Hope this doesn’t bother anyone, I mean no disrespect – HSBC was the last place I worked on the “sell side” in Singapore (and I left on really good terms then), before coming to HK and making the career switch to the “buy side”…
- Spot The Little Red-And-White Triangles
Scurrying around getting the baby things ready for an impromptu lunch outdoors with the younger Rockstar, I pause at the door and realize it’s a little sunny and I don’t have another shade (Hate umbrellas. They are annoying, fiddly things that poke you all the time that you have to open).
Winding the random scarf I’ve grabbed around Ms Rockstar’s Pebble (so I can pull it down when we hit the sun and hopefully the patterns will distract her from protesting), I notice which scarf I’m holding. And the memories come and I get all nostalgic and weird (like, WHO gets nostalgic about banks?)
One of our bosses used to strictly require we wear the bank scarf (the guys had official bank ties) to bank functions, wonder if they still do that… One of my seniors told me high-end versions of the same are made for senior management, don’t know if that’s true…
That scarf. My first “foreign bank” job. My first time standing in the middle of the room early in the morning, before most markets were open, as speakers from each team took a turn briefing on flows, economic news that might affect their trading, significant trades. My first time speaking. My first time quoting forex (boy it gets your speed up) – 7 seconds to adjust for swap points. My first time learning to price the options. My first time flying to HK for training on interest rate derivatives – almost a decade later my then mentor happens to live in the same development as we do today – he retired early, bless him.
The first time I watched a (then) head of the dealing room give thanks to the Lord at an annual dinner, for a fruitful trading year. I don’t remember much about the swanky venue anymore, but I remember the powerful image of the most senior guy in the dealing room, humbly turning every blessing into praise. Openly leading the Christians among us in prayer, politely and respectfully asking the non-Christians to bear with us a moment. You don’t have to pretend, to gain approval. Treat everyone with respect.
Come official company dinner times said big boss would go round the room asking if anyone needed a lift to the venue. Seniors often admitted to not having finished their duties yet, catching up later. Though if they finished, they did ride with him. Starry-eyed, I was too shy to go, even when some of the part-time admin staff, one of whom I remember is devout Muslim, went.
Yet the image stayed with me. One senior on my team left not too long after, to pursue full-time ministry; several others remain heavily involved in their churches. After we came to HK, I saw this boss again, across the room in a nice restaurant. At the glimmer of recognition, I went over and wished him well, before scurrying back to my own table. He was polite and gracious as always. Pretty sure he had no freaking idea who I was, other than that I was obviously one of the gadzillion people who at some point or other worked for him. The market is small, and it’s been 8, 9 years – I have never once heard anything bad said about him. You can walk the talk, is what I learned. It can be done.
So no, I mean no disrespect, it was only the once, I actually wanted to frame this scarf. Thanks for all the memories, and the lessons. Next time for the baby shade, I’ll use Hermes. 😀
Oh, reading your post, reminds me that I have the same scarf too (not the higher version one but the exact one that you have) but I don’t know where I put it. Should be around some where, let me dig it up to see what memories it hold for me.
HAHAHA did you have to wear yours a lot on official functions too? i was relatively fresh out of college when I started there, only couple years in the market, and found it soooo out of character to wear a scarf then. It was literally the only scarf I ever wore, not wearing scarves for quite a few years after college, I even asked once if maybe I could wear the tie instead, my senior said “don’t push it ah…” I guess he meant my luck 😛
No, for us working in the back office (IT departmt), we don’t have to wear it so I have never ever worn mine (not even sure why we were given the scarf). I am also not sure about the high-end version whether it is true or not. I’ve been to the HK HQ once in 1997 or was it 1998 for a IT meeting but did not hear about the “take apart in pieces” story. Guess, IT people only talk to computers, hehehehe. 😉
In the photo, Ms Rockstar seems to be saying “Oh my, mommy used her beloved scarf full of good memories to shade me from the sun, I am so blessed to have her as my mommy” (lightly touching her cute little fingers to her mouth)
Haha not “It’s not Hermes?” She chews her fingers whenever she finds something “interesting,” btw
Oh forgot to add – so the “high end version” story is true then? There was one I heard that for years I thought was true – that the HSBC main building in Central HK can be taken apart all in pieces, possibly with just a couple tools, and the architect designed it that way to facilitate repair work in event of typhoons…. Sounds plausible right? Until one day in Phuket or Bali I think it was, we met the actual architect who had designed that building, on vacation. He said he’d heard that story too, and that it just wasn’t true. (And then couple weeks after we all got back to HK I read his interview in SCMP Sunday Postt. But he made no reference to the urban legend that the HSBC building in Central can be taken apart with a screwdriver…….!