"Yeah, you and Hussain. You've always been such an in-control kind of guy. Then this pissant comes along and you lose it. Repeatedly."

"Hm. I know. I've been thinking about it, actually, why this guy gets to me the way he does."

"Any conclusions?"

"Well, I'm don't want to sound like an asshole myself…"

"You couldn't. So?"

"Okay. You know a lot of people think investment banking's a sleazy business and that you can't make the kind of money that's possible in the financial markets honestly. People hear about traders getting millions of dollars in bonuses and then read about Treasury auction scandals at Salomon Brothers, or fraud at Kidder, Peabody, or investors' being misled by Prudential Securities. All of this prejudices public perception. And our business is still fundamentally a relationship business. Reputation matters.