It’s been almost a year since Nomura acquired Lehman’s international operations, and while some fumbling and a lot “where does this go” among personnel on either side is to be expected, things remain quite awkward, with the children of Dick Fuld all but refusing to submit to their new employer’s way of doing things.
Like start the day in verse.
Lehman bankers encountered a different work culture at Nomura. One team of Nomura traders, for instance, sang a company song at morning meetings.
And be followed around by a guy with a notepad who doesn’t say much but constantly judges.
Nomura set up a transition team that fanned out around the globe to help with integration. Senior investment bankers from the Lehman side started to complain about their “shadows,” bankers from the Nomura side who would accompany them to client meetings and report back to other executives, according to Lehman-side bankers. The Nomura spokeswoman says those bankers were helping with the integration.
And just accept that women are there to serve, okay? Why is this a cause for getting one’s panties in a bunch?
Nomura kicked off a training session for new hires in April by separating the men and women. The women, including Harvard graduates hired by Lehman Brothers before it collapsed, were taught how to wear their hair, serve tea and choose their wardrobes according to the season, say executives who fielded a complaint about the session.
Asked about the training sessions for new hires, a Nomura spokeswoman said that both sexes were taught business etiquette, and the men and women were trained separately for logistical reasons.
It’s not like they’re being asked to slut it up. In fact, the females are being expressly told: do not dress like a harlot, or you’re out on your ass. This is a place of business. We can’t have bitches running wild.
Some Nomura managers interpreted strictly the company’s dress code for women…[Lehman women were instructed] to wear sleeves no shorter than midbicep and to avoid brightly colored clothing, according to several people who joined from Lehman. Several women were sent home from the trading floor for dressing “inappropriately,” these people say.
“I was sent home for wearing a short-sleeve dress, even though I was wearing a jacket,” says one woman who says she plans to leave as soon as she receives her final guaranteed bonus payment.
And good god, get rid of those garish streaks in your hair. What is this, Six Flags?
They told women joining from Lehman to remove highlights from their hair.
The rationale behind this one is yet to be revealed but let’s just accept for now that it makes sense. The Bear guys didn’t have a problem with it when JPM pulled a similar stunt.
Nomura’s human-resources department changed some women’s email addresses to their married names, from their maiden names, without asking which names they used professionally, according to the people who joined from Lehman.
See thru skirts and thongs, everyone! (Women, that is)
why hire women at all?
Dice-K is saying the same things about The Red Sox.
Supposedly, the women were shown “Kinjite – Forbidden Subject” and reminded that the “little schoolgirl” outfit is the way to get a-head.
C. Bronson
Supposedly, the women were shown “Kinjite – Forbidden Subject” and reminded that the “little schoolgirl” outfit is the way to get a-head.
C. Bronson
Lehman bitches were always mad slutty. Props to Nomura for cleaning that shit up. Sleeping with a Lehman woman was like laying on the floor of a peep show video booth.
@2, women are an integral element of any tasteful Japanese banking decor. Like flowers.
Banker be nimble. Banker be quick…
Harvard Grads at Lehman suck on Nomura D*ck. OOOOH!
F. Fairlane
@8 that was pure poetry
She plans to leave as soon as she receives her final guaranteed bonus payment? Haha, really stading up for the principles she believes in.
@8 ftw
i love my female bankers slutty, if i want to see an ugly guy i just look at my colleagues
PEB
@1 That’s the dress code policy for SAC boys.
Lehman women coming in wearing a mask…the mask of a whore.
Must eviscerate their slutty souls
-Jack the Ripper
@1 ftw
-andrew tong
It would be great if they also made female employees start wearing the Scream mask around the office. Then everyone could ask them “why the long face?”
I c lawsuit.
@10 she ain’t takin’ nomura this shit
What do you tell a woman with 2 black eyes?
Nothing, you already told her twice.
-CG
Listen, I dont want any P***y getting wet dresses for this cookout.
@naked- I said to the lehman sisters, ladies, I love you, I think you’re great but you dress like fuckin dickheads.
-nomura exec
@10 Yeah, I noticed that too.
Misogynists everywhere must be whooping it up. Go Nomura!
6 will be comment of the day.
@18 A worthy contribution
Now I know you’re not natural beauties, Lehman ladies, but I think with the right clothes and the right look you could be very striking.
- Nomura HR
Nomura Etiquette Class Question:
Why don’t women wear watches?
Because there’s a clock on the stove.
-CG
@6 tell us more
You have a degree
Harvard is the origin
But you have a twat
@21, stop stealing my lines…
-K. Powers #55
@28 – Congratulations for creating what is possibly the worst haiku ever invented in the entire history of haiku. It is tasteless, it is awkward, and it reflects badly on the size of your father’s penis.
Are you by any chance a Vogon?
Lehman ladies obviously took Stephanie Trunk’s business advice to heart. It’s a pity Nomura is so last millennium.
@30 – I thought it was quite good, actually.
-Grunthos the Flatulent
Lawyers everywhere race to lead the class action…
@28 is brilliant!
I find Erin Callan nailable
@30 STFU
Whilst I don’t agree entirely with #30, I do agree that #28 might be in the running for worst haiku ever. Ever.
@31 I believe you mean Penelope Trunk? And doing yoga on the bathroom floor has helped many people’s careers.
@31 PENELOPE. jesus.
-keith hahn
@30…..Take a breath then step back a bit and review @28′s “joke” from a distance.
The “set up” for the joke is deftly delivered by Ms. Levin’s report on the alleged uncomfortableness experienced by well qualified female new-hire employees of Nomura. @28, sensing the “open field run of humor” that suddenly appeared after momentarily checking off the obvious “joke” catalysts in this instance (Japanese culture, female, employment, change, cultural differences, etc.), dug deep into his/her reservoir of humor and chose to use a literary vehicle–Japanese “haiku”– to mix into his/her palette of joke potential. Then, with deft poetic strokes, he/she painted a literary image complete with mixed cultural leanings accented the spice of artistic western vulgarity layered into an explosion of cross-cultural, absurdistic cognizance, ie “a joke”. Such “pleine air” wit is usually reserved for academics in the humor field and I think we are all happy to have it shared with us.
Sincerely,
~The Joke Briefer
@31 – Sorry, Penelope. Best business advice I ever read.
28 you suck and you sound like someone that never gets any pussy
Bravo Joke Briefer Bravo!
-JB Fan
“This is a place of business. We can’t have bitches running wild.”
I beg to differ.
-SC
How about a verse from the ‘company song’ the traders sang at morning meetings?
Sorry, JB, I’m generally a big fan but you whiffed this one.
@28 isn’t funny, smart, or clever under any circumstances.
But bravo for your attempted defense.
@42 Did you mean to address 30? If not, eat shit and die.
@30…..I don’t think @28 is a Vogon. Usually, people who eat meat have sense of humor like that. I don’t think @28 would give up meat and thus become unfunny but I bet he/she likes edamame and other vegetables a lot.
~AIG Quant
I’d hit it.
All @28 did was make a clever joke which, from my perspective, was more of a searing indictment of the way women are perceived by some employers. For that alone, @28 deserves a bow. Some won’t break through the glass ceiling with knee-jerk reactions.
Hi ladies, please read this while replacing the word “hostess” with “equity sales” and be prepared to discuss in class tomorrow. You will then be “ranked in order of popularity with clients” and if you are lucky there will be a little something extra in it for you at the end of the night.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/28/business/global/28hostess.html
I can’t believe those Nomura execs didn’t check whether the Harvard grads attended charm school when they were kids. It’s offensive to assume that a Harvard grad needs that training now.
This sounds an awful lot like the movie Gung Ho.
Well, well the world is finally seeing how Asians treat women…
Wait till you see how Indians and Hasidics do worse, from wigs to honor burnings
They still get a pass b/c of nice Hondas, IT outsourcing, and diamonds…ah the hypocrisy
and 20k x-LEH people following Dickie & Joey; +FBI; +SEC; + Goldman Sachs in back of them…Payback is a bitch…
Sorry @46, I disagree. JB’s analysis was ‘effin brilliant.
So go somewhere else if the Nomura culture (which I’m not defending btw) doesn’t work for you.
Welcome to the shit-world of dress codes and corporate control that 99% of the US work force lives in. Can’t wear the sleeve length that you prefer? Welcome to McDonalds, you won’t even have to worry about it. Just put on this shirt and hat.
If you are such a valuable “Harvard graduate” it shouldn’t be a problem to find another job – and you leaving would be Nomura’s loss…no?
@57 – you’re kidding, right? Please? Getting bitter about dress codes?
Please get a hobby.
whatever they should be happy, sure Nomura is taking away their slutty clothes but at least they let them keep the letter “L”
otherwise, Erin Carran would have to comprain about rosing her srutty crothes
Knee jerk? Gung Ho? Definitely getting a different slant on things
Here’s 50 bucks. Take this in case I get drunk and call you a bitch later.
@60 rimshot
“We can’t have bitches running wild.”
Unless His Most Wise Illustrious Leader deems it so.
Also, make sure these women utilize proper “absolute territory” (look it up). It pleases His Most Wise Illustrious Leader, as well as his Loyal Minions.
—
Also, @30 – @28 created a work of Art there. The discordance matches the Nomura sensibility perfectly. It’s like “Bizarro-Haiku” (tm, bitches!) – Haiku often reflects the beauty of nature; this reflects the Ugly of Nomura’s worldview. High Art, 28. Kudos.
And Nomura just hired a bunch of uptight negotiators from the former Lehman documentation unit. Good luck to all!
@59: Easy solution…
New dress code = Carry parasols, little fans and wear kimonos. Prob solved.
Oh, also, sit on floor at the little conference table during meetings….
Why would anyone be insulted?
Ugh, I’m appalled at Nomura. Don’t they know who they’re dealing with? They went to Harvard for Christ’s sake!
@66 go kill yourself.
Well at least they have a job. That’s more than many former people in finance can say. I say suck it up, learn as much as you can, and jump ship if you hate it so much when the market rebounds.
Some stunning photos of the elite Harvard alumna Japanese tea-serving team:
http://saltocean.blogspot.com/2009/07/wsj-nomura-stumbles-in-new-global-push.html (SFW~!)
hahahahaha @67