My friend Miss Fipi Lele tells me that the photo below was taken Friday — it’s a shot of the London office of Lehman Brothers in Canary Wharf. Note the gathering in the window on the upper right and the body language of everyone except the guy on the left in the khaki pants:
Photo courtesy of Miss Fipi Lele.
In my experience of working at small-to-medium-sized software companies, there are two reasons for the sort of impromptu all-hands gathering like the one pictured above, where everyone is called into the biggest room in the place and stands while one of the C-level people makes an announcement:
Lehman filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy today, so the meeting is probably of the latter type. This article says that they’re in debt to the tune of 613 billion dollars to various banks in Tokyo, Hong Kong, New York, Singapore and Taipei.
Some quick thoughts:
For more on the Lehman layoffs, see this entry.
Hot man-on-man action outside the Lehman Brothers New York office!
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Putin's Soviet Stable Sums are behind the collapse of American Banking. They hide all out stolen savings here in their relics and chains! Greek Benaki ships brought slaves to New Orleans to be traded by Lehman of Alabama. Greek Benaki built the first Greek church in America, in New Orleans.
What a great photo! I'll bet Khaki Guy is a contractor. The Tense Body Language People are probably all perm. I've been in Khaki Guy's shoes. There's nothing more awkward, yet simultaneously exhilarating, than witnessing the Big Company Announcement as a contracter. You know it will have little impact on you personally (but a huge impact on the people you've worked with).
@Lucky Archer: I can't understand your crazy moon language!
Been in that crowd myself a few times over my career. That is one great picture.
I've been an investment banker in London, and here's my read:
- Fridays (especially in summertime) are dress down days. Khaki guy is the only one who does not have an interview somewhere else lined up for the rest of the day;
- As a result of the previous point, his right knee is twitching incontrollably, but he's desperately trying to control his upper body.
@Luca: I like your interpretation!
I was wondering if the "Casual Friday" concept made it across the pond. British businessmen seem a bit bolder in their choice of shirt colours than their North American counterparts, IMHO.
They're getting ready to jump!
We are all - for better or worse - interdependent, and whatever schadenfreude we feel would only double back upon us when the consequences of the collapse spread further.
Perhaps a spell of unemployment will help these people reflect on they have not two, but three roles in life. First, as an employee; Secondly, as a family person (husband, wife, father, mother); and thirdly, as a citizen. The failure of America is not that Americans are lazy and failed to look after their employers, or failed to look after their families. It is because Americans have failed to look after their country, making sure that it is properly governed.
Хорошие штаны залог успеха!
[Editor's note: Babelfish translates this from the Russian as "Good pants the guarantee of success!" Da, tovarisch. Da.]
Liabilities of 613 billion != in dept to the tune of 613 billion....
They are still solvent . . . just not liquid