This week has been one of those weeks that bankers are famous for, just like the girl scout who sells the most cookies, I'm getting a merit badge for this one. What am I talking about? I am talking about relentless non-stop work. It's Saturday morning here and I am getting ready to head back to the office, but let's take a look at the week thus far:
Monday 8:30-7:30 (23)
Tuesday 8:30-4:00 (19.5) (42.5)
Wednesday 9:30-2:00 (16.5) (59)
Thursday 9:30-12:00 (14.5) (73.5)
Friday 9:00-12:00 (15) (88.5)
Who benefits from weeks like this? Well for starters the cab drivers that take us home. Look at Monday, the bloke who picked me up figured he was getting a forty pound fare across the city, nope. He took me home, left the meter running while I went upstairs to shower/change my suit, and then brought me back to the office. It was well over one hundred. Then every other night I just got in the cab and fell asleep. It's funny every time you fall asleep in a cab, you arrive home and the meter is somehow higher than it is normally. Cabs drive home the exact same way every night, yet when you fall asleep, those guys must drive in circles, got to love the entrepreneur in them.
So the big question is what in the world could be so important for you to work that much? The answer, nothing. See in banking we not only organize massive deals between mega sized corporations, we also play bitch to anyone willing to pay a fee. It all goes back to my previous post about begging to be bitches. This particular week we had a client, who is apparently the biggest pain in the ass, call up and say that they wanted a valuation done on a set of Spanish assets for Wednesday. An impossible feat, but being bankers we obliged, working grueling hours to get it done. You know what happened after we sent that of around 4am? The guy got back to us by 8am asking for the same thing under three other scenarios, what an ass. Of course there were other things going on, but that one project took up most of our time.
Anyway, I really do need to get back to work, hopefully today I don't start nodding off in the middle of a meeting or hit my head on the desk like I did on Tuesday or Wednesday, whichever it was. One of the benefits of this past week though is that time flies, it all mashes together and feels like one long day, today could just as well be Tuesday.
----------------------------------------------Update
Saturday 2:00-11:00 (97.5)
Sunday 1:00-12:00 (108.5)
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Thursday, October 2, 2008
The Bailout (As requested)
Firstly, let me begin by saying not all investment bankers are bad. Me for instance, I'm not one of the bad guys. I do mergers and acquisitions, every once in awhile an IPO or two. We didn't create the credit crisis, in fact, we're more pissed about it then most of you non-banker folk because it has completely ruined our fine (extremely well paid) industry. So next time you're on the tube (subway) and you see a guy dressed in a nice suit don't mumble "hey there's one of those asshole bankers" because firstly we know we're assholes in general, but seriously, not all of us caused this mess.
So, with the disclaimer out of the way, let's talk about the credit crisis. I personally believe Congress has no idea of what they are doing. One female representative the other day called Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson a day-trader. Then yesterday it comes out that one of the many "add-ons" to entice votes in favor of the bill is the elimination of an excise tax on certain wooden arrow toys(http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aNyvf3zNdo7o), come on now! We need to let the people who know what they're doing do what they need to do.
Now, Congress may not know what they are doing, but the typical American out there who is strongly against the bailout has no fucking clue. Get it in your heads people, we need banks. Think about everything that you do everyday, going to work, food shopping, movies, gas stations, strip clubs if that's your prerogative, they all require credit. Did Wall Street get us into this mess? Yes, no shit Shirlock, but that is a sunk cost my friends. It's on the citizens now and not doing anything will only make everyone's lives worse. No home loans, your local grocery store can't borrow so they go under, no more car leasing, your employer has to fire half the workforce because they can no longer borrow to expand the business or can't get a credit line to pay the bills. It's doomsday people.
The bottom line is this, I may somewhat understand the severity of the issue. I have a good idea of what it means to read that Libor spreads widened to an all-time high. The average non-finance person has no clue and that's fine. However, if you're in a chemistry lab and you see a clear liquid that the chemist tells you is toxic, you believe him, you don't say fuck you, you're lieing, and drink that shit. So listen to the finance professionals and maybe we can fix this mess.
So, with the disclaimer out of the way, let's talk about the credit crisis. I personally believe Congress has no idea of what they are doing. One female representative the other day called Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson a day-trader. Then yesterday it comes out that one of the many "add-ons" to entice votes in favor of the bill is the elimination of an excise tax on certain wooden arrow toys(http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aNyvf3zNdo7o), come on now! We need to let the people who know what they're doing do what they need to do.
Now, Congress may not know what they are doing, but the typical American out there who is strongly against the bailout has no fucking clue. Get it in your heads people, we need banks. Think about everything that you do everyday, going to work, food shopping, movies, gas stations, strip clubs if that's your prerogative, they all require credit. Did Wall Street get us into this mess? Yes, no shit Shirlock, but that is a sunk cost my friends. It's on the citizens now and not doing anything will only make everyone's lives worse. No home loans, your local grocery store can't borrow so they go under, no more car leasing, your employer has to fire half the workforce because they can no longer borrow to expand the business or can't get a credit line to pay the bills. It's doomsday people.
The bottom line is this, I may somewhat understand the severity of the issue. I have a good idea of what it means to read that Libor spreads widened to an all-time high. The average non-finance person has no clue and that's fine. However, if you're in a chemistry lab and you see a clear liquid that the chemist tells you is toxic, you believe him, you don't say fuck you, you're lieing, and drink that shit. So listen to the finance professionals and maybe we can fix this mess.
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