Funniest thing ever seen at a prop firm

I worked at a prop firm with a foosball table. After about 10:30 there was almost always a game going, 2 on 2. This is in a firm of less than 20 traders. They were actually paying us a small salary to play foosball most of the day.

I saw a guy pick up his keyboard and start smashing it into the table. Keys fly really far when you do that. He was getting probably 10-15 feet of air with flying keys.

The funny part was later when we were brave enough to ask him out in the hallway how much money he had just lost. He was like, "Lost? Oh, I made about two grand. But I should have made twelve, dammit!"
 
Quote from Thug_Life:

I worked at a prop firm with a foosball table. After about 10:30 there was almost always a game going, 2 on 2. This is in a firm of less than 20 traders. They were actually paying us a small salary to play foosball most of the day.

I saw a guy pick up his keyboard and start smashing it into the table. Keys fly really far when you do that. He was getting probably 10-15 feet of air with flying keys.

The funny part was later when we were brave enough to ask him out in the hallway how much money he had just lost. He was like, "Lost? Oh, I made about two grand. But I should have made twelve, dammit!"

we played foosball as well..and it was a small firm...where were u trading??
 
It was a small office of Broadway Trading. The place went belly-up the same year I started. Is the NYC Broadway office even in business anymore?
 
Quote from Grew:

Not prop related but.....

I was Clerking at the CBOE a couple of years ago and absolutely hated $1 burger days at McDonalds due to the fact I would always have to run out and get the guys in my group burgers and smuggle them onto the floor.
I pissed off one of the traders on burger day and he decided to have the whole OEX/Dow pit place an order for McDonalds cheeseburgers. Ended up being something like 90 burgers. They then started making markets for the number of trips it took.
Only Took me 2 Trips...

Any trips to Peppers to pick up burgers?? I used to do that myself when I clerked at the CBOE... pretty greasy but possibly the best burger in town (they tasted even better on Friday's... soaked up the alcohol).
 
the funniest thing i ever saw was the head of a firm jumping around like a gorilla behind some guys back and then the guy pulled out a gun and shot him in the head. it was hilarious.even though the head of the firm was shot,we all kept trading.
 
Quote from NY_HOOD:

the funniest thing i ever saw was the head of a firm jumping around like a gorilla behind some guys back and then the guy pulled out a gun and shot him in the head. it was hilarious.even though the head of the firm was shot,we all kept trading.

The head of the firm gets shot in the head... was the shooter just trying to get ahead? Sounds absolutely hilarious. Do tell more.
 
Quote from sim03:

The head of the firm gets shot in the head... was the shooter just trying to get ahead? Sounds absolutely hilarious. Do tell more.

Gun and bullet: $200 [rental]
Shooting your boss in the head: 60 years.
Trading in silence: priceless.
 
Quote from Hydroblunt:

Yes that's life, 90% will just be average joe shmoes or total losers. The simple fact that you or I or anyone else got a degree does not separate you from that group. It takes more than that to separate oneself from the sheep.



That's the industry. It is a very shady and dirty one. Guess what, brokerage industry is no different. Neither is I-banking. Upgrades/downgrades, hahaha. Top tier analyst pumping stocks at the height of bubble is no different.



Ok this is just wrong, I do not bash, I just tell it without any sugar coating. It aint go go 90s with lavish lunch breaks, pool tables and beer Fridays. The reality is that there are way too many undergrads out there and not enough jobs. As for sales desks, when I started there were 3 laid off institutional traders and later on I met an ex GS MM and some more "real job" traders who were either laid off or replaced by a black box. Sorry, that's just life, there is no corporate security, they will kick your ass out without a problem.




Well it's quite obvious you were around some seriously pathetic people. In my office there are at least 3 people that make a very consistent 100k+ a year. They come in at 9:30, leave at 4pm, period. They come to make money everyday, that is their goal. There are also a few guys that make serious dough and while they swing, the end result is smth extraordinary. Dead-end? Yeah whatever, as if being a corporate monkey for someone else, working sh*t hours, kissing a$$, dealing with office politics is sooo glamourous. Why don't you preach some corporate job security myth while you're at it.



Dude, ur like the bottom of the spectrum of the traders that have been around for 8 years. Seriously, you have such a negative outlook on it that you make my negativity on a bad trading day look like a dance of joy. Why are you even still doing it then? I mean really it sounds like whatever you do, you will be unhappy. The guys that I know who have been around for 8 years or even less but are quite well established are living a dream career/life.
It's not a dream job, but quite close if you get the addiction for the game. The freedom cannot be denied, the potential cannot be denied either. It goes past trading NYSE or Nasdaq, trading is speculation and while some may only be good at a gimmick in a certain market, there are also some that simply have IT.



The reply is that you have a very twisted view on day trading. I think it's best that you work on understanding speculation and its history before you start bashing trading. What you experienced with dumbos making easy money and then blowing out is the reality of life. The same happened to the IT industry, so what's your point?
Some people are meant to speculate and most are not. The one thing that my father told me when I was about to join my first prop is that I had to make a decision. I should either choose to not take risk and become a corporate monkey with possible future advancement at the expense of working for someone else and dealing with a lot of crap or I should choose to be a risk taker and trade for myself and risk becoming absolutely nothing. But if I wanted that reward, the big dream, I had to take the risk.


HYDROBLUNT your reply was outstanding and completely truthful. This forum needs like buttons.
 
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