<p>If you happen to work in the world I’ve finance you’ve probably already seen this as it has made the rounds at every major bank, consulting firm, etc. but I figured I’d post this here as a cautionary tale…in today’s world everything we do, both online and offline, has the potential to be go viral.</p>
<p>To summarize the incident, a BNP Paribas employee was caught on a cell phone video berating a transit employee and asking elitist and snobby rhetorical questions including, Do you know what schools Ive been to? Do you know how well-educated I am? After this video went viral she was subsequently terminated and effectively killed her career ambitions in finance, consulting, etc. </p>
<p>Given that she is so well educated, many of you may be wondering where this charming woman graduated from. Yale? Nope. Harvard? Nope. Princeton? Nope. She graduated from good old NYU…</p>
<p>I wonder why some people are rude to people who work in customer/public service. Do they get pushed around in their own jobs and decide to take it out on someone who looks more vulnerable? Are they adult versions of school bullies? It’s always aggravating to hear or see people who seem to draw such pleasure from berating fast food cashiers, restaurant servers, and pretty much anyone else who has to interact with them because of their job. While it’s nice to hear that these things can have repercussions, don’t forget that 99% of the other people who do this probably won’t stop.</p>
<p>My guess is that she was either slightly intoxicated, or very tired, or had herself experienced this type of behavior at the hands of someone else. Or, had gotten away with it before, perhaps many times. I myself have witnessed this type of public behavior over the years, but usually the perpetrator (“Do you know who I am?”) called on rudeness has been a young medical doctor.</p>
<p>I’m in a customer service business and I deal with people from all walks of life – policemen and plumbers to managing directors at big investment banks. In my experience, some people (not all) sometimes feel like letting off steam at people who they think “don’t matter” (i.e., appear to have employment or social standing that is beneath them). And I hate to say this (being a woman) but I have been on the receiving end of more nasty sarcastic condescending comments from women than men. </p>
<p>I’m glad they fired her. It sounds like she treated that Metro North employee horribly. I’ve always heard that a big bank takes recruits out to lunch and pays particular attention to how they talk to the waiter. Courtesy and respect go a lot further than condescension and humiliation.</p>
<p>According to her cached LinkedIn profile, she interned at BNP Paribas in 2009. A BNP spokesperson said she is no longer associated with the firm. I don’t think she was recently employed there.</p>
<p>When I was working in a sales office, the manager would get the interview candidates to drive to lunch. If they didn’t crash any red lights or speed, they didn’t get hired…</p>
<p>Back to this incident, I thought the conductor behaved admirably, and the ranter should be invited to CC to share her views on education.</p>
<p>While I think this person is obnoxious and do not in any way condone her behavior, I don’t think it is in any way related to NYU. </p>
<p>For the record the 2 most obnoxious people I have ever worked with (can tell you MANY stories) attended University of Maryland and James Madison University. I also know many, many very nice people from both of these schools.</p>
<p>But an opportunity to bash NYU never gets passed up here.</p>
<p>Or, no school should–it’s not the college’s job to teach manners.</p>
<p>And yeah, that she came from NYU should have no bearing on this story (actually, it’s a little elitest to gloat that it turns out it was “only NYU”, after all that bragging.)</p>
<p>I have worked for top law firms for 25 years and I never fail to be amazed when first year associates puff up their chests and say “don’t you know that I’m a lawyer?” Which they all do. My usual answer is to tell them to walk to every corner on the floor and find someone who isn’t.</p>
<p>At one biotech company, a newlyhired PhD scientist yelled at the purchasing agent that he needed his order to arrive “first thing tomorrow morning”. When she reminded him that Sigma already closed their shop for the day, and the earliest he could get his reagents would be in 2 days, he started screaming that he did not get his PhD from Princeton to be bossed around by stock room employees with no college degrees! When he was fired from this company, for some reason, he could not get a single job offer locally :rolleyes: I guess some people will have the same rotten attitude no matter where they got their PhDs from, Princeton or Podunk U.</p>
<p>I have told my kids from day 1 that they can insult their boss at their own risk, but talking down to janitors, secretaries, cleaning ladies, waiters, mail clerks, etc will be considered an unforgivable capital offence in my book. </p>
<p>S1, who is going to a school charging $45K tuition, told me that he is frequently aghast by the way some of his fellow students treat the servers at the school cafeteria. I guess some of the “rich kids” are carrying the attitudes towards their “domestic help” to the campus. </p>
<p>My S2, who is graduating from HS brought coffee and donuts to the janitors at his high school, because he thought every body was getting gifts for the teachers and GCs but nobody was doing anything for the janitors. One of the janitors, an Irag War (the first one) veteran, was almost in tears. He said to my son “I have been working at this school for 15 years, and nobody ever did anything like this before”</p>
<p>When I heard this story, I was more proud of him than I would have been if he had won the Intel or Siemen’s science competition (math and science are not his forte )</p>
<p>Wasn’t bashing NYU. Was just saying if thats how their grads act, they should teach manners. Would say the same if she went to any other school. My dad went to NYU. I like NYU. I don’t like the pompous, arrogant behavior of that girl.</p>
<p>Actually, if schools teach interview skills in their career counseling office, they should include some basic social graces training, IMO. Its a lost art.</p>
<p>As one of my college professors used to say, “Even if you were given an education, it does not automatically mean that you got it”. While I agree, jym, that such a class should be a must for any college graduate, the problem is that an arrogant a-hole will still be one even after getting an A in this class.</p>
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