August 2007, New York City, USA

It’s an ordinarily busy Wednesday morning, the trading floor is buzzing with an orderly, efficient buzz. Many people think of a brokerage trading floor as a disarray of noise and fights, but it’s not true, at least not anymore. The modern trading floor is surprisingly subdued, just like text and emoticons have replaced actual phone conversations, IM’s and private chatrooms between traders have replaced much of the shouting and cursing except for an occasional cheer or slamming of the keyboard. The pressure of making trades is no less intense though. In fact, they can be even more so.

In terms of corporate totem poles, Lisa and Maureen are not even part of the base. They are the team assistants (secretaries). They tend to stay behind the scenes, taking in all the juicy details that sometimes surfaces from these vast array of trading terminals. Lisa and Maureen hit it off instantly when Lisa first joined. Lisa is in her late 20's, with neat blonde hair tightly wound in a bun and pretty blue eyes. Maureen is in her 40's now and beginning to show her age. Her dark brown hair is beginning to turn grey and her body does begin to resemble the proverbial pear, but thankfully her tenure at Cooper & Co. has allowed her to enjoy professionally done hair coloring and personal trainers. At first glance one would never have guessed that they would get along well. Maureen is the queen bee of the admin staff, who wields Joan Holloway (à la Mad Men)-like powers and commands absolute obedience. Lisa is the one with the looks and the confidence to match it. She still carries a romantic notion of marrying into Wall Street. She may not be the one with the power, but she’s smart enough to bring Maureen a gift of limited batch artisan New Orleans bourbon on her first day on the job to be on her good terms. They’ve been inseparable ever since.

Both are busy making the last minute arrangements for the new Cooper recruits, who are arriving next week for a 2-month long training at the headquarter, when the fateful call arrived:

“A-llo, may I speak to Miss Lisa Toussard please?” asks a man with a thick French accent.

“This is she,” Lisa replies with a slight ennui.

“My name is Thierry Meaux, and I got your telephone number from Human Resources that I am scheduled for the September new recruits training, but I missed the registration and so I have to register late now.”

“Ah… hello Terry, nice to hear from you, sure, and you have talked to HR about it?”

“Yes, I have, but I will be on a late airplane flying from Paris now and I will miss the first 2 days of class. This is my first time to New York City and the Paris office told me about you…. that you’re a very nice person who is always nice to the new people,” Thierry pleads. Lisa cannot see his face, but could certainly detect a hint of sly smile on the other end.

“Haha… well, I didn’t know my reputation has traveled so far away. Since you put it so nicely, maybe I’ll consider that.”

“I think I might need some help coming to the office when my flight arrives. Do you think you can help me?”

“Sure, and thank you for that… I can just send a driver to pick you up. He will have a sign at the gate to greet you.”

“Well, I really want to prepare for my training class and want to know more about the people in the New York office since I will miss the first two days, do you think you can ask the driver to bring me the orientation package so I can read it on the way?”

“Sure…you know what? Why don’t I just come with the driver and brief you on the way back to the office?”

Thierry can’t believe his good luck, “Wow, that would be super nice, are you sure about that?”

“Yeah, by that time most of the people will be in class so I won’t be as busy,” Lisa turns to Maureen, who is conveniently absent from her seat at the moment. “I know absolutely nothing about trading, but I can bring you the orientation packet and walk you through the logistics on our trip back to the office.”

“That’s so kind of you! I’m thinking about going to a Broadway show when I’m in New York, do you think you might want to join me?” the nasal Frenchy tone really has a strange attraction. How do they manage to make the invitation sound so enticing?

“Sure, that sounds like a great idea. I haven’t been to that many shows myself,” in her mind, Lisa is already going through her closet picking out outfits for the show.

“O — K, so I will see you next week. Thank you so much Lisa!”

“No problem, that’s what I’m here for. Always interested in meeting people from the Paris office.” “Nice work me,” she thinks to herself.

September 2007, New York City, USA. Two days after new hire training started.

In the cavernous limo on the way to the airport, Lisa can’t help but be pleased at what she has achieved so far. Growing up from a small town in rural America, she has the cheerleader looks (prom queen) but unfortunately not the education to match. She is smart enough to learn that she would not want to be stuck in the small town and somehow managed to land a job at Cooper & Co.

The parties thrown by the Wall Street brokerage are legendary, and she helped organize some of them. Unfortunately she has yet to secure a reliable mate from being so close to the bankers at these events. Sure, there have been trysts here and there, but never long term, and she’s anxious to secure a husband material before she turns 30. The new hires training program is a fertile ground to hunt for impressionable young men, many of whom grew up privileged and well-educated. And the class is composed of newly hires or people who joined Cooper’s global offices less than a year from all over the world. She’s especially smitten by the European lads, who are usually better dressed. Europeans party especially hard since they’re out of their home office and much less inhibited in terms of drinking and any form of indulgences. If she could just manage to secure one guy she would be once again the queen of the ball. Just think of all her friends back in high school who were always dreaming of going to Europe but never had a chance.

Paris office…mmm…. the location alone conjures up all sorts of images in her head. Thierry is going to be the one who has some potential, most of the new hires she’s met are busy learning about their classmates and exploring the city and each others. A few serious ones are actually staying in their temp housing focusing on course materials. “I’ll help make your training experience as immersive and exciting as much as I can, just let me know how I can help!” is what she says whenever they ask for her. Lisa is keenly aware of her reputation at the Paris office, having dated briefly a VP from the office. (VPs at investment banks are often young guys or gals who’s only a few levels up from junior analysts who just graduated from college, but given such title to impress their clients. They’re not your typical middle-age vice presidents at your typical companies.) David was an arrogant SOB who was great in bed but she knew right off the bat as one would not grant her any promises. She could tell that Thierry is a nicer person just from the few minutes of phone conversation already. Even at a junior level, he already has the capability to satisfy the financial portion of the equation by being hired at Cooper. Many of the junior analysts already make 6-figure salaries already. He’ll probably look similar to David, likely also nicely dressed, well-groomed, with a slick back hair, hopefully taller with other “body parts” in proportion to that height. She just hopes he’ll have green eyes to match her own, but blue or brown ones will still work. Just that her past boyfriends have mostly blue or brown eyes and she’s really looking for some variety. But if Thierry looks Mediterranean that would be nice too, it would show off my skin when we take pictures together. She is of French descent, so a French boyfriend will surely be family approved.

She asks the driver for a clipboard and carefully writes down Thierry’s full name, “Thierry Meaux,” as shown in his email, and underneath the name she scribbled a little “bonjour” with a little smiley face to go with it ☺. Her heart starts to race just a tad as the limo approaches the arrival terminal. She checks the mirror once more to make sure just a few strands of hair is lose from the updo, just the right amount of flirtiness and still maintaining a professional air.

It’s been 30 minutes since Air France flight 207 from Paris to New York City landed, so Thierry should be exiting any minute now. Lisa waits eagerly at the baggage claim exit clutching the name card in her freshly manicured hands. Standing tall in her heels wearing the bright red pencil skirt like a proud Virgin Atlantic stewardess, Lisa is truly hard to miss.

The automatic double door opens, first come the middle-age gentlemen with fine fitted shirts and business casual trousers who rode first class and get to deplane earlier than everyone else.

Business class passengers though, in comparison, actually dress more formally than their first class counterparts. These are the true workhorse of the corporations. Many of them wear full suits with freshly tied neckties ready to hit the road and onto their next meeting. Lisa exchanges a glance at a professional-looking middle age woman in a black pin-stripe pantsuit with a red-rimmed glasses. The woman walks briskly pass her while giving her the elevator eyes and a quick, subtle sneer. Lisa shot her a dirty look back and refocuses on the exit. She doesn’t care what the status the pantsuit woman thinks she is, I’m the one with the looks and the brains, and you’re still working hard because you’ve got nothing.

After a few minutes of lull, the double door opens again, and this time comes the regular folks: the backpackers, the family with kids, budget-minded tourists…and Cooper new hires. Despite being one of the most established firms on Wall Street, Cooper still flies their junior bankers on coach. It still prides it self on being one of the more cost-conscious investment banks on the street, although most of the sales people’s expense accounts beg to differ.

The anticipation is killing her. She holds the sign slightly higher. Thierry should be out any minute now.

Lisa looks down to adjust her skirt a little bit, and when she looks up, a gentleman, about 6 feet 2, just walks out of the exit with a big grin on his face is looking straight at her and heading straight at her. He has a plain white shirt, pair of fashionable slim fitted jeans (but not too skinny) with an embroidered belt that is just stylish enough without being too ostentatious. His skin is slightly tan, has dark hair slickly combed back. There is definitely a twinkle in his eyes. He appears too good looking to be someone who’s supposed to be a math or science nerd though. Lisa snuck a glance at his shoes, brown loafers, smart choice, could work for business or casual travels. She holds her sign even higher so he could get a better look at. Her face beaming like the summer sun, well the car ride on the way back to headquarters should be interesting. The man continues to walk towards her with a big smile but all of a sudden, seems to be distracted by something else and walks past her. “Terry? Terry? Lisa Toussard from Cooper,” she raises her voice. The hunk was walking towards the taxi stand, but turns around and begins to walk towards her. Just when he was about to open his mouth, Lisa felt a slight tap on her shoulder.

“Allo, um… excuse me?”

Ugh…who’s interrupting me? She couldn’t be bothered at this critical moment and ignores the tap and walks towards the vision in the clean pressed shirt, “Terry? This is Lisa Toussard.” The hunk in white shirt smiled replies, “I’m sorry Lisa, but I’m not Terry….” He also doesn’t have a French accent.

If Lisa’s heart was hooked on to a loudspeaker, one might have heard a small glass cracking sound at this moment. Thankfully, she quickly regains her composure, “Oh, I”m so sorry,” Lisa turns, a little disappointed, but still manages to squeeze out a chuckle, “I thought you were someone else.” He is clearly not bothered at all, gives her a wink, turns back to head towards the taxi stand. Lisa, after glancing his back for a little while, turns away and continues to stare at the exit door. Gotta finish my job. People are still exiting, perhaps Terry is looking for his luggages.

Some guy is tapping on her shoulder again, “Umm, excuse me… are you Lisa Toussard from Cooper & company?”

Perhaps I shouldn’t have said my name so loud, now everyone knows my identity!

“Yes can I help you?” Lisa replies, clearly sounding annoyed.

“I am Thierry Meaux, ” said the man behind Lisa.

Lisa swings around so fast she almost loses her balance. How could she not notice the familiar French accent. Finally, Thierry has arrived!

A man stands proudly in front of her, flashing a 1000 watt smile. And he’s also Asian. This is clearly not the suave Thierry she has pictured. Oh the horror…