Free tonight? Depressed? Looking for a group of strangers with which to commiserate? Wachovia fixed income is holding its holiday "party" this evening at some place in Charlotte called Black Finn, to celebrate bonuses being down 95-97%. Starts at 4:30.
Earlier: Bonus Watch '08: WB






Posted by guest , Dec 19, 2008 1:41PM
What bush league hicks
Posted by guest , Dec 19, 2008 1:45PM
charlotte might be the worst town on the planet.
nothing to do
hoards of JV league traders
no deicent restaurants/bars
and this black finn place... no thanks
doesnt even deserve too be called wall street south
Posted by guest , Dec 19, 2008 1:47PM
@2 If I had to guess, you haven't worked a day in finance in your life
And no, being the janitor at Edward Jones doesn't count
Posted by guest , Dec 19, 2008 1:52PM
@2 dont spel so good neither
Posted by guest , Dec 19, 2008 1:52PM
@2 At least they can spell, you sniveling, whiny POS. You are pathetic.
Posted by guest , Dec 19, 2008 1:54PM
@ 3 a little bitter about working for wachovia are we? all im saying is that charlotte sucks...that all
Posted by guest , Dec 19, 2008 1:56PM
I agree there is not much to do in Charlotte, but today is so much better than 2 or 3 years ago...basketball stadium 2 min walking distance from BofA/Wachovia buildings, Football stadium 10 min walking distance...a lot of new bars and restaurants.
Posted by guest , Dec 19, 2008 1:58PM
...and 70 degrees outside right about NOW!
Posted by guest , Dec 19, 2008 2:00PM
beats 5 inches of snow in the city...this outta be fun
Posted by guest , Dec 19, 2008 2:00PM
Bess you should tell us what you make since you're so concerned about everyone else. I'm guessing mid 20k +/-5. If I'm wrong than good for you.
Posted by guest , Dec 19, 2008 2:02PM
southern women are very attractive
Posted by guest , Dec 19, 2008 2:02PM
don't blow all your bonus on a tab...
Posted by guest , Dec 19, 2008 2:02PM
BofA to crash party. Epic Fail!
Posted by guest , Dec 19, 2008 2:03PM
@ 11 minus the goofy accents
Posted by guest , Dec 19, 2008 2:03PM
don't blow all your bonus this year on a tab...
Posted by guest , Dec 19, 2008 2:06PM
Eat that, Dick in CLT!
Posted by guest , Dec 19, 2008 2:07PM
get back to work Edelman!
Posted by guest , Dec 19, 2008 2:09PM
@10- you are an idiot (1) and (2) people come here to get bonus numbers.
Posted by guest , Dec 19, 2008 2:09PM
Dear Charlotte,
How's about Raleigh?
Posted by guest , Dec 19, 2008 2:10PM
Collins and Moredock, where are my comps?
Posted by guest , Dec 19, 2008 2:10PM
any good golf courses around charlotte?
Posted by guest , Dec 19, 2008 2:12PM
can't swing a dead cat without hitting a tee box. playing through.
Posted by Bess Levin , Dec 19, 2008 2:12PM
@10 My base is 450k and my bonus is based on exceeding a set number of pageviews, which you just helped in your own small, insignificant way, so thanks. next question.
Posted by guest , Dec 19, 2008 2:13PM
@21, tons!
@17, and @20; come into my office now.
Posted by Lowly Assistant , Dec 19, 2008 2:14PM
Drinks on Levs.
Posted by guest , Dec 19, 2008 2:18PM
has anyone played quail hollow? thats where the wachovia championship is right??
Posted by guest , Dec 19, 2008 2:20PM
@26, it will now be known as Wells Fargo Championship
Posted by guest , Dec 19, 2008 2:21PM
@2 - just what we need, bitter NYC f*cks who have nothing to do but rag on Charlotte. Please spread your hatred somewhere else.
Posted by guest , Dec 19, 2008 2:25PM
Charlotte is aight. Nice weather besides the summer and plenty of tail
Posted by guest , Dec 19, 2008 2:31PM
Can't think of anything except maybe sticking my hand in the deep fryer at McDonalds that I rather do on a Friday night.
Posted by guest , Dec 19, 2008 2:33PM
uptown charlotte is really improving - our mcdonalds is currently closed for renovations, and it looks like its going to be a glorious mcdonalds once it re-opens!!!!
Posted by guest , Dec 19, 2008 2:35PM
From my frequent visits there, Charlotte is actually not that bad at all. It sucked 10 yrs ago but has come a long way.
Posted by guest , Dec 19, 2008 2:38PM
From my frequent visits there, Charlotte is actually not that bad at all. It sucked 10 yrs ago but has come a long way.
Posted by mktmkr , Dec 19, 2008 2:40PM
Sold Bess, for the kinda size you read about
Posted by guest , Dec 19, 2008 2:45PM
I am #3
I work at a HF here in NYC and while I'm scared shitless for my job, at least I'm not some snotty kid trying to pose as a banker here.
Hate on Charlotte, fine, but at least have something to back it up with.
I went to Duke, and yeah I prefer NYC over NC, and yeah Charlotte really didn't have much to do comparatively, but fucking Southern girls was always a worthwhile pursuit.
Posted by guest , Dec 19, 2008 2:47PM
McDonalds? Don't you mean Chick-fil-A? Just don't go on Sunday since they love the 8 pound baby Jesus and are closed.
Wall Street South, CLT, we now were shoes to work and have indoor plumbing.
Posted by guest , Dec 19, 2008 2:52PM
All you faggots with the typos are clearly not in finance. ATTENTION TO DETAIL
I'm talking to you 36
Posted by guest , Dec 19, 2008 3:00PM
I used to live in Charlotte. Gave up my car, my 2 bedroom condo, my golf course membership, and my little black book of blondes in town and traded them in for a co-op overlooking the park, no car, little black book of asians and brunettes, and a hell of a lot more taxes.
Does this make me a traitor or a hero?
Posted by guest , Dec 19, 2008 3:01PM
JJ's gonna be there babe
Posted by guest , Dec 19, 2008 3:04PM
JJ's gonna be there babe
Posted by guest , Dec 19, 2008 3:05PM
@38 blondes are recession proof. Asian and BRICs taking a hit.
Posted by guest , Dec 19, 2008 3:08PM
@41 - good one!
Posted by Anal_yst , Dec 19, 2008 3:15PM
@41
no doubt son
gonna be alota girls who're sorely dissapointed that their formerly well-monied boy toys are't so much no mo
Posted by guest , Dec 19, 2008 3:18PM
41 here, aka 35.
Stock up on those Sutton Place blondes, guys. Flight to safety in full effect.
Posted by guest , Dec 19, 2008 3:22PM
too many Charlotte apologists on this site. Charlotte is a dump.
Posted by guest , Dec 19, 2008 3:22PM
It's funny. Every little blonde in charlotte claims to be a "lawyer" or some shit.
Models and Bottles! Line 'em Up!
Posted by guest , Dec 19, 2008 3:44PM
I'm sorry but Charlotte is just a lousy city. The girl/guy ratio is horrendous when you go out to the five bars in town. You can walk downtown in literally five minutes. Six if you stop to sneeze. And what is that train? You call that transit. Please!
Posted by guest , Dec 19, 2008 3:45PM
I'm sorry but Charlotte is just a lousy city. The girl/guy ratio is horrendous when you go out to the five bars in town. You can walk downtown in literally five minutes. Six if you stop to sneeze. And what is that train? You call that transit. Please!
Posted by guest , Dec 19, 2008 3:50PM
Charlotte rocks!
Posted by guest , Dec 19, 2008 3:53PM
@16 -- ???
-Dick in CLT.
Posted by guest , Dec 19, 2008 3:56PM
How about a Monday morning thread for everyone to talk shit about the Giants-Panthers game.
BlackFinn might suck, but watching Julius Peppers curb stomp Eli Manning will be a thing of beauty.
Posted by guest , Dec 19, 2008 3:58PM
Why is Charlotte the only city that brings so many haters out of the woodwork to talk shit??? Not even the auto threads get this dirty w/r/t Detroit.
Posted by guest , Dec 19, 2008 3:59PM
New Yorkers are so angry...I love it!
Posted by guest , Dec 19, 2008 4:04PM
Because charlotte is the only city in the country where people try and do NY work -- e.g. finance and law -- and end up looking like a bunch of prancing dbags doing it. You can't be a baller banker or lawyer and have a little white picket fence house in the suburbs.
When's the last time a Goldman banker had to leave at 5:30 every night to get back to Ballantyne for little Johnnie's soccer game?
Posted by guest , Dec 19, 2008 4:08PM
LOL @ 54.
Posted by guest , Dec 19, 2008 4:08PM
"Baller" banker? Oh jeez, the 2nd year analysts are playing on the board again. Can someone please give them some documents to photocopy?
Posted by guest , Dec 19, 2008 4:11PM
"Baller" banker? Oh jeez, the 2nd year analysts are playing on the board again. Can someone please give them some documents to photocopy?
Posted by guest , Dec 19, 2008 4:15PM
@54 - I assume you work for Goldman. Let me know how that new teller position works out. Are you still offering free toasters with your checking accounts?
Posted by guest , Dec 19, 2008 4:18PM
@54 - I assume you work for Goldman. Let me know how that new teller position works out. Are you still offering free toasters with your checking accounts?
Posted by guest , Dec 19, 2008 4:19PM
@35 - ive never been to charlotte but Durham is awful. (wife went to law school there).
the 3 bars on 9th street....AWESOME!!!!!
for you to be saying charlotte is bad after spending 4 years in the garbage that is durham is saying something
Posted by guest , Dec 19, 2008 4:23PM
ya GS baller 1st yrs pulling in 8k bonus (top tier) this winter...bet you were real jazzed when you got that job coming out of cornell. on the bright side, that's 16k if you dont pro-rate it! hope you didnt spend too much at jos a bank in august on some tight new threads for your big ticket to the top.
Posted by guest , Dec 19, 2008 4:24PM
@54 you're a faggot who obviously lives in charlotte and hates his own life. sucks to be you.
Posted by guest , Dec 19, 2008 4:26PM
I live in the Avenue condos on Church street. My name is Bradford Wilmington Braxton Culpepper the XIII. In the morning, I say goodbye to my schoolteacher from Kannapolis. I always eat bacon and grits as part of my morning routine.
I then apply my Brooks Brothers khaki pants, non-iron shit, and topsider deck shoes, which I always tie twice, because only lacing your deck shoes once can make you slip and fall, and that can be unpleasant.
I comb aside my receding frat-mop and proceed across Trade street to work, promptly at 9:31 a.m.
In the evening -- 4:01 p.m. to be exact, I proceed to MPCC where I play 9 holes with some old buddies who also went to UNC for undergrad, and UNC for Business School, and one guy who's into, you know, that whole "Duke" thing.
After my rigorous golf routine, I proceed have my hair cut at E. Joseph and spend the rest of the evening in blissful cocktail hour at the City Club while thinking how much "better" my life is than my colleagues in NYC.
Posted by guest , Dec 19, 2008 4:29PM
@63 His life sounds pretty good. He probably has a hot blonde wife and will never die of stress.
If you are born rich, why bust your ass?
Posted by guest , Dec 19, 2008 4:36PM
OMG I know u 63!!!1!
Posted by guest , Dec 19, 2008 4:43PM
@65: doubt it -- I'm from neither Charlotte or NYC -- just know a lot of people from both. - 63
Posted by guest , Dec 19, 2008 5:11PM
@2 - You're really missing the point. The reason why Charlotte is actually a good city is that there are no greedy f*cking jews that live there. Why do you think people are so pleasant and friendly there?
On the other hand, we are infiltrated in NYC with jews. Why do you think people are so f-ing miserable here? Thank God investment bankers are becoming extinct. Go back to f-ing Israel and lets start making NYC a nice place again.
Posted by Anal_yst , Dec 19, 2008 5:15PM
63, nice work
Posted by guest , Dec 19, 2008 5:33PM
Say what you will about CLT. I was an analyst at the WB for 2 years and made just as much as my friends on the street and got the same PE offers. Meanwhile I saved a shit ton of cash and got to plow dumb southern bitches for two years. I ended up in the same spot as other analysts on the street- I make no apologies for my time on College Street.
Posted by legal eagle , Dec 19, 2008 6:39PM
As someone who has lived in both Charlotte and New York (New York now) I can say, hands down, that Charlotte women are hotter, but New York women are much easier. This might be the easiest city on earth to get laid in. The women here seem to have very little self-respect, I theorize it's because the men here treat women so poorly that the women have just come to accept it, which means that getting laid requires very minimal effort.
So many men here have had very little game in the past, but now that they have money, they just throw it at women and get laid. I have watched the biggest losers I've ever met pull leg up here. It's fascinating, really. But in Charlotte, the women do seem to have more self-respect, which makes them hotter, but also makes it more difficult to have 4 one-night stands a week..
Which one is better, you ask? I guess that depends on what you want out women and life.
Posted by guest , Dec 19, 2008 7:00PM
As someone who has lived in Chicago and DC and now Charlotte, I agree that there are hot girls here, but they're outnumbered 20 to 1 by pastel khaki wearing frat boys. The girls are either illiterate and lying about being on birth control ... or married. If you find one that isn't, and will sleep with you, chances are she already slept with the banker standing next to you. Every person in this town brags about how they're "an IBanker" regardless of what they actually do.
People here also like to talk about how much less than NY they work and how much more they make, both of which are untrue (with limited exceptions). Sure, things are a little cheaper, but i've seen the same analyst/associate hating emails and commands here that I saw in other places. And the only place these people have to go when they leave the bank, you guessed it, NY or DC or another major city that actually has exit opportunities other than middle management at Daddy's soon-to-be-bankrupt "real estate development" company.
And Black Finns is a sportsbar.
Posted by guest , Dec 19, 2008 7:08PM
70 -- you're the man. I'm a fellow Charlotte to NYC convert.
I love having to not take some dumb chick to Del Friscos or Capital Grille just to get in her pants.
NYC -- three drinks and you're down.
Word.
Posted by guest , Dec 19, 2008 7:17PM
Hahahaha Jesus fuck, I lived in Charlotte for a year and now live in NYC. There is zero comparision. The women in NYC are clearly hotter.
Seriosuly, I don't ever remember seeing any models out at the bar in Charlotte. None. The average dyed blonde Southern girl maybe more attractive than the average up here, but there is no city anywhere that has the high end like here.
Posted by legal eagle , Dec 19, 2008 7:23PM
Also agree with you 73: I've said to many a friend that in New York you will, every now and then, run across a women that will stop you dead in your tracks because of her beauty. But the average girl here is marginal, while the average girl in Charlotte is far superior. So, we're in agreement, as it turns out.
Posted by legal eagle , Dec 19, 2008 7:26PM
All this being said, I would NEVER move back to Charlotte. It has no character and there is very little about it that is unique. Basically, it's just generic as hell and and depressingly plain.
Posted by guest , Dec 19, 2008 7:45PM
Charlotte is where people with real ambitions go to settle down, get old, and die.
Posted by guest , Dec 19, 2008 7:55PM
I'd love to hear the female perspective on living in NYC vs. CLT
Posted by guest , Dec 19, 2008 11:02PM
75 and sunny in CLT today. I'm not complaining.
Posted by guest , Dec 20, 2008 11:08AM
Charlotte after Chicago here,
Every day I spend in Charlotte is another day spent trying to get out. Everyone is completely out of their mind and they think because their grandparents were never going to stop using Wachovia for their savings accounts that this is the best place on Earth. They also, for some reason, refer to it as "the big city." It is completely void of any culture, unless you count the soon-to-be Nascar hall of fame. Sure, it's fine, and it's a fine place to live and there were decent jobs here and blah blah blah.
The pattern developing is simply this: Charlotte is the definition of mediocre. The weather is nice, the people are okay, you can afford a house (if you're into that kinda thing) but overall, it's incredibly mediocre. There's nothing wrong with it, but not really anything great either. The only people I've found that really like it are families, and people (and there are a lot of them) that say "I don't see why anyone would ever need to leave the state of North Carolina". Sad.
Posted by guest , Dec 20, 2008 1:32PM
I didn't realized this was a CLT/NY thread, but here goes. Have lived in both CLT and NYC. I was born and raised in NY area and live in Manhattan now. I am 31 and not married.
The pros about CLT are the weather, people are friendly, clean city, women really cute, proximity to both mountains and coast and great lifestyle. Cons are that it's sometimes boring and slow pace.
NYC pros are women are hot as balls (agree with previous posters that top end NYC is better than CLT, but on avg CLT is better), a lot to do, proximity to beaches and fast paced lifestyle. Cons are horrendous traffic, incredibly rude and arrogant people, high stress level, insane expensive and difficulty in getting from point A to point B at ALL times.
I like both cities a lot, but I have to admit I miss the better lifestyle I was afforded in CLT. NYC tends to be especially grim during bad times - the highs and lows are extreme.
Posted by guest , Dec 20, 2008 10:17PM
Sunday Night - Panthers v Giants
Could not have been scripted any better for you guys. Bess - Great job getting Roger Godell to schedule this game to match the story.
Posted by guest , Dec 21, 2008 6:11PM
Sharlet?! Can't be as good as Tallahassee!
Posted by guest , Dec 21, 2008 7:15PM
I grew up in NYC and spent time in CLT. NYC has no sweet tea and lots of snow. CLT has sweet tea and is 70 degrees in the winter.
Posted by guest , Dec 21, 2008 11:39PM
This conversation has gone on this long?
NYC - please choke on your own vomit and die, already.
-Rest of U.S.
Posted by guest , Dec 22, 2008 12:05AM
@ 79 -- US Airways flights take off every 3 minutes, etc. I'm sure you can find your way out.
Posted by guest , Dec 22, 2008 9:44PM
charlotte is a awsome place. yeeehaw go panthers
Posted by guest , Dec 23, 2008 9:07AM
The Panther will win it all...yea go Panther!
Posted by guest , Dec 26, 2008 1:27PM
@86 and 87... YOU ARE LOSERS!!!
GO BIG BLUE...