Employee of the Month for October: Luca!
Meet Luca, our Employee of the Month for October! Luca has been working at ValuedShops for almost a year now. He’s our cameraman and editor for the content we create. Have you seen any reels on our social media, podcasts on YouTube and Spotify, or videos of our visits to members? Chances are, that’s Luca’s work ;-) You’ll also find him in our support department. Luca may have a serious job, but his lunch preferences sometimes make him seem a bit like a student. A frikandel sandwich or a croquette sandwich—those are his secret favorites. You can read about his ultimate guilty pleasure for lunch later in this blog!
You’ve been working at ValuedShops for almost a year now. What do you remember most about your first day on the job?
I remember my first day very well. I was pretty nervous about the new environment. After that first day—and really, the entire first week—I was completely overwhelmed by all the information I was given.
How would you describe ValuedShops? And what has stood out to you the most over the past year?
I’d describe ValuedShops as a super dynamic team. Of course, it’s a professional trustmark, but behind the scenes, it’s above all a very friendly and refreshing team. You really notice that we’re making progress together while also having a lot of fun with each other.
What has stuck with me the most over the past year is, without a doubt, the trip to Sofia. It was really awesome to travel abroad for work and get to know our Bulgarian colleagues better. Of course, you don’t get to go on a trip like that with the whole team at every company.
What does a typical workday look like for you?
My day usually starts at 9:00 a.m. with a cup of coffee and catching up on my inbox. Around 10:00 a.m., I grab my second cup of coffee and get to work reviewing online stores in our system.
At 11:00 a.m., when I finally wake up mentally—thanks to my third cup of coffee—I tackle the emails from general customer service.
After lunch—with coffee number four, of course—I continue with my emails and handle things like disputes and moderation.
On Tuesdays and Fridays, my afternoon often looks a bit different. That’s when I host video creators at the office to film shorts for our social media. Afterward, I edit the videos, schedule them, and continue working on content creation.
By now, the team knows you pretty well—Luca really starts to come alive around 11 a.m. What would your ideal work hours be?
As a night owl, starting at 12:00 p.m. would be great. But to be honest: 9:00 a.m. is already a huge improvement compared to sitting in school at 8:15 a.m. back in the day. That extra 45 minutes of sleep does me a world of good.
Even though I’m not fully awake until around 11:00 a.m.
What’s your guilty pleasure lunch?
My lunch can be very healthy, but sometimes the student in me comes out again. A croquette or frikandel sandwich and a ham-and-cheese sandwich with a hard-boiled egg are always classics.
But my real guilty pleasure—which, by the way, I haven’t had in a while—is a chicken sandwich from Tango. Not exactly healthy, but very tasty.
What’s your dream car?
Without a doubt, the Lexus LFA. I especially love that 1LR-GUE 4.8L V10 engine—the sound and the craftsmanship Lexus put into building that car are amazing.
For me, it really brings together everything I find interesting: cars, technology, and sound. Given its rarity and current prices, it’ll probably remain only in my dreams🥲
What contribution have you made at ValuedShops that you’re proud of?
In addition to my work in customer service, I spend a lot of time at ValuedShops creating content for Meta, TikTok, and YouTube.
What I’m most proud of is that, together, we’ve made ValuedShops increasingly “video-first.” Video now plays a much bigger role in how we tell our story, and I think it’s really cool that I can make such a big contribution to that.
What don’t your coworkers know about you yet, or what should they know about you?
It’s not really a hidden talent I’m incredibly proud of, but I used to take recorder lessons. Luckily, no one at the office has to put up with that anymore...