This is going to be a problem, isn't it?
People who work at hedge funds get a lot of credit for being smart. But really, they are simple creatures, as evidenced by today’s Times feature, in which brokers from Prudential Douglas Elliman take a group of bankers on a tour of luxury real-estate, and, using tools no more sophisticated than a couple of bottles of booze and a handful of ham sandwiches, enable them to make total asses of themselves:
“Just poke around and drink bourbon,” chirped a third broker, Elaine Schweninger, over the clink of ice cubes dropping into glasses.
“The thing I dig is the bar across from the powder room,” said Patrick Nichols. Twenty-seven and newly married, Mr. Nichols, a trader with Jane Street Capital, scribbled in a leather-bound notebook and snapped photos. He is looking to spend $2 million to $3 million on a two- or three-bedroom apartment. He said he did not know many people hurt by the slowdown, and he was not worried about losing his job.
Think he’s worried now that he’s sober and figured out he allowed his name, place of employment, and photo to appear in a story that makes him sound the king of the douches? Jeez. Elaine may as well have locked Patrick on the roof wearing nothing but his y-fronts and her earrings.
For Apartment Shoppers, Some Liquid Courage [NYT]
