As someone that worked at that exact office for many years and then thankfully got out of that rat race I can sympathize with someone being exposed to the culture that exists there.
Generally people work ridiculous hours because they want to. They do it because the environment is highly competitive and the rewards can be huge. It is not the place for sensitive people, or indeed people with ethics and morals. It is all about the buck$ and screw the rest. People that can make money are Gods, even if their decisions only make money in the short term, no-one cares - all that matters is the next quarterly result and the annual bonus.
There is a reason that Merrill Lynch is now called Bank of America Merrill Lynch, their short term decisions came back and bit them in the ass and they got bought out. I doubt that any lessons were learned. Lots of lip service but I would be beyond stunned with surprise if any meaningful changes have taken place - the fact of this intern's death probably means I am correct, although of course nothing has been determined as to any link or otherwise.
I am probably over dramatizing here but if you value your soul, stay the heck away from Big Investment Trading & Commodities Houses.
i'm sure in a few weeks (if not ALREADY) this guy will be the going-joke around the offices as "don't pull an X. don't be the guy who can't handle the grind."
The other possibility is, "X is a hero, we should aspire to have that level of dedication to our work. Only shows how serious you got to be to get anywhere"
"If you ever care to see how all the world's most awful jokes spread, spend a day on a bond trading desk. When the Challenger space shuttle disintegrated, six people called me from six points on the globe to explain that NASA stands for 'Need Another Seven Astronauts. "
...That's it? If you think that's an example of the world's most awful jokes, I have some news for you. You should probably spend some time in just about any other industry, or even in a high school.
It's unfair to stereotype bankers this way. You could find books that similarly portray politicians, lawyers, etc. I know a few bankers and they're not like that at all. It's a mixed bag.
I've also heard far worse jokes in the kitchen of a restaurant. You want to be offended? Thems' a good place to start.
You give them too much credit; check out twitter.com/GSElevator for typical banker humor. Bankers pride themselves on borderline-sociopathic cynicism mixed with arrogance and workaholism. It's not pretty.
I don't think there's any real proof those tweets are submitted based on real experiences, to be fair. I know a few bankers, and I've spent holidays with them even. The ones I have seen are pleasant, polite, and more than willing to talk about things other than money/politics/things they're typically stereotyped with.
Not that I'm saying they're all like that. But they're not all arrogant or cynical. Maybe workaholics.
On the one hand, no, that sort of cavalier attitude wouldn't be prudent, and most human beings wouldn't say things like that publicly (even sociopaths, who ironically might be less likely to do so).
On the other hand, this sort of humor emerges even in high school among guys. If a group of bankers not very connected to him hear about it, I could see a joke like that beinf said. But the same could be said of any profession. That's humanity for ya.
Like any high pressure job, there is a certain amount of gallows humour. This is no different than what you would find amongst, say, A&E (ER) medical staff.
It depends where you work in the Bank. I worked at BAML for a while and apart from staying late on a Friday to release outside of US business hours, I didn't have many late nights.
The most insane period of work I had was when I worked at another bank and we had to put in place modifications to a system by a certain date, otherwise a downstream core trading system was predicted to fail (by capacity management) and the bank would be out of that particular market.
Even that was only every weekend for 6 weeks or so and regular nights of 9pm+
Generally people work ridiculous hours because they want to. They do it because the environment is highly competitive and the rewards can be huge. It is not the place for sensitive people, or indeed people with ethics and morals. It is all about the buck$ and screw the rest. People that can make money are Gods, even if their decisions only make money in the short term, no-one cares - all that matters is the next quarterly result and the annual bonus.
There is a reason that Merrill Lynch is now called Bank of America Merrill Lynch, their short term decisions came back and bit them in the ass and they got bought out. I doubt that any lessons were learned. Lots of lip service but I would be beyond stunned with surprise if any meaningful changes have taken place - the fact of this intern's death probably means I am correct, although of course nothing has been determined as to any link or otherwise.
I am probably over dramatizing here but if you value your soul, stay the heck away from Big Investment Trading & Commodities Houses.