Friday, November 18, 2011

Black Swan

My MBA gradesheet shows that I have majored in Finance (which also explains my huge number of backlogs), but somehow I am ashamed of that fact (not the backlogs, the Finance major). I find it so much cooler to say “I specialized in general management”, which is a polite way of saying, “actually I fooled around in my MBA.” I could still get away with it in Company D, but when you join an I-Bank and say, “Oh I am a right brained person”, people look at you like you are Paris Hilton.

And it doesn’t help when you sit right in front of the Equity Research team. As soon as the markets open, everybody gets excited as if Aishwariya Rai just gave birth to a baby. All kinds of alien jargon like “rally”, “short sell”, “stop loss”, “option trading” are thrown around by people (why is it mostly men?) and the next half an hour would be spent on the geek’s version of locker room discussions, i.e. vomiting the contents of the Economic Times they just memorized on their way to work. Male bonding amazes me at times…

No, I am NOT passionate about the markets and no, I do not trade, but that doesn’t mean I am not human. I may not get orgasms comparing the P/E valuations of different companies, but I also have feelings. Every time someone at work asked me, “So where are you investing these days?” like an innocent, truthful person, I would say, “Actually I let my dad handle my investments”. Over time, I have noticed that this honest admission leads people to treat me like Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man.

But thankfully, I have discovered some sane people (all of them women) on the floor with whom I can take coffee breaks and discuss the Kardashian sisters, travel destinations and other people’s shallow tastes.

At times, you wonder if there is indeed a valid reason for stereotypes…

8 comments:

KP said...

Let me start off by saying that i work with the so called 'black swan' and although i do not work with the Equity Research team, i do track the markets and enjoy the 'alien jargon' that is thrown around. I can assure you we do not have any sort of orgasms comparing P/E valuations of different companies. I can also assure you that i did not treat the writer of this blog or look at her like she was Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man. On the contrary i thought it was sweet that she let her dad handle all her investments. What got me mad and made me post this was that i was not included in this 'sane' list of people that she interacts with in office and although we rarely have coffee breaks we do discuss travel and shallow people on a regular basis AND YES I AM NOT A WOMAN. Anyways i enjoy reading her blog - just that every once in a while the entire truth needs to be told ....

the.orchestra.of.life said...

ahhh ... reminds me of the time when a trader friend of mine made me sniff this equity trading drug ... I would spend whole day reading and analyzing the markets ... but it has been a while being clean and sober now :)

Amit Kumar Gupta said...

There is stereotype, that's why men can't talk openly about Kim kardishan's or paris Hilton's "Real" porn videos in office. We will quickly be branded as the one looking for a quick fuck.

Nefertiti said...

@KP

awwww... KP is just jealous to be clubbed with the men in the geek club. dont worry, you are my fav guy on the floor, though that's more of a comment on the other guys :)

@the.orchestra.of.life
ahhh.. the last line has hope... clean and sober now. you showed courage and strength to get over it.

@amit

that's a little too strong a statement. stereotypes may exist, but certainly not to that extent.

Kappu said...

whoO! love your writing style...can't agree more on the men thing that makes them down the eco times mindlessly.. and.. I am following you! ;)

Nefertiti said...

@kappu

thanks and welcome... well there are some things (eco times included) where we can just agree to disagree

jo said...

"I may not get orgasms comparing the P/E valuations of different companies, but I also have feelings" - loved this line, and have been assaulted with ET readers with half-baked opinions on everything.

Great blog this!

Nefertiti said...

@jo
thank you... and tell me about it!!!! th tragedy is as long as you are in this profession you have to put up with it, or worse, become ONE OF THEM!!! Ughhhhh