My MD has asked me to wait in line at his favorite Halal Guys spot for an hour to pick up his food and I'm not sure if I should stay in the industry after that.
I work at a top boutique, and never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that I would find myself waiting in line for an hour to get food for my MD.
The reason I wanted to become an investment banker wasn't to be someone's food-fetching minion. I wanted to become an investment banker because of the grind and its prestige. I was literally ready to tackle any challenge, but this... I never thought that I would wait in line for an hour to get someone's food just because they had spent more years in the industry than me.
I feel disgusted and used. If he had told me to work 20 hours a day, I would have been fine with it, but using me as a delivery driver? It was really disrespectful and humiliating. I'm questioning whether I should leave or not.
Sometimes you gotta be a sugar-cookie-getter.
Bad boy baby! Can’t stop won’t stop
That's 100% Cambodian
Literally the op:
Unless the boss does it way too often and doesn’t give you a reason on why he’s too busy to get it himself, it’s not that big deal. A family friend who is second in command of a large multinational corp also has a side job of being his boss’s middleman/secretary to manage extramarital affair, namely buying jewelry, flowers, and setting up trips. And he had to do all these while keeping a good relationship with the boss’s wife (the wife knows) and runs the company. Imagining how *** he feels.
please expand
Someone needs to make a show based on this 🤣
Ngl that's goals
Probably very a**
You should’ve eaten it then quit. Assuming he already got his food, you should still look to leave. Have some self respect.
EXACTLY. This forum is full of soft girls. Next time he asks you to go, you go, grab that food and eat it in front of him.
Soon you'll be shining his shoes in front of your whole team?
My Director out of principle refuses to pay for parking in the garage at the office. So he parks his car at the temporary spaces, just 1min around the corner.
The maximum time to park there is 1 hour. So almost every hour either he goes out for a smoke and resets his parkometer or, you guessed it, sends me or another analyst.
He only comes in by car around 1-2 time a week so get I get to do the drill around 5-6 times a week. Tbf, it ain't too bad and I get to stretch my legs for a few minutes.
Yeah I used to kinda like when my bosses would send me out to grab lunch for a client meeting after we'd already been at it all morning.
Used it as an opportunity to kill a little time, get some fresh air, throw a dip in, burn some calories walking, etc.
Also, OP sounds like an unresourceful Analyst, order ahead online goofball!
This is pretty bad, imo. The cost in labor that this guy is sinking into parking trips just to pay $30 of parking in quarters rather card swipes is mind boggling. I'd be super annoyed as a peer of his if I had to wait longer on something because our shared resources were doubling as meter maids. Honestly, just tell someone in a super polite apologetic way that you'll need to get them something 5 minutes late because you have to put quarters in the meter for so-and-so's car. Then do it again 2 more times. Hahaha I'd bet a lot of quarters it'll stop....
You still have the prestige. Like any analyst, if anyone asks, you advise CEOs on HUGE DEALS that dictate the future of industries and work on SUPER COMPLEX FINANCIAL MODELLING. Sadly, as an analyst a very large part of your job is being a glorified assistant. Printing out name tags for meetings, getting lunches, printing something for a visiting client, arranging parking spots, hotels, and restaurant bookings for visiting clients, taking notes on meetings etc.
I once spent an evening looking for a $5,000 coat that the MD had lost at a bar (of course he didn't know which bar because he was too drunk to remember).
So you wandered around looking for the coat or just sat down relax and say you can't find it lol
Looked at the 2 most likely places. Then sat down and drank for like 2 hours so it would seem like I tried really hard. Then went back and said I looked everywhere but couldn't find it lmfao...
learn to how to kiss ass before you kick ass
I’m sure my view is dated for the current generation, but you are bottom of the pole and do what you are asked. If you hate it, quit. I was the CEO of a venture backed company that I founded. We had more than 200 employees. Our office also had a fly problem. Before any major meeting I would be in early and vacuuming up the flys both dead and alive. Fortunately, we moved out of that offic after a year, but my point is that there ar things to be done and no one should be too big for the job.
seems like the MD should get his own damn lunch then
Sometimes the MD is just too busy, and trust me, their time is more valuable than yours. I used to send interns/new hires to get all kinds of things: lunch, pick up dry cleaning, fetch something from Staples that I just had to have at that moment. I was messing with them, and testing them. Are you a little whiny pain in the a$$? Or do you just get the job done without complaining? My advice, stop bing the former, and start being the latter. If you can't even fetch lunch without bitching, then what else are you going to complain about.
moronic line of thought. could just as easily say "if you are incapable of getting your own lunch then what else are you incapable of"
Lol gotta be the 6th Ave and 40s one
This is your MD. Don’t forget double meat and hot sauce. Treat yourself to some baklava on me young gun.
Ask MD for extra $10 to get the food faster. Offer $5 to someone at front of line to take his spot. Pocket the other $5 and save yourself some time.
What halal spot was it?
"moronic line of thought. could just as easily say "if you are incapable of getting your own lunch then what else are you incapable of"
He's the MD, you are a lowly Analyst 1. It doesn't matter if he's capable or not. I'm not saying he's not an a-hole, maybe he is, maybe he's not. Keep up with that attitude though and it will hurt you at some point. Just get the f-ing lunch and stop complaining. Maybe figure out a way to get it without standing in line. Just stop being a little whiny pain in the ass.
when you want lunch you must send your analysts to Payless because you sound like a complete bootlicking bitch lol. get your own fucking lunch
I don't HAVE to send them...I just can. Get the lunch, don't get the lunch, I really don't care. Neither does the MD. Good luck with your attitude.
My MD had me do his expenses on his corporate card.
We had to get upper class man dinner from the food trucks in my fraternity. Spat in every single dinner order I got. F*ck people like that, I’ve never seen an MD take advantage of a kid like that. Hope this is a troll post. If not, spit in that food.
Weird take bro… to be so upset about getting food for upperclassmen that instead of saying no like a man, you give in, get the food and then spit in it when no one’s looking like a coward. Sad
Found the loser who didn’t pledge and go through hazing lol. Not surprised though. Not like the socially well adjusted kids frequent these forums.
you do realize that you are an upper class man now. are you cool with delivery drivers spitting in your food if they don't like your tip or feel unappreciated?
I don’t haze delivery men and always tip 20% or more since I’m not poor. So if I get spit in my food, nothing I could have done to prevent it.
Were bonuses so bad that your boss can't use an app instead?
Bottom bucket energy right here. If you cant be trusted to get the right amount of extra white sauce on your bosses lamb over rice, how can he or she trust you to build a slide deck to be presented to a F500 CEO?
Imagine how good the movie karate kid would've been if the young pupil told his sensei it was "too disrespectful and humiliating" for him to wax his car?
For a managing partner at a global MF, i did the following as an intern at the MF:
- pick up sushi for his family
- chase a portfolio company of his family office (AKA personal family office) for payment/signing etc.
- pay for his coffee/lunch because he forgot to bring cash/wallet and has no other payment options on his phone
- change physical money for him as he goes to an emerging market and find the best rates on the street
just to tell others, you're not alone and honestly i think it's fine if it's just a short while
No doubt in my mind this was so the MD could get some Adel’s
Ego bruise
The
Why is this a thread people are responding to?
bump
Dont forget to tip your MD after delivering the food!
That comes when you get your bonus, duh
“I don’t know if I want to stay in a highly lucrative industry with $150-200K starting salaries because I don’t want to buy a lunch order” is not the power play comment you think it is. It’s just short-sighted. This could have been interpreted as a break in the monotony of the day, but was instead taken as some grand insult. Your bosses are very busy, and this is a way that they can ask the people they trust to help them.
EDIT: Furthermore, this whole position of “I would gladly do 20 hours a day of work for you, but will not deign to buy your food order” is not the logically coherent thought you think it is. If your attitude is that way on the food, then part of that same attitude will bleed over into work. You cannot separate the two. What happens when you get the comment that you won’t deign to do or think is beneath you? You’ll have the same approach as the food unless you change. You should be reminded that the job is not The Big Short, but rather The Devil Wears Prada. Seriously, if watching the latter movie will improve your attitude, it will repay itself in less than 1 workweek, nay, 1 workday. Highly worthwhile attitude shift.
Mate it’s an excuse to get out the office for an hour, nice summer weather, tunes on, no questions asked.
I’d happily do it if it was a one time thing haha.
Willing to take on any challenge, unable to get Halal Guys. It’s actually a pretty normal request.
That order better be accurate.
Bro take the break to fuck around in the city for an hour and get out of the office?
Would I rather work on some BS PowerPoint or go walk around for an hour in manhattan?
Yea I agree, but thing is you still have to finish your work when you get back, so you just get pushed off schedule
Halal guys is gas tho I can’t front, valid request imo
Hire a homeless person to wait in line for you and go on a Tinder date.
My guy, you need to get off your high horse. What are you, in your early 20s? This delusion of grandeur needs to evaporate.
Before I sold my company, I was speaking to clients and designing $75m+ engineering projects for them. Do you know what else I was doing? I was speaking to random sales people and vendors, getting put on hold by some bozo while trying to get material specs. I was also troubleshooting computers and changing out toilet paper rolls in the bathroom and sometimes wiping the sink down. You're just an analyst. I was the founder.
There is no job too big or too small for the successful operation of a company. You aren't above anything. You're still getting paid an absurd rate to stand in line at an Arby's getting whatever nasty sandwich your MD desires. Consider yourself the highest paid Doordash guy in NYC for that moment. Be happy that no one is standing over your shoulder yelling at you, and your inbox isn't filled with the demands and concerns of neurotic and possibly very mentally ill clients.
As you progress in your career, you're going to wish for more low-stress opportunities to stand in line and order a sandwich while on the clock.
Spot on founder mentality…where are we at when whining analysts are driving discourse? Straight to bottom bucket for you!
reciprocity is the key test. If he then reprocicates e.g. puts a good word for you on upper meetings/assigns you to some interesting deals or generally you see you're doing well in the company, then it's good. If on the contrary you're treated like a bitch and he even looks at you down compared to others lol then yh, u hit bottom
My first boss, Exec at an F500 company making millions a year, made me drive him to and from work when his car was in the shop. Feel like it’s a boomer thing back when employees were more loyal.
Not sure if this thread is real, but on the trading side of the industry this is a very common request.
Also spitting in someone’s food is pretty pathetic act even as an internet tough guy fake story.
Who gives a shit what you’re doing lol, you still get to put IB analyst on your resume.
this is the grind and the prestige bro
This is your MD again. I said lamb shawarma not beef gyro. Do they not teach attention to detail in training anymore? Just for that I’m going to have your staffer work with you on some “back pocket” slides for the pitch next week. We’re gonna need to go ahead and move you downstairs into storage B too.
If this isn’t sarcasm — top tier hullabaloo.
Tuff life getting paid 180,000k a year to do work worth $10/hr.
And building massive rapport with your seniors?
Sounds painful man.
It’s just the mandatory hazing phase before they let you into a highly coveted, extremely lucrative industry. Like when you join an elite club or marrying a family with generational wealth, you always get hazed first.
Just hang in there for a couple of years, and you’ll get your turn to be the hazer and watch the hazees cry ! In 2030 you’ll probably ask analyst and associates to get into a 3-hour line to buy you kid his favorite toy
Can’t stop won’t stop
It's just practice until you turn MD and start sucking off clients while being at their mercy.
Lol I’ve seen my MD asked one associate to pick up his lunch/dinner while he had ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do. But the associate has no specialized skills other than ass-kicking so he took these assignments happily and that’s how he survives in the team. May not be glorious but works well sometimes.
I think you are looking at this the wrong way. Yes, it's a silly task and perhaps wiser to have used UberEats or something. There are some days though that are just so busy there's no time to eat and makes sense to have the most junior person available handle it. The secret sauce for that MD might be and probably is instantaneous client service. Whether that client service was in that hour or in the other 90% in the day and they needed to handle something then, that hour was an hour of their time that directly or indirectly converted into client service.
Even if they sat in their office honestly and chatted about the start of the NFL season with some other MD. That simple hour maintained / grew a relationship that probably would leave the bank and be a prospective client in the future.
You might have a lazy boss, but speaking from experience it's probably a 10% chance they were lazy, 90% chance it freed them up for some kind of an investment however small, and probably a 100% chance they ought to say something of a thank you and contextualize why they had you do it.
Imo, simple tasks can be kind of refreshing. Can't get in trouble for 0.5 size smaller font when just buying a sandwich.
I don’t think this is true but if it was it’s ridiculous. I wouldn’t ask someone who works for me to pick up lunch - and certainly not when it takes 30 secs to order from an app. Sometimes I’m on a call and ask m6 assistant to pick up for me from the Uber eats man but any more than that is unprofessional and ridiculous.
Funny story about my analyst days though - was the junior most banker on a pitch with a very famous and very fat banker (old timers can guess who). He sends me to buy six hot dogs from a well known place in Chicago. Mind you, this isn’t Hebrew national, these are huge dogs with a ton of trappings. I thought we we were going to eat together. Fat bastard ends up eating all six.
I hope it was Bruce W. Had the “pleasure” of seeing him in a mankini a couple of times, granted at his private beach in the Hamptons. My buddy was dating his daughter. Really nice guy socially, but he did not dress to his body type.
While this is pretty funny and OP may have verbalized it in a pretty whiney way, he is not wrong that this is a fairly absurd rquest in a Western working enviroment.
Only once did an MD ask for something like this - he was in a meeting and his Deliveroo order was downstairs and he apologized like three times before asking and multiple times after for asking me to do a 2min task of going to the lobby and grabbing the sushi as a junior analyst...
On the day when my first deal was about to be announced, then as a 7-months old analyst, was asked by VP to bring for him coffee and breakfast... at least, he also allowed me to get something for myself
To be honest, for sometime, I also asked my analyst to fetch me a lunch when swamped, and I also fetched him lunch when he was swamped as a basic human need, and coping mechanism. I think, now, I need to stop this practice to not get HR flagged
If you don’t mind me asking, which firm are you at??? I try to avoid doing this but sometimes I really don’t have a choice so I a) let them get whatever they want and I’ll pay or b) let them choose any gift-card ($15-$25) from the bunch I keep in my desk from Costco eg Starbucks etc. I’ve asked associates but not someone in their early twenties because I worry they’ll badmouth me similarly to this post within the office.
Seems like pretty low-hanging fruit to build rapport with the MD.
I would much rather get food for an MD instead of do some inefficient task for an associate
This is an opportunity to impress your MD with extra hot sauce.
Go to the Halal guys on 53rd. They have good halal there usually.
When I was an intern, I had to get food for my boss once and that's where I went. Ended up receiving the return offer
Work on making yourself so useful that he can't justify you spending your time standing in line.
So true, we had a VP who was not useful whatsoever, and he ended up with no meaningful or prestigious sounding tasks, director would talk to him like he was an intern
Yeah, I would take this as a hint that right now you are the least valuable person on the team and you need to step up your game. He might even be having the OP do this because he doesn't care and perhaps even would prefer they quit. Otherwise, if you don't want to stay the generalist-task minion, become the team expert in something. Be the bloomberg/excel/tech/data/stats guru and make a show of working on whatever mission-critical analysis that involves your area of expertise right around lunchtime.
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