Bad Habits

What bad habits (besides lack of sleep) have you all developed since you started at a bank? For example, I started biting my nails after a month on the job but had never bit them before and a friend began to mumble random finance terms in her sleep.

 
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I know this isn't technically a habit since it's involuntary, but some other female analysts and I have all lost our periods from stress...

We joke it's how our bank takes care of the whole kids or career thing: just takes one option away entirely

 

I've noticed this in my friends and myself -- normally nice people can no longer tolerate delays / even tiny instances of wasted time (ex, my normally very easygoing friend getting overly pissed at an uber driver for taking the wrong way and costing us ~3 minutes)

 

^THIS. Patience / wasted time is a whole different ball game now.

One of my roommates isn't in banking while the rest of us are. He gets home at ~5:30p every day and I've noticed the rest of us bitch sometimes about how the trash isn't taken out, etc. etc. We just get annoyed if stuff doesn't get done, because we'd do it if we had the time. However, at the same time, it isn't his sole responsibility to do things around the apartment.

 

fuld4eva We may know each other. I'm the normally easy-going friend who gets pissed at Lyft/Uber. Those drivers raise my heart rate with their lack of skills. Going off that, I'm much more brusque and less likely to engage in small talk/with people.

I survive on caffeine now during the work day. I'm also someone who didn't drink coffee before starting work full time. It's gotten to the point where home-made coffee is tasteless to me because my work coffee is so strong.

My snack game is also strong. Sugar is my shit. Mixed with caffeine, my mid-day crashes are something to be seen. I say that with sadness as a former two sport athlete in HS and college.

I can out-curse any sailor and rap god now. N.W.A. and Eminem ain't got nothing on me.

I used to read the news daily and smart/classic books. Now, I have to force myself to open the Kindle app to read some best-seller.

 

I've absolutely noticed this as well. I honk all the time, get mad at my wife/kid when they are too slow. It's like every ounce of time is precious.

Lawyer turned VC, turned banker, turned VC and never leaving again.
 

The weird part is, no place I’ve worked is strict on deadlines or presents life/death situations. People roll into meetings 5-10 minutes late, it’s really chill (at some places) and being too slow isn’t a hindrance. I have no idea where it comes from.

 

Constantly tapping my foot/bouncing my leg; have always had "restless leg syndrome" but seemed to get exponentially worse when I started banking. Also will run/pinch leg behind my knee when I'm stressed / hyper focused on something. Weird I know.

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If I'm pulling (tehe) an all nighter and the coast is clear post 3am, yes absolutely. It's an awesome mental reset, kind of messy though.

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  1. I think lower tolerance for time wasted/bullshit is a universal one.

I naturally have a low threshold, however, I've seen the change operate before my eyes when a friend who use to be the most chill/easygoing person to the point where it gets annoying cause he's always 30 min late to everything became a punctuality/productivity nazi after a year or so in M&A.

  1. After working non stop for 3-4 weeks, I have the tendency to treat myslef with some nice gift...I guess it's ok as long as it's not done in a haze of fatigue enduced high that causes you to spend an extra zero on wtv you're buying
 

Little patience for people just not doing. Not getting things done, not getting to the point, not moving fast enough. At work there's no choice so it carries over. I guess I've always had this habit, but it's become magnified since I'm under that same pressure and I project on others often.

Caffeine and nicotine.

All in all though, I can't say any of these are terrible habits. I just have more appreciation for time, effort, and a couple of substances.

 

Focusing on petty stuff that literally NOBODY cares about except bankers. Like, making sure the entire 12 person email list is in descending order by title so nobody gets butthurt.

Never cared about tiny stuff like that until I started at my BB and realized (2nd hand, thankfully) that apparently some people care about things like this.

 

You have your head up your ass if you think nobody besides bankers care about the order of contacts in an email.

You look like an idiot if the C level guy isn’t first and a manager, analyst, director is ahead of him.

Applies to PE (investment team, etc.) too and probably consulting.

 
high hopes:
You have your head up your ass if you think nobody besides bankers care about the order of contacts in an email.

You look like an idiot if the C level guy isn’t first and a manager, analyst, director is ahead of him.

Applies to PE (investment team, etc.) too and probably consulting.

Lol. You must be the first year associate who somehow repeatedly works into every conversation that "you're an investment banker"

 

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