Going to vent now - Getting my work done

Okay, time to vent.

This may sound lame, but I've got a kinda important fun thing to do at home tonight, which I have looked forward to for a while. (Those of you who do the same thing, don't let others in on it, please; I'm not quite ready to be outed as THAT much of a total lamer.) I get all my work done early. I turn all my comments by 4 PM. I'm hoping it'll be one of those magical days when I can slip out at 5:30 and be done with it all for the night.

No. At 5:30 my VP comes back and says give me another hour, I've got a meeting. At 6:30 he says, "Another three hours; I've got three calls." In the meanwhile, I'm sitting here staring at IBO and thinking about the fun stuff going on without me.

The dude has no respect for my time. There's no reason for him to think he should have any, but it still aches a little bit when I could be out enjoying a few hours of free time. Grr. Grrrrrr. Mis Ind no happy. Mis Ind eat people! Starting with lamer VP-man. Grrrr!

 

I'm a VP - I have a pool of analysts that I turn to. Here's my policy - if you are working with me and I'm working, I expect you to be reachable. If you have plans, I expect to know and to know how to reach you if there's an issue (I almost never do), but I will 99% of the time have no problem if you go do your thing.

Have you told your VP you have plans? If so, he's being an ass. If not, its your fault.

 

Hey, Square. You sound like a pretty cool guy to work for. Unfortunately, there is absolutely no room in my group for a first-year analyst to ask for random time off. If I asked, I would be grilled as to why I needed it, what was going on, was I sick or something, and so forth. It would not be a good thing for me to say I needed to leave at 5:30 so I could go have fun. Sounds like you work for a pretty cool bank.

This particular VP probably isn't as bad as I've made him sound, and if I asked, he might say yes. But someone else might hear about it, and then it would make the rounds, and then my staffer would come around saying things like, "Hey, is everything okay? Because you know, almost nobody asks to have the night off like that. What's going on? How can I help?"

That sounds all nice and helpful, but of course what's really going on isn't anywhere near as nice. Yes, this really happens (for those fortunates who don't have to deal with it). Yes, reality bites. At least mine does. Sometimes.

 

I guess its easy to forget just how tough it is being a first year analyst (it wasn't that long ago for me). To be frank, if that's your group's culture, no first year analyst is going to change it. I just take the view that I get a lot more horsepower out of my analysts and associates if I show some regard for their personal lives.

Things get better though - once you start travelling regularly, or even develop more than six months of credibility, people don't always know where you are and don't really care, as long as the work gets done and the client is happy.

 
Best Response
Mis Ind:
Hey, Square. You sound like a pretty cool guy to work for. Unfortunately, there is absolutely no room in my group for a first-year analyst to ask for random time off. If I asked, I would be grilled as to why I needed it, what was going on, was I sick or something, and so forth. It would not be a good thing for me to say I needed to leave at 5:30 so I could go have fun. Sounds like you work for a pretty cool bank.

This particular VP probably isn't as bad as I've made him sound, and if I asked, he might say yes. But someone else might hear about it, and then it would make the rounds, and then my staffer would come around saying things like, "Hey, is everything okay? Because you know, almost nobody asks to have the night off like that. What's going on? How can I help?"

That sounds all nice and helpful, but of course what's really going on isn't anywhere near as nice. Yes, this really happens (for those fortunates who don't have to deal with it). Yes, reality bites. At least mine does. Sometimes.

I suggest saying "I am done with everything, so i think I am going to try to skip out early and finish up at home if anything else comes up. Please call or BB me if you need something done".

 

Nope. No TV for me, not since the 1991 season. Never saw X-files, ER, or a single episode of anything reality-TV related. (That means that a solid 60% of American culture completely baffles me, which is perhaps why I don't fit into it very well.)

 

If it was television, couldn't I just tape it or put it on one of those things where you can view it later? Nah, this is way more important and far, far lamer. And don't worry, you're probably too cool to get it. This is only for the pure geeks and pimply kids in their parents' basement. And me.

 

SmartBanker, first years in this group aren't really supposed to work from home. I got in serious trouble for doing that one too many times. I still see first years doing it, but for some reason I get slammed by my staffer every time I do it. There's stuff going on that I'm not 100% clued in to yet; I haven't figured out all the unspoken rules and permissions.

Also, we can't just say, "I'm done, I think I'll skip out." It's not respectful enough; it doesn't show enough desire to stay and work. I've seriously seen first-years sitting around at 11:00 at night watching YouTube because their associates were still there and might need something eventually. If we leave early, we usually do so very quietly, without announcing it to people.

Maybe my group has more than its fair share of bullshit? It's starting to sound like it. I know at least one other group in this bank pretty much tells its analysts to go home at 9 PM unless there's something serious to be done.

 

Hey, Sean, I know we all face far rougher things than this. I'm sure you could tell me all about it from your own point of view. Yes, there are fourteen-year-old homeless girls on the streets like I was briefly, and there are kids starving in Africa like I never did. So sure, perspective is everything, what a luxury to have nothing more to complain about, yadda yadda.

I'm just venting because, y'know, this is a place for young investment bankers (monkeys like me) to play and for prospectives to listen and learn. Thanks for chiming in. I'm very sad that I don't have your empathy, man, but somehow... sniff... I will survive!

 

Dude, GameTheory, that was harsh. I outgrew Magic cards like, three years ago. And I haven't played D&D for over two years! It's, like, ancient history, stuff I did back when I was a kid. I'm definitely not into that kind of thing. Nope. Uh uh.

Heh.

 

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