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How Do You Survive Middle Age While Working On Wall Street?
With a long weekend upon us, ConvergEx's Nick Colas takes the opportunity to wax a bit philosophical. The question for the day: "How do you survive middle age while working on Wall Street?" After polling a few friends of a similar vintage to his own 25 year history on the Street, he has come up with a Top 10 list of dos and don’ts. At the top of the list is "Don’t get stale" – what you did to become successful is not necessarily what will keep you competitive. Other dictums include “Be efficient”, “stay in touch with your clients”, and “the answers are never just in the numbers”. The key take away from all these thoughts is pretty simple – the journey never stops, so keep investing in yourself, your friends, and your allies. These may not guarantee success, but ignoring them surely leads to failure.
In the 1980s, there was no better managed American automaker than the Ford Motor Company, largely due to the leadership of Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Donald Petersen. Ford was the closest domestic manufacturer to the Japanese in terms of efficiency and quality, thanks to his push for incremental investments in manufacturing and R&D. He championed a radical new design for a mid-sized car, the Taurus, that proved wildly successful and showed American car companies could gain share in the segment. The Ford family was happy with him, the unions liked the jobs that came with new products, and the Street saw Petersen as a disciplined operator and good steward of capital.
Then, in early 1989 after 40 years with Ford, Don Petersen unexpectedly quit. His contract wasn’t up for 18 months. He handed the reins to a longtime lieutenant by the name of “Red” (Harold) Poling and rode off into the sunset. His explanation: “It’s time to repot myself”. Press accounts at the time and later pointed to some disagreement at the Board level over succession planning, but industry insiders I spoke to in 1991 – including Red himself – said Don was being honest. He wanted to do something new.
That story has stuck with me through the years, and there are two takeaways relevant to today’s note. The first is that you’re never too old or too powerful to essentially burn out and need a new challenge in your life. The second is that I’ve been on Wall Street for a really long time. I can relay a conversation with a CEO I had in 1991 while employed as an auto analyst for a bulge bracket firm. Also, you can tell I am old because I use the term “Bulge bracket”. I also call a radio a “Wireless”.
Putting the two thoughts together, I got to thinking about how one manages the middle part of a Wall Street career. For the purposes of this note, consider that timeframe to be between the ages of 40 and 60. If you’ve only worked at hedge funds, back that up to start at age 30, just like a 5 year old dog is 35 in human years. I jotted a few thoughts and then spent the morning calling a few friends in the business of similar vintage.
We came up with a Top 10 list of “How to survive and thrive when you’re not the youngest one in the hive”. In no particular order, here they are:
1. Stay close to your sources of information. No man or woman is an island on Wall Street. We all need constant interaction to stay current and informed. If you are an analyst, for example, these are your companies, industry contacts, press relationships, and anyone else with whom you have a productive dialog. Recognize that 5-10% will leave your sphere every year and need to be replaced with new contacts.
2. Stay even closer to your clients. As Bob Dylan famously said, “You’re gonna have to serve somebody.” We all do. For the sell side, it is our money management clients. For the buyside, it is your sources of capital. No conversation or in fact any communication with a client is ever a waste of time. That, by the way, is why we write these notes every day, 200+ days a year.
3. Mentor as many younger people as you can. The old saying “To teach is to learn a second time” holds here. Plus, if you hire the right people they will eventually be far more successful than you. At that point they will hire you as a consultant out of gratitude for giving them their start and let you take their jet on vacation. At least that’s how I see it playing out for me.
4. Be efficient. My personal mental model of success is essentially a DuPont return on investment framework. There are two components: your “Margin” (i.e. how smart you are) and your “Asset turns” (how efficient you are). Past a certain point there’s not much you can do with margins. You can read little more, talk to a few more smart people, listen to a few more companies, etc. But you aren’t going to bump your IQ by enough to make a difference. Improving your return on personal investment comes down to increasing your efficiency. Don’t be rude, but don’t waste time on people who don’t merit your attention. The same goes for all the stupid little time sucks through the day. Get rid of them.
5. The answer is never in the numbers. The four most dangerous words in finance are “I have a spreadsheet”. Any analysis worth the name is really about how you consistently and realistically assemble the numbers in a financial or economic model. It’s the narrative, not just the numbers, that define insight.
6. Balance personal and professional life. Sometimes clichés exist because they are true. “Don’t pet a barking dog”, or “never start a land war in Asia” are good examples. Challenging jobs can lead straight to divorce. And that’s a whole lot of no fun.
7. Don’t make big mistakes. This one is uniquely true for middle aged finance executives. Early in a career you can bounce back, because future employers or sources of capital will chalk up even a sizeable error a youthful error to inexperience. Past the age of 40, you should know better and big screw ups can be deadly. Missing part of the upside in business or investment idea is OK; getting all the downside in a failure is not.
8. Don’t allow yourself to get stale. If you make it 20 years in this business, you’ve clearly done something right. Now here’s the catch: it isn’t the same thing that will keep you on top for the next 20. My first mentor used to call Caterpillar dealers all over the world, every quarter, to keep up on business trends. When his competitors started copying that, he began offering clients conference calls with his contacts. When that got to be routine, he began to offer road trips. Always keep innovating. Old themes (in this case, industry contacts) are OK; old approaches are not.
9. Set long term goals and work backwards to the present. Sometimes success is a curse, because you can’t imagine what’s beyond any particular near term accomplishment. Imagine where you want to be at 60, or 65, or 70 and define the steps needed to get there. It’s too easy to get caught up in your day to day and wake up one day to say “This is not my beautiful life”.
10. There is a huge and interesting world available to you when you leave finance. Or if it leaves you. Wall Street is one of those careers where it quickly becomes unimaginable to work elsewhere. Yes, that’s partly the money. OK, it’s mostly the money. But remember that there are many fabulous places in the world where it doesn’t cost $50,000/year to send a child to school or $100,000 for a beach house rental. Maybe you will make it to 65 working on the Street. And maybe you won’t. As long as you realize either path leads to happiness, you’ll be just fine.
I am sure I have missed many helpful hints for the 40-60 year old set; these are just a starting point. At the end of the day, whatever works for you is the right thing to do. Just remember to share those nuggets of wisdom with your friends and colleagues – we will all appreciate it. And don’t be afraid to repot yourself a few times.
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You don't
Always have available the best coke and whores for your stupid muppet clients. Remember, you are just a number to the guys who run the show, don't get caught stealing or they will send you to prison. Wall Street does not like old people, which is why aging Wall Streeters churn customer accounts ruthlessly, to have enough money in their safe deposit box in anticipation of getting the ax. Don't believe co-workers. They, like you, want to be sitting in one of the shrinking number of chairs whenever the music stops. These comments are extrapolations from the total job world, since most of the wage slaves who work on Wall Street are drones, just like everyone else, only they get paid more for their drone work. Read Zero Hedge, so you can sometimes see what lies are spewed by high level Wall Street executives, such as Nick Colas (was that always his last name?).
this is why i used to come to zero hedge. Congrats on finding your roots.
Sadly, 70% of the other stuff you publish these days is anti american communist propoganda.
Why would anyone use communist propaganda against communists? Apparently they do not even have professional courtesy?
Anti-American communist progranda? No. Just reactionary cranks who think that Putin and his ilk who run things in Russia really represent a better alternative than the folks currently running ours.
1) Depends from where you are. If you are American, yes, you are better off with your psychopath government that will do anything to stay the only superpower in the world. You've been living at the expense of the rest of the world thanks to the dollar, I can understand you want to keep your privilege. But if you are not, you are better off with Putin and co, who understood the world will be multipolar or won't. I don't know how good the Chinese run the show at home (I never went there, how can I judge), but I don't see them sticking their noise into politics abroad, they just do business with whoever is in charge. As a European, I prefer this approach. I see what mess the US leadership brought, I might be wrong but I don't see how worse it could be unless they resurrect Pol Pot.
2) You cannot deny the bad guy right now is the US and their puppets. The fact that some people expose the US dirty tricks and lies against Russia does not mean they want Russia to rule the world.
No, ZH exposes the fascists for who they are.
Wall Street folks masters of "Communist Manifesto" and "Capital" and
top Marxist Scholars ?
Boys in Armani suits mingling with Communist guerillas somewhere in South America, like in International Brigades in Spain 1937,
and fighting for the cause?
Think before you post.
Talking about the _Kommunist_ propaganda:
1) Karl Marx, whos real/maiden name was Moses Mordecai Levi Marx, and who came from a family of rabbis of six generations, was a key ideologyst of _Kommunism_ (not to be confused with Socialism) -- as was his Jewish gay partner Friedrich Engels.
1) Leo Bronstein (Trotsky), sent by the Wall Street banksters, along with his Brooklyn jewish gangsters, from NYC to Russia through Canada/Kohenada, was one of the organizers of the "Russian" Revolution in 1917 and a founder of the Red Army.
He is responsible for ethnical cleansing and genocide of 60 million Russians between 1917 and 1937, up until when the power was finally seized by the Russian goyim patriots led by Stalin, who stopped the genocide and who is now blamed for the crimes of Trotski's "inglorious bastards".
2) Jewish propagada has been deceiving _Amerikan_ goyim people for years, telling stories about the Russian/Soviet threat, when the reality was quite the opposite:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polar_Bear_Expedition
[...]
The Polar Bear Expedition (also known as the Northern Russian Expedition, the American North Russia Expeditionary Force - ANREF or the American Expeditionary Force North Russia - AEFNR) was a contingent of about 5,000 United States Army troops[1] that landed in Arkhangelsk, Russia as part of the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War and fought the Red Army in the surrounding region during the period of September 1918 through July 1919.
[...]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Unthinkable
[...]
Operation Unthinkable was a code name of two related plans of a conflict between the Western Allies and the Soviet Union. Both were ordered by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in 1945 and developed by the British Armed Forces' Joint Planning Staff at the end of World War II in Europe.
The first of the two assumed a surprise attack on the Soviet forces stationed in Germany in order to "impose the will of the Western Allies" on the Soviets and force Joseph Stalin to honour the agreements in regards to the future of Central Europe.[citation needed] When the odds were judged "fanciful", the original plan was abandoned.
[...]
BTW, Churchill's mom was a Brooklyn Jew (google Lady Randolph Churchill).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Missile_Crisis
[...]
In response to the failed Bay of Pigs invasion of 1961, and the presence of American Jupiter ballistic missiles in Italy and Turkey against the USSR with Moscow within range
[...]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Northwoods
[...]
Operation Northwoods was series of proposals for actions against the Cuban government, that originated within the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) of the United States government in 1962. The proposals called for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) or other US government operatives to commit acts of terrorism against American civilians and military targets, blaming it on the Cuban government, and using it to justify a war against Cuba. The proposals were rejected by the Kennedy administration.[2]
[...]
4) Jewish Involvement In Black Slave Trade To The Americas: http://www.rense.com/general69/invo.htm
Name Of Slave Ships And Their Owners:
The 'Abigail-Caracoa' - Aaron Lopez, Moses Levy, Jacob Crown
Isaac Levy and Nathan Simpson
The'Nassau' - Moses Levy
The 'Four Sisters' - Moses Levy
The 'Anne' & The 'Eliza' - Justus Bosch and John Abrams
The 'Prudent Betty' - Henry Cruger and Jacob Phoenix
The 'Hester' - Mordecai and David Gomez
The 'Elizabeth' - Mordecai and David Gomez
The 'Antigua' - Nathan Marston and Abram Lyell
The 'Betsy' - Wm. De Woolf
The 'Polly' - James De Woolf
The 'White Horse' - Jan de Sweevts
The 'Expedition' - John and Jacob Roosevelt
The 'Charlotte' - Moses and Sam Levy and Jacob Franks
The 'Franks' - Moses and Sam Levy
Obama is not a Non-American Afro-American, but a Kenyan Sephardi Jew on his father's side and an Ashkenasi Jew on his mother's side (google Ann Dunham).
PS
Please correct me if I'm wrong here, but as far as I know, the only goyim _Amerikan_ Presidents were John F. Kennedy and Jimmy Carter (no, Abraham(!) Lincoln/Lynncohen was not goyim).
Jump you fuckers!
Can any of those guys do anesthesia?They rammed the empire state building up my ass before turning on the gas. Fucking Anal ists...Ol stop may need a prayer or two if this shit keeps up.
h
The machines need dusting, go get your shine box boy.
"You don't"
Ding! ding! ding! Correct answer......
If you're smart you never took that path. If you did, you GOT smart and quit.
I worked in operations - was one of the back office peons that tried to actually make things work behind the scenes (amazing how often they didn't). It doesn't take long to see that most on Wall Street are narcicisstic asses that would sell their daughters or grandmothers... they'd do anything for an extra $$$. Few had any real brains or talent - most were VERY good at scheming, plotting and all those 'negative' qualities we claim to abhor as a society.
The only way to keep your soul is to walk away. I've seen a few others do so, though not many. Those that stayed who weren't absolutely cut throat ended up dead from heart attacks, high blood pressure or are on their way....
What's worse - those at the top actually think they're f'in geniuses who DESERVE every $$ they've gotten.....
I think Wolf of Wall Street must be a childrens' fairy tale compared to what's really going on. The Boiler Room was just a teaser.
The fairy tale is the "lone wolf" - conspiracy requires cooperation (even if out of self interest). Oversized egos and narcisism exist everywhere, even the local fire deparment.
One's career path tends to be determined early on in any organization, be it the US Military (where recruiters have been known to promise just about any future to a guillable teenager, regardless of his ASVAB scores and physical condition in order to get him to sign on the dotted line and make the monthly quota), Wall Street or K Street. Perhaps shysters are a clearer example than shylocks - if you reach middle age in a law firm and you are still an associate, you will never make partner (much less be on the inside).
Whether Kweku Adoboli was "partner material" at UBS is critical to understanding whether he was a designated fall guy, or a useful idiot. If there was no trust and cooperation on Wall Street, then why would the SAC of shit's minions be willing to serve prison time instead of flipping Stevie Cohen to the prosecutors?
Just as whether Nick Colas is "partner material" at ConvergEx was probably critical to his perspective on how to survive "middle age" on Wall Street, which if one is not designated (destined) to climb the corporate ladder is probably about the same as surviving "old age" on Wall Street (or anywhere else).
Front office here. The longer i'm employed in this field the more i realize how grateful i am to have great support (back/middle office) staff. Thank you.
Saying "one team, one dream!" won't change the fact that one day (now be really honest with yourself here), there will be a list of those who participated... You'll be on that list, and no amount of "but I was just doing what I was told" will change what will happen next.
If you're in the game, you'll reap the results, the only thing you can hope for is that you get out free and clear before the inevitable social consequences occur, when the proles go a finger pointing...
It was not my first priority, but it did factor.
Exited 2012 on conscientious objector grounds.
Peace be with us all.
Early in my career (mid 90's) I interviewed to be a support person on a trading floor at a bank. I told the guy after he offered me the job they couldn't pay me enough to work there.
I had no idea what it would be like until I interviewed. Feel bad for whoever took that job.
If you make to "middle age" on Wall Street, and you even have to think about it... you NEVER belonged there in the first place.
There are a lot of streets -around- wall street, not all are savage. But, the MAIN suggestion I would make, well, Tommy Mattola has 2 signs in his dining room, 3x3 each. One says EAT and the other DIE.
Plenty of guys forget that they really do need to know what the human body needs, and what ingredients are in their food. Most shirt and tie guys probably die early because of food choices. It really is not the stress that kills, it is the condition of the body due to food.
Always suck the customers cock.
When retired, comment about how wise you are while living in a state that is about to become a drought-stricken desert.
11. BTFD!
12. BTFATH!
11. Be a soulless greedy cunt.
If you're working for somebody else and playing by their rules, eventually they're going to fuck you.
here for the insanely jealous butthurt posts from people who've never made anything out of their life and likely never will, pass the popcorn
post turtle saver :here for the insanely jealous butthurt posts from people who've never made anything out of their life and likely never will, pass the popcorn
Well, some of us have made great strides in life and actually have helped others, others are parasitic...
Try producing the popcorn instead of passing it. Oh, you can't, ok.
I'm a special snowflake too!
Use of the word "butthurt" exposes you as a twenty-something penis hole who gambles for a living while wearing a suit. Good for you. You are nothin but a leech on society, but I truly hope you amass the fortune that you crave.
I'm (well) over 60 and I started using 'butthurt' in 2014. It has a certain penache that other words do not supply. Do not be afraid to expand your vocabulary (especially profanity) just because of your age. You will still be saying 'shucks' when you are 80 and you'll sound like you are 90.
I'm not sure for whom i feel more sorry: the majority of people on ZH work with their hands and barely break $50k/yr for their family, or the 30-yr-old kids who spent the last 8 years in a cubicle to maybe make $200k/yr.
I "work with my hands" by choice. I enjoy it. My best year was 90K. I get to see my work in magazines, museums and on racetracks. I have no dependants. I did the office BS working for the MIC, it's not me, Smart peeps there for sure but soulless also. I'd rather create. To each his own.
THe best thing I ever did was take a pair of tweezers and pick about 250 fleas off a starving kitten I found unconscious in an alley.
When that animal woke up and looked at me I knew that I knew God or Shaitan; and only God or Shaitan knows which...
I'm not afraid to be what I am: to be intellectually feral, insanely rational, consistently unpredictable -even to myself.
Get right with yourself. If you are one of God's/Shaitan's children then be one of God's/Shaitan's children.
Or not.
I recommend that everyone read the Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton. If not for the humor, for the hubris.
Or not.
I liked Rushdie's Satanic Verses, too...
You gotta laugh and cry or you aren't living.
Buy a good set of knee pads and a toothbrush....
All ya have to do is remember to "skim". Since you are incapable of producing anything of value and are 100% embedded into the ponzi., just skim. Gut your neighbor and sell his organs, Crush the bones of your clients and skim. That's all you need to know. You're not even algae. Even algae produces a bi product of some value.
I defy this every hour of every day.
It probably means that I am a huge loser.
But, damn do I look good losin'.
Elegant punk. Controlled anarchy. Feral civilization. Lost = found.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3gcdsl4iAo&spfreload=10
50k school and 100k beach house rental. Dude, truly, rarified air. D-bag humble brag.
"Dude, truly, rarified air. D-bag humble brag."..........it is not rarified air and he is not a douchebag!
that is the way it is - i know someone who facing three kids education in Manhattan plus LI in the summer and moved to eastern Westchester - $3.5 million house - was necessary in this particular community and after tax he is better off NET
Very balanced piece and good advice for anyone on the sellside - ones health and marriage cant be stressed enough
Yup. Marrying the wrong person and going through a traumatic and long-drawn out divorce often has the same psychological and physical effects of having someone close to you die. It takes years to recover for it and I have a few friends who haven't especially financially now in their late 30s/early 40s with financial obligations to 2 families.
A short quick divorce is even worse. You think you got off cheap and easy until years later when you finally crawl out of the smoking crater you created.
Year of school for little precious: $50k
Short term beach house rental: $200k
Priorites: Priceless
I had to laugh at his comment about 80's Fords - they were utter piles of shite.... aparently, he never owned or worked on one....
.... and we all know who Bob Dylan serves (in his own words): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqvvOD4bdRs
I would imagine that the vast majority of Wall Street serves the same guy....
Yup, the Ford Tempo was garbage. That was the last American car my parents ever bought - the Tempo was the final straw.
I got almost 200k miles out of a thunderbird without trying too hard. There were a lot of good Ford cars in those years. The real guano was GM. My god.
"...the journey never stops, so keep investing in yourself, your friends, and your allies. These may not guarantee success, but ignoring them surely leads to failure..."
Good advice in any line of work.
Nice refreshing post.
How do you survive middle age while working on Wall Street?
First, you stay away from the rooftops of any and all JPM facilities.
Second, you stay away from embankments.
Third, you stay away from high performance sports cars.
Fourth, you stay away from nail guns.
Fifth, you KEEP KNIVES AWAY FROM YOUR BUNGHOLE...
Sixth - you don't fuck people more ruthless than you
Heard a story (which I beilieve to be quite true) about a Russian oligarch sold a steaming pile of shit by a rep from one of the '08 failed and gones..... He demanded that a high ranking officer come to him and explain personally what happened to his money. The company sent an EVP - who had a gun held to his head while the CEO was phoned and told which numbered account the 'lost funds' were to be deposited into...... I guess there is some honor among thieves - or the hostge had some serious dirt on the CEO - because the money was deposited.
Lesson - 'They' WILL come up with the money they lost IF provided with sufficient 'incentives'.
Said douchebag EVP just needed to be "properly motivated". The Russian oligarch should be teaching at Stern or Columbia.
Maybe that's why they are now failed and gone. Jamie Dimon would revel in seeing the cold-blooded execution of a minion.
3. Mentor as many younger people as you can. "At that point they will hire you as a consultant out of gratitude for giving them their start and let you take their jet on vacation"
No matter where you work, you may enjoy mentoring someone and find it rewarding. But to think that a Millenial is going to hire you for anything is wishful thinking. First of all, they all grew up watching Barney the dinosaur so they are completely unable to relate to the rest of the world that didn't watch Barney. Now it's not their fault, they were just toddlers at the time. Also, there are so many unemployed/underemployed Millenials out there, when they get to the point where they have hiring authority, they will have sympathy for their fellow cohort members and get them jobs.
That's just how I see it.
I hate Barney. It has nothing to do with your post at all. But hearing (or apparently, reading) the word Barney practicaly sends me into convulsions. I HATE Barney. A lot. I mean, if I ever met that thing in an alley, I would blow his fucking head off. Especially if he TALKED. Or even let a fraction of that silly giggle. I'm serious.
And, I hate Scooby Doo too. But not nearly as much as Barney.
I wouldn't wanna piss him off
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmH3Gwf9UiY
Im a millenial.
I would NEVER hire an old fuck unless he had something unique to bring to the table.
Corporate America needs to get rid of these thieving boomers and cut their fucking pensions and 401ks too.
This is what happens when you let Bill Clinton raise your children.
If you haven't made your fortune by 35, plan your exit before 40.
I'm worrying all the time about the well being of the Wall Street people.
LOL! If they all dropped dead right now the world would be better off.
"The same goes for all the stupid little time sucks through the day. Get rid of them."
Nice knowing you, ZHers
Why would I mentor young fools to take my job?
Screw the company.
Nailguns make great anniversary gifts.
S.I.N.
Strength In Numbers
When your boss thinks cross training is a good idea.
You've got one foot out the door already.
I once watched my boss get fired, the same guy who jumped on a grenade the year before when the CEO wanted my head for saving his quarter. Ironically, that gave me the opportunity to leave of my own free will a few quarters later, which was a rarity since most were escorted or carried out. I may be a freak... but training my replacement started as soon as I actually got to increase headcount, it was just part of the job, nothing personal. I don't think I would have been half as successful at that bank if we all didn't look at back stabbing as a team sport, we just happened to be the varsity hostile takeover team and managed to displace almost the entire executive team that had taken us over a few years earlier.
Hope you were paid well for being top bastard.
Alec Baldwin with brass balls.
Coffee's for closers only!
I love that line.
lol.
The pay sucked (for what I was doing) unlike the CEO's pay, so I jumped at a comparatively lucrative investment banking advisory opportunity that opened doors to some rooms that I had no business being in at age 30. Even without the pay it was an offer I couldn't refuse because of who I got to work with before they retired and getting to actually see the high-finance/foreign policy/MIC sausage being made, which eventually motivated me to stop working for the financial system, even if I occasionally have to enrich a few of them. Otherwise, I still might be in banking getting screwed over by the system (as a slightly higher priced middle aged whore).
Such an unassuming name Urban Redneck.
I'm impressed by people that got into things I never did. Even now I wonder if I should break down and take courses or get back into a career to learn finance, economics, banking, or some damn thing.
oh, woops I have to read up the string to see what you did.
So, when in Venezuela... it's OK to "tip" the hotel staff with TP?
Hell, I'd pre-tip the kitchen crew with soap and wet wipes.
Smart Kirk. Very Smart.
Easy - be Hal Holbrook, not Charlie Sheen...........
What a useless list of nebulous crap. This is like my company posting " How to reduce your stress at work" with the likes of: try to laugh more often and take some time outside and enjoy the beauty of nature. So, I try to laugh when my boss has threatened me with a 10% demotion if I don't take on more supervisory duties and I attempt to go outside when the homeless guy talking to himself has passed and I hear no sirens blaring.
I was called in to a mandatory department meeting to explain the new merit raise policy. Raises will be based on 1) patient satisfaction surveys ( I have no patient contact) 2) no more than 2 sick calls a year ( they give us 5 sick days a year so now we will penalized for using a benefit) and 3) departmental workman's comp rates. ( if I get injured and take disability, everyone is affected). I got up and walked out of the meeting and no one followed me. Maybe I just need to laugh more and go outside.
I'm beginning to find I like the feudal system better. The king was the king and the serf was the serf and everyone just understood this. Any serf who had doubts just found his head on a spike. Nowadays, there is just an illusion of employee " empowerment" when we're all just fucking serfs.
Sorry for the rant. I'm tired of being a serf and want to put a king's head on a spike. And I'm tired of realizing no one would support me if I tried.
Miffed
Ours offer Wellness programs and BS like yoga but they will not hire more staff and rather hire more mgmt...
Yeah the system gets more and more complicated by charlatans and other smart people instead of getting more streamlined and simple by smarter people.
Hell capitalism depends on complex systems that charge fees and create jobs through complexity and Usury.
Maybe this is part of Chaos theory or Capitalism theory.
Anyone?
Capitalism is probably somewhat irrelevant, but understanding Chaos Theory is a prerequisite to understanding System Dynamics.
K.I.S.S.
Keep it simple stupid.
V=IR it all scales up or down and across systems that define flow of anything.
Money is voltage, currency is current, banks, businesses, etc are resistance.
Negative interest rates define currency directional flow. In a probability matrix when there is too much resistance like drunk man walking home math problem you need to create a vector in which all drunk men, money flows back to the home(issuer) so to speak. The money itself is not positive or negative, it just is.
Words are voltage, newsflow is current, media is resistance, etc.
Yup, and this from the group that made obsene profits with great innovations like the credit default swap and the mortgage backed security. I understand the theory that they're not all bad but we're back to the termite analogy.
Some termites may very well be good but reality dictates it's best to just spray the whole colony.
Great Post has Ethos, Pathos, and Logos.
I heard some new Philosophy terms today that are completely new: Parallax & parallaxis in relation to existentialism apparently one example would be not diverting from facts of money's power in politics and that the wealthy Elite chose the US Presidents... rather than accepting that US Citizens polled don't like Jeb Bush and therefore he could never be Elected President.
Ah, I think I forgot something else as well here.
you sound stressed Miffed, try to laugh at your own situation more and take some mental timeouts to enjoy the twisted beauty of human nature.
Aint seen you in a while Miffed. I always look forward to your eloquent ranting. Good to see you back :)
I guess I hadn't realized how time consuming laughing and walking outside would be. I'm sure it pales compared severed head spike placement. I think I'm stuck with eloquent ranting for the time being. Oh well. ;-)
Miffed
Here is the Key to both Corruption and the Blackmail of our US Private Industry & Public Industry Managers:
-
"Early in a career you can bounce back, because future employers or sources of capital will chalk up even a sizeable error a youthful error to inexperience. Past the age of 40, you should know better and big screw ups can be deadly."
- With Higher Costs of Living, you can't afford to lose years of Income, or Attacks on your Reputation
- With Higher Costs of Living, you can't afford to miss Invitations to Career Advancement, New Career Tracks, new Career Opportunities, new Promotions, new bonuses, new networks with influential people even if you know they are predatory ala John Fund
- Solutions would be State or national Protections from Attacks on Reputation, Threats to Background info (personal history), Threats to sue (Lawsuits), Threats of poor references (You will never work in this industry again)
- Solutions would be to have National Support Program to help Eliminate Personal Government Records, Clean up Background Search Info, International Background Search info, an effort to show that police records or other records on international scale which have not criminal convictions run out at some point in the future like 5 years for some marijuana charge, 10 years for some felonies that did not result in prosecution or conviction and should not be on a Job Background Check OR Movement through International Port Background Check
You all have little idea of the Fascism where accusations are enough to effect travel, international travel, job searches, apartment or housing applications, or even government jobs in prisons or manual labor.
the same as the corporate world
you either become a middle manager or you get the fuck out and go work at the amazon fulfillment center!
Dont' get high on your own supply
11. Don't go to the roof of the building for any reason.
12. Don't take walks alone at night without your cell phone and car keys.
13. Don't keep sharp devices, like nail guns, in your home.
14. Keep rope, neckties and bathrobe ties securely stored, under lock and key, in a shed behind the hosue.
15. Don't go jogging anywhere at anytime.
Human resources working on WS only have a 10 to 15 year life cycle.
Like Jack Ma said, if you're still poor at 35, it's your fault.
This is today's corporate culture.
Did he have any specific words of reproach for buying into an utterly fraudulent IPO?
Wanna live long and prosper on Wall Street? Be ruthless, cunning, and never let ethics or morality get in your way. To become a 15+ year veteran, you've gotta be: (a) the smartest guy in the room; (b) ride some winning coattails; (c) be an Olympic-level sexual decathalete; (d) drop a lot of bodies (figuratively) into the East or Hudson Rivers; (e) not rock the boat or be perceived as a threat to anyone around you. Option (e) generally means you can't be perceived as the best at anything (this arouses distrust in some, jealously in others, and most importantly, puts one ahead of others in the bonus pool (sorta like having crosshairs tatooed on your forehead). Work on Wall Street long enough, you'll discover you are usually digging someone's grave. Whether you put your own corpse in it, or someone else's, that's the part you can influence.
But, if you decide to leave:
1. Make book deals and write about "irregularities" in your profession and how your early retirement (unlike army of bridge and plane engineers, hart and brain surgeons, quantum physicists...) is enabled by "stash" earned in not necessarily ethical way (but you did nothing different than anybody else in the "industry"}.
2. Walk among unwashed protesting masses and lecture them how you are a genius and job creator (unlike them).
11. Don't do cocaine or heroin
12. Don't drink excessively
13. Don't hire prositutes
14. Eat healthy foods
Answer: You don't.
Say 'goodnight' fellas.