Working Xmas, just found out! :-(

I think I am too and I'm seriously depressed about it. First year analyst, not what I expected. Also, it looks like my New Years plans are already going to have to be cancelled.

Hey, I'm an Assoc and I'm planning same shit. We better get paid this year!

Sucks! I'll be back for NYE but xmas is shot. Should be a 10k bonus for working on major holidays! :)

I know it doesn't have anything to do with banking, but when I was in the Marine Corps we were never home for Christmas. I remember being in Okinawa one Christmas where (as a joke) we had a pathetic twig with a jacked-up piece of tinsel on it with a sign under it that said, "USMC - U Suckers Missed Christmas". Classic.

Christmas 1990 kicked ass, too. Living in a tent in the middle of the Saudi desert waiting for the war to start. Awesome.

4 Christmases in 5 years spent in one 3rd world shithole or another.

Wow, you guys actually found out pretty early, I'd be happy about that.

Unless you are on a major transaction, where you know a ways in advance, usually you don't find out until like the day before that you are losing your holidays.

Always be happy when you have the data ahead of time. You can at least plan when you know.

Are people just being dicks and making you come in, or is there actually work that has to be done on Christmas day itself?

I don't work in banking or for your firm, but would it not be at all possible to do a little more on the 24th and the 26th? I understand you're supposed to "sell your soul to the company" as a first-year analyst or associate, but making someone work on Christmas or New Year's is pretty ridiculous IMO.

Also, I pity anyone from MS or Barclays in NYC that has to work on NYE.

Big deal, buyside, with travel. Leaving Monday for 6 days. Xmas not such a big deal in HK apparently. :(. Fuck it, flying 1st class and drinking with team once my battery dies.

would they reimburse you if you had booked a flight home and had to forfeit?

^Yes, that should be the case as the firm ought to pay for your plans and then bill the client. If it is a large BB, this is standard and even in our handbook.

christmas is actually a huge deal in HK. choirs singing on the streets and the whole city is lit up in christmas lights..its a shitshow

Xmas in HK = unbelievable. you'll have a good time. be sure to pay LKF a visit.

Sucks you have to work during Christmas. But try to make the most of it.

HK during Christmas is pretty awesome. THey have Winterfest over there set up in Status Square with a huge Christmas tree, Santa's lodge, and other attractions. They pretty much transformed Status Square into a winter wonderland. The hotels in HK spend Christmas making some of the best traditional Christmas food. They also got entertainment and plenty of booze. You'll love it.

Sucks dude, I just got rocked too. But this is for a stupid fucking pitch, that we all know the MD won't win (I would put my bonus that GS/LAZ will get it, except my bonus will probably be a gift card to Olive Garden)

Is it that bad to leave your analyst stint early?

Nightlife in HK is awesome, been on exchange in HK for the semester I'm going to be here over XMAS until the 27th.

LKF is the hot spot

Hottest clubs to be are

Dragon I Club Beijing Prive

Dragon-I is full of pretentious people mostly older crowd, Beijing is a younger crowd but will try to make you pay ~300 HKD cover if they think you're a sucka. I mostly hit up BIllions and Beijing because my friend got close with a DJ that regularly plays at both of those clubs so as a poor student I frequented those the most. Hitting up 7-11 beforehand.

Bottles are expensive in HK but i'm sure your pay will all let you hit up these places and max out your fun to potential. Club 7 (a.k.a 7-11) is the place if you save money. Open containers outdoors+ no last call= party until late AM.

Plenty of bars all along the street, classier bars in the buildings in the higher floors, and for some reason hookah=$$$$$ in HK or at least all the places I've seen.

Late night eats around LKF are Ebeneezers (good greasy kebab style food), Mcdonalds 24 hour delivery, and Tsui Wah (Chinese food).

Hit up SOHO if you want a decent dinner with tons of restaurants and styles of foods to choose from. This place also has many bars that have live music.

Another place to hit up is Wan Chai, tons of bars there and a decently big ex-pat international crowd there. A bit less classy though, tons of hookers on the street.

If you want a more local feel hit up TST (Tsim Tsa Tsui). More Karoke and bars and random food, also has a nice view of HK Island if you drink by the harbor.

Hope this helps make your Christmas a bit more bearable in a foreign country.

LKF and Ebeneezers are both amazing... great for a drunken night.

i seriously just got back from lkf... anyone try the new pizza place where atomic burger used to be? it's pretty decent, but i miss the burgers...

im thinking of studying abroad in HK...but my schools program is only in the spring. is it worth doing the program even though i'll miss out on the spring internship recruiting process for juniors in the US?

... i'm glad you guys know where to party in HK - now get back to work

Too bad i've been on vacation for the last 4 weeks aha

Last I checked ECM sits under IBD at most banks ... did you not learn that through recruiting?

^citi and some other BB's recruit capital markets separately from IBD. Carry on, just wanted to point that out.

Citi Capital Markets is separate. Morgan Stanley GCM and GS Financing are recruited under investment banking. Same at barcap. Merrill capital markets recruits with IBD as well .... so what I said stands

They only separate IBD into corp fin and cap markets afterwards

thanks for all the feedback. getting a crash course here!

Merrill actually recruited at my school for capital markets only and global markets, not IBD.

Yeah my friend hit that pizza joint, he said it tasted terrible haha. I never hit up atomic burgers, anything other than Ebeneezer's isn't worth my time that late.

Studying abroad in the fall I would imagine is much more convenient since you can get back in time for recruiting. Wasn't there accelerated or earlier recruiting for those that were planning on studying abroad during the spring? If it helps a decent amount of the people abroad were juniors but a significant amount were seniors too and I'm pretty sure being here for the fall got in the way of their FT recruiting but some still applied and just interviewed in the HK branches.

Definitely recommend studying abroad in HK, you'll be in for a wild ride. I would recommend somewhere with an easier academic workload than HKU if you plan on travelling a lot (which I did a decent amount of) or going out and exploring in general which would seem obvious from my previous post haha.

Sounds cliche but it is definitely a life experience, you meet a ton of people from all over the world, and have tons of stories. If you value all these types of experience much more than "landing that gig" you should definitely go during the spring. In spring you have more vacation time too. One week off for Chinese New Year, One week for reading week, and another week off before finals. My answer in short is that you should go and take advantage of your opportunity.

I swear I think they do that shit on purpose sometimes, just to watch the bankers jump through hoops. Fuckers.

That's honestly awful. As far as I'm concerned, working on Christmas is never ok.

I worked a shit ton last year during the holidays, but not on XMas or NYE itself. That would just be untenable, in my eyes. I can't conceive of how it can be justified. Especially in the case of M&A. It can wait till January 4th. There's legitimately no reason for that other than your senior dudes said "we're so committed that we will work over the holidays" in order to win the mandate. That's all it comes down to. If you're the potential client, what's it really matter to you? Someone wants to break their backs over the holidays? Sure thing, go right ahead and do it.

I'm just so sorry.

^^ At least there's a mandate. I had to work last year on New Years day because we were trying to deliver an RFP early ....

Mine happened to be an M&A deal, and in the context of 2008, most companies dying to complete a transaction before year end were dying to do so because if they didn't, they probably wouldn't be around in 2009.

Although I can't see how that is as much the case in this environment. Last I heard, Lloyd was snorting copious amounts coke off of Spitzer's hooker's labia while using his free hand to pour out a bottle of Armand de Brignac on the floor.

It's OK for real work; low prob pitch work (aka bitch work) sucks.