jessica-simpson-rolling-stone-6.jpgKidding, no one would ever use a term like that in the office. What the guy actually called them was “honkers.” As previously discussed, Nomura’s acquisition of Lehman’s internal operations has not gone as smoothly as everyone had hoped. The Lehman employees are very difficult, all but refusing to submit to their new employer’s way of doing things. Particularly the womenfolk. They spent the summer slutting it up in sleeveless shirts, and, despite being told, pointblank, that women exist to serve, they still just seem to not get it. So I guess it shouldn’t come as a surprise that they’d raise a ruckus over pretty standard business practices like having their jugs referred to as “honkers” in front of colleagues, and it be suggested that their time would be better spent tidying up the house. What’s next, panties in a bunch over being told to get back in the kitchen? And is “bazonkas” not okay anymore? (Serious questions.)

Maureen Murphy, 30, alleges that one woman trader had her breasts referred to as “honkers” during a meeting. She also claims that a male colleague at the bank said women “belonged at home cleaning floors”.

Murphy, a senior analyst earning £55,000-a-year and Anna Francis, 37, had worked in Asian equities sales at Lehman Brothers in Canary Wharf before the bank collapsed in September last year. The two women were moved to Nomura as part of a buyout. Francis worked as an executive on £250,000-a-year including bonus. But the pair claimed at Central London Employment Tribunal that sexist Japanese company chiefs effectively sidelined them because they were women and not Japanese. Their barrister Michael Duggan told the tribunal: “This organisation is racist and sexist.” In legal papers Murphy, who lives in Islington, alleges that one male client said to her colleague Melissa Holian: “Oh, you don’t have your honkers out today.”

Comments (66)

  1. Posted by guest | November 4, 2009 at 2:24 PM

    Stay classy, Nomura.

  2. Posted by guest | November 4, 2009 at 2:25 PM

    So wait.. Women don’t belong at home cleaning floors? I’m confused.

  3. Posted by Anal_yst | November 4, 2009 at 2:25 PM

    What the guy meant with “…women belong at home cleaning floors” is that historically, Curling champions are women, and its a very popular sport among the Nomurati, so really it was a compliment and a honor that he’d insinuate this particular woman (or any) could achieve such on-ice success.

  4. Posted by guest | November 4, 2009 at 2:27 PM

    i makes my bitch cook fo’ me in lingerie, mofos! dat’s the TRUF!
    - Warren G

  5. Posted by guest | November 4, 2009 at 2:28 PM

    This post is completely useless without pictures.
    How are we to know of they were in fact, knockers, or just run of the mill boobs.
    Implants? Does she have big nips that pop up when the AC is on?
    Photographic evidence is a must…….speaking of that Bess…….

  6. Posted by guest | November 4, 2009 at 2:29 PM

    This is the same country that is home to geishas, those “love hotels”, the “company bars”, and 5th highest center of prostitution in the world. “Honkers” is hardly surprising.
    And no, I can’t remember the fucking specific words for every facet of Japanese prostitution. I’m a simple deprived American.

  7. Posted by guest | November 4, 2009 at 2:29 PM

    special note to Slore-ish tarted up banker chicks. Put your tits away before coming into the office. Mr Watanabe likey to Danza slap.

  8. Posted by american bandersnatch | November 4, 2009 at 2:31 PM

    Why is the guy who serves them their coffee commenting on Nomura’s employment environment?

  9. Posted by guest | November 4, 2009 at 2:31 PM

    6 has a really good point. It’s not polite to just arbitrarily toss around “knockers” and “honkers”.
    You, know, unless they are.

  10. Posted by guest | November 4, 2009 at 2:34 PM

    Note that the “client” wanted her to puff out the ROBOTS (Really Outrageous Big Ol’ Titties), not a colleague. How does that make her employer sexy?

  11. Posted by guest | November 4, 2009 at 2:37 PM

    Giggity giggity!

  12. Posted by guest | November 4, 2009 at 2:38 PM

    THOSE ARE LEGS IN THE PIC NOT TITS.
    Fantastic legs. But you are doing it wrong.

  13. Posted by guest | November 4, 2009 at 2:39 PM

    Bess, with that picture are you implying the rack in question is similar to Jessica Simpson?
    If so then yes, they are in fact “knockers”.
    No Handbridge is necessary.

  14. Posted by guest | November 4, 2009 at 2:40 PM

    @13 – no, I think it’s a Swiffer Wet-Jet. But your point remains . . .

  15. Posted by guest | November 4, 2009 at 2:40 PM

    if she had her honkers out this wouldn’t have been a problem

  16. Posted by guest | November 4, 2009 at 2:41 PM

    Leave it to the Japs to ditch the PC bullshit.

  17. Posted by Bess Levin | November 4, 2009 at 2:41 PM

    @13 don’t tell me how to do my job. I was focusing on the “cleaning floors,” housewife aspect. and since you couldn’t do it for yourself:
    http://images.google.com/images?q=breasts&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi

  18. Posted by guest | November 4, 2009 at 2:43 PM

    They NEVER get old. Thanks for the clarification Bess.

  19. Posted by guest | November 4, 2009 at 2:44 PM

    I mean, unless there was musquirt involved, who cares?

  20. Posted by guest | November 4, 2009 at 2:44 PM

    In the UAE, we prefer the term “bazooms.” (It’s from the British.)
    - Sheik Yerbouti

  21. Posted by guest | November 4, 2009 at 2:45 PM

    @ 17 GFY racist barbarian

  22. Posted by guest | November 4, 2009 at 2:49 PM

    Fuck you 22. I happen to eat with three fingers not five.
    17

  23. Posted by guest | November 4, 2009 at 2:50 PM

    Oy!! Moh liggs and brists, I see!!! Crikies, kint you mastuhbyters go a wake without a brist or ligg kimpirison? And let me till yew this: Jist like a wimins chisty bits, Nips should bay sayne end not urd.
    ~A. Drury
    New South Wales
    Austrailiar

  24. Posted by Cdntdr | November 4, 2009 at 2:51 PM

    Somebody get this over to CNBC for … erm… “coverage”. Get tits Cabrera to, erm, “uncover” the hidden details!

  25. Posted by guest | November 4, 2009 at 2:52 PM

    Bess, Don’t tell me how to look for tits. I’ve been doing it since age 6, thank you very much.
    xo
    http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wb8bAl1P-N0/SSGAXidDcQI/AAAAAAAADuQ/aw-Jxr_Wp0U/s400/love+tits.jpg

  26. Posted by guest | November 4, 2009 at 2:52 PM

    @23 – I don’t even know what that means. What happened to your other 2 fingers?
    -AIG Quant

  27. Posted by guest | November 4, 2009 at 2:55 PM

    24- phonetic genius

  28. Posted by guest | November 4, 2009 at 2:55 PM

    I’ll believe the Nomura sexist bullshit the day Toyota gets accused of a Toyota-made automobile safety hazard cover-up. ‘Nuff said? Ok.

  29. Posted by guest | November 4, 2009 at 2:56 PM

    Oh, and I know what you were getting at. Its just physically impossible for 80% of your readers to jump to “cleaning” once tits come up so theres really no chance at subtlety.
    I am in this 80%. So sue me.
    13/26

  30. Posted by guest | November 4, 2009 at 2:59 PM

    @7 — My favorite is the “no-pan shabu shabu” places where there are mirrors on the floor and the “waitress” serves you without wearing any panties

  31. Posted by guest | November 4, 2009 at 3:02 PM

    “Tekoki”……always tekoki. And with rotion.

  32. Posted by guest | November 4, 2009 at 3:03 PM

    That Swiffer never gets old….

  33. Posted by guest | November 4, 2009 at 3:06 PM

    @31. Sounds like a mixed bag, personally. I feel like that involves some constant surprise between hideous and gorgeous without warning.
    Though I am rather curious as I imagine there is a whole industry and protocol that revolves around the proper grooming and design of said waitresses.
    7

  34. Posted by pfluger | November 4, 2009 at 3:06 PM

    @7 = Client 9 aka The Steamroller

  35. Posted by Becky Boot Fan | November 4, 2009 at 3:06 PM

    @24…you are the wind beneath my brists.

  36. Posted by guest | November 4, 2009 at 3:07 PM

    You were a V P
    But we took control of you
    Now clean the floor please

  37. Posted by guest | November 4, 2009 at 3:09 PM

    @24 – haven’t heard enough of you this week. Thank you.

  38. Posted by guest | November 4, 2009 at 3:09 PM

    What do a bunch of Chinamen know from tits anyway?

  39. Posted by guest | November 4, 2009 at 3:10 PM

    Bess, how big are yer brists? B, C?
    AD

  40. Posted by guest | November 4, 2009 at 3:13 PM

    Bess, in terms of verbal skill, is E. In terms of Jew shes obviously B.
    Shit I’m going to hell for that comment.

  41. Posted by guest | November 4, 2009 at 3:13 PM

    I disagree with all of this…women absolutely belong in the office, we have a girl on the floor that gives mindblowing ZJs in the handicrapper. I wouldn’t want her at home cleaning my floors, what would my wife say when I told her some young broad is taking her job?

  42. Posted by guest | November 4, 2009 at 3:14 PM

    How is there anything wrong with any of these brilliant observations.
    -Bernie Ecclestone

  43. Posted by guest | November 4, 2009 at 3:14 PM

    Me Japanese
    Me play joke
    Me see your titties
    and give them a poke
    -te hee hee

  44. Posted by guest | November 4, 2009 at 3:16 PM

    @43. Thank you for the enlightenment. I had no idea.
    “You know I’ve got one of those wonderful ideas … women should be dressed in white like all the other domestic appliances.”[19] Ecclestone later called Patrick to apologize, but repeated his comments,[20] before apologizing a second time.[21] Earlier, in February 2000, he said that women would never excel in Formula One, stating “she would have to be a woman who was blowing away the boys. … What I would really like to see happen is to find the right girl, perhaps a black girl with super looks, preferably Jewish or Muslim, who speaks Spanish.”

  45. Posted by guest | November 4, 2009 at 3:17 PM

    More Flesh, less finance.

  46. Posted by guest | November 4, 2009 at 3:19 PM

    “In terms of Jew shes obviously B. ”
    what does that mean?

  47. Posted by guest | November 4, 2009 at 3:19 PM

    @42…In the South she would say, “She can have the cooking, laundry duty and kids too.” And then she’d ask, “Do I cock the hammer all the way back or just point it at you and squeeze the trigger?”
    In Houston, they just run over you in their car. Times are so tough in Houston that many wives have started to “ride-share” in that regard.

  48. Posted by guest | November 4, 2009 at 3:20 PM

    Yeah, luv ya, Bess, but I have to say, that pic is inappropriate for this discussion.
    Mo’ Breastuses, pleez!

  49. Posted by guest | November 4, 2009 at 3:26 PM

    The Rolling Stone image of JS above, and the fact that a while back Tony Romo was probably banging her like a screen door in a hurricane –but is no longer,– proves the old trader adage that no matter how great looking or fabulous her “charm” might be, someone somewhere is tired of it.

  50. Posted by pfluger | November 4, 2009 at 3:28 PM

    @48:
    If a southern Belle inquires whether she needs to “cock the hammer all the way back,” it means her partner is not communicating well.

  51. Posted by guest | November 4, 2009 at 3:28 PM

    The politically correct term is “Fun Bags”.
    Erin Burnett

  52. Posted by guest | November 4, 2009 at 3:29 PM

    Bess,
    I demand to know the size of yer brists!
    AD

  53. Posted by guest | November 4, 2009 at 3:30 PM

    I use the wet mop… it’s awesome.
    J. Cayne

  54. Posted by merkin capital partners | November 4, 2009 at 3:34 PM

    Those can’t be accurate quotes. They correctly used plurals!
    Corrected: She also claims that a male colleague at the bank said women “berong at home creaning floor”.

  55. Posted by guest | November 4, 2009 at 3:36 PM

    Sometimes when I get out of da showers at Equinox, I hear other people call me “Da Wet Wop”.
    Chazzy G

  56. Posted by guest | November 4, 2009 at 3:37 PM
  57. Posted by guest | November 4, 2009 at 3:48 PM

    I don’t understnad this post.
    - Dennis Kneale

  58. Posted by guest | November 4, 2009 at 3:51 PM

    @ gherkin tsk, tsk.*
    __
    * (but I aglee with you whorehealtedry).

  59. Posted by guest | November 4, 2009 at 4:04 PM

    At least he didn’t call her tits hockers.

  60. Posted by guest | November 4, 2009 at 4:30 PM

    I’d just like to let everyone know that it would mean alot to me if I could spank JS’s bare ass.

  61. Posted by guest | November 4, 2009 at 4:40 PM

    Nomura sounds like a fun place to work. Do they BBG?
    – Alicia Wetmore

  62. Posted by Effective Date | November 4, 2009 at 4:58 PM

    ropers all over the place. on the ceiling, the walls, and yes, even her hair.

  63. Posted by guest | November 4, 2009 at 6:41 PM

    Bess,
    I feel dishonoured as a Nomura director. We have a very clear code-of-conduct and clearly published code of conduct.
    Please inform your audience that Jessica Simpson has no, and never had, any relation with my staff.
    As for myself, please understand that the term “Nomura” does not mean “bring it on Jessica”.
    Thank you,
    Nomura Breasts

  64. Posted by Ito | November 6, 2009 at 5:42 AM

    Japanese are crazy about skinny geishas and dislike women with noticeable fun bags since there are non in Japan.

  65. [...] Last November we mentioned that Maureen Murphy and Anna Francis, two female Nomura employees (legacy Lehman girls), had sued the bank claiming that “sexist Japanese company chiefs effectively sidelined them because they were women and not Japanese.” Murphy, a senior analyst earning £55,000-a-year said that on one occasion a male colleague told her women “belonged at home cleaning floors” and that one woman trader had her breasts referred to as “honkers” during a meeting (actual alleged quote: “Oh, you don’t have your honkers out today”). Today a judge threw out their case. We have not found that the claimant was subjected to the detriments of which she complains,” Judge Grewal said in regard to Francis. “She has not proved facts from which we could infer that had she been a man or Japanese or both that she would have been treated more favourably.” [...]

  66. [...] Last November we mentioned that Maureen Murphy and Anna Francis, two female Nomura employees (legacy Lehman girls), had sued the bank claiming that “sexist Japanese company chiefs effectively sidelined them because they were women and not Japanese.” Murphy, a senior analyst earning £55,000-a-year said that on one occasion a male colleague told her women “belonged at home cleaning floors” and that one woman trader had her breasts referred to as “honkers” during a meeting (actual alleged quote: “Oh, you don’t have your honkers out today”). Today a judge threw out their case. We have not found that the claimant was subjected to the detriments of which she complains,” Judge Grewal said in regard to Francis. “She has not proved facts from which we could infer that had she been a man or Japanese or both that she would have been treated more favourably.” [...]

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