Barclays Power & Utilities: Welcome to the Jungle

Wow

The Ten Commandments for Wall Street Interns

Incoming Intern Class of 2015,

Welcome to Power! I am sure you are all busy at training, but in the interest of helping your transition into the summer, and hopefully helping some of you secure Full-Time offers, I wanted to introduce you to the 10 Power Commandments. Respect them, love them, live them. You may have heard different stories about Barclays Power – go on WSO and you’ll see us called the “frattiest group”, “top Power group on the street”, or the group with the “best PE placement” – needless to say we are a unique group at Barclays. And with that come unique rules.

For 9 weeks you will live and die by these:

1. Our group dresses very conservatively. Given that it is summer, no socks is accepted and, in fact, encouraged. (Men: On your first day at the desk, it is customary to wear a bowtie and/or suspenders).

2. Remember: this is a summer internship for a full-time offer. It won’t be easy. If you can’t handle the heat, get out of the kitchen.

3. We expect you to be the last ones to leave every night…no matter what. That’s what good summer analysts do. (Also getting in earlier than me would be a power move – You should enjoy your casual 9:15AM PT arrival time this Friday, but I wouldn’t get used to it).

4. During your first few weeks we ask that you direct all of your questions to Michael Lomio. Tell the other summers too, Michael is industry agnostic. If you ask me a question it will be noted.

5. Never take your jacket off at work. This is investment banking, ladies and gentlemen. Other groups may be more liberal when it comes to summer dress code, unfortunately were not

6. You will be assigned junior “mentors”. It is much appreciated if you would bring breakfast in for your respective “mentor.” Some people are more particular about this than others.

7. I recommend bringing a pillow to the office (yoga mat works as well). It makes sleeping under your desk alot more comfortable, in the very likely scenario that you have to do that.

8. You are expected to allocate at least half your seamless web order for group appetizers/snacks for the month of June. No questions asked. Once the 2nd years leave, you can enjoy your $25 allocations.

9. Have a spare tie/scarf or two around. You never know when your associate will run out of napkins.

10. When you need to leave your desk there will be a sign out sheet outside your cubes. Please fill it out including where you went and for how long. This is important come the end of your internship.

I hope it is clear from the rules above that the internship really is a 9-week commitment at the desk. You are here with the sole goal to impress the group enough to receive a FT offer. During my summer in the group an intern asked our staffer for a weekend off for a family reunion – he was told he could go. He was also asked to hand in his blackberry and pack up his desk.

Some of you have asked for training materials to study up on before you start. Love the enthusiasm. First, I would recommend reading the GS Elevator twitter feed for some social cues. It might be seen as a joke to some people, but around here I think many people find it insightful. Below is a link to a great read for any dress questions.

Dress Rules:

http://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-dress-the-part-on-wall-street-201…

Second, I have attached a fairly simple LBO for Staples. Understand this will be a bit tough for some of you without a Finance / UG business degree, but we believe in you. There’s a reason each of you was picked for the group. We expect you to give this your best shot and send us a completed LBO model with a short write up by Friday end of day. None of you will have this 100% correct, that’s expected. We also still expect you to complete a significant portion of it.

Welcome to the big leagues, boys and girls. Play time is over and it’s time to buckle up. Once you hit the desk, your lives will be your work for 9 weeks. Please respond promptly to acknowledge you’ve received this e-mail (anytime in the next half hour would be fine) and to confirm that you are onboard for the summer. We know you have access to e-mail, so there’s no way to avoid this. If I remember correctly, you are probably doing training with Sean Clovey from IT, or Market Mark from TTS.

Other than that, I look forward to meeting you all, and I hope you’re excited to join the group! We sure are looking forward to having you here!

Yours Truly,

Justin

P.S. There are a number of typos in place in the email above. These are on purpose. First person to email me back with at least 3 highlighted typos is off to a GREAT start!

http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2015/06/03/the-ten-commandments-for-wall…

 

..

“I firmly believe that any man's finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle - victorious." ”
 

Actually feel pretty bad for this kid. The email is clearly a joke (I am familiar with the group....it's bro-y, but of course what he wrote is tongue in cheek), and now it's been reported at multiple sites with his name in full view.

Let this serve as a cautionary tale: don't get too off color on work email, and if you do, make sure you trust everyone on the listserv....

 
7xEBITDA:

This email was sent around to the P&U intern class last year too, and the year before.

Just a way for the analysts to have some fun with over-nervous summer interns.

Did everybody else just not read this post? Assuming it's true, that makes the situation funnier to me. Otherwise it's just a weird try-hard joke e-mail and certainly not career ending...

But great thread though as I lol'd at the Georgetown gdi comment.

 

and all it took for it to hit the fan is some uptight asshole who couldn't take a joke ... people here talk about his career being over. if anyone's career should be over it should be whoever leaked it so I hope they are discovered and blackballed for the rest of their life.

"I'm talking about liquid. Rich enough to have your own jet. Rich enough not to waste time. Fifty, a hundred million dollars, buddy. A player. Or nothing. " -GG
 

Even if you think this is funny, in the modern era of the internet, social media, and Social justice Warriors - why under any circumstances would you attach your name to something like this and send it out as a mass email. Honestly, any negative consequences he receives from this are deserved for his lack of awareness and emotional intelligence.

 
DonnieAzoff:

I honestly don't think this was that bad, it was clearly a joke...Analysts work like crazy, at least give them a break to have some humor.

Overall, it was bad timing in light of all the events.

Regardless of any events, I think it was pretty stupid to send this out. Sure, I completely agree with you that this is a joke, its (supposed to be) funny and not to take it seriously. But when you send something out and sign your name under it you are responsible. With the way the internet is, and how things like this go viral, attaching your name to something like this is not a smart move.

 

this thing is on WSJ online - are people nuts (rhetorical, I already know we are varying shades of bat-shit crazy). wall street is still in the dog house for (well you know why) ... and people take these things way too seriously and as an excuse to throw shit (monkey shit?) at it. having said all that, we should all remember that in the digital age it's easy for people to get hold of our communication so keep your smart alec (throwback to the 90s?) bull shit confined to the cubicles and conference rooms. cheerio.

"I'm talking about liquid. Rich enough to have your own jet. Rich enough not to waste time. Fifty, a hundred million dollars, buddy. A player. Or nothing. " -GG
 

Even through (as some have pointed out) this is a joke I would not be happy about this if I were this guy's boss. Hell even in the O&G industry we shoot the shit but never via email (and if you do you will more than likely kill opportunities for upward movement as it reflects poorly of you).

Here's why I have a problem with this email (in no particular order):

1.) He must have spent some time crafting this and if not, sending this out is still wasting time that could be devoted to more important tasks.

2.) "You may have heard different stories about Barclays Power – go on WSO and you’ll see us called the “frattiest group”, “top Power group on the street”, or the group with the “best PE placement” – needless to say we are a unique group at Barclays."

With this statement you made Barclays and the respective group you're in look look like a joke. If I was a CEO or high-ranking Executive looking for a firm to represent us in a transaction and saw this, it would make me think twice about the caliber of work I could expect and the lack of professionalism displayed. Not to mention if I work in this group or for Barclays this guy sent an email out which is circulating that makes us look immature.

It may be fun and games but this is a serious business and as an outsider, IB's don't exactly have a stellar reputation given the events that have happened in the recent past. This makes IB's look just plain dumb.

3.) This clown kept the names of some of his colleagues on this email. If I was one of those named I would be furious as I have a name and reputation to preserve and protect. This clown managed to rub that through the dirt in a matter of minutes.

I want to think that the large majority of IB's take their jobs seriously and are dedicated to the work they do. Clowns like this guy, regardless of how good he/she is don't deserve to be working at storied institutions like Barclays as this screams lack of professionalism.

To use his words (or whoever put this together) "Welcome to the big leagues, boys and girls. Play time is over and it’s time to buckle up." Sending immature emails is counter to this very statement. Maybe its time Mr. Kwan needs to grow up.

 
Controversial
RedRage:
I would not be happy about this if I were this guy's boss. Hell even in the O&G industry we shoot the shit but never via email (and if you do you will more than likely kill opportunities for upward movement as it reflects poorly of you).

Here's why I have a problem with this email (in no particular order):

1.) He must have spent some time crafting this and if not, sending this out is still wasting time that could be devoted to more important tasks.

2.) "You may have heard different stories about Barclays Power - go on WSO and you'll see us called the "frattiest group", "top Power group on the street", or the group with the "best PE placement" - needless to say we are a unique group at Barclays."

With this statement you made Barclays and the respective group you're in look look like a joke. If I was a CEO or high-ranking Executive looking for a firm to represent us in a transaction and saw this, it would make me think twice about the caliber of work I could expect and the lack of professionalism displayed. Not to mention if I work in this group or for Barclays this guy sent an email out which is circulating that makes us look immature.

It may be fun and games but this is a serious business and as an outsider, IB's don't exactly have a stellar reputation given the events that have happened in the recent past. This makes IB's look just plain dumb.

3.) This clown kept the names of some of his colleagues on this email. If I was one of those named I would be furious as I have a name and reputation to preserve and protect. This clown managed to rub that through the dirt in a matter of minutes.

I want to think that the large majority of IB's take their jobs seriously and are dedicated to the work they do. Clowns like this guy, regardless of how good he/she is don't deserve to be working at storied institutions like Barclays as this screams lack of professionalism.

To use his words (or whoever put this together) "Welcome to the big leagues, boys and girls. Play time is over and it's time to buckle up." Sending immature emails is counter to this very statement. Maybe its time Mr. Kwan needs to grow up.

You sound like a really cool guy, and a lot of fun.
 

Wait, who here thinks a CEO has time to read about how some analyst hazed their interns? I get it was in the WSJ, but it's not like they have tons of free time. This will blow over and the guy will have learned a lesson. The sky isn't falling.

 
trexog:

Wait, who here thinks a CEO has time to read about how some analyst hazed their interns? I get it was in the WSJ, but it's not like they have tons of free time. This will blow over and the guy will have learned a lesson. The sky isn't falling.

It's not about whether the CEO has time to read it. It's about the bad image that the analyst has given the bank.

If a regular Joe reads the WSJ article. what will his thoughts be about Barclays? About investment banking as a whole?

I personally found it amusing, but I can definitely see how the email can be taken with the wrong perspective.

Think about the bigger picture and not take everything too literally.

 

The analyst that wrote this is a total jackass - I knew a guy who got IBD and would tell me stories about how he sent shit like this to all of the new summer analyst classes. His career has been a long slow downward spiral ever since. This isn't funny - it's stupid. What a waste of time.

"Well, you know, I was a human being before I became a businessman." -- George Soros
 
chobani:

The fact that this guy went to Georgetown and calls himself "fratty" is hilarious, Georgetown doesn't even have Greek life.

GEED

This actually made me laugh out loud. +1 for pointing out the GDI, sir.

While I don't think this is a career destroyer like some people are saying, it without a doubt makes him look like (or is just revealing the fact that he is) a huge tool.

 
NESCAC:
chobani:
The fact that this guy went to Georgetown and calls himself "fratty" is hilarious, Georgetown doesn't even have Greek life.
GEED

This actually made me laugh out loud. +1 for pointing out the GDI, sir.

While I don't think this is a career destroyer like some people are saying, it without a doubt makes him look like (or is just revealing the fact that he is) a huge tool.

Shouldn't be a surprise there as it's a geed who calls his group "fratty"

I'm sure they're shotgunning Nattys at their desk, putting kuzies on their Starbucks, and bringing their lunch to work in painted coolers.

Commercial Real Estate Developer
 

Peter Chung #2. What a dumbass. To people who say that he has a private equity offer: So what? You think you become invincible after getting that? Carlyle fired Peter Chung for an equally "funny" e-mail to his colleagues so they may very well show the middle finger to this Justin guy even before he comes through the door.

prospie:
You sound like a really cool guy, and a lot of fun.

Grow up. This might be funny to a 20-year old college junior but RedRage actually gave a very good view of how an MD would think about such a douche e-mail.

 
tzhou91:
prospie:
You sound like a really cool guy, and a lot of fun.

Grow up. This might be funny to a 20-year old college junior but RedRage actually gave a very good view of how an MD would think about such a douche e-mail.

"He must have spent some time crafting this and if not, sending this out is still wasting time that could be devoted to more important tasks." This was the line I was mainly talking about. We all know how much downtime there is, let's not kid ourselves.
 

Why are so many people walking on pins and needles about this? Even if he gets fired or doesn't get his PE offer, it is not necessarily the end of his career, just a setback to think about. If he made it to Wall St., he can make it almost anywhere else.

Don't fall for bullshit, especially your own.
 

Funny email.

I doubt anything will change in terms of the culture at Barclays. They'll just implement an updated policy regarding email etiquette.

>Incoming Ash Ketchum, Pokemon Master >Literally a problem, solve for both X and Y, please and thank you. >Hugh Myron: "Are there any guides on here for getting a top girlfriend? Think banker/lawyer/doctor. I really don't want to go mid-tier"
 
Best Response

What the fucking fuck? Are you guys off your rockers? Do so many of you really look at this and go, "What a bad idea! What kind of idiot would be so unprofessional? What if someone doesn't realise that it's a joke? Why is this guy wasting his time on this?"

If anyone's reading this any doesn't get that it's a joke, then I'd really start to question how they managed to fool their way into a job at Barclays. Are you guys all so overworked and getting shit on so hard by your BSD MDs that you can't see this for what it is - a lighthearted attempt at poking fun at banking culture?

This is exactly the kind of shit we need MORE of, not less, if we want to change the perception of our industry as being one that runs its analysts through the meat grinder and leaves them broken husks. We need people to be having a good time whenever they can, so that the bad times aren't the only thing they get in their 100 hours of work a week. I don't know about you, but the only way I managed to survive my first year on the job was by having a bunch of other analysts right there next to me when I was grinding out the next turn on a deck at 2AM. We'd do shit like this all the time, sending each other joke e-mails, playing pranks with our stationery and computer desktops, the whole shebang. We didn't spend much time outside of the office, but when we were in it and had a little bit of free time we had some real fun, and I count my former fellow analysts among my closest friends today.

Don't give me that shit about this being a "waste of time". If it takes an hour to craft this mail, but it starts off the interns' summers with the feeling that the bank is a place where they can feel free to on occasion cut loose and have a little fun with their colleagues, then it's worth it. And those of you in banking know that finding a little free time really isn't that hard except in the shittiest of shitty weeks.

Seriously, guys. Lighten up!

P.S. - I don't see anyone complaining about the t-shirt-and-jeans, video-games-and-hackey-sack-in-the-office tech firms being " unprofessional"... And that sorta relaxed atmosphere is one big reason why IB is losing its best talent to tech.

 
Angus Macgyver:

P.S. - I don't see anyone complaining about the t-shirt-and-jeans, video-games-and-hackey-sack-in-the-office tech firms being " unprofessional"... And that sorta relaxed atmosphere is one big reason why IB is losing its best talent to tech.

It's because this guy sounds like a try hard tool who's clearly trying to seem cool. It wasn't even funny. He's definitely not the first one to do one of these "initiation" posts, and no one laughed after the 10th one.

 
chobani:
Angus Macgyver:
P.S. - I don't see anyone complaining about the t-shirt-and-jeans, video-games-and-hackey-sack-in-the-office tech firms being " unprofessional"... And that sorta relaxed atmosphere is one big reason why IB is losing its best talent to tech.

It's because this guy sounds like a try hard tool who's clearly trying to seem cool. It wasn't even funny. He's definitely not the first one to do one of these "initiation" posts, and no one laughed after the 10th one.

It's friendly-ish hazing. Nothing too far out that would cause any actual harm - or even much in the way of inconvenience - to anyone. Doesn't matter whether it's funny or not. Personally, I thought it was somewhat amusing.

He might not be the first guy to have made one of these, but the whole point is that the guys coming in probably haven't seen one of these before.

 
Angus Macgyver:
rel="nofollow">Barclays. Are you guys all so overworked and getting shit on so hard by your BSD MDs that you can't see this for what it is - a lighthearted attempt at poking fun at banking culture?

This is exactly the kind of shit we need MORE of, not less, if we want to change the perception of our industry as being one that runs its analysts through the meat grinder and leaves them broken husks. We need people to be having a good time whenever they can, so that the bad times aren't the only thing they get in their 100 hours of work a week. I don't know about you, but the only way I managed to survive my first year on the job was by having a bunch of other analysts right there next to me when I was grinding out the next turn on a deck at 2AM. We'd do shit like this all the time, sending each other joke e-mails, playing pranks with our stationery and computer desktops, the whole shebang. We didn't spend much time outside of the office, but when we were in it and had a little bit of free time we had some real fun, and I count my former fellow analysts among my closest friends today.

Don't give me that shit about this being a "waste of time". If it takes an hour to craft this mail, but it starts off the interns' summers with the feeling that the bank is a place where they can feel free to on occasion cut loose and have a little fun with their colleagues, then it's worth it. And those of you in banking know that finding a little free time really isn't that hard except in the shittiest of shitty weeks.

Seriously, guys. Lighten up!

P.S. - I don't see anyone complaining about the t-shirt-and-jeans, video-games-and-hackey-sack-in-the-office tech firms being " unprofessional"... And that sorta relaxed atmosphere is one big reason why IB is losing its best talent to tech.

This whole post. Thank you. Jesus christ, the faggotry on this board is ridiculous.

I swear, there really was a time where the people on this site were fun.

 

I doubt many people have an issue with the guy trying to add some humor to the interns' summer. But he is a fucktard for using this dumb try-hard email as the way to do it. I'm sure the Brown Women's Studies major diversity hire in the intern pool at Barclays has a different sense of humor than the dude who sent the email.

Moral of the story - don't put shit in writing when you don't know your audience.

I would agree with you, but then we'd both be wrong.
 

I am a little more concerned with the fact the WSJ - or any major news source - would actually take the time to publish this. There is so much other shit that should be higher on the radar than this...... This would be like ESPN posting that fake letter from Ethan Albright to John Madden that came out a few years ago.

http://www.ign.com/boards/threads/ethan-albrite-sends-letter-to-john-ma…

"Who am I? I'm the guy that does his job. You must be the other guy."
 

This guy definitely tries too hard to be funny and just comes off as a douche. The difference between IB and tech is that the guys in tech are actually genuinely laid back with a nice sense of humor instead of this Asian who thinks he's funny when he really isn't.

 

Peter Chung now works at Nomura in LDN on the distressed desk....i'm sure this kid will be fine.

"After you work on Wall Street it’s a choice, would you rather work at McDonalds or on the sell-side? I would choose McDonalds over the sell-side.” - David Tepper
 
oreos:

Peter Chung now works at Nomura in LDN on the distressed desk....i'm sure this kid will be fine.

Definitely. In fact, I think I read he actually runs or heads a desk. If that is the case, he's undoubtedly making millions, and Chung is finally KING!!!
 
MurdersNExecutions:

apparently fired from Barclays, no bonus/severance, and offer rescinded from Carlyle.

If that's true, then holy shit. Gotta feel bad for the guy because it clearly wasn't meant to be taken seriously, but enough people nowadays seem to not be willing/able to take a joke... Execution unfortunately wasn't exactly there on this one.
 

This is completely fucked up. The kid was obviously joking, and if 7xEBITDA's comment is true, he was simply continuing a tradition. I feel sorry as hell for him.

Why the hell would Carlyle/Barclays fire him/rescind offer when the damage has already been done, and when he clearly wasn't the one with the intention to instigate it.

 

This email made me so happy. I saved a copy to use as a template in the unlikely event I am ever responsible for interns again.

This guy is clearly awesome and has a great sense of humor. Would love to have worked with these guys.

With that said, may god have mercy on the souls of 1) the intern who forwarded this around, and 2) the retards in HR who made the decision to fire this guy (if its true). Way to destroy one of the last bastions of real culture left in these institutions.

This is why I enjoy working at a place with no HR & where they trolled the shit out of me in the interviews. So flaccid now that I read he is toast :(

Array
 

As someone who has had my email read in Congress, let me reiterate that you should never write anything in email that you wouldn't want printed on the front page of the Wall Street Journal for your boss, grandmother, employees, or kids to read. Once you hit send, you lose control over where it is sent later. I've also read emails where one person trashes another thinking they were replying only to me and not realizing they hit reply all and copied the person they were trashing.

Be very afraid of email.

 

Are you guys kidding? Why are any of you so surprised he got fired / offer rescinded. Welcome to the politically correct 21st century world, where everything goes viral in miliseconds and your biggest fear is an HR phone call. This response should be especially expected considering society's universal hatred of Wall Street and the confidentiality / "lips sealed" nature of this very small industry. At my BB, SA "training week" consisted almost exclusively of HR & compliance beating you to death with conduct best practices. Wake up

 

People are really surprised he got fired? Come on. He wasn't fired for the act, he was fired for the bad PR that followed and Barclays realizing that from a net benefit standpoint it wasn't worth having this employee around (especially since he was about to leave anyways). Him being an employee was hurting firm value in the short term for Barclay's so he got fired and deservedly so.

Also, I'm all for a relax work culture that bends political correctness but interns are the most humor deaf people on the planet. Intimidating them with an email like this was a dumb move because while any of us know it's tongue in cheek the fact is they have no idea, and Wall Street has a pretty shitty view by the average person as is. If you're going to send an email like this then at least know the audience and the people you are sending it to.

Lastly, this guy looks like the biggest try hard GDI on the planet. He must light up whenever anyone asks him what he does (did?) for a living

 

I don't think this was completely a joke. Some of it was but definitely not all of it. Being the first one to arrive and the last one to leave is a very real expectation of interns, and just the fact that thats in there to me tells me this was not all 100% joke not to be taken seriously.

This was obviously very dumb and a fireable offense, but the takeaway from me is that this kid killed himself for 2 years and the bank just tossed him asside. No loyalty.

 

Why would the firm have any loyalty? He is replaceable as all you have to do is ask if anyone wants to fill his shoes and you'll get a line that strecthes from New York to Shanghai of candidates that are just as good or better than him.

I'm amazed at the number of people who posted in this thread telling us to lighten up. Maybe its just me but there is a fine line between telling a joke and posting crap like this letter.

Maybe if he didn't call his own firm and group out as a the frattiest he would have most likely been verbaly repremanded. However he made a decision and whether you agree or not, you don't trash your firm you work for and you show maturity.

If he MUST crack "jokes" such as this, don't freaking have your name on it (he could have typed it up in Word and passed it around and put it on the interns desk as a "joke").

And for the comment about political correctness, as mentioned several times Wall Street doesn't have a steallar reputation, and considering that reputation matters (Lloyd Blankfien mentioend it when he was being grilled by the Sentate sub-committe over and over again) you keep that in mind with anything and everything you do so long as you're employed with the firm.

 

Good god this country has become so incredibly pussified. The guy was just trying to have a good time with his interns since he never had any pledges at Georgetown. I definitely got a kick out of the email, but I can understand the liberal media / pageview fiends jumping all over it. Hope he bounces back alright.

 

Generally I agree with you, but kids are committing suicide or dying from sheer exhaustion due to IB culture/hours. A guy from my high school that moved up to New York to work for Goldman Sachs M&A confided on me that he was on anti-depressants after seriously contemplating jumping off his balcony. Another person from my neighborhood went up to New York to work for Barclays gained 25+ pounds and ended up totally burned out.

As someone who went through a brutal pledgeship at a traditional southern fraternity, this email still would still scare the shit out of me during my first week at a new internship. None of this is constructive - yes, longer hours are obviously expected considering the industry/pay, but hazing on top of it is extremely counter-productive both productivity/efficiency wise and culturally.

 

Barclays is pretty much pushed into a corner at this point. Even if the firm knew it was a joke and didn't want to fire him, they pretty much have to because of the bad PR that comes with this. Especially in the face of recent suicides.

I'm guessing Carlyle rescinded the offer not directly because of the email, but because Barclays fired him. There's probably a clause in the contract that states if the candidate is fired before starting, the offer is automatically pulled. Or something like that.

For Justin's unfortunate fate, blame liberal banker-haters. Very disappointing that this had to happen - not particularly surprising that people think we're all a bunch of humorless douchebags.

 

Not surprised he got fired by Barclays, but kind of surprised he had his Carlyle offer rescinded. I think the only reason he sent this e-mail was because he knew he was leaving anyways so that plan of his backfired hard.

He sounds like a douchebag though...didn't find the e-mail all that funny.

Kinda unfortunately for him as this is a sensitive time to work / life balance of junior bankers given the GS analyst that just passed away

 

I don't see it as a big deal, really, but as people have been saying - it makes you question his intelligence.

It's like an NFL prospect getting busted with weed at the combine when he knows he's going to be tested. Weed isn't a big deal, but if you know you're going to be scrutinized, and you still fuck up, maybe you're just not smart enough to know better.

Commercial Real Estate Developer
 
User11221122:

Anyone who has worked at any type of investment bank with a normal culture would agree with this.

Lol it doesn't matter what people who work in investment banking think. It's all but perception to the general public these days. I agree that his email was perfectly harmless, but as soon as that email leaked everyone knew he was going to get fired.

 
User11221122:

He should not have lost his job, and he exhibited no lack of professionalism by writing this email. Anyone who has worked at any type of investment bank with a normal culture would agree with this.

No. You don't send interns stupid emails like this as an analyst. You might joke to them over drinks about shit, but you do not draft a 1,000 word email complete with links and offensively unfunny humor and send it out to them via company servers. You'll notice he didn't cc his staffer or any more senior bankers on the list. Why? Because he would have gotten his head ripped off for it internally. This isn't Lehman Energy anymore and Skip isn't running the group. It's Barclays, a third tier bank and the guys who FIRED their fucking CEO for letting LIBOR traders send stupid emails to each other. This kind of humor died in 2007/8 along with Leveraged Sellout and the golden age of finance

Interns are not first year analysts. They are fucking dumbass college kids who still have options. They are not part of the family yet. They have no incentive not to damage the brand of the bank. You can MAYBE write this kind of email to first years. You can't do it to interns.

You especially don't write and send this email after heightened awareness and detailed news articles that two investment banking analyst just killed themselves in the past couple weeks due to work related stress and exhaustion.

But really, in the end it doesn't matter. Rule number one for junior bankers is to not have your name published in the WSJ unless you cure cancer or solve Fermat's last theorem. He got his name published and he's gone. He could have been interviewed for a fashion piece for all any banks care.

This is not to excuse the snitch intern, who should be shamed and blackballed from finance. But if you don't give snitches any material you can't get got.

 

What about the part where he mentions bringing a pillow or yoga mat because you'll likely need to sleep in the office at some point? Or asking interns to keep a spare tie/scarf around to use as napkins? I think most people here aren't offended by the e-mail, but it's downright silly to send something like this out (at the very least, it would've been smarter to print this out and physically put it on interns' desks). It makes banking and the culture associated with it look bad to the general public. If you don't think that using an intern's tie as a napkin makes bankers look bad (although it is clearly a joke to us, but not necessarily to the public), then what does?

 

Just heard he got fired from Barclays and Carlyle.

Use more debt than your competition or get out of the business. Any other policy is either self-limiting, no-win, or a bet that the competition will go bankrupt before they displace you. - Bruce Henderson
 

Since he clearly didn't consider(or didn't care about) the possible fallout from sending this email Barclays is well within their rights to fire him. Probably more of a combo of the teams perception of him + outside pressure to discipline him.

Now, if I was Carlyle, I would DEFINITELY rescind this kids offer regardless of what Barclays does. After displaying such a lapse of judgement and only having a few interviews with the kid as a reference point... 0% chance I would feel comfortable trusting him to represent my firm/team/group in the future.

Boggles the mind how people are surprised or offended that he was fired.

 
LBOsontheslopes:

Since he clearly didn't consider(or didn't care about) the possible fallout from sending this email Barclays is well within their rights to fire him. Probably more of a combo of the teams perception of him + outside pressure to discipline him.

Now, if I was Carlyle, I would DEFINITELY rescind this kids offer regardless of what Barclays does. After displaying such a lapse of judgement and only having a few interviews with the kid as a reference point... 0% chance I would feel comfortable trusting him to represent my firm/team/group in the future.

Boggles the mind how people are surprised or offended that he was fired.

He already got his offer rescinded: http://dealbreaker.com/2015/06/Barclays-junior-banker-who-tried-hand-at-comedy-in-email-to-interns-not-a-Barclays-junior-banker-anymore/

Use more debt than your competition or get out of the business. Any other policy is either self-limiting, no-win, or a bet that the competition will go bankrupt before they displace you. - Bruce Henderson
 

He got fired for basically one main reason: lack of judgment that while this kind of email may be age appropriate for someone in their 20s, it comes across as sophomoric to people in their 40s and beyond. And it's the 40-something MDs and the middle-aged (or even geriatric) executive clients they service that are in charge of and the public face of the business.

Simply put, while the email itself is relatively benign, it just comes across as immature if you are not in your 20s. Bros in their 20s may not mind 'fratty' but it's the last thing a middle aged adult wants to be associated with. It's a client business, and an email like this being out there is bad for business when your clients aren't "fratty" but mostly grown middle aged adults who don't view "fratty" as something to aspire to (and most likely the opposite - something they have contempt for). To an MD or any senior banker in the group, this kind of exposure is embarrassing. Of course, had this email never went public, nothing would've happened to this guy, but it did, and the bank had to act.

He may be just a kid, but he is a kid that showed bad judgment in a room full of adults who are no longer in their 20s (and have different sensibilities). He didn't get fired because of political correctness, liberals, lack of humor, or anti-Wall Street sentiment - he got fired for making his colleagues look childish and immature when engendering trust with your clients (mostly middle aged folks) is paramount. And it's also why Carlyle rescinded the offer - they don't want to be associated with this as he's too much of a risk, even if it was just a mistake on his part that I'm sure he in hindsight realizes was not the smartest thing to do.

If there's any silver lining, he will be fine. The news cycle turns over so fast, and hopefully when this becomes a footnote, he would have learned a valuable lesson and hopefully be a better person for it.

Alex Chu www.mbaapply.com
 
MBAApply:

He got fired for basically one main reason: lack of judgment that while this kind of email may be age appropriate for someone in their 20s, it comes across as sophomoric to people in their 40s and beyond. And it's the 40-something MDs and the middle-aged (or even geriatric) executive clients they service that are in charge of and the public face of the business.

Simply put, while the email itself is relatively benign, it just comes across as immature if you are not in your 20s. Bros in their 20s may not mind 'fratty' but it's the last thing a middle aged adult wants to be associated with. It's a client business, and an email like this being out there is bad for business when your clients aren't "fratty" but mostly grown middle aged adults who don't view "fratty" as something to aspire to (and most likely the opposite - something they have contempt for). To an MD or any senior banker in the group, this kind of exposure is embarrassing. Of course, had this email never went public, nothing would've happened to this guy, but it did, and the bank had to act.

"fratty" is not something most MDs have contempt for. A fair amount, if not most, were in fraternities. In reality he got fired for showing poor judgement and blasting something out that he should have known could bring bad publicity to the firm. I doubt anyone within Barclays really cared about the actual content of the email.

 

I was just curious, i'm not planning on jumping ship. I'm happy to be where I'll be. The reason I was asking is because a friend of mine just got a SA position and I always hear people talking about Goldman TMT and MS M&A but never about any groups at Citi or Barclays. I saw that it's the best power group in terms of deal flow and was curious as to why it's never mentioned.

 
TwoFloors:
I was just curious, i'm not planning on jumping ship. I'm happy to be where I'll be. The reason I was asking is because a friend of mine just got a SA position and I always hear people talking about Goldman TMT and MS M&A but never about any groups at Citi or Barclays. I saw that it's the best power group in terms of deal flow and was curious as to why it's never mentioned.

If you do power, natres, energy or infrastructure. You will be a bit pigeon-holed while those other groups you named will not be. Valuing a series of power plants, a toll road or a undeveloped oil field. Ain't like a valuing a equity or M&A purchase.

To begin with when you value a stock, you assume that shit will grow infinitely. When you value power or a physical asset it has a set time frame and set way the project can receive financing.

 

Powerful and energetic group from what I hear. Not sure whether its truly a well oiled machine or if the talk is just hot gas but they do some big deals. Dont know how naturally the resources are split btwn ny and houston

 
bIastoise:
Powerful and energetic group from what I hear. Not sure whether its truly a well oiled machine or if the talk is just hot gas but they do some big deals. Dont know how naturally the resources are split btwn ny and houston

haha 

 

My room-mate works at BarCap (not in Power though). According to him its one of the best groups in the bank by reputation, and the top brass is almost legacy Lehman. According to him most groups at BarCap are 75%+ legacy Lehmanites from the top down. Their Power group has apparently been on almost all of these recent power deals that have been going down. In his class every analyst in that group apparently placed into PE at some level, which says something right there. Most groups on the Street, including mine, dont have a hit rate like that, so I would def consider this a great spot if you can find your way in.

Note: This is all from my roomie, who works at BarCap, but not in Power.

 
prescient1:
My room-mate works at BarCap (not in Power though). According to him its one of the best groups in the bank by reputation, and the top brass is almost legacy Lehman. According to him most groups at BarCap are 75%+ legacy Lehmanites from the top down. Their Power group has apparently been on almost all of these recent power deals that have been going down. In his class every analyst in that group apparently placed into PE at some level, which says something right there. Most groups on the Street, including mine, dont have a hit rate like that, so I would def consider this a great spot if you can find your way in.

Note: This is all from my roomie, who works at BarCap, but not in Power.

I know all their second years placed, but the first years haven't yet locked themselves up. With that said, it's the best power group on the Street in terms of M&A deal flow and has a great reputation internally (#2 to nat res). Don't really know how the outside world views it. Heard all this from a first year there who I'm very good friends with.

 

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