Common Sense Prevails In A Turbulent Market

I work with a bunch of fucking idiots. Sorry to be so blunt on a Wednesday morning, but there is no other word to describe these fools that goes right to the core of what I think and feel about the mentality of these people who should be smart but are severely lacking in common sense. This further proves my point that letters after your name and university degrees don't mean a damn. An idiot is an idiot, I don't care how many text books you've read or exams you've taken.

Case in point: A trader in Sao Paulo, Brazil shot himself on the trading floor just yesterday. You've heard similar stories over the recent months and there will probably be many more to come. A number of things contribute to these fools losing their damn minds, work pressures and the current market. If you haven't heard already we are pretty much bordering on and in some countries have already entered the recession.

So yesterday we’re having an office discussion and my belief on the situation and others like it is this, any person that takes or attempts to take their life over a job loss where you've earned a lot of money like traders do, is down to lack of preparation. Financial preparation. Granted you'd be devastated at losing a job you've been in for 10 or 20 years, but the thing that makes people lose their minds and the tears start falling [á la Lehman's] is the fact you have no money saved to live off of comfortably in the event of such things happening.

POINT BLANK

Don't believe for one second that all traders have money. I've worked a few feet away from them and seen them broke and living from pay check to check. Hefty salaries and bonuses, and with a big pay check comes a big house, a big closet, a big car or three, big nights out and fancy holidays. The mentality exists that this life, the bonuses and the pay checks are going to last forever. When shit hits the fan and you are told to clear your desk you then realise the mortgage payment, the electricity, gas and council tax money is no where in sight. You are on the same playing field as somebody who gets financial assistance from the government aka welfare. Why do you think in such cases wives leave their riches to now rags husbands and they lose everything. Lack of preparation. Smart people save and invest wisely, fools do not.

Traders and my colleagues alike have this mentality [especially the ones that are permanent member of staff] that "this is going to last forever" they think that this time next year they will be sitting at the very same desk. They get comfortable and complacent never thinking that their beloved firm is going to be hit with the news of X amount of people are facing the chop. I on the other hand, a contractor and have been for the past 5 years out of 11 that I've been doing this knows how this works. I've seen people fired who were permanent when I was a temp, the very same people who thought it would never happen to them, that got so comfortable in their roles thought that it was OK to spend October money because November money was right around the corner as would be December's and January's. More fool them. I know although my contract is up at the end of the year I could be asked to leave today. As a contractor I have eyes and ears all over the place, I make sure that the money I make sits in the same place and doesn't move, build it up like a little comfortable cushion and granted if 'Tha Boss' says it's time to go I can only get pissed at the fact the nucca never called me at home to save the trip in when I could have been at home poppin bon bons. I know the ropes. I have the agency contacts and am willing to take on roles that I can do with my eyes closed but pay over £25 p/h. If you ask me to clean the toilets for £30 p/h bitch I'mma take my sweet time.

A lot of permanent to contract type folks who have no choice but to look for temp work now are going to have problems in just taking anything. The mentality of these folks is that contracting is like starting from the bottom up. They had a career and now everything they've ever worked for has been stolen from them. So that coupled with the complacency of that monthly pay check and annual bonus causes these damn fools to lose their minds. Plus they've been out of the game so long have no idea about what is entailed by going through an agency or even the damn names of them. If you have £50,000 saved up in the bank and other investments I'm sure you'll be very disappointed in your job loss but the fact you have savings may just be all you need to keep you on your toes for a year or so if the recession continues to become bleaker than it already is. Why you gonna kill yourself and your family too if you got money to survive like a lifeboat and jacket in rough seas?

Every time we talk about the current climate and recently about Citigroup getting rid of 52,000 employees I see my manager squirm, he's the boring, comfortable one that lives for this place. He has nothing to add to these important discussions, he's a play it safe man, one who yesterday was talking about the company pension. I just cut him off saying "I don't believe in pensions" which he took as cue to not even discuss that foolishness the black girl with more sense than him. Did you not see all those Lehman's folks lose their pensions and have come away with nothing? God forbid if he ever lost his job. A house, wife and two children to support having to lose his managerial title and 12 years of service to resorting to a temp role and being paid by the hour. He is the typical white man gone postal case who would come in here shooting up the place. Black folks would just go and catch up with their friends they don't have time to see in the week, get mad for a minute and be on the trail the next day.

Do not feel sorry for us contractors we are like the hitch-hikers of the job world, we get there eventually. Why do these fools think I can afford to vacation about 4 times a year with ease. Because I don't piss my money up the walls at the pub and buy £5 lunches every day. I log every transaction from every bank account and credit card that I have and pay my bills on time. I don't refuse jobs based on the specifications of that job and take the money because I see this sector as a place to make money and not to base a career on. And I also make sure I make alternative plans to get O.U.T. and do something else if this industry takes years to recover. Becoming a childminder and teaching English overseas are two get O.U.T plans I have up my sleeve at the moment. And most importantly I don't live above my means, I have a little safety blanket should anybody tell me to clear my desk I can go home chill on the couch and watch DVDs for months if I pleased or even take a vacation.

I remember on the news when the Lehman's ship was sinking one former employee was being interviewed and said the mood in the office was that of despair, people were crying and wondering if they were going to be paid, but he said he was OK because he had money saved so would be alright, and smiled with it too..like he was saying "those punk ass bitches."

SOMEONE WITH 'SENSE IN THE CITY'

I met with a consultant from one of the agencies I'm with and she said the day it happened they had just been bombarded with calls from people just desperate and crying, who didn't know what they were going to do and older people who were working up to their pension who have now just lost it all.

[INSERT NON-SYMPATHETIC FACE HERE]

There are tons of people in finance that think like this…so many it's scary. Before this recession talk I always used to tell permanent staff there was no such thing as job security. These fools really think they are more secure than temps. I told them there is no difference but 3 week notice and some severance pay. I get a weeks notice you get 4. I tell them as a temp I've watched permanent people escorted out by security after being given the boot. Fast forward to November 2008 and now these same fools have NOW cottoned onto the fact that nobody is safe.
SEE I TOLD YA!!

On top of that, you have the smarts to be a trader so why are you taking a salary making millions for an already rich firm when you can trade from the comfort of your own home and pocket the profits tax free. People with little knowledge from trading make money full-time from home, sounds like the smarter option to me. And that's where I'm gonna be.

It's funny in 2008 people will rely heavily on employers to make it through comfortably to tomorrow and not make -plans to secure themselves. Thank God I have Jesus and some common sense.