Re:Turn Out the Lights, the Party’s Over
by wpietri on Friday February 06, 2015 @11:12AM
(#9009635)
Back in the mid-90s I did tech work for a Chicago financial trading firm. I ended up with one of those colorful coats so I could go down to the trading floor and swear at our computers there. (Tech note: there is still no good swear-over-IP protocol; some things apparently you have to do in person.)
It was an amazing place, and I hope somebody collects all the colorful stories that result when you get so many adrenaline junkies together in one place. (E.g., the time somebody punched out a polar bear. Or the the trash bags full of money. Or the snow futures market.) But my guess is that the traders don't really mourn its loss as much as I will. When I was back in Chicago a couple years ago, the Merc had shut down their trading floor at 30 S. Wacker. I stopped in to ask the security guards if the traders missed it. "Those guys? Hah! No, they just left one day and never came back."
It was an amazing place, and I hope somebody collects all the colorful stories that result when you get so many adrenaline junkies together in one place. (E.g., the time somebody punched out a polar bear. Or the the trash bags full of money. Or the snow futures market.) But my guess is that the traders don't really mourn its loss as much as I will. When I was back in Chicago a couple years ago, the Merc had shut down their trading floor at 30 S. Wacker. I stopped in to ask the security guards if the traders missed it. "Those guys? Hah! No, they just left one day and never came back."