Kidding, 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."
