“Take Out A Card”

There are rites of passage in any business or organization.  The trading floor where I grew up was no different.  One of the things that a pit used to do on the first day a person got their badge was walk up to the new member and say “Take out a card.”.  

The new member would take out a trading card.

“Offer”.

The new guy would say, “Ten at five.” or something like that.

“Buy One.”, the experienced member would say, then “Bid”.

“Four on Ten”, the newbie would say.

“Sell you one”, the old guy would grunt.  ”Welcome to the business.”

It was a welcome to a fraternity.  A club.  Most of the time, a person worked a while to get there.  They built relationships. They made friends.  They learned.  Then one day, they either saved enough money to get a membership or someone backed them.  They walked in and got their photo taken after filling out all the paperwork.

It was like becoming a “made guy” in the Mob.

The thought of walking on the floor that first time with a trading jacket on instead of a yellow coat still sends chills up my spine.  I did it right around Memorial Day, 1988. You can’t do that with algo trading!

When I worked at 3M ($MMM) we would be at a big sales meeting.  At the bar, someone would call out, “Short snifter”.  Everyone would whip out signed one dollar bills.  If you didn’t have one, you had to buy the round.  Everyone that got a free drink would sign your dollar bill.  I still have mine somewhere.  As I recall it wasn’t cheap.  Everyone ordered “double Chivas on the rocks”.

What’s the rite of passage in your business that everyone can relate to?  If you are part of a startup, is there a rite of passage you use to build camaraderie? What is it?

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