I also saw Boiler Room for the first time too. I used to work in a boiler room, two of them actually, back in the early 1990's. In fact, my first day on the job was the day Iraq invaded Kuwait.
The movie was pretty realistic too, they obviously did their homework. The interview scene wasn't very good though, because even boiler rooms accept new hires who already have a license. They want to get as many bodies in the door, hired and on the phone quickly as possible. I already had my license when I was hired at my second boiler room. (BTW, the person who hired me at that particular boiler room is known by many of you here. He's in prison right now).
The way the firm owner was treated like a diety was realistic too. The branch manager at my second firm was very respected and feared. He had worked his way up and ruled with an iron fist, but he was also encouraging. His tailor sucked though, his suits fit him very funny. His pants looked like stretch pants around the thighs, even though he had skinny legs.
The way they partied was realistic too, which was one of the reasons I never partied with anyone in the office. They were a bunch of out of control hoodlums. One guy lost his clothes at a party after skinny dipping in a pool and drove home in his t-top corvette naked. he was sick for a month.
When Michael, the owner, announced the top three sales people and their numbers, the numbers were not realistic for a boiler room type operation, not even if he was announcing gross commisions, which he probably was. The second firm I worked with had a penny stock go from 5 to 45 in 1991 while the Dow was breaking above 3000. The top producer in that firm had a month where he earned $62,000, which was a gross of $124K, and nobody was close to him ever. It was a firm record. In the movie, he was bandying numbers above 300K. And to help put that in further context, in my first boiler room during the Saddam Selloff, the top producer was the branch manager earning $14K a month with overrides, the top broker was making $9K a month, and all of us newbies were earning nothing. We couldn't open a single account at that time.
OK, so remember when I said you guys will know who hired me at my second boiler room? He was a lot like the boisterous brokers you saw in the movie. Tough talking, swaggering, writing big business. Soon after I was hired, the office started a mentor program where senior brokers were going to mentor the newer brokers. He was assigned to be my mentor, and everyone in the office came by to congratulate me because he was the best. But he never had time to mentor me because he was always handling compliance problems. You know him as Anthony Pacific, his real name was of course Tony Elgindy. He used to drive a gold corvette with the license plate STOKGOD.
The movie was pretty realistic too, they obviously did their homework. The interview scene wasn't very good though, because even boiler rooms accept new hires who already have a license. They want to get as many bodies in the door, hired and on the phone quickly as possible. I already had my license when I was hired at my second boiler room. (BTW, the person who hired me at that particular boiler room is known by many of you here. He's in prison right now).
The way the firm owner was treated like a diety was realistic too. The branch manager at my second firm was very respected and feared. He had worked his way up and ruled with an iron fist, but he was also encouraging. His tailor sucked though, his suits fit him very funny. His pants looked like stretch pants around the thighs, even though he had skinny legs.
The way they partied was realistic too, which was one of the reasons I never partied with anyone in the office. They were a bunch of out of control hoodlums. One guy lost his clothes at a party after skinny dipping in a pool and drove home in his t-top corvette naked. he was sick for a month.
When Michael, the owner, announced the top three sales people and their numbers, the numbers were not realistic for a boiler room type operation, not even if he was announcing gross commisions, which he probably was. The second firm I worked with had a penny stock go from 5 to 45 in 1991 while the Dow was breaking above 3000. The top producer in that firm had a month where he earned $62,000, which was a gross of $124K, and nobody was close to him ever. It was a firm record. In the movie, he was bandying numbers above 300K. And to help put that in further context, in my first boiler room during the Saddam Selloff, the top producer was the branch manager earning $14K a month with overrides, the top broker was making $9K a month, and all of us newbies were earning nothing. We couldn't open a single account at that time.
OK, so remember when I said you guys will know who hired me at my second boiler room? He was a lot like the boisterous brokers you saw in the movie. Tough talking, swaggering, writing big business. Soon after I was hired, the office started a mentor program where senior brokers were going to mentor the newer brokers. He was assigned to be my mentor, and everyone in the office came by to congratulate me because he was the best. But he never had time to mentor me because he was always handling compliance problems. You know him as Anthony Pacific, his real name was of course Tony Elgindy. He used to drive a gold corvette with the license plate STOKGOD.
