he's like art for his podcast. It was always like that weird, that weird photo of him. Today's special guest on the podcast, on the N60 Clubcast is, is shipping lead for BLD or build Sam how you doing Sam are you unmuted he's not unmuted

you know why because he's super muted no he's still muted yeah make sure you click the unmute button on your discord Sam how's it going guys I predicted this would happen every time yeah every time we we need to find a solution for this well I told you the solution you just don't do it what's the solution Got to prep. You did prep. I prepped and even told everyone to unmute their mics before they started.

I just wanted to ask you. I asked you this morning, I'm like, hey, you know, did you know Sam was how to use Discord? And then he said, I sent him the guide. I'm like, well, pretty sure you did not read that guide because nobody reads. So I'm positive we're going to have technical difficulties when this starts. It'd be like that sometimes. It's funny because I see him I see him being picked up in Zincaster

But he's not being picked up on Discord So I'm not sure Huh He's muted on I know as I'm saying like he's not He hasn't he hasn't muted it So like he's out here struggling Trying to figure out of it

Can you guys hear me I'll show him Yeah you'll show him the way Show me the ways Anyway I hope you guys out there are doing fine Don't forget that we do Record this podcast live So start getting your questions

in ASAP into the podcast chat and we'll go ahead and answer them live near the end of the show while we get Sam to figure out and unmute his microphone. See, the problem is that Sam's third eye is not open to the possibilities. It's closed right now. He's to open it back up. And then maybe he can, you know. Did he just leave the podcast channel? He did.

What's up? What's up? He's dragging him over here. I did. All right, Sam, the bottom left corner of the Discord screen, there's a microphone icon that is probably crossed out. Click that microphone icon, and then you'll unmute yourself. Can you hear me? Hello?

Dun, done, done. He might be sort of muted again. There we go. All right. Hey, hello, Sam. Hey, can you hear me? Hey, there he is. How are you?

How are you guys? We were good. Our third eyes are open. Are yours? It wasn't earlier. Now it is. Sam, are you headbagging right now? We were playing some music for you before the podcast started.

Oh, believe me, when I was a, when I was a, I had stepped out to get some coffee, I came back and as I opened the door, I hear the headphones as blasting with Metallica. I'm like, wait, is my phone? Like, oh, no. Oh, that is so cool. Yeah, they had to pay a little tribute to Sam. Yeah, because that's my favorite band right there. Oh, we'll get into that.

I know. Ivan's ready, dude. I think I think Ivan's been wanting Sam on the podcast for like a really long time now. I have. But there's a good number of people who, like, I've really wanted on since, like, I first started working here. And since I first started doing the podcast, that, like, I see them and it's talked to them like, well, I would talk to them every day. And I'd be like, this person would make a fantastic guest. Once you can get them on, it's going to be popping.

Third eyes open everywhere. The reason I wanted Sam on here is because he's been working at NZXT, like, just about as long as I have. and he's, you know, he's been there, like, when we were, like, really small to the point where we're at now. And, like, he's actually the guy that in the beginning when I started the server and I first started, like, sending out stickers to people and shirts and whatnot. Like, Sam is the guy that made that all possible. And even to his day, like, he still helps ship out a bunch of stuff. But he's the, without Sam, there basically be, like, no NZXT. thickers all over the world right now.

That's actually, yeah. Yeah, yeah, thank you guys. No, to me it's a, it's a pleasure to be shipping stuff out. And, and yeah, I mean, like, everything that comes to me, like I hear about everything that ships out, everything. You know, I have my people that to my workers

that help to ship everything out when shipping and then packing. And yeah, it's, to me, it's a pleasure. no problem with me that's not what you said last time sam well it's because the only reason why i enjoy is because of the things that you give me i have to bribe sam like here man i need you shit this out but here you can have some too that's exactly why i enjoy it all right um sam what is your what is your official position and title at nzxtee I mean, as of now, it is considered shipping lead.

Okay. And what does the shipping lead do day and day out? Well, see, the thing is that I myself am in charge of, what is it, three different departments? I'm in charge of the shipping and then in charge of the Packers. Okay. And I'm also in charge of the customer service parts. Oh, really? Yeah.

So as far as the warehouse is concerned, that's what I'm in charge of. So, yeah. Now, as far as like what I technically do, per se, like, what I do is it's just, I just show up in the morning. The thing is I have a late start because there's two shifts and I'm in charge of both shifts. So I cannot be coming in early. I have to come in in the middle of the day around 10 a.m. And then so basically I'm here for the first half of first shift and the second half of first shift and the first half of second shift. I'm in charge of like, I don't know, like 40 guys.

So yeah, but as far as what I do, like I come in and then I, I just to communicate with everybody from shipping, see how things are going. And if there's anything like any address issues or anything that needs to be shipped out, I fix it. and then I just ask to see how the packers are doing. And, and yeah, then I just basically, sometimes when Ivan brings me stuff to ship up, I take care of that.

Or whoever brings for personal packages need to be shipped out, I take care of that. And, yeah, and then in the back, also the parts, the service parts, for anybody who buys a computer case and the fan is broken or a bracket of any kind or a panel.

We have all those parts available for whoever needs them. Yeah, and that's basically what I do. I mean, all day, really. All right. So what you're saying is that if anyone's ever bought a computer from us, you've probably touched it in some way, shape, or form, right? Oh, that's correct. You've been a hand and getting it out the door.

Okay. Okay. Yeah. That's correct. So I kind of want to like pivot a little bit real quick and ask about the Packers. Because I think the Packers are probably the most like energetic group, probably in like in the entire company. Every time I would go back, they'd be listening to something crazy like they'd be like Banda or there'd be Kungi or like something playing in the back. Can you, can you explain how that feels?

Just like listen to that every single day. I mean, I'll tell you. Sometimes I'll tell you that it is a, it does get sometimes, like, it does bother me sometimes only because it's like, sometimes I'm trying to just to concentrate on my work. And then I hear in the background some Banda music and I'm like, hmm, I feel like I'm in a party. And yeah, I mean, it's just the environment. I mean, the way it is here at work is just, it's just, how can I say? a family here. Right. And because of that, it's like, you know, we feel like we should be able to listen to music and just try to enjoy our jobs and just be happy. And to me, as long as they're

working and getting the job done right, to me, it's no problem. You hear that, Ivan? As long as the job is getting done, no problem. Yeah, and that's why I have a problem. Yeah, I mean, that's what Sometimes when it's not done right, I tell him you can now listen to music for a whole week. It's funny that Sam gets annoyed by the Banda music, but not by his Swedish death metal that he's blasting. Oh, yeah. Yeah. If they play that and they blast that, I am okay with it. So Sam, I've been said that you've been working at NXT about as long as he has.

How long has that been? I started roughly around November, around there of 2015. Yeah, around there. Okay. Yeah. November Brock or around there. How much, in your opinion, has a company changed since you started? Because you've been there way before me for sure.

Correct. What's it called? Well, I mean, uh, When I started, I started out as a regular, just a, from an agency. I was just a temp, literally. Okay. Yeah, so I started from like all the way of the bottom, just like, just attempt, literally. And we started in our house with just about six guys, about just six people.

And I was the lowest one at the time. And it was just crazy because. I went from just working containers all day. Right. Slowly and slowly just moving up. But, I mean, it's crazy how much this company has grown. It went from, like I said, six people in the warehouse to now, like, shoot. Like, I don't know, like, what is it?

Like 100-something? I'm not sure how many there are. Yeah. It's crazy. It's honestly insane. And I remember, I think it was like a year or two ago, Ivan was starting to tell me, like, you know, I'm starting to not know who some of these people are. Yeah. Yeah.

And yeah, because back then we knew everybody, everybody, everybody in the office, everybody in the warehouse, everybody's names. And now it's just out of control. There's just way too many people. So. Yeah, back in those early days, like, like, you know, I would bring in like a, like a. a box of two dozen donuts, and that would be enough for, like, the entire office and warehouse. And, you know, I need everyone's name.

Now it's like, I go in there, I'm like, who are these people here? I'm assuming they work here. They're in here. But, yeah, it's just so many people now. It's, it's, I think it's impossible at this point to, to know everyone's name. Yeah, yeah, that's the thing. And then my, my boss, Corey. I know he is, and the first thing I noticed in Corey was that he's the kind of person to, I don't think I ever told him this, but he's the kind of person to be in a way memorizing everybody's names. And it's starting to get, it was, I started to get really impressive to see him remembering everybody. Yeah. Even with me, every time I see me, I was, you know, hey, good morning. Ivan, how are you? Like, he, he always very friendly and.

And, like, causing him by my name. You're right. Yeah, but, but he is starting to not remember people because it's just, it's too many of them. Did you know that the human, the human brain can only remember 150 names? It's called Dunbar's number. And so you can only remember 150 names. So if you already know 150 names and, you know, 150 names and. associate them with like faces and people if you meet 150 like one people the 151 person you're

going to have to forget like one of those other 150 so it is impossible because we have over 150 people now right that's probably why I want to repeat that but I have but I have no knowledge of how that works it's Dunbar's number what's the number though if your third eye is opened Does you know what that number is? It's one. Sorry, I'm not doing the entire time. Sam, I have kind of a follow-up question for you. Did you be here for like a good number of years?

Do you remember when we first started like building and shipping computers? Yes, I remember that. I remember when when BLD was barely like starting. I remember when, oh man, I don't know, like three years ago, whenever it started. When it was starting up, I remember we had different boss at the time. They were building like a big, like a cage. And I remember how much they were struggling just to send one computer out.

And then... Struggling in which way? like just to just to to get one sell basically just to sell right um and in the beginning there was no one buying anything yeah and then at first i was like hmm i hope it doesn't like like in a way mess up the company like like i was worried about about it for a second and then little by little we started getting a couple orders here and there and maybe like about a like about two or three a week and then five a week and then moving forward about 10 15 and we the thing is when we were shipping like back then it was all about just computer cases

computer cases store items um nothing about computers just pure just cases yeah and uh it's just crazy because at that time, you know, we had a lot of work not involving BLD. And then we're like, oh, my God, we got to send out like 20 computers. Just 20? Yeah. It's just at the time, it's like, oh, my gosh, it was a lot. But slowly and slowly, I mean, the thing is that once we had our third party company, Eunice take all of our cases.

we focused completely only on a BLD because it was it was growing like crazy BLD was right oh my gosh uh it's in that it's it's crazy in that short amount of time for it to grow that that fast like wow it would I went from just me being by myself printing just shipping labels to having uh now I have a total total of, what is it, one, two, three, four, five, six people, and then myself. Wow. That's a lot. Yeah. And just, it's crazy the amount of computers that we're shipping out now. But yeah, it's crazy. I mean, we have to, we have to move from the old warehouse and because of how fast we were growing. And we needed more room. And now I think,

I believe it's looking like we need more room again. It's getting really packed in the warehouse because of how, you know, it's how busy we are and the amount of orders that we're getting. And right now it's a little tough with this whole, this COVID situation. It makes it tough. And yeah, yeah, we do have quite a bit of orders. And, yeah, this makes it really difficult right now with these times. And just people don't feel comfortable, you know,

I understand coming to work. But it's just the orders just keep growing. Like, whether we're here or not coming, but we're hanging in there. Yeah, I remember before COVID, I would go to a warehouse. And it'd be, it definitely be very busy. the last time I went there I swear like there was like a maze of just pallets with computers stacked

to top of them like we've grown even during the pandemic so much and it's been like from what I get to like a really big challenge because in like a normal circumstance right we can move things around but now that we also have to be wary of like people's safety and like their health it's it's been nuts

and I went into the office right across from my desk right there used to be nobody there it was just like empty office space and that was like five six builders There's in like these little pods with plastic around them so they're safe. And they're building computers and I'm like, look, I can look to the right. This dude's up against the wall.

But the computers, it looks to my left. And then it's dudes against that wall built the computers. It's gotten really, really crazy. I'm with the impression that I'll probably never come back to the office ever again. Because it's just so much. We just need so much room for building because it's not like you can just stick someone in like a cubicle, right? Like you need a really good amount of space to like allow your computer parts, you know, and have all your tools ready to go so you can build these stuff.

It's pretty nuts. Yeah, because you do not want to have the unfortunate thing to happen where if you have too many people building very close to each other, one, the COVID thing, but also, you're so close that it's such a tight space that you might even just turn around and accidentally for hopefully it wouldn't happen. I mean knocking down a computer. Oh, no, that would be so bad. So, yeah, we do definitely need the room. Yeah. What did you do before you joined the company? I used to be a driver.

I used to be... Really? I was delivering meds to pharmacies. Oh, cool. Yeah, I was delivering meds to all CVS's, ride aids, little pharmacies here and there, but it definitely was a scary job because I was carrying controlled medications just behind the truck.

and holding like millions of dollars worth of medication and it's dude like anything can happen it's like oh my God I had I had to get out of there because it was driving me crazy the amount of stops that they give you and then if you're too fast they'll give you more stops

but then if you're too slow you catch traffic so yeah and I was working there for like three about three years and then I was like, no, I have to get out of there. I'll do anything else. So I literally just applied at a temp agency. And then literally just heard of NZXT.

And NZXT at the old office was literally five minutes away from my house. So it was like a very great, good thing for me to be like, I would put gas every three weeks. Right. That's how it was. And I'm like, it was just, it's, I was saving money. And, and, and, and yeah. And I've been working for an NJXD here, like I said, since 2015.

Yeah. Right. Yeah. Let me see here. Okay. Who, who did you interview when you got hired? Because the company is really small, right? So what was that process like?

well it's because back then I mean yeah I was a attempt so they just took me in like nothing and then then they just walk in like no problem huh yeah because at the time

they were just looking for anybody just to help and just to get all the cases out of the containers so that's just literally what they got me for and then they saw how fast I was and And so we have to keep this guy because they kept getting a bunch of people that were just either on drugs or something or really slow.

At the workplace? Yeah. Yeah. And or they would just walk away like by a time it's lunchtime. And they're like, no, we need this guy. We need this guy because if we don't keep this guy, we're just going to continue getting a bunch of people that just don't work out for us. So, yeah, they kept me in and they taught me how to do the service parts. Right.

Yeah, and from there, like, it's just, I just kept growing within the company. And it's just, I just fell in love with NST because of the opportunities that NST gives you. And just keep learning and learning and learning. It's never going to stop. You're always going to be learning. No matter what position you're in, especially because the company's growing, more things are coming up. You have to go with the company itself.

You will be growing as an individual. See, it's kind of the opposite of what Ivan told me. He said, you're going to be stuck here. You're never going to move up. I'm your boss for life. So I just believed them. But, I mean, if you're telling me, Sam. No, you're going to succeed.

You are. Ivan is just messing with you. He's always messing with me. It hurts. it's funny because I mean I see I see I have in a time okay when you started Dennis when you started I remember that Ivan would make would make you just go out and just at least from what I see I would like go out and just the you know put stories on on on on Instagram and then for example that one time that you caught me rolling on the roller I was like

What are you doing? You know, I actually bought a roller after that. So you know. Oh, I mean. I have a roller in my house. So, so for those who don't know, if you go to our, our Instagram and check out the, I forget what the name of the story is called, but we have a story, a highlighted story on Instagram that's like stuff from the office. And I'm walking through the warehouse. and I see this guy on the floor.

He's, like, rolling on, like, this back roller thing. And I'm like, what the heck? Like, who is that? And it's Sam. So I took my phone out and he's record him. I'm like, Sam, what are you doing? He's like, oh, dude, I'm rolling my back. It's really good for your back.

I'm like, okay. So I'm like, let me try it real quick. So I tried it. And then that day, I'm on Amazon and I buy one. Yeah. Dude, those things, those things are great for you, honestly. I mean, in case you are the kind of person that's on the office, and just like having your back forward and just like, you know, it's just that.

You just roll and it strains out your back and you feel like a new guy. Literally. Yeah, it really does. I think mine's a little too stiff, though, because like if I'm not wearing a shirt or I'm not wearing like it's like one or two layers, it kind of hurts. But I'm the kind of person like whenever I go in to get like a massage or something, I want them to like really beat me up, you know, because like I know it hurts now, but later it's going to feel better.

You're going to feel really loose and just really, really good afterwards. So that's me, you know, a very much a person who likes the abuse. I mean. Because my third eye is open, right? Because I can see to the future without the eye. Yeah. I mean, I see a lot of people that try it for the first time. They're always like really tense.

Yeah. Relax. Relax. Just relax. It's not going to work if you're tense. You're probably going to mess up your back. So if you ever do feel like that, like, you know what? it's not working for me. The first thing you got to do is not literally roll. It's you just

lay on it and stay there. You will eventually relax and not be teased. And then the moment you're like that, that's the opportunity to okay, and let me roll a little bit. You might tense up. Let me roll a little bit. But again, if that does happen, you do have to continue just laying there. And I always recommend it to everybody. And it's like, dude, this doesn't work for me. Like, no, it works for everybody. To me, there's no way it wouldn't. It works for everybody. All right.

You guys should it here first. Get a foam roller and roll your back. It'll save you money. Yes. Right. What's your favorite thing about the shipping department? The addresses that I see. Really?

You want to share some? No, don't, tell you. What's your favorite address? You very should do. It's the best address you've seen so far. I mean, without doxing someone, obviously. No, the addresses that I see.

Usually I see the addresses, the weird ones that I see are usually the, the international ones, the ones for the parts. Right, right. It's interesting to see how some of them don't have zip codes, which,

I know with Ivan, I sometimes give you Ivan orders that I'm like, dude, it's not the chip them out because they don't have zip codes. But in reality, they don't have zip codes. Yeah. It's like, and it's like, it's just a software issue that I have to be talking to the, to which we use a ship station. And sometimes like, we just have to enter, I believe, like five zeros. Yeah, yeah. And that's the only way it would work. Yeah, we get some really weird, some really weird addresses.

There's also the, there's also like where someone comes from a country that's so small. There's no cities. It's like, there's no city. It's just the country. I just live in this country. There's no city or nothing. Like, oh, okay. There you go.

Jerker found the story. That's, I don't think it's actually Sam in that picture. Yeah, it's not Sam. But I saw Sam and a couple others from the warehouse rolling out. It's always pretty funny to walk back and see like the shenanigans that would happen back there. Yeah, it's because I mean like, and I honestly, that's why I have it in the warehouse. Like whenever the Packers are like for whatever reason, like just from boxing so many computers

because of the weight of the computers, I'm like, like, if when it's break time, feel free to use it. It's okay. No problem. Just make sure it's during break time. And everybody loves it. Everybody. And everybody does it. And the first time, I remember the first time that I took it.

And the guys saw me. They were like, what are you doing? And everybody was like, they report to me. They report to me. And they see her own boss rolling in the way. So they're like, they're like, what are you doing? I'm like, and then usually I'm a very serious guy. And then for me to tell them.

Yeah. Like, that's why they're going through to Sam, yes. But yeah, and they hear me like encouraging it. They're like, oh, my gosh. Like Sam's actually okay with us doing this. Oh, okay. So then, yeah, everybody was doing it. And yeah, now nobody complains about their backs.

Thanks to Sam. He's saving the warehouse one foam roller. at a time. Okay. What is your least favorite thing about working in shipping? The least amount, the least thing that I like is, is whenever there are a million orders coming at me at the same time. That is sometimes a stressful part only because sometimes the FedEx is already here. And I'm like, dude, I have to take care of this personal package that I have to do.

Plus, like, three other issues with these computers that have to go out today because they're overnight. Right. And usually they have to do with some sort of address issue. And I am the kind of person where I don't like to see these things around my desk. So I want to get them out as fast as possible. Right. So, and on top of that, I mean, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it makes my life easier because I don't have anything around my desk

and yeah that's that's the main thing that makes it a little a little tough because I have to move really fast and so much coming at me at the same time but yeah that's that's the main thing all right all right if you could have NZXT make any Okay, sorry, my bad What's your, what's your favorite

NXT product? What doesn't list? You're a little bit too far down. Third eye a little too open. Let's see. My favorite NGXT product. Hmm.

See, for me, I guess I might have to go with the headset. Really? Yeah. Sorry, I'm not laughing.

at you, I'm just laughing because like, I'm so waiting for that things like officially released. But you do have it though, right? Yeah, yeah. That's what I'm using right now, actually. That's what I'm using right now. Oh, okay. Oh, nice. Me three, actually.

Nice. There it is. How good is that headset for Metallica? See, that's what I'm saying, because I mean, I walk into the conference room and then I hear Metallica. Clearly, I hear it. I hear Master of Puppets. and I'm like, oh, shoot.

Wow. Like, I swear I was questioning, and I was like, I thought it was coming out on my phone, but I'm like, I wasn't playing music. You guys got here first. Headset's too good.

First thing you do, Metallica. Yeah, trust me. It's, I recommend it for everybody. Actually, here's the fun question. Do you have, like, one song that whenever you get, like,

a new speaker or new headset or new something that, like, puts out audio that you have to play? Do you have that, like, one song that's, your personal test song that like if this song sounds good everything else will sound good uh to me clearly was uh and a good example was uh when i walked in master puppets that's the song from metallica yes okay yeah director saying that his favorite test song is so talk california

i agree okay what is your least favorite n zx t product Oh, my least favorite. Okay, my least favorite were the old crackens, the X-62s. Really? I remember those were problematic at the time back then. Problematic. Yeah, I remember back then when I was working, because back then I was working in our name. And because I know we had, we had, because of the, because of the,

The skews are, it's the X6201s. And then there are the ones, the updated versions were the 02s. But at that time, there were so many crackings coming back. And we were having a lot of issues with them. And because they were coming back and because I was working in RMA at the time, I'm like, man, what is wrong with these crackens? And it was just like, it was a big, big issue with these coming back. and I had to receive them all.

And they just kept coming and coming and I'm coming. And I'm like, oh, my gosh, these crackers are getting on my nerves. All right. But, I mean, that's why when I heard about the new one coming in, I'm like, oh, thank God. I wanted to come out as soon as possible, please. Should I swap out my 62? Because I have a 62 right now. It's working perfectly fine.

Should I be afraid? I think you should be afraid. All right. if you could have NST make any product, anything at all, what would it be? I mean, I did see a comment earlier. What would be really cool? And I don't know if it's in the works or not. I heard it was were keyboards.

It would be really cool to sit. To me, I would think it would be really cool. And also, like, you know, if there are keyboards for NST, it would be, if it has, the brand you know nzxte somewhere on there i i would right really cool is sure sure the turn on talking about the duckies like the ones that ivan has i don't think i've seen that yet no you just haven't he he has a couple photos of them um you probably see them back in a day sam we made them in 2014 i believe but i think when they sold out pretty quick but i think you might have seen a few like an RMA or something back in the day.

Yeah. Yeah, I was, it's funny because like, I've been asking if we were going to do like my Stkey Awards. It's like I would a really, really love one. And the answer that I always get is the same answer that we get people here is like, we're always working on everything. Don't know if it'll come out. And I'm like, oh, okay, thanks.

Like, can I just know? Thanks. Right, right. I won't tell no one I promise. Right. I never get a answer on that. but it'd be cool. No, I think it's like one of the things that we've been,

we've gotten asked for the most, right? Are like headsets, mice and keyboards, which, you know, hopefully we do get them sometime soon. I like to see like what a NZXT like proper, you know, like our design, our take on like a keyboard and stuff would be, right? Yeah. At the same thing, people ask for mesh for like a million years. We haven't done that yet.

Yeah. Or like literally just a complete. set like you're the keyboard nzxte the mouse nzxte you know you got your the the the case nzxte that would be that's crazy that's crazy talk sam for everybody ever that would be i think it's possible it it should happen hopefully sometime in the future i want i want nzxd gamer socks that's what i want everything about your proper circulation your fingers so you can click faster. I mean, even that too.

I mean, even imagine when you're gaming, you're in your room, your clothes, completely NZXT, everything NZXT, your TV, NZXT, so the monitors, everything, you know, whole room. Yeah. That'd be cool. That'd be cool. All right. Last question from myself to you, do you have a special shoutout for anybody in the company?

Someone who deserves some love, who deserves a shout out. Shoot. Hmm. To me? Yeah. Let's see. Let's see. It's because everybody is cool here, to be honest.

I mean, shout out to everybody. Shout out to the food. I mean... Shout out to the food truck. What'd you say? The food truck, man. The food truck. I mean...

The rich coach. Oh, my gosh. Man. I'm going to have to think about that right now. And I will tell you who later on in this show. Okay. Don't forget, because I'm going to circle back to it. Yes.

If you want to cheat, it could also be a team as well. if you want to do that. But yeah. All right. Ivan, I heard you get some heaters from my man with a third eye here.

I do. So my first question for you is why so serious? Why so serious? I mean, I remember that back in I was in high school, I don't remember,

but I went to one of my friends' house and they were all playing I think there was like a serious Sam yeah and they were like dude like this game is you this game is you and I'm like

hmm yeah there it is yeah serious that's me I mean everybody tells me like that's just who that it literally is who I am I am serious and I

I don't know why I'm not the kind of person to be joking too much. I'm usually very, very serious. Yes, I do smile a lot, but I am serious usually with things. I don't know what else to tell you. I feel like you're serious, but I feel like I always mess around with you.

I don't know. Like you're serious, but you're also like, Like, you know, you like to mess around too. It's because this is a thing. Like, the best way to put it, it's like this. If I'm going to be focusing on business, I cannot be joking around. That's when I'm completely 100% serious.

And then when it's time to like, you know, like, you don't have to do, like, I'm not working on anything that's work related, then, yeah, maybe I am joking around here and there. but when it comes to just straight up just business, I'm always, always serious. And yeah, yeah. Yeah. I don't know. You say you're serious, but every time I've ever talked to you

has always been like a really pleasant and fun experience. So maybe you're not as serious as you think you are. Maybe people make you think you're serious, but you're actually not. I personally think that I can't. Maybe you might be thinking that I'm joking whenever I'm saying something, but... Oh, no.

Oh, snap. I almost thought that's wrong with Sam. So, again, next question. Sam, are you sad? Say that again? Are you sad? As in right now or now or in general? Well, I guess the reason I asked is because a couple of years ago,

let me see if I can find this thing. A couple years ago, I made this stupid Slack emote for you. And I just added it into the server, but it's this sad Pepe the frog, but it's wearing a Metallica hoodie. And then I added it to Slack and Discord now. But I called it Sad Sam. And you made it your Slack profile. So I figured you liked it. I mean, the main reason why.

I liked it was basically because of the Metallica. What is it like, Eddie? Yeah. I found that really cool. And then this, that's from one of their albums. So I thought it was really cool. And I was like, oh, I'm going to take this. Thank you, Ivan.

So yeah, so let's get into Metallica now. So Sam, let me set the stage for Sam here and why he's such a big Metallica fan. So when I first met Sam, I always talk to him when he started working because he would always wear like band shirts, right? Like Metallica, different like metal shirts. So I would always just be walking in the warehouse. I see him wearing a t-shirt and then we just talk about that band for a little bit. But I noticed one day he really liked wearing Metallica shirts.

And then I would walk by his desk and he had like a Metallica poster. He had cut out a Metallica logo out of an old case box. and, like, painted it and, like, put it on his desk. His license plate says Metallica on it. Yeah, it does, it is. Metallica sticker on his car. Oh, geez. Yeah, and then one morning, and he was always playing Metallica, right?

Like, really loud. Then one morning, he looked really tired. Like, he was, like, walking in with his hood on. He literally looked like that sad pepe with the metallic hoodie. He was walking into the office like that. He even had like a black guy probably. Walking in really slow and I'm like, hey man, what's up? How come you're, I'm like, I went to Metallica concert last night, man.

Really? It's like on a Tuesday night or something. But anyway, I guess, yeah, you're really into Metallica. So my first question is, how many Metallica concerts have you been to? Okay, I've seen them at the, I don't know if you guys know who the big four is. Yes, I do it's Metallica, Anthrax, Megadeth, and who's the four? I forget the last one. I forget the last one. Someone told me this before.

I'm going to Google this. Hold up. Nope. Slayer, Slayer. Someone got it, yeah, Slayer. Yeah. Slayer, yeah. The original thrash metal band. right?

Correct. That's correct. So I went to the big four. They had a big show in Indio. That was in, I believe, 2012. That was no joke, the first show I ever been to. Really?

And it's like a hell of a show to start. My favorite band with all these other bands. And it was at a big, ginormous festival. Yeah, I remember that day. I only slept like four hours the day before. So I was literally like, no, I took that back. Less than that. Like about two and a half hours or three hours at most.

And I remember being so tired at the show, so sleepy. That I remember that. You fallen asleep during Metallica? No, no. Slayers on, he was like knocking out. I'll tell you, look, in between, like, bands, I'd be falling asleep in the grass. And I would tell, look, wake me up when the next band comes up, please. So that was the, like, don't you think the heavy metal music would not wake you up?

You'd have to have someone wake you up when the freaking loud heavy, wake me up when the loud heavy metal music starts, man. I don't want to miss it. Like, wouldn't the music wake you up? Well, it's because the thing is that what happened is that we would go all the way to the back, all the way to the back. And when in between bands, they would have like the monitors playing with other music, like other bands. So all the way in the back, it still sounded like the same level. It's not until we get closer where, because it was a big festival.

It was like a ginormous field. so like once you get closer yeah you start hearing it a little louder but because I was so tired like it just wasn't like registering in my brain I guess um but I remember that I was all the way to the front for the first for anthrax and Megadeth and then I just couldn't take it anymore it was suffocated um I had to get out of there um but yeah Once Metallica came up, I remember I was like, oh, my God. It felt like I was in a dream because I was so sleepy. It was a wonderful experience.

I see James Hatfield just in the front, just playing. And I'm like, oh, my gosh. And like, literally, I swear there were tears coming out of my eyes. But yeah, I saw him there. I saw him at the Jimmy Campbell Show. I saw him at the... Where else? Where else? Where else? Oh, I saw him at the Rose Bowl.

I think that's it. I think only three times have I seen them. Do you listen to any other bands besides Metallica? No? I'm just kidding. Imagine it, though. That's the only one. Who's anthrax? Who's Antwerx? Who's Slayer?

What's the best Metallica song? Um, I do have a favorite Metallica song. My favorite Metallica song is also from the Master Puppets album. It's a, it's called Leper Messiah. It's my favorite. Bout down to the Leopard Messiah. Is that how it goes? Believe it or not, you almost got it.

I remember it. I actually don't believe it. I don't believe you almost got it. No, I did. I remember that song when I was a kid man. Metallica, that was like the coolest band on the planet when I was like in elementary school. Like they were huge.

But yeah, Master of Puppets, that album when I was in elementary school, like every, every, kid I knew, even if you were like into like rap music or, um, I was. Like other types of, I guess other types of music, it doesn't matter just rap. But, like, everyone would listen to this Master of Puppets album. It was really popular. Yeah, I mean, yeah, even if you don't, you don't like the music, you at least heard about them. And that's, that's how popular that Battalica is. I mean, they are a legendary band for sure.

Yeah. Speaking of legendary bands, Sam, you used to be in a band, correct? Or a few bands. Yes, I was in two of them. And are you in a band right now? No, at the moment, I am trying to start one. I just recently bought a extremely expensive amp. And I'm basically getting my equipment ready for when I start one,

but I am looking for people to jam out with, basically. I'll jam with you. Yeah. I have an acoustic guitar, though. No, you're looking for an acoustic guitar. I mean, we can still do something. I'll play all the intros. Yeah, I'll be old.

Hey, what kind of amp did you get? I mess a buggy. It's called, it's a JP2C. And it's really cool just because it's so, like, you can do so many things with it. Yeah, those things are pretty expensive. Yeah, it's very versatile. And it's, it was,

Honestly, a little over three grand. Yeah, I was going to say, like, those things are probably, like, I think the cheap one, the cheapest boogie amps are probably like $2,000, right? Correct. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, but no. This was, this is one that a band, one of the guitars from a band called Dream Theater. He, he worked with Messabuggy and they made this, this amp.

And it's great, honestly. I love it. And I'm still, like, messing around with the settings, but, but, uh, yeah, like, hopefully I can get, because it's because I think you cannot have any on the first day. You have to really mess with it for, for maybe like about a month, a month and a half, so you really, the settings that you actually want to have. Yeah. And Sam, you're actually a really good guitar player, man.

I've seen you play a couple times. and apart from playing really well, the thing that stood out to me the most about you playing the guitar is the way you stand. You stand like a freaking rock star. Like, let me describe it. Like his legs are spread apart like as far as possible. Um, he has the, the guitar, like, the guitar hangs like below his knees, right?

So his legs are like super spread out. And he, he bangs his head while he plays. Like, and he's, but he's playing like really good. I just posted a picture right now, like, what he looks like, what he's playing. Like, he literally stands like that. That's actually Sam with those crew socks. That's actually. Yeah.

And he'll do things like he'll actually like, you know, like squat down and like put the guitar up in the air. And I think I even saw you twirl the guitar around your neck, Sam. I don't know if I'd go that far. So what got you into not just playing guitar, but like wanting to play like these like heavy metal dudes? Because you definitely have a unique style when it comes to playing your guitar. What made you want to play like that? If I had to be honest, I think the main thing that got me into, like just playing in general was,

which is the reason why Metallica is my favorite band, is in 2003, Metallica came out with, and I know it's a very controversial album, it's called St. Anger. Oh, boy. which is the my thing on Slack, the one that you

gave me, Ivan, the frog that fist from St. Anger. So that album, they had an extra CD where they're playing live. And I don't like the album

like how it sounds like through the studio, but live, I saw that the that life performance where they're playing in the studio live. And I loved seeing so many amps around the guys and the drummer there in a small room, so many cables on the floor.

And I'm like, oh, my God, I don't know why that really caught my attention. And it made me want to play. So I've been playing guitar since I was a sophomore. So we're talking like 2008. So about 12 years. Yeah. So yeah, Metallica was the band that got me there. I mean, obviously along with other bands,

but Metallica was the main band that influenced me to want to do that. Yeah. You definitely look pretty cool when you play. I mean, that's why like I wanted to at the time when I was playing. I remember I invited you, Ivan. I invited a couple of the people that are no longer with us at ZXT. But I tried inviting as many people as possible. I actually found a picture from that night right now.

Let me post it. Here, I'm going to just crop us. I think I know which one you're talking about. That was a best. This is me and Sam. here back in the day. Oh yeah. And look at my metallica shirt.

Yeah. Yeah, exactly. You're always being in a Metallica shirt. How old is that photo, Ivan? Probably like five years ago. Okay, because I'm pretty sure you have the exact same boots, pants, and shirt. I wear the same, I've been wearing the same uniform, like, for 40 years, dude. That's very true.

Like, uh, I have, I have baby pictures of myself and I'm literally wearing Levi's in a flannel shirt. That is perfect. Yeah, that's like a picture. That's right. Yeah. Oh, that is perfect. Pint. Actually, I have another picture of Sam here from the old office.

I remember when I took a picture of Sam. When we had our very first game night, Sam, I brought in my Nintendo mini. And I remember you'd be. being impressed with my Super Mario Brothers three skills. Do you remember watching me play Super Mario Brothers three? Yeah, because I remember that. See, what happened was that I didn't know that thing was out at the time. Yeah, I remember you were like, would you get that thing, man?

Yeah, and it had all those games in there. And I'm like, dude, like, like, oh my gosh. Like, I was so impressed that there was that many games in that thing. And I was like, oh, my God, I have to get one. I have to get one, but my cousin got one. And so I would just go over his house and play, you know, all the time, all the time that I would go over. Yeah. Yeah.

I remember when I was playing, you were like, dang, you're really good at Mario Brothers 3. I'm a guess. Literally like the game I've played the most. Yeah, I mean, that's the, to me, the classic game from back in the day. I think everybody's. Now time for the question we've all been waiting for is, what's it like working with so many weabs? When you first started,

I don't think we had that many people that were into anime and like K-pop and all this, like, you know, weird, like stuff, I guess, that, like, life we weren't used to. And now, like, our warehouse is basically just a bunch of weaves listening to K-pop jumping up and down, building computers. Jumping up and down. What's it like working with so many weaves? I mean, I'll tell you, like, when I started, it was, NZXT was not even close to how it is right now. It was completely different.

Back in the day, NST was not like that. It was, the way it was, everybody was, at least the people in the warehouse, were listening to the same music that I listened to. And it just started changing when BLD started coming up. And when BLD started really come up, that's when I started seeing people watching all sorts of anime as they're building.

and wow oh my gosh and then also at the same time I remember I hope it's okay to put names out there but I remember Harry

would put up a big screen at the old screen and I don't know what show it was but as the builders were building everybody was watching that show whatever it was with a ginorm speaker

yeah And I'm like, wow. And at that time, both BLD and regular operations with the with just selling computer cases were happening in the same warehouse. And I remember just, you know, just walking to the restroom. And then I see that I'm like, oh, my gosh, there's like like 40 builders, just or however many buildings completely just tuned in to the show as they're building. like, oh my gosh. How are they doing this? And I'm like, everybody's into it.

Everybody. It was just a completely different experience from when I started in ZXT. I was just like, wow. Are you into anime now? I'll tell you this. The only things that I watch, literally, is just Yu-Gi-O. Pokemon. What was it a?

I mean, I don't know if these are all Americanized, but I mean, Digimon? Uh-huh, uh-huh. That is all I watch. And I still watch it. That's it. But yeah. I was expecting a little bit more, to be honest with you.

I have a follow-up question. So, so with all the webs and all the anime happening in the warehouse, how do we fix that problem? How do you make it stop? I mean I'll tell you Like to me Like I learned to

Like at first It was like kind of bugging me in a way Only because it's like Like Like Dude I'm over here Like Busting his butt

And then like I'm over here Like walk Pass by And I see everybody just watching watching I'm like dude I wish I can do that Sam's over here all busting his butt And then like He looks up and it's like

Fly me to the moon. Probably. That's what they call me through your Sam, right? Exactly, exactly. And I mean, had I been building and watching that, you would see me being very, very serious watching it. Speaking of building, Sam, another thing that you like to build is muscles. You know, you're really into working out, right?

Or you used to be back in the day. And I think now I'm more buffer than you, to be honest. And I don't even work out. Yeah But that doesn't stop Sam from flexing He's always rocking around like flexing his muscles So my next question for you Sam is Why are you always walking around with like really tight t-shirts flexing

Because like getting it from baby gubb, that's one Your shirts are always like two sizes too small I think one time I gave Sam a shirt And I asked him hey man what size are you? And he goes I'm a size small I'm like, why, you have bigger arms than me, man? I like, I like my shirt's tight, man.

I like to flex. So I gave him a size small shirt. Like my shirt's tight. Yeah. You're into working out, right? Yeah, it's just that what it is is that as far as the shirts are concerned, it's because I don't like, I hate really, like, for myself personally, the way it feels, really, like, baggy clothing.

and like it's just loose and it just bugs me and that's why I prefer tighter clothing because of that but because when I was going to the gym I had to get I definitely did have to get bigger shirts

and large shirts would fit tight and and it's funny because with this whole COVID situation obviously the gyms are closed so I I had to just go to my brother's house and work.

I haven't been going for a couple weeks, but I normally would go to my brother's house. He has like a bunch of equipment. I would work out. But right now, yeah, I definitely, it's, it's, it's, I've been losing it all. Everything that I gained, I lost it all. And I mean, I just have to be safe. I cannot be going out, you know, because I, you know, like,

going to the stores, you know, to get to the market, then maybe, you know, just taking care of errands. And then, you know, having to go to my brother, it's just like, you know what, like I'd rather just stay home. It's okay. Once this goes by, and I know eventually this COVID thing is going to go away, I will go back. It's not the end of the world.

Yeah. For a while, you got really buff. Yeah, and then I injured myself. I injured my lower abdomen from deadlifting too much weight. Weird flex, but okay. Yeah, it was too much. And I messed up my abdomen. So, dude, I really thought that I had a hernia.

I was really, really scared. Because I know that once, if I already have to, you know, have surgery, like, it wouldn't be the same. I can't work out the same because I could be risking and happening again. Right. I had to. You know, you know what's another thing that scares me, Sam, about you? Hmm. The way you parked your car.

How? So, Sam, ever since we were in the old office, right? Even back before we didn't have parking problems because for the last couple of years, we've basically been double parking, right? Old office had new office. But for whatever reason, Sam, even back in the day when there was like no need to double park, he would always park in the smallest, tightest corner in the parking lot, like in between like tractor trailers. and he would always park like in reverse. And his car is not that small. I think he,

I think he drives an Impala. Is that correct? It's close to an Impala. It's a Malibu. A Malibu. Yes. Yeah. So yeah,

it's not like it's like a small like Honda Civic, right? So I guess my question about that is, you know, why, why do you park your car like that like so, so particular? Like it's always, it's always tucked away in some like little corner. And there's always,

like it's always next to a forklift and like a tractor trailer right it's like it's never like it's never in between two cars it's always like in between two random things and why do you do that i mean i remember at the at the old office uh i would always park right next to the entrance next to the entrance are those ginomous trailers those containers um and i love the challenge of having to an available spot right there to park you

you would park you would park there though when it was physically impossible and I would see you like you know do like spend like half an hour

sometimes like park of your car and one time I asked you like dude how do you get your car out of there it was like 5 o'clock time and go home and you're like oh it's easy

watch and you did like a 30 point turn to get your car yeah yeah I mean look just just When was it yesterday? Was it yesterday?

Yeah, yesterday. I had two big trucks that were in my way, and I parked by a dock yesterday. And to get out. So basically imagine a truck next to me, like just literally right next to me, parallel with me. And then another one right in front of me, but sideways, if that makes sense. So it's like an L. and I had a little gap just to get out. And the guy that was in the truck next to me, he's like,

because he couldn't leave because they were taking stuff out of his truck. And he was like, hey, you want me to call for the other one to move? I'm like, no, no, no, no, I got it. I got it. I got it. No problem. So, and I remember that there were, the driver eventually came out,

but he was just staring at me, just staring at how I was doing it. And I guess he looked like he was impressed. He's like, how did you? Because it's just a little amount of room. Like, dude, it's simple. It's no problem. And these skills, honestly, to me, I feel like came with the big trucks.

Because when I was driving, delivering, as the pharmacy, I was driving, like, pretty big trucks. And you always have to park in reverse, you know, at the back. So it was. no problem with me and then on top of that with the Malibu nowadays how they have the cameras in the back when you're reversing makes it a whole hell of a lot easier so yeah I mean to me I like I said I love the challenge and I am also one of those guys that when they go to let's say to the I don't know to Walmart or Target and you're like you know what I know some people like

to just even if you have the park far to me no I'm the kind of guy that I'm going to park a as close as possible, even it takes me longer. Because of the walk. I don't want to walk that far. I want to be able to when I get out of Target or Walmart, literally just walk in my car is right there. That's hilarious. I know some people really don't like that kind of people,

but I have no problem with that. I'm okay with that. Yeah. Next time, Dennis, that you're at the office, look for the, look for the, Look for the Malibu, and I guarantee you it's going to be parked in the hardest place to park in the entire parking lot. I give an out for it because now, because not like I'm really curious, like, where the heck is parking these days? Have you noticed on Slack when, you know, every day at 5 o'clock, it's, you know, move your car?

Have you noticed, like, no one ever pinged Sam? Sam never, Sam will never park. Like, he'll never double park, I think, in front of someone, right, Sam? Right. Yeah, I, like, I already know. Like Sam will park his car sideways in between two cars before he double parks. Yeah. Dude, yeah, trust me.

That's the, that's the, and I, some, and this is the thing, because I get here at 10 a.m., everybody's already here. So there is, there are no spots available. So, okay, where am I going to park? Where am I going to park? Okay. Let's see, let's see, let's see. I cannot block that car. I cannot block that car.

Hmm, you know what? Let me go park by. by that next to that dock where there's a little spot right there I know I can do it I know I can do it and yeah I make it happen sometimes and yes there are times that even though I make it work I'm being called that I can't park there

I'm not in any of his way I'm like ah damn it but people people tell you like hey you can't park there you just turn up your Metallica on your stereo yeah master master Yeah. But, yeah.

All right. My last question for you, Sam, is we kind of talking about this earlier, but I'm just curious. What's it like, like, what's it feel like when I hand over like a, you know, like a hundred packages of stickers that I'm asking you to like mail out? And I'm curious because it used to be a lot worse. I think, like when, you know, when I first started mailing out stickers, it was literally me, you know, I would just put stickers in an envelope and I would lick the stamp and I would write out the address. And I would walk over to Sam and I would give him like five envelopes or 10 envelopes. And then it got to be like 20 envelopes. And then I think one day, and I remember it was February of, I think maybe February of 20.

And I remember the date because it's like the only month where I literally just had to stop shipping something because I had to figure out how to ship so much. And I think in February of 2019 or maybe it was 2018, I had given Sam, it must have been 500 envelopes to ship out of stickers and lanyers. And I remember just looking at your face and like your jaw dropped and you're like, bro, are you serious? And this was at the time when Build started taking off. And this is at the time when we were like running out of warehouse space. You know, we're looking for any warehouse. And then here comes Ivan. And he'd need to ship out 500 envelopes of stickers and lanyards.

And all the addresses are like, you know, no zip codes. Anyway, I'm just curious, like what's it like when I hand that over? Because I still do that to this day. but now thankfully, the majority of the rewards are shipped out from our off-site warehouse. So only once in a while I have to go to Sam, but does that still bug you? Let me tell you, let me tell you what it is about that. Let me tell you.

So what it is is that every single time that you bring me anything of anything, usually when it's large amounts, for whatever reason you happen to bring it, at the worst possible moment. And that's... That's why I react the way I react. So, for example, like that time, when you gave me the, like, about 500 of them, reason why I react to the way I reacted

was because, yeah, you're right. You know, at that time, BLD was just starting to really pick up. That's when it was like, oh, my gosh, like, okay, I'm going to have to get more people to help out because it's getting crazy. And then, you know, as BLD is getting busy and not

to mention that for whatever reason the software they were using or the program we were using Ship Station was not working properly it was the orders were not importing so we had to do everything manually and just literally input every single

address manually and because of that here comes Ivan brings me 500 envelopes to ship with ship station not working properly, with a BLD really getting busy, and not to mention the parts that I'm doing, and then not to mention that also I am practically by myself, and I think I only had one guy with me, I think it was Kevin at the time. It was just both of us, and we're like, dude, we have a lot.

and I remember I was talking to Kevin and I was like I was like bro we're going to have to be working like 12 hours like for the next probably two three weeks maybe and just to ship out stickers yeah just to ship out stickers and then yeah and then BLD also yeah but the main reason one of the main reasons was yeah because ship station was just not not working properly so you know a normal order would take me like like about if it imports properly, it would take me like no more than maybe a minute, a minute and a half, versus when orders don't import would take me like about five minutes. And just multiply that by 500. And then the BLDs and then the parts, the service parts,

it was just getting really crazy. So, yeah. That was why I react to react because it's like, oh my gosh, It's so much work. But, yeah, like we, we, we didn't give up. We got it done. And it's funny because every single time, like I said, the address is sometimes a problem, like the international ones.

I remember back then, I gave you, like, no joke, probably like about 25 orders that had the address is really, really weird. and I just, they were just not working. And I remember, Ivan, you were like, oh, my gosh, like so many. I'll just take care of them later. And, okay, just giving them back to me as whenever they're fixed or whatever. The way I fix it is I just don't send them. And then I just wait for people to book me. Like, hey, where's my stickers?

And then I'll look at it. Yeah. But yeah, that's why that's in. I do apologize if maybe you might have taken it like, oh, my gosh. Like, don't need to apologize to me. I feel bad. I really do feel bad every time I have to ask you to help me with that stuff because I know how busy you are.

So I appreciate you, you know, helping with everything you do. Because without you, like I said, our community, they would not have stickers, lanyers, shirts, hoodies, poochies, and then all the other random stuff. We ship them every once in a while. Yeah. Sometimes it was, you know, coffee mugs. and you'll help pack the mugs to make sure they don't break or anything. So you definitely do it a lot for the community.

And I appreciate it. The community appreciates it. And we can't do with that, you, Sam. So thank you. Yeah, there's no problem. I mean, just to be clear, like, I tell my guys, like, look, I know all and I see all. So what I mean by that is that I know of everything. Oh, boy.

I know everything that's going out, everything. Any issues that happened, I know about them. Or if there's any mischips, I know about that too. But yeah, there it is. I know all I see all. That's serious. It's scary. I'm afraid now.

I'm afraid to ship anything out. So like anything that anybody receives, like, like, Bedx or USPS, however it gets shipped out, just to know that either I touched it somehow, whatever it is, it's going out, or I gave it to somebody to take care of it. So just keep that in mind. Here's a follow-up question. Who's more annoying when they ask you to ship stuff?

Ivan or Andy? Oh, man. That is a tough question. You're putting me on the spot right there, man. Just say Andy. Oh, my gosh. Well, see, this. It's because with Andy, he only gives me, whenever he gives me orders, he will only give me like two to three shipments a day sometimes.

Sometimes he won't give me something for days. But with Andy, there is always somehow, like once a month where he gives me a really difficult order with sending like. And oh my gosh, those are, those are a pain in the butt because the reason why is because because the reason why is because. Because that one order could be like about maybe 10 H510s, 6 H710s, and then whether their eyes or non-eyes. And then because they're in a room, sometimes we don't know if we have them. And it's like I take everything that I do have out. But then if the order says I want an H710 I read, but I pulled everything else out and then

we don't have that, it's like the order has. to get canceled and I have to put it back inside the room. Dang it, Andy. So that is one of the toughest parts. And the last recent order with Andy, I think it happened like twice with the same customer where I had to take everything out and then put it back in because I realized I don't have

a specific case that the customer wants. So I put everything back in. And then again, the same thing happened again where I think it was a white one, I believe. because he recreated it with other cases and again we didn't have it so I have to put everything back inside it it's like oh my gosh

now as far as far as with with Ivan's orders I am a little more prepared now with now because of how BLD is growing like I do have more people to help me out to help me ship stuff out so I

do definitely hand them most of the work. So that's why I'm saying like, I know all, I see all, like, what's going out. Because no matter what, everything always comes to me. That's pretty spooky. You have the power, Sam. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it's crazy.

I mean, every dude, everybody comes to me. Everybody. And I remember when I barely started NZXT, there was Ricky. I remember everyone would go to Ricky. And I was like, I found that's so cool. I'm like, hmm, one day I'm going to be just like Ricky, where everybody's going to Ricky and everybody's going to go to me. And I found it so cool how when everybody goes to Ricky, he's able to answer every single

question, everything. And like, how does he know everything? He has to eventually say, you know what? I don't know what you're talking about. But no, he answered everything. And I'm like, one day I'm going to be like him, one day. So I learned all the parts. I learned everything that has to do with shipping,

the packing, the process, and all that stuff. That way, if anybody has any questions, like I'm able to assist in any way, shape, or form. And yeah. Every time I ask you a question, you always say, I don't know. Maybe because the questions you ask me are not related to it. I don't know. I always ask you like the weirdest, dumbest, most random questions, huh?

Yeah, that's, yeah. It's like, hey, I need you send a coffee mug to Sri Lanka. And I want to, you know, put it in this box and include some stickers. Like, how do I do that? So there's some weird thing. Right. Yeah, but no, like I, like, to me, like, that's why like, I even think to myself, like, look, I had to be prepared for in case somebody comes to me and says, hey, like, for example,

when you gave me the coffee mugs, I was just thinking like, okay, how am I, like, like, like, I don't want to be thinking like, like, how am I going to like pack this? I want to be prepared for it. So I think to myself, okay, what are the materials that I need to pack, you know, the most randomest things ever? So, like, I, that's why I'm always on you line. looking stuff up just to be prepared. So, so that whenever, you know, I've embraced me stuff,

I can pack it and they go and ships out safely. Thank you for your service, Sam. I feel like if we, if we have the kind of show where we took like random titles for each episode, this episode's, uh, this episode's title would definitely be, I want to be like Ricky. Yeah. That'll be perfect, perfect title. Yeah. That's, that's, that's, because that's how it is.

that's, I've always thought about Ricky and, uh, hello, I lost, not, not that way. Hold on, hold on, not that way. I've always thought about how, uh, he, he does things here, how he did things here in the warehouse. Um, and I, I never, I never forgot about him because he's the person that I looked up to at the time. And, and now it's like, I am exactly like him, if not, I know more now. Um, and, and, And I mean, especially with the company growing the way it is. I guess I am starting to believe that maybe I do no more only because of the amount of things that have to take place here. The amount of things are going out, the situations that come up. So.

Well, we have a special surprise because Ricky is right here right now. Oh, really? Ricky. Ricky, how are you going, Ricky? you say you know more than me huh let's go I'm sure you remember him right uh Ivan yeah of course yeah and his brother yeah his brother too yeah his brother too yeah they were the ones that everybody went to

for anything shipping related um and uh yeah like I said that's just how it was I looked up to him and here we are. Here we are. Yeah. All right, Sam, do you have your special shout out yet? Oh, shoot. I was really hoping you would forget about that.

Never forget. I thought you have a list here. Shout out to Ricky. Yeah, shout out to Ricky. Shout to Ricky, yeah. It's actually not a bad one, to be honest. That's true. But I mean, the question was,

I believe, if I'm mistaken, you said a shout-out to anybody from Manx-D? Yes. Right? So I guess you'll answer to that question then. So now, okay, now do you want me to do a shout-out from a specific individual or a department? That is 100% up to you. This is a open-ended show. We're not that serious around here.

We're not like Sam. All right. Let's see. Let's see. Well, what I'm thinking is that the shoutout that it's going to have to go to is going to have to be to the customer service team. I think. Oh, CS, huh? Yeah, CS.

They, I honestly have to hand it out to them. I don't know how they do it to be dealing with customers. You know how sometimes customers are just so mad that they. something was something went wrong with whatever got shipped and then you know the things that they have to deal with with with them like having to respond to them nicely see for with me I don't know if I'd be able to do that right that that's honestly like I salute to them you know yeah it's very much appreciative to all everybody I honestly I don't even I know that I don't know everybody because there's been new hires for customer service.

But, I mean, I'm going to say the name is that I know who worked there. Obviously, Lauren, Josh, Dakota. Dakota's a G. And then literally. Mr. McKay, James McKay. Dom, Dominic, I remember Dominic. He's been here for a while. Who else?

Uh, hope. Uh-oh. There's hope. And then Laurent. And then the other job, Josh Vega. We have Lauren and Laurent. Yeah. And there's Josh Haros and Josh Vega.

Uh. Oh, my gosh. I don't want to look at my phone. Oh, uh, what's his name? Like, Kenneth? Kenny. Yeah. Yeah, Kenny's cool.

Oh, my. Gosh, it has to be more people. I know there was a guy named, I believe, Matthew. Oh, and then there's somebody from CS, I believe. Her name is Vivian. I know there's two Vivians. Yeah, the other Vivian. Yeah.

I'm sorry, Sam. The correct answer was Ivan. Well, I mean, so what you're saying is a trick question then? Yes. I mean, if I don't say Ivan, does that mean that I'm not going to get any more of whatever is that you're shipping out? Yes. Man. Is it okay if I could take it back?

Yes. Too bad. Sorry, this is recorded forever. Oh, man. But yeah, that's everybody that I can think. I know. I know there are more people. I just don't know the newer people.

Oh, and then I know that what's his name left? Chris, sorry, Chris, just left us recently. Do you see Sergio? I think you forgot Sergio. Oh, my God. Sergio. He came in there forever too, dude. Oh, my.

I'm so sorry, Sergio. I'm so sorry. I don't know if he's going to. He's listening. He's listening right now. He's his DM me. He's like, wow, you really forget me? Oh, God.

I'm kidding. But for real, though, you know, like huge, huge shout out to the customer service team. They're definitely like, you know, on the front lines dealing with all the customers, you know. Yeah. COVID is not easy. So, you know, props, props to them. Exactly. They deserve a heck of a lot more than what they get. Yeah.

Agreed, agreed. I mean, that's why I told, I just spoke to Josh Harrah's about this. And I told him because sometimes when there are mischiefs, because CS is doing good. Sometimes they resolve the issues by themselves, and they don't tell me. Yes. And I told Josh, I'm like, look, I appreciate that,

but I need you to tell me because maybe there might be something that we're doing wrong, then maybe I can figure it. Maybe the process of how we're doing things. Communication is key, right? Exactly, yeah. So he was like, yeah, don't worry about it from now on. Like, when. I'll tell you everything.

Yeah, he's going to tell me. So, yeah, good. That's good. That's good. Okay, Ivan, I think that's it for your questions, right? Yeah. Before we go into the community questions, though, do you want to set up the giveaway? Before I do that, I actually want to ask Sam another question. Sam, are you good to hang for a little bit longer?

I know we're going past the time that we kind of set like 1130. So are you cool to hang for a bit longer or do you get a bounce right away? So I'm going to make sure that we're not tying you up for anything. I think I can stay it's no problem no problem okay cool sounds sounds good to me then all right so Ivan do you want to get a couple questions out of the way

while I set up the giveaway then for our free Discord Night show if you guys aren't listening live you're missing out all right my first question from the community here is from Alan he wants to know Sam Iron Maiden or Pantera oh my gosh

okay See, I like both, but the one I'm going to have to choose only because the one that I can live without is Pantera. I would go with Iron Maiden. Good answer. Yes, I can't do. I cannot not have Iron Maiden. They are the classic band and it's like, yeah. Another question from Alan.

what is up with the St. Anger snare drum? See, that's the thing. Yeah, it sounds like a trash can. And I know everybody talks about that album being the... It's the most controversial because it sounds like... A lot of people say it sounds like garbage. Dang. Yeah, I know.

But I personally... See, this is the thing. because it depends. A lot of people always listen to the first albums from Metallica. And then all of a sudden they hear St. Anger, and they're like, what the heck is that? Like, what are they banging a trash can or something? Like, and then it has no solos of any kind. But, see, it depends.

You can see, I, St. Anger was the first album I ever heard from Metallica. Wow, really? That's actually very surprising. So that's, see, and that's the reason why. And the reason why the way I heard Metallica St. Anger first was because back then, well, I still am now, but we used to really be into wrestling, WWF. And St. Anger was on, is one of the theme songs for one of their paper views that happened.

I think it was SummerSlam in 2003, I think, or 2002. I don't know. No, it hasn't been 2003 or 2004. But whenever Sanger came out and I was like, oh man, I like that song, that's, I liked it. And I was really young back then. So I or my cousin bought the album. And then at the time, you know, to me, it was normal for a snare to sound like a trash can. So it didn't bug me, but, but, uh,

Yeah, definitely, I myself and not a fan of that snare. So that's why whenever I do listen to the songs from that album, I always listen to them live and not the actual, the way they were recorded as the album in the studio. A somewhat similar question, kind of, I guess. I mean, I don't know if, so Death Rage is asking, Dave Mustain or Metallic, what would you pick? I'm assuming he's asking maybe Dave Mustain on Megadeth versus Dave Mistain on Metallica.

Which one would you pick? Oh, that's an easy one. Dave Mustain, Megadeth. Why? The reason why is because we wouldn't have the songs that we have from Megadeth. Yeah, sure. Let's say he stayed in Metallica. but if the question is

Metallica when Dave Mistain was in Metallica or Metallica had David State stayed for the longest that depends on that if we're talking about when Dave Mistain was just in Metallica I'd prefer how he is with Megadeth now I definitely would have preferred

he would have stayed in Metallica because I mean oh my God they would have had they would have been legendary to be honest Well, I mean, they already are still, but I'm saying, like, it would mean a lot more had he stayed. They would definitely came up with some special songs that, that everybody talks about this.

Like, they would have definitely been, they would have came up with some really interesting music, had Davis then stayed. And especially because Metallica towards, like, Lod and Relo started sounding country, at least in my opinion, I don't think it would have gotten to a direction had a day missing state. So, yeah. Controversial, man. Yeah. Get a little spicy here on the podcast.

Nice question is from director. Has anyone ordered the most expensive build PC? What's the most expensive build PC we have? I don't even know. That would be the creator now. I think it's the most expensive one. You can technically, I think if you buy Ninja's PC is like $4,000 and be like that.

Is it really? Yeah. I mean, I've seen more. The most I've seen, if I'm not mistaken, about like, almost 7,000. Yeah, I remember, I've seen one. that was like 12,000 before I remember that. God, you're right.

Yeah, the NGPC is $3,900. That's because it's got a 2080TI 11 gigabyte. I remember someone buying a $12,000 computer. I'm not even exaggerating. It had like, I don't even know what graphics card was in there. But just the graphics card alone, I remember, was like a couple thousand dollars. Yeah, I mean.

Tons of storage and it's crazy. Yeah, I mean, like the, obviously the one they're the most expensive are the custom builds. Those, I mean, because it depends on what the customer wants, but usually the 710s are the ones that are the most expensive. Like, and I know I heard you, I haven't said that you, you've seen something that was close to. I think it was $12,000.

Yeah, because to me, had that happen, it might have happened when I wasn't really, like too focused on printing builds 100% yet. But to me, the most I've seen like on a regular basis, just like a random build is roughly around almost seven grand. I'm sure we can definitely, you know, sell something that's that's 12. But if we're talking to-

Would you, Sam, would you rather spend $7,000 on a computer or $7,000 on a guitar? No, uh, see, I'm going to, okay, that question, I'm going to say guitar, but, uh, I'd rather spend it on an amp to be, it's going to be $7,000 because, um, the sound, the main important part is the amp. And then second it would be the guitar. Okay. Yeah. Uh, nice question here from meatloaf.

I guess it's for all of us, but what do you guys think we would be doing if we were not working at NST? Oh, my God. Sam, you go first. Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh. Well, if I were to not be working at NST, I would easily probably be working or actually, no, I take that back. what I would have been doing, I would have probably moved to an eastern state and bought myself a ginormous house because everything's cheaper over there. Yeah.

And actually, before I started NST, that was actually like something I was considering undoing. But once I found NSXT, I mean, like, I fell in love and I could not leave. Yeah. Yeah. What state would you want to move to? State, believe it or not, I mean, the one state that I was considering was, because I went there one time to visit one of my uncles. And I drove there, so it only was getting better and better. So I went to Arkansas.

And I remember driving through there and then I remember passing through, what is it, a, what is it? New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, and we're going through Oklahoma. The first half of Oklahoma was just pure, like nothing, nothing there. And then like towards the second half of Oklahoma, I started to see a bunch of trees and started to get more trees and more trees everywhere. And then I got to Arkansas and now it was the most amount of trees that I've ever seen. and even in the middle of the highway, it's the divider between both sides

is literally just bushes the whole way. This man likes trees. Yeah. To the right side is so many trees. So the left side, so many trees. And that's who I am. I love trees.

Now, the only bad part about it, but they were saying that that when it gets really hot and humid and you're driving, you're, as when you're in the highway, you're going to be hitting a bunch of bugs on the windshield. So imagine if you're, the windshield wipers don't work or they're not working properly,

and you're like, you know what, these bugs are bugging me and you forget about it? And then you, you turn on the wipers to wipe it off, but it doesn't wipe off correctly and it would oh my gosh and I remember when I was in my uncle's van he did that by accident and oh my God the bugs were like

they kept coming but when he turned out the wipes to wipe it like it's smushed all the bugs and it was so disgusting but this tell me that it gets really bad during summertime with the bugs

and I'm like oh my gosh, that's probably the main thing that I probably would not enjoy just because you have to keep washing your car. I mean, yeah, you can easily just clean the windshield. But he says that it gets really humid and really bad over there. That's probably the only bad part, but either way, I would have a big house, so it didn't matter. So, yeah, that's where I would have gone. had I would not have found

NCXT the bugs are bugging you yeah how about you Dennis yeah how about you guys I would probably still trying to be getting a game

in the job in the games industry working as like a community manager or social media something like that like I just always liked working with communities especially like in gaming so that's something that I would definitely

like want to continue doing you know, whether it's like for like a small studio or like a big studio, you know, like, if, I think like at this point, like where I'm at, like the games that I like and the communities that like, it'd be dope if I could like end up at Bunchy, you know, just being like a community manager there. Sorry, Ivan. Go for it. Living that destiny life. For me, I would just be retired, make my wife work. That's the move, dude. Next question, Sam, do you watch European football?

Okay, so a quick thing about with me. So I remember I had a conversation with you, Ivan, about this, that we talked about soccer, and we talked about how soccer is the most popular sport in the world. but I remember one thing that you said was something along the lines that usually the most popular sport or anything is not the coolest sport. It's just, it's just, I don't know how you said it. I don't remember how you said it. But anyways, going to that, I remember when I was a kid, I was, my dad had me in a, in the soccer team. I was a kid.

and because there was a miscommunication between my parents and the coach about when a game starts, it kept happening over and over where a game, for example, it's scheduled to start at 12, but then it changes to start at 8 a.m. We show up at 12 and the game's over. So my dad would be so mad and it would keep happening like maybe three times in a row that he took me out of it. and he never put me back in a team. And I remember being really frustrated as a kid. And because I never, I never went back to play,

I know that I have a problem myself, like a psychological thing where, see, because of that, nowadays what I do is that I play a little too much of FIFA. And the reason why I play it is because I never got the opportunity to play in person. So when I'm playing FIFA, it's like I pretend like that's me. And it's just a crazy addiction that I have when I'm playing online. And it's got really deep. Dude, yeah, honestly, like that it's, I know, it's a, I can't explain it.

And sometimes it's like I can't stop playing. I keep playing people and I'm always like, eat them. but the reason why is because I can't stop playing because that's what I feel like I would have been doing maybe the career that I would have followed had my dad never taken me out and I know that's you know like that's why there are other games that everyone plays because

it's a fantasy world you know that people pretend you know like that you are them you are the character well for me I pretend that I am you know, part of the team, whoever it is that I'm playing as, which my favorite team is Manchester United

from England. I pretend that I'm Mario all the time. Exactly. Jumping over all those things, so. Yeah, fixing toilets. Yeah. Killing turtles. Jumping over them.

Yeah. But yeah, that's, that's, that's, and I know everybody tells me, like, all my friends, like, what's, like, it doesn't, mix. How is it that you're into metal and you play FIFA? Those two things don't mix and that's the reason why

because I was taken out whenever whenever you have a game night I always see you and the rest of the packing team always playing FIFA and I always hop in like one game and like apparently I'm like good which I didn't realize I was like any good at FIFA

my dad plays all the time and like, you know, we don't play seriously. He just, he just plays, you know, because like, oh, I want to play as the Mexican team, whatever. So I'll, like, hop on and I'll play every now and then. Like, I didn't think I was any good because I can never, like, you know, actually trained up or, like, put any effort in. Like, the one time I played with, with you guys, everyone was like,

oh, man, you know, Dennis is crazy good at FIFA. Yo, what's up? I'm like, no, I'm really not. Yeah. I really not that good, but apparently I am. No, you are. You are. Trust me, because when I played you,

I was actually worried for a second I was like wait a minute I'm here like he's you're close you were really close to scoring and I'm like what in the world and I couldn't score myself I think I beat you like it's just like one to zero and I just cannot cannot believe because you don't even play so how is it that the

you're that good it wasn't making it wasn't processing I wasn't getting it but could it be that I'm that good or could it be that you're actually that bad are you packing it could be oh yeah it's hacking i'm hacking no you know what it has to do with i don't know how you guys are but with me uh at least i know my friends are the same way where see we cannot play at least i

cannot play in large TVs i have to play in smaller TVs because if you think about it if you have to move your head to look on the other side of the screen that is automatically too big and you have to be able to just move your eyes, only your eyes. And that's why I lose, because there's so much movement going on. I have to turn my head this way, that way, this way. So you should play FIFA on your phone. I mean, that's why I'm my house. I do have a smaller, like a really small TV. And everybody that's playing a bigger TV. I'm like, no, it's just because this is the only way I can like kick some major butt, you know. How big is your TV? As big as the monitors that I have in the warehouse, literally.

That's pretty small, right? It's like 24s, 25s? Yeah, something around there, yeah. Yeah. Sam playing TV or playing FIFA like in a little, like, black and white little square box. Yeah. Yeah, that's.

Yeah. The smart thing is play back in the day. It's only playing back in the day when we were broke. His tiny TV. That's all you can get. The smaller the better, honestly. Yeah. All right, so we're kind of running out of time here.

So sorry for those who ask questions, but we got to move on a little bit. First off, congratulations to Ms. Bezzi and Bach 4 for winning the Nitro. Please DM Poppy for your free nitros and enjoy spamming emotes in the server. I already sent the Nitro to Ms. Bezzi because she's listening, but the other guy, Bach 4 is not. So if Bachford does listen, just DM me. Oh, or maybe we should re-roll because one of the rules is you have to be listening now. We can rerroll. Yeah, all right, let's do it.

I mean, they're not listening, right? Yeah, I mean, they might have been listening at the time, but I don't know if they, to like, left or something. Let's see. Yeah, no Ms. Bezzi, you cannot win it twice. Let's see what we got here. I don't know. Did they even say anything or did you just like?

Should I just drop a car? code in the chat, whoever gets it? No, because the bots will snap it. There's definitely bots on the server that snip the Nitro. I know that for a fact, because they go way too quick. What if I drop the code and I just don't include the last number? I'm not sure how that works. We'll go for it.

If you can figure it out, do it? I don't think I can actually. Okay, so we'll figure that out. I don't think Bach 4. Let me see. Let's see. tag, let's tag. If they come through. Okay, so, see if they pay attention. Okay, so community roundup time. Setup of the week winner is Sajid. I think it's how you pronounce it. Congratulations to him for that. And also, the Wattpaper winner for this week is also Sajid. So I think this is the first time we've ever had like a double winner for both categories of the setup and Wapaper of the Week. So congratulations to them, him.

Also, sad story because I was talking to them about their setup. And he's like, yeah, I don't have that setup anymore. I'm like, what happened to your setup, dude? Apparently he sold it all so he can focus on school. Which is like super sad. I feel really bad. I know. He's like, yep, he's like, all I have now is just an ultra book.

It's all for studies. It's like, this whole setup's like, I can get it anymore. I might do that. That's a real big bummer. That was a nice setup. Yeah, it was. Yeah. So F in the chats for that.

Yeah, I feel awful bad. He still has those action figures. because I asked them, like, did you get rid of those two? He's like, not. Okay, so back forward is paying attention. Let's do a re-roll. Let's see here. Create.

And the next community, Roundup News, something we already talked about in the announces, but if Ivan wants to elaborate on it, is the shipping and the purple shirts has been paused for a bit. You want to talk about that, Ivan? Yeah, so not just the purple shirts, but basically the prizes, the rewards that I would bug Sam about. So anything, any prize for like the setup of the week, the wallpaper of the week,

Pucci's pick, women edition stickers, they're temporarily just momentarily pause while we figure out how we're actually going to ship those prizes without going to the office. Because with the whole pandemic, you know, I can't go into the office anymore like I used to to shit those things out. But the other rewards, they're unaffected. So you can still get your regular stickers, lanyard, shirt, hoodie, and pucci just by ranking up.

But I actually had a meeting with Anna earlier this week about shipping. So I think we have it all figured out. It's just have to tweak a little, a couple things here and there. I'm actually going to message Sam sometime later this week or early next week about it too. I'm going to need your help, Sam.

Of course, no worries I got you Right after the podcast I'm going to put him to work Shipped this out, Sam Yeah But it's something The posuling momentarily

It's just we have to We have to kind of situate ourselves a bit right now But it's all good Coronavirus can't stop these stickers Coronavirus Coronavirus right Yeah

All right All right I think Okay So I think that's it There really isn't much Much how's going on right now But yeah But, you know, like I haven't said because of that, we did pause the recurring monthly contest.

So, but actually, I do want to do a call out. If you guys have any ideas for any other contests that you like to see in the server that isn't just that, let us know. You know, we'll consider it. You know, we're always looking for suggestions. So hit us up for that. I actually had to send like a long, long old email to a bunch of people in the company because of stuff that some of the peeps in the hardware channel we're saying. So congrats to them. you know, thanks for, you know, being open with us and, you know,

letting us know some of your concerns and things that you find out, you know. We definitely lean on the community to let us know what we could do better. So thanks for that and for me spending two hours on our, like, I think like two or three hours on that email or something like that. It took way too long. Okay, other than that, I think that is it. So thank you very much for joining us, Sam. No problem, man.

My pleasure. And thank you to everyone who tuned in. Remember to tune in next week at 10 a.m. fixander time the official nzxc discord server and follow at nzxc on all relevant and irrelevant social media and don't forget to listen to previous episodes on apple podcast google podcast spotify and sound cloud and finally if you would be so kind please leave us a positive review and share the podcast with a friend if you like what you hear but especially if you don't with that thanks a lot guys and we'll see you next time stay tuned for some music

Bye.