Connecticut

  • 05 Oct 2011 at 11:32 AM

Vending Machine Challenge Underway

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All 41 items must be completed by 4PM, with an official start time of 11:15AM. Said items include: Cheese Puffs, Snyder Low Fat Pretzels, Goldfish, Doritos, White Cheddar Popcorn, Snyder Regular Pretzels, Snyder Low Fat Pretzels, party mix, Fritos, Baked Lays, Baked Doritos, Lays, Sun Chips, Express Oatmeal, canned fruit, Sour Straws, Reeses, Fiber One Bar, M&Ms, Peanut M&Ms, Goobers, Fiber One Snack, Twizzlers, Snickers Crunch, Twix, Milky Way, Pretzels M&Ms, Snickers Crunch, Skittles, Starburst, peanuts, Raisinets, trail mix, strudel, more trail mix, crackers, sandwich crème cookies and Milanos.

The challenger, whose colleagues at an unnamed Connecticut firm note “is in a motorcycle club- enough said” (??), is apparently so confident that rather than eat a light dinner and get some rest last night, he mowed down a tray of tacos and got little sleep. If he finishes everything by the close and keeps it down for two hours he wins nothing, i.e. “respect.” For those who feel the extremely generous time allotment renders this contest not so much a challenge but a snack, channel your feelings of disgust towards stepping up to the plate with something better.

11:21 Guy has finished Cheese Doodles, Snyder Low Fat Pretzels, Goldfish, Doritos, White Cheddar Popcorn, Snyder Thin Pretzels, and second bag of SLFP’s. Read more »

  • 30 Sep 2011 at 2:52 PM

Connecticut Teens Prep For Life On The Trading Floor

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Two Greenwich sisters were issued summons for third-degree disorderly conduct after police were called to a town residence on a report of a domestic dispute. The sisters, ages 14 and 16, were involved in an argument over computer usage. Police said one of the girls interrupted the other’s computer usage, causing her to shove her out of the room. The girl shoved out of the room then cut off power to the computer room, causing a physical fight. The sisters were referred to juvenile court and will appear there on October 4. [Police Blotter]

  • 23 Aug 2011 at 6:27 PM

UBS Details Which Employees Connecticut Will Get To Keep And Which Ones It Won’t

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From a memo sent this afternoon: Read more »

  • 23 Aug 2011 at 9:23 AM

UBS Will Have A Serious Talk About Its Future With Connecticut Today

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The meeting is said to be scheduled for 3PM, leaving the staff, Beamers girls, Morton’s bartenders and the guy who “sells a whole lot of brown-bagged bottles of liquor to UBS employees every evening” plenty of time to freak out that they’re going to potentially told the bank is leaving the state. Alternatively, those who dream of a giant Costco taking over the 100,300 square foot space will have the entire day to salivate over potentially pillaging delicious and moderately priced cheesecakes every day after work. Read more »

  • 12 Jul 2011 at 3:46 PM

UBS Begins Releasing Stamford-Based Employees Into The Wild

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Last month we discussed the possibility of UBS moving out of its Stamford, CT building (which houses the largest trading floor in the world) and into New York City. The bank, which has not been doing too hot of late, seems to believe that leaving Stamford would be a panacea for all its woes which, according to UBS, boil down to no one wanting to work in Connecticut (rather than no one wanting to work at a place that doesn’t pay and yells at you when you ask if this month’s check will clear). Until recently, the talk has all been very casual, though it got kicked up a notch to semi-serious when word got out that senior execs had been speaking with developer Larry Silverstein about a possible deal at 3 World Trade Center, which conveniently has 5 trading floors located in “Tower 3,” causing more than a few people to flip out over the idea of a UBS-less Stamford. Still, though, the bank will more than likely be sticking it out for the next few years if not longer and may simply be playing games in order to get city/state officials to sweeten their stay. To that end, the news that 50 “cash trading” employees were moved to New York today shouldn’t be too distressing. Or should it? Read more »

  • 24 Jun 2011 at 11:29 AM

Greenwich Residents Have More Than A Mountain Lion To Worry About

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A couple weeks back, an 8-foot long, 160-pound mountain lion started hanging around Greenwich, Connecticut and its nearby towns. News stations noted that a cat that size hasn’t been seen in those parts in 100 years; residents and people who work in the area were more than a little freaked the fuck out. Now testing of evidence found last week has revealed everyone should be doubly worried. Read more »

  • 14 Jun 2011 at 11:56 AM

Stamford Mayor Michael Pavia Doesn’t Believe UBS Will Give Up All This

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Last week we discussed the possibility of UBS leaving Stamford, Connecticut, where the bank built the largest trading floor in the world back in the 90′s. While their lease is not up until 2015, talks with developers like Larry Silverstein, about a possible deal at 3 World Trade Center, which conveniently has 5 trading floors located in “Tower 3,” have recently moved from very casual to semi-casual, and considering that management is of the opinion that the firm’s recent issues are merely a matter of no one wanting to work in CT, the idea that they would leave is at least somewhat plausible. On Friday, a bunch of Stamfordians were asked how they’d feel about living in a city in which UBS didn’t exist and the responses ranged from confused to angry to devastated (on the flip side, one employee deemed the potential move and $300/month he’d save “awesome” and another commented “What’s the big deal? So we move out, and a nice big Costco moves in. Life goes on.”) According to Stamford Mayor Michael Pavia, however, the tears are for naught. Read more »

  • 10 Jun 2011 at 11:43 AM

UBS’s Potential Abandonment Is Killing The People Of Stamford, Connecticut

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Earlier this week, we discussed the possibility of UBS moving out of its Stamford, CT building (which houses the largest trading floor in the world) and into New York City. The bank, which has not been doing so hot of late, seems to believe that leaving Stamford would be a panacea for all its woes which, according UBS, boil down to no one wanting to work in Connecticut (rather than no one wanting to work at a place that doesn’t pay and yells at you when you ask if this month’s check will clear). Some staff have already been transferred with plans to move more later this summer but talk of moving the whole shebang, until recently, had been very casual. Once word got out that the bank has been speaking with developer Larry Silverstein about a possible deal at 3 World Trade Center, which conveniently has 5 trading floors located in “Tower 3,” they got upgraded to one step up from casual and got the people of Stamford freaking the fuck out.

Take Danny Ryan, a bartender and waiter at Morton’s. For the past fews days he’s been struggling to answer one simple question- why?

“It just doesn’t make any sense,” said Danny Ryan, a bartender and server at Morton’s The Steakhouse, which is alongside the gleaming 700,000-square-foot UBS building. “Why would they build this stunning building with the biggest trading floor in the world, and then leave?”

Dino Sakakini, owner of Layla’s Falafel was less philosophical and more blunt. “Stamford will be crushed,” he told the Times. “Plain and simple. We’ll become a ghost town.”

Peter Charpentier, who “sells a whole lot of brown-bagged bottles of liquor to UBS employees every evening,” was just plain pissed, both at CT officials and whoever’s making the decisions at the bank, who apparently forgot about a little thing called 9/11. Read more »

  • 08 Jun 2011 at 12:14 PM

UBS Thinks Stamford Is To Blame For Its Problems, Considering Hightailing It Out Of Connecticut

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As you may have noticed, UBS has been going through some what of a rough patch. Profits are not what they once were, the IRS won’t let them help people evade taxes anymore and management has had a very difficult time convincing people not to quit, with a decent amount of senior departures occurring in the last several months. The deflections for the most part have to do with people wanting to get paid (there hasn’t been a lot of that in a while at UBS, though some staff recently received raises and higher-ups have pinky-sworn future pay will be competitive with other firms), but the bank is thinking the problem lies less with compensation and more with geography. Specifically, Stamford, CT, where the largest trading floor in the world is located. As we have reported, the equities team will be moving to New York later this summer and after casually mulling over the idea, management is now seriously considering moving the whole shebang, which they believe will solve all problems. Read more »

  • 28 Apr 2011 at 12:55 PM

What Does Connecticut Have To Do To Get A Straight Answer From UBS?

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Back in February, we noted that UBS was mulling a move out of the I-95 palace it’s inhabited since the 90s; later, were were told the bank had informed employees that Equity sales and trading would be moving to New York, while the rest of the floor would remain in the Stamford Superdome, at least for now. Stamford Mayor Michael Pavia apparently received similar intel at the time “causing him to take the rumors seriously.” And just last week, State House Minority Leader Lawrence Caferno (R-Norwalk) was informed by well-placed sources that UBS has one and half feet out the door. “Their plan is they’re moving their trading floor. They’re gone,” Cafero told Greenwich Time. “It would be so sad and devastating on so many levels.” Why is UBS doing this to Big Lar? According to the Swiss, they’re not, and his late-night crying jags are for naught. Read more »

  • 05 Apr 2011 at 10:45 AM

Connecticut-Based Junkies Currently Seeking Investors For New Distressed Debt Fund

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Minimum investment is 10 empty Coke cans. Read more »