Love on Park Avenue - Namjoohyuk

Episode 1.4 -The Interview

January 15th, 2006

As Annie walked out of E train station on 52 nd street, a gust of frosty air from the wind tunnel created by buildings almost blew away her pink Burberry scarf, a present from her parents. She trudged forward with her head cast down, to Park Avenue.  Blocking the stretch of skyscrapers on both sides of Park Avenue was the Met Life building on 42nd street. The Citibank building on 399 Park Avenue was across the street.  On the left of her was the famous Lever House building known for its international style and a 30 foot tall, a naked statue of a pregnant woman piercing out of the inner courtyard. The skin on the left side of the statue's face and body had been peeled off. The skeleton and the muscle tissue underneath clearly visible so was the baby inside her pinkish womb. 

The plaque under the statue read 'Virgin Mother by Damian Hirst.'   Annie felt fondness towards it for reasons she could not explain. It was if it had a soul and wanted to speak to her. She declared that the statue will be her friend. Others may think that would be a childish act, but she did not care. Annie asked the Virgin Mother for good luck because she needed it more than ever and then dashed towards the Citibank building lobby when the traffic light was about turn red. 

The security checks were as unpleasant as the ones at the airport. The guards were not too friendly when they found out she did not have a corporate id. A disgruntled man behind the desk took a horrible black and white picture of her and told her to keep the photo visible at all times (staring at her as if disobeying him will mean immediate deportation from the land of 399 Park). When she reached the 8th floor, the female receptionist dressed in a tight fitted grey Theory suit and black Manolos welcomed her, then led her to Charlene's office.  There was nothing extraordinary about the floor except there was a lot of mahogany paneling on walls. Through the window in Charlene's office, she could see the woman's head and top of her half-black, half-golden chest.

Charlene greeted Annie and shook her hand. She had long lush brown hair down to her shoulders and prominent cheekbones resembling Jaclyn Smith from Charlie's Angels. Annie had an immediate connection to Charlene. Perhaps it was a down to earth laugh, her friendly gestures but she did not seem dry or colorless as the people she had met at the recruiting dinner. Charlene sat down, put on her reading glasses and glossed over the resume. Annie explained the activities and the courses she took.

"You would be working with one other analyst if you are hired. Paul is the head of Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities. There are three bankers that deal with clients and traders. You will be working with the most junior banker a lot. David Moran." Charlene explained. "So do you know how CMBS deals work?"

"Well, I know that these bonds are structured in tranches. There is also a sequential waterfall structure. AAA tranches are hit with prepayments first and the bottom tranches are the first to be hit with the loss."

"Very good. I'm impressed that you know so much already. This group packages commercial mortgages into CMBS bonds. You would also be working with about 50 underwriters and originators from Conduit and Large Loan groups. Your job is to clean the mortgage data and run stratification reports. After that send the files to b piece buyers, rating agencies and create the prospectus at the printer."

"Sorry, but what is a printer?", Annie asked.

"The printer is where we work with lawyers and accountants to finish the prospectus. When you go to the printer for example, it's usually a two-day process and we usually take turns sleeping. Are you ok with this? " She had a down to earth smile on her face, which didn't seem to match what came out of her mouth. Did Annie not catch a joke? She shrugged it off. 

Charlene then took her to the next office to meet Nass, the head banker in the securitization group. He was a short man in his mid-forties with a receding hairline. His office didn't have any  plants by the window like Charlene's but there were an indoor putting green and a golf club in the corner. Several picture frames of his kids, some deal lucites and a pendulum decorated his desk. He smiled and shook my hand. "If you have a Computer Science major, you can definitely do this job," said Nass, in a husky yet pleasant voice. The interviews were going smooth. Almost too smooth. 

Her last interview was with Puja, a vice president in Charlene's team. Puja's somewhat unpolished looked was unexpected. She wore no makeup and her short wavy hair fell unevenly on her shoulders, desperately needing a trim. An oversized worn-out wool cardigan did not cover her plump figure, rather it made her waste heavier. The long, grey skirt didn't help the overall look. 

Right from the moment Annie entered Puja's viewless office, her piercing gaze followed Annie's movement.

"Come in and sit," said Puja, motioning to a chair across from her on a small table in the middle of the room.  Annie took a deep breath but the room's stale air made her nauseous. Puja proceeded to read Annie's resume. 

Investment bankers were at least pleasant during interviews, despite their tough questions. Multiple thoughts passed through her brain. How should she try to connect with Puja? Should she smile? Annie could almost see the presence of evil, dark fumes coming from Puja's back. Her armpits began to perspire, despite putting on ample application of deodorant. Her mouth felt dry but it didn't matter, Puja didn't give her a chance to speak. 

"You'd have to take care of details on 200 loans for every deal. You will spend many nights here. Sometimes pull all-nighters. It will be tough, you will have to go through  hundreds of third party reports." Puja broke the silence, her dark eyes studying Annie's face. "When I was doing your job five years ago, I didn't even have the software to help me. We did everything through excel. I spent 100 hours here every week. But don't think you will have it easy. There are more and more properties in each deal. " She said with a slight Indian accent.  When she finally stopped convincing Annie that this was a job that only superhumans can do, Puja turned her face backed to the stack of property reports and gave Annie permission to leave without looking at her.

"One last thing...." Puja said as Annie was leaving, "don't ask too many questions around here. If you do, you will go down a death spiral." 

"Absolutely, I will remember that," Annie said eagerly with a pretend smile, backtracking hastily back to Charlene's office before Puja can make one more unpleasant comment. Had she smiled enough? She wondered. But it didn't matter anymore. She just wanted to get the heck out. 

Charlene looked up from her computer when Annie knocked on the window though the door was open. She asked how the interviews went and Annie assured her that they were fine. 

"Good. Glad that went well. Before you go, just want to mention the salary. It's $75k and the signing bonus is $10K, " Charlene said, smiling again. "I think you did great." 

Annie thanked, trying to hide her amazement. It was $20K more than she had expected. The typical base salary was about $50,000 to $60,000. 

"Any other questions before you go?" 

"I do have one irrelevant question, if you don't mind. How do you like that statue outside?"

"It's pretty shocking, isn't it? I try to ignore it," Charlene shrugged it off.