By the time I left my office today, I was boiling over and would have enjoyed nothing more than roasting several certain people on spits. After skipping lunch, and only breaking for a mandatory hurricane preparedness meeting and a couple of quick trips to the restroom, for 9.5 hours, I am not much closer to climbing back out of the grave pit backlog I have somehow fallen into over the past couple of months, thanks to innumerable distractions and other miscellaneous "fire drills" I must preside over.
I usually try to keep a sense of humor about the job security the antics of drunk monkeys provides...
I usually try to keep a sense of humor about the job security the antics of drunk monkeys provides...
But today I found that impossible...sort of like trying to do Sudoku, only in Sudoku, there is at least one number that is fixed and reliable as a starting point for figuring out the placement of the other numbers. That is not the case in this game, so it is much harder -- more like a game of "Clock Sudoku" where the object is to fill the rings with the numbers from 1 to 12 so that no number is repeated in any of the six rings, any of the six shaded double-wedges, or any of the pairs of opposite wedges.
First of all, I should probably explain that certain persons are affectionately referred to as "drunk monkeys" because they repeatedly and frequently make silly, simple, careless mistakes in a very important aspect of their work activities, which I am then responsible for identifying and correcting.
First of all, I should probably explain that certain persons are affectionately referred to as "drunk monkeys" because they repeatedly and frequently make silly, simple, careless mistakes in a very important aspect of their work activities, which I am then responsible for identifying and correcting.
So here goes today's two most irritating scenarios.
Puzzle #1:
There is a trade listed on a blotter from last week with a counterparty with which we still exchange paper confirmations. As part of my procedure for these types of trades, I always verify that the OTC broker confirmation matches what has been written on the blotter and entered in the system Well, there is no confirm received from the OTC broker listed on the blotter for this transaction date. Also, this counterparty is annoyingly timely in transmittal of their paper confirms when we trade, and as of 3 business days later, I have received nothing from them. Next, I check the clearing broker statement for the transaction date and find no Nymex-cleared transaction matching the price and delivery period written on the blotter. Finally, I decide to check unmatched confirmations from OTC brokers other than the one listed on the blotter, and lo and behold, I find a matching confirm. So, I hurriedly crank out a manual, paper confirmation and fax it to the counterparty, still apprehensive that they have sent nothing to me, when usually they would be all over it.
That day's tasks being completed, I proceed to matching the blotters for the next transaction date to the clearing broker statements, and discover a transaction matching the price, quantity and delivery period of the problematic trade from the previous day, that does not match anything written on the blotters for the transaction date I am currently working on. So, I begin searching through the OTC broker confirmations received for that date to figure out who forgot to write a trade on their blotter. (Keep in mind that it is not unusual to have identical trades where the only distinguishing factor is the transaction date.) As I am doing this, I run across an amended confirm for the previous date's problematic trade, changing it to a Nymex-cleared trade, which explains why I had not received a confirm from the usually annoyingly prompt counterparty.
Ok, I realize that this is all probably hard to follow unless you just also happen to do this sort of thing for a living, so I'll try to summarize:
This trade was listed on a blotter for one day, showing the wrong OTC broker.
The correct OTC broker screwed up on the original execution of the trade and sent their confirm showing the wrong counterparty.
A bogus confirmation was sent to the wrong counterparty, and had to be voided.
The trade when corrected by the OTC broker, was turned in to the clearing broker on the day following the actual transaction date, and shows up on the clearing broker statement with the wrong transaction date.
**************
Puzzle #2
I am matching about 20 Nymex-cleared trades, most for the prompt month, with prices just one-hundredth of a cent different, on one trader's blotter to the clearing broker's statement for the account specifically reserved for his trades. When all but one trade is marked off on the statement, I still have 2 trades unmarked on the blotter, and neither of them matches the price, etc. for the one unmarked on the blotter. We'll call these the mystery trades.
(Did I mention that for the past few preceding trade dates, this clearing broker is for some reason, erroneously doubling the quantities on the trades and subsequently cancelling half on the next statement to make the correction -- which means that even when the drunk monkey in group 1 gets it right, I can't count on the drunk monkeys in group 2 to accurately record it so that I can match it up without calling Jethro Bodine over to do some cypherin' for me.)
Anyway, back to the mystery trades... to TRY to determine if maybe one of the two trades on the blotter just has the wrong price written in, and really is a match for the one on the statement, I consult the OTC broker report, filtering the trades listed by trader name, and find no trades with these prices. I do find the trade listed on the statement, but it is nowhere to be found on the blotter. I check the next day's blotter and find nothing similar. So, into the system report of trade entries (my log) I go to see if the three mystery trades were at least entered in the system. Again, to expedite the process, I filter the trades in my log by trader name, and I find the trade that is listed on the statement, but listed nowhere on the blotter. Finally, I resolve the issue by writing it in on the blotter. Now I just still have to figure out what is going on with the other two trades. So I go back to the OTC broker report and remove the trader name filter and apply a price filter. Bingo! Bingo! But I find that the reason I didn't see the trades before is because they were executed by a different trader. With that knowledge, I am able to locate them on the other clearing broker statement that the first trader (owner of the blotter) was not using. Yea. We have a blotter to broker match, and only need a match in the system to solve this mystery. Next, I try filtering my log by the trader name indicated on the OTC broker report, and find nothing until again, I search by price. And this is when I wanted to scream and skewer someone...the trader shown in the system was one who was on vacation that day!
So now, I will again summarize for the fortunate ones who don't spend their days in angst:
Two trades were listed on Trader 1's blotter, that were executed thru the OTC broker by Trader 2, then entered into the system as vacationing Trader 3's deals.
Because Trader 1 did not actually execute the two trades, they were not present in Trader 1's clearing broker account to be matched to his blotter, nor were they in Trader 3's clearing broker account to be matched to the system, and were in fact, in Trader 4's clearing broker account.
Adding to the frivolity, Trader 1 also neglected to write in a trade on his blotter.
********************
To make matters more stressful, I'm not comfortable bringing up the problem to anyone who could affect any real change, because of what happened last time I did --or shortly thereafter. So, as you can imagine, I can hardly wait to get back and start the whole process again for a different day.
Oh well, when several people turn up with massive wads of bubble gum in their hair, that will be the indication that sitting in my corner, humming Godsmack songs was no longer sufficient therapy.
Puzzle #1:
There is a trade listed on a blotter from last week with a counterparty with which we still exchange paper confirmations. As part of my procedure for these types of trades, I always verify that the OTC broker confirmation matches what has been written on the blotter and entered in the system Well, there is no confirm received from the OTC broker listed on the blotter for this transaction date. Also, this counterparty is annoyingly timely in transmittal of their paper confirms when we trade, and as of 3 business days later, I have received nothing from them. Next, I check the clearing broker statement for the transaction date and find no Nymex-cleared transaction matching the price and delivery period written on the blotter. Finally, I decide to check unmatched confirmations from OTC brokers other than the one listed on the blotter, and lo and behold, I find a matching confirm. So, I hurriedly crank out a manual, paper confirmation and fax it to the counterparty, still apprehensive that they have sent nothing to me, when usually they would be all over it.
That day's tasks being completed, I proceed to matching the blotters for the next transaction date to the clearing broker statements, and discover a transaction matching the price, quantity and delivery period of the problematic trade from the previous day, that does not match anything written on the blotters for the transaction date I am currently working on. So, I begin searching through the OTC broker confirmations received for that date to figure out who forgot to write a trade on their blotter. (Keep in mind that it is not unusual to have identical trades where the only distinguishing factor is the transaction date.) As I am doing this, I run across an amended confirm for the previous date's problematic trade, changing it to a Nymex-cleared trade, which explains why I had not received a confirm from the usually annoyingly prompt counterparty.
Ok, I realize that this is all probably hard to follow unless you just also happen to do this sort of thing for a living, so I'll try to summarize:
This trade was listed on a blotter for one day, showing the wrong OTC broker.
The correct OTC broker screwed up on the original execution of the trade and sent their confirm showing the wrong counterparty.
A bogus confirmation was sent to the wrong counterparty, and had to be voided.
The trade when corrected by the OTC broker, was turned in to the clearing broker on the day following the actual transaction date, and shows up on the clearing broker statement with the wrong transaction date.
**************
Puzzle #2
I am matching about 20 Nymex-cleared trades, most for the prompt month, with prices just one-hundredth of a cent different, on one trader's blotter to the clearing broker's statement for the account specifically reserved for his trades. When all but one trade is marked off on the statement, I still have 2 trades unmarked on the blotter, and neither of them matches the price, etc. for the one unmarked on the blotter. We'll call these the mystery trades.
(Did I mention that for the past few preceding trade dates, this clearing broker is for some reason, erroneously doubling the quantities on the trades and subsequently cancelling half on the next statement to make the correction -- which means that even when the drunk monkey in group 1 gets it right, I can't count on the drunk monkeys in group 2 to accurately record it so that I can match it up without calling Jethro Bodine over to do some cypherin' for me.)
Anyway, back to the mystery trades... to TRY to determine if maybe one of the two trades on the blotter just has the wrong price written in, and really is a match for the one on the statement, I consult the OTC broker report, filtering the trades listed by trader name, and find no trades with these prices. I do find the trade listed on the statement, but it is nowhere to be found on the blotter. I check the next day's blotter and find nothing similar. So, into the system report of trade entries (my log) I go to see if the three mystery trades were at least entered in the system. Again, to expedite the process, I filter the trades in my log by trader name, and I find the trade that is listed on the statement, but listed nowhere on the blotter. Finally, I resolve the issue by writing it in on the blotter. Now I just still have to figure out what is going on with the other two trades. So I go back to the OTC broker report and remove the trader name filter and apply a price filter. Bingo! Bingo! But I find that the reason I didn't see the trades before is because they were executed by a different trader. With that knowledge, I am able to locate them on the other clearing broker statement that the first trader (owner of the blotter) was not using. Yea. We have a blotter to broker match, and only need a match in the system to solve this mystery. Next, I try filtering my log by the trader name indicated on the OTC broker report, and find nothing until again, I search by price. And this is when I wanted to scream and skewer someone...the trader shown in the system was one who was on vacation that day!
So now, I will again summarize for the fortunate ones who don't spend their days in angst:
Two trades were listed on Trader 1's blotter, that were executed thru the OTC broker by Trader 2, then entered into the system as vacationing Trader 3's deals.
Because Trader 1 did not actually execute the two trades, they were not present in Trader 1's clearing broker account to be matched to his blotter, nor were they in Trader 3's clearing broker account to be matched to the system, and were in fact, in Trader 4's clearing broker account.
Adding to the frivolity, Trader 1 also neglected to write in a trade on his blotter.
********************
To make matters more stressful, I'm not comfortable bringing up the problem to anyone who could affect any real change, because of what happened last time I did --or shortly thereafter. So, as you can imagine, I can hardly wait to get back and start the whole process again for a different day.
Oh well, when several people turn up with massive wads of bubble gum in their hair, that will be the indication that sitting in my corner, humming Godsmack songs was no longer sufficient therapy.
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