With all phone lines at banks recorded and emails monitored, some of the more ‘expressive’ bankers have been forced to take things down by many a notch. The usual banter in the chat rooms is gone, and swearing, cursing and calling people names could now make you a victim of human resources’ wrath.
Had I still been in the game, they would have had a field day, as my impressive swearing skills have transcended to my personal life too, as Tai Tai reminds me umpteen times.
But maybe there is something I can learn from today’s generation. Last week over drinks at the Captain’s Bar with a few bright, up-and-coming capital market lads, one chap managed to bring a heated debate on Donald Trump to a grinding halt with three words — “what the fish”.
Before I even understood what happened, everybody burst out laughing. It turned out the chap, who had received multiple warnings from HR for using strong language, has rebelled brilliantly by replacing the F-word with another F-word that is even child-friendly.
He has also seemingly figured out a way to get around the firewall of his internal email system by adding “-ing” after every rude verb so it is not detected. (Apparently, his firm's firewall designers seem to have forgotten about tenses).
So next time, you’ll know what I mean if you hear me say something like “fish off”, “oh crab” or “no sheep”. I am making a choice. You know what they say: happy wife, happy life.