Bonnie in the City

Well, just got back from my trip to NY - 5 semi-interviews, 14 subway rides, and 4 days later, here is what I have to report...

Chapter 1: Little Brothers are Good for Something
I'll be the first one to admit that I used to beat Brian up... sit on him and everything. But, now that we're adults (and now that he's a lot bigger than me), I have to admit that I do love the little bugger. He had to drag me around NY all weekend... and let me crash at his place since my cheapo company wouldn't pay for more than one night at a hotel. I think I would have ended up somewhere in the Bronx if I didn't have him accompanying me everywhere... plus, he was very useful as a bag carrier. Although he's way ahead of me in this rat race (he's got the smarts, the job, the money, and the friends)... we both have horrible luck when it comes to raffles and lotteries. We tried twice to win tickets to see Avenue Q (since I was too cheap to pay $100/ticket). The first time, Sunday afternoon, there were only maybe 16 people vying for 12 tickets... and we still didn't win. The guy pulling the names actually said he felt bad because there were so few people. It's okay man... it has to be some kind of genetic disorder because I've never won any kind of door prize, raffle, or even so much as a dollar from a crappy scratch off lotto ticket.

Chapter 2: The Kindness of Strangers
I always am hesitant to call people my "friends" because I feel like I need to invest more in people before I deserve the title of friend. That's why I am always surprised when people I hardly know go out of their way for me (although I know I would do the same). Here's what I mean - I talk to an associate in the NY office once in a while about projects that I work on for them. In total, I might have had a little over a dozen conversations with him. I've also met him once when he was down for a company recruiting event. That's it. Despite our infrequent contact, he always treats me like an old friend. I'm pretty sure that's just his personality - he's one of the most popular people in the company. When I told him that I was coming to NY, he arranged for all of the analysts to have lunch with me, and he also made his friend Guillaume promise to take me around Saturday night (since he was actually going to be in DC over the weekend). Guillaume turned out to be just as nice. Having just moved to NY from Geneva a week ago, he was still in the midst of buying furniture and trying to get a cellphone (which is basically impossible if you're not a citizen with a SSN). Even with all of this going on, he took time out to show Brian and me around East Village and have dinner with us at a nice restaurant called French Roast (I had the pork chop of course).

Chapter 3: Friendly But Not Warm
As Julian (the associate I mentioned above) put it, most people in NY are "friendly but not warm." That turned out to be exactly my impression of the people that I met. Outside of Julian and Guillaume, who were genuinely nice, the majority of the other analysts I met were just polite. I went to lunch with 9 of the analysts, but they managed to pick a restaurant that was literally just a hallway - it sat 14 total. As a result, we had to break the group into a table of 6 and 4. The group of 4 got all of their food a lot faster and had already paid their bill by the time the other 6 of us started eating our food. Since there was limited seating, they felt bad about taking up almost 1/3 of the restaurant, so they went back to the office. Consequently, I didn't even get to say more than 2 words to them. The remaining 5 analysts that were stuck with me made limited conversation. I could tell right away that one of the analysts was the Alpha Female. She steered every conversation, and she even had a "Marcie" - this other girl who would constantly compliment her and ask her opinion on everything. Ms. Alpha Female didn't even smile the entire time, and I don't think she made eye contact with me more than twice. Before everyone went back to work, she made sure to single one guy out and tell him that he needed to RSVP to her party, since he was the only one who hadn't responded yet. Apparently, if you're invited and you don't go, you get labeled as a "tool" ("Marcie" helpfully pointed out that the only person to declined so far has already been punished with that label). What a lovely bunch, right?

Chapter 4: Do I Look Like I Know What I'm Doing?
I don't know what it is about me, but something about me just says "please ask me for directions." Even in Houston, people ask me for directions all the time. In NY, I guess I just looked more approachable than the typical tough New Yorker, so people naturally asked me all kinds of questions about what stops the subway was going to make or how to get to a certain building. At one point, I was talking to my brother on the phone while exiting the subway, and I tripped. I hadn't even completely gotten off the ground when a lady came up to me and asked, "do you know where Century 21 is?" It made me wonder, why would you try and get directions from someone who just tripped and fell like a moron? What part of that graceful movement said to her - hey, she looks like she knows what she's doing.

Chapter 5: Cash is King
The only thing I really had a chance to do while I was in NY was shop. In between our unsuccessful attempts to win Avenue Q tickets, my brother and I hit up both H&M stores in Times Square. We also bought some shoes from Florsheim for our dad. The guy who was helping us in the store must have been at least 80 - I was praying that he wouldn't die while straining to pull the tissue paper out of the shoes. The other store clerk (who was a teenager compared to this guy) kept telling him to stop trying to help the customers. On Monday, I hit up Century 21 while waiting for my brother to get off of work. Even for me, a bargain hunting junkie, that place was just too much to handle - 4 levels of wall to wall, floor to ceiling discount designer duds in no particular order. It inspired nausea more than excitement. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a body or two buried under the piles of Prada and Gucci.

Chapter 6: Mmm Mmm Good
Since it's always about food in the end, I feel obliged to mention the lovely meals that I enjoyed while in the Big Apple. I had a cinnamon raisin bagel with cream cheese for breakfast most mornings. Besides that, I devoured the following at fine NY establishments... French Roast - pork chop with mango chutney... Famiglia (official pizza of the Yankees apparently) - slice of cheese pizza... Basta Pasta - bowtie pasta with salmon, sugar snaps, and tomatoes in a mustard cream sauce (but thought about ordering the pork chops)... Tanaka (14 seat hallway) - chicken terriyaki and vegetable tempura... Kum Gang San - rice gruel with abalone. Everything was delicious, but I was having a hard time adjusting to the prices. I'm not used to having every meal average $25 a plate. Ouchee.

Epilogue
Well, even after all of this rambling, I have managed to avoid the details surrounding the real reason behind my NY trip. The higher powers in NY are considering me for a job up there, and this is one of two trips I will be making to NY to interview with everyone involved. I met with The Global Head of Credit, the COO of Credit, the top Credit Executive, as well as two associates in the Finance Group. I evidently have some sort of reputation up there... although I'm not really sure what it is. When I was introduced to the head of the Central Lending Team, he said, "oh, you're famous here... famous for keeping us in line." Eh? Anyways, looks like I will get some kind of offer shortly. Depending on what kind of "cost of living adjustment" they think is fair, and if a promotion is even possible... there may be a ridiculously expensive, rodent-infested efficiency apartment in my very near future.