ByKat Hours Updated
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Previously, on Corporette…

Travel back in the Corporette time capsule… Here's what was on our minds oh so many moons ago.

One year ago…

Two years ago…

Three years ago…

26 Comments

  1. “How to Resign Gracefully” is certainly appropriate today!

    Has the hive seen the Goldman Sachs resignation/OpEd in the NY Times today?

    1. I did!!! It is skatheing and negative-o coment about working at Goldmen.

      I once dated a guy who worked there and he was a real jerk. FOOEY on him.

    2. Indeed! That’s all I’ve read so I don’t know if there is any backstory or what it might be, but I really respect the opinions of the writer and think he absolutely did the right thing. I wish more people took his attitude rather than the “screw every single penny out of every single person” attitude I see far too often.

      1. WSJ and it commenters seem to think that the Goldman guy was rather opportunistic.

      2. I have seen that exact same attitude he describes – stick the client in whatever obscure investment vehicle will make US the most money- in the “private wealth” dept at JPMorgan. I don’t doubt that Goldman is the same. It is terrible.

    3. I am so fascinated by that story. I am assuming he gave Goldman some kind of heads up, or is his resignation letter actually being made known to them for the first time in the pages of one of the world’s most widely-read newspapers?

      Also, I wonder if Goldman will sue him for defamation. Not saying they would win, but interesting to see what their response will be.

      And what is this guy planning to do now? For some reason, I feel like he is going to strike out on his own – I can’t imagine too many employers who’d want to hire someone who would quit quite so publicly. Maybe this is his genius way of getting publicity and luring clients away for a competing venture.

      1. PS: If anyone here works at GS and wants to anonymously post the internal perception of all this, I would love to read it…

          2. Haven’t said anything so far today — I subscribe through google reader (no twitter account). Oddly silent, in other words. I think the author is a hypocrite, but it was still a fun read.

      2. He’s not a GS guy for nothing– he’s been planning to resign for awhile and I’m sure he knows where plenty of bodies are buried. Their flesh-eating lawyers will be thinking about that while they consider whether they’ll sue him or not.

        Also, if he didn’t take a package (which often includes some hooks, like ‘no saying bad things about Jerk, @sshole, and D*uchebag, Inc), they have less leverage on him. Unless, of course, they know where the bodies he was personally responsible for are buried.

        My one nit to pick on him is that he waited 12yrs to come to this conclusion.

        Probably knew they were objectionable (by his standards) long ago, but just building up a big nest egg, because he’ll be banned from any of the big firms after this, and maybe a bunch of mid-cap ones, too.

  2. Threadjack:

    I’m an unemployed litigator who has a number of lunches coming up with law firm partners, in the nature of networking/ informational interviews. Most of them know that I am not working full time at this point. What do I wear for lunch like this? I’d feel silly showing up in a full suit, but am not sure if dress pants and a cardi would be right or what else would be appropriate (and I don’t have money to go shopping these days).

    Any thoughts?

    1. Hey — might want to post this in another thread (these don’t see much action) — but I’d go with as “dressy” business casual as you can muster. So maybe a nice pencil skirt and a coordinating jacket.

      I also think you’d be fine with a suit with slightly more casual styling then for an interview (maybe brighter jewelry or flats or something to make it look a little more casual). I assume that the people you’re meeting with will be in anything from business formal to business casual to barely business casual, depending on their firm and their personality — so you’ll look okay no matter the choice. Basically just look like you COULD be going to work.

    2. I would wear a blazer and complimentary pants/skirt. Not quite a full suit, but dressed up nonetheless. I agree that you don’t want to look overdressed but you also want to make sure you look very professional and like you are taking it seriously. It may feel silly to dress up for an informational lunch, but think of it as a measure of respect for the person taking the time to meet with you.

  3. Petty TJ — How do you deal with other people’s success that drives you a little mad? I feel generally really good about my life but am definitely in the ‘just need to put my head down and work for a few years’ stage of my career before I’ll be able to see advancement. A couple people I know have recently become very successful, one through a total fluke (trust me) and one who pretty much married into an invaluable connection but otherwise has a pretty run of the mill background. I have plenty of successful friends and school acquaintances, but these couple, who have suddenly done very well and are, frankly, not that impressive at all, really get on my nerves. One also has a pretty consistent “look at my life!” attitude about everything. Because of other relationships, there’s no way to avoid them. Tips welcome!

    1. I would also love to hear answers to this! I have the same problem with a few people, and I have yet to find a good way to get over it. One suggestion was to consider that while their skill may not be “book smarts” like mine, their “relationship” skills are still noteworthy. Again, not helpful when I’ve been working my butt off and Mr. or Ms. Popular makes a new friend and lucks into a highly-paid-ultra-fun-job-coolest coworkers-great location position, despite lack of experience or skills…. ok, now I’m just going on a bitter rant, so I’ll wait for the more helpful feedback that others are sure to provide!

    2. I went through this before/during law school, when a lot of my college friends went to more prestigious schools and got fancier internships than I did. It was especially annoying when So-And-So, who had never done any work in college, became editor in chief of her law review. I gnashed my teeth a bit, but forgetting about it and focusing on my goals helped (it also helped that we had very different goals — I wasn’t gunning for NYC corporate law like she was, so it was ok). The obvious advice is to remember the good things you have going for you and keep working toward your goals. But also, at some level this is just a thing that happens and it sucks. It happens to everyone at some point, so the person who looks like she has a perfect figured-out life is probably also insecure about a few things of her own.

  4. Thread Jack-
    I’m sorry because this is going to be long and bad…
    I work for a state agency. I’ve worked in this office for just over a year, and all that time we’ve been covering for our boss. She never completes her assignments on time, and routinely messes up our projects by changing things at the last minute. Within the last year she’s held up numerous training sessions for an hour or more, and missed several important deadlines. While her manager has noticed- enough to put her on written probation- this is never going to stop. We have the sympathy of most people who work with her, and they tell us that she blames us for things that are her job behind our backs. We’ve also personally caught her blaming us for things that are not within our control. Ex: She blamed me for the status on folders, that were closed before I started my job, to Federal auditors within the last few months.
    We’ve tried talking to her, helping her, everything we can think of. In the past we’ve covered for her up to two hours when she’s been late to training sessions she’s in charge of. This morning she called me at 8: 45 to cancel a training at 9:00 for 30 people. Her session at 1:00 this afternoon didn’t get cancelled until I overheard her talking on the phone in her office at 1:15, and I started getting complaints from her attendees. (Which was now 60 because most of the morning attendees rescheduled for the afternoon.) Turns out- she never learned how to work the software for the presentation, scheduled a meeting room, or set up the conference call for the presentation. She had me cancel all of the sessions for today and tomorrow.
    I’m the only employee in the office today. One girl is on vacation, one is sick. Said Boss came in at 12:30 this afternoon. Resolving her chaos has fallen solely on me.
    Then she comes by after I finish getting most of her mess cleaned up to reprimand me for my attitude ( I’m so upset I’m shaking and hyperventilating, and my normal personality is cheerful and calm) and blames the coworker on vacation for her failing to be able to do her presentation. She has also determined that it will be my responsibility to run the presentation on Monday now that she’s failed. We had originally laid out a time line for training to begin next week when everyone was in the office and had time to learn the new technology. She vetoed that idea and steam boated ahead to start training today.
    I can’t take it any more. If I could afford to quit, I would be drafting my two weeks notice now. As it is I’ve called up my contacts and made it known I’m on the market.
    My question – how do I survive in the interim? Do I meet with her boss, since meeting with her doesn’t work? Do I resort to my noise cancelling headphones and treat my cubicle walls as blinders? Do I immediately set up an appointment for some medical assitance until I get out of here since the herbal remedies don’t counter this degree of crazy?

  5. Kat: Can you do another makeup post? Just wondering what makeup most people wear on a daily basis. Also can you recommend good makeup products for the office?

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