August 25, 2006

Lucy Gao is the coolest intern in the London City

Fotolia 389858Forwarded by a french reader of my blog who works in the London City (thanks, Alex), I have to share with you the story of the most stupid birthday party email invite. The email is doing the rounds of City banks with good comments as you can imagine (which makes it even funnier with all the banks disclaimers at the end).

To ensure everybody sees Lucy the princess in a proper way she instructed her friends to arrive in groups every 15 minutes and with a strict rule of who should arrive when, example: ARRIVAL TIMES: [Please stick to these as best as you can, thank you] 9:00pm: Lucy, Sophie Sandner, Kajai, Mandeep, Preet, Sanami, Su, Lisa, Kate.

And a strict code has to be observed upon arrival: “When asked, how can I help you Sir/Madam, you reply, I am here for Lucy’s birthday party at the Rivoli Bar.” Dress smart — “the more upper-class you dress, the less likely you shall be denied entry”.

Any queries should be sent to her PA ! it already made it to the Times, and below the entire email for your pleasure. photo © Douglas Freer - FOTOLIA

Dear Friends,

Thank you for all your replies and I am glad all of you can come this
Friday to celebrate my 21st with me. Please read ALL the following to
ensure your entry into the Ritz.

Lucy's 21st Birthday Party
at The Ritz Hotel London

Friday, 18th of August
9pm Champagne Reception
10pm Photo Shoots
10:30pm Blowing Candles

Mid-night Pangaea, Mayfair

I have arranged the Ritz to host a Champagne Reception with a selection
of Ritz Champagne for all my guests, this will be on me so please come
and indulge.

A specially made birthday cake has also been ordered and the Ritz
waiters will kindly serve you each a generous slice with Ritz cutleries,
etc...also on me.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR ENTRY:
* When you arrive, take the Hotel entry on the opposite side
of
the Green Park tube station [Please refer to your arrival time at the
end of this email]
* When asked "how can I help you Sir/Madame?", you reply "I
am
here for Lucy's Birthday Party at the Rivoli Bar"
* You will be escorted to the lounge area next to the Rivoli
bar,
where you will hopefully see a gorgeous group of ladies.

If you experience any issues getting in or getting to the Ritz, please
call my mobile on 07782 205 450 and my PA Ms Gill will kindly deal with
your queries between 8:30pm to 10pm.

STRICT DRESS CODE:
Gentlemen: Jacket, shirt, and please also bring a tie (no jeans,
trainers, flip-flops, polo-shirts)
Ladies: skirt/top, cocktail dress (no denim, min-skirts, flip-flips, bad
tastes)
Advice 1: It goes without saying that the more upper-class you dress,
the less likely you shall be denied entry. Advice 2: Photos will be
taken between 10pm to 10:30pm, and these will be distributed once
processed, therefore you may want to be well-groomed! ;)

Finally...
I will be accepting cards and small gifts between 9pm to 11pm...<wink
wink> hehehe

I very much look forward to seeing you all at the Ritz this Friday.

Lucy

ARRIVAL TIMES: [Please stick to these as best as you can, thank you]
9:00pm: Lucy, Sophie Sandner, Kajai, Mandeep, Preet, Sanami, Su, Lisa,
Kate.
9:15pm: Phoebe, Sophie Seugnet, Theo, Dmitry, Ed, Nikolay, Paul, Nick,
Harry.
9:30pm: Marco, Andrea, Jess, Ovi, Yuki, Olga, Kim, Marcelo, Ulyana,
Krystal, Dan.
9:45pm: Sunita, Alan, JingJing, Emma.
10:00pm: Anthony, Rachel, Roger, Uli, Yogi, Gharzi

Lucy Gao

She'll meet her match someday and it won't be pretty.

marsha, August 26, 2006 at 03:07

I feel sorry for her, she just wants her 21st to be perfect, since it is an expensive bash and she's paying for it. She might be the laughing stock now but it may work for her as a free advertisement, showing her future employer how well organised and attention to detail she is. Good luck to the young girl.

chara, August 27, 2006 at 20:55

What a prat!!!!!

Lawrence, August 27, 2006 at 23:25

"showing her future employer how well organised and attention to detail she is". Horseshit. She's a spoilt brat with no manners. I believe her boss took serious objection to the email.

Jimbo, August 28, 2006 at 11:49

The reach of her infamous email has hit cult following status! Almost like Snakes on the Plane. I've found CafePress.com t-shirts designed after her:

https://www.cafepress.com/nycbuzz

John Tan , August 29, 2006 at 19:47

Jimbo, you're right, she is "a spoilt brat with no manners", but reality often grates, and Chara's probably right too. She might or might not be in trouble with her current boss, but I'd be willing to bet she's already fielding offers from potential employers who do indeed value this quite absurd and extreme degree of organisational control freakery and attentiveness to detail. The world of work normalises and rewards a lot of fairly disturbing behaviour. I'm sure she'll go as far as she believes she has the right to go.

Sartre, August 31, 2006 at 10:17

Think here bosses reply went something like this.

Dear Lucy,

Apologies for emailing on a private email address but I am currently on holiday in Barbados and refusing to access my Citigroup emails. However, I have had your email forwarded to me by one of my senior colleagues about your party this Friday. Unfortunately I will not be able to make it as:

1. I always wear jeans and a t-shirt on the weekend (no exceptions) 2.
The ritz is SO last season. 3. I would rather not have to waste time buying you a card and present, which you probably wouldn't need anyway 4. Your PA has advised me that most people won't be turning up so I won't miss much 5. Like most people, I'm not very good at sticking to arrival times and would probably miss my slot.

On a serious note, based on your email, I am quite dumbfounded with how you managed to get a job here with us this summer and i will be having some SERIOUS words with the person who interviewed you. The fact that you have obviously spent a lot of our 'Work Time', planning your birthday party and not doing the work we have given you is a clear indication that you are not taking this internship seriously and are not dedicated to the firm. I do not think we will be in a position to offer you a full time graduate placement following the internship.

Kind regards,

David Townsend
Executive Director,
Global FI Trading Floor

Lucky lucy, September 01, 2006 at 08:35

has anyone thought that this could be a joke? its her 21st...! wish i thought of that...

kaykay, September 01, 2006 at 10:49

$50 says she is Chinese. not just the name, the whole attitude SCREAMS nuevo riche Chinese. For Gods Sake bitch get over yourself.....

Polar Bear, September 02, 2006 at 16:31

To whoever's purporting to be David Townsend - cocksucker... seriously even more than some kid making a few silly comments on a work email address (which happens all the time and very very very occasionally ends up like this), you, you weak dickhead, choose to pretend you're her boss.. what a winner. Wow, little man you even got Townsend's title right.. you hero.. perhaps you'll become his personal assistant one day you weak pr1ck. ooh excuse me Mr Townsend, can I shine your shoes? Coffee sir?? become a trader you tool, get a title of your own.. in the meantime good luck to her.. i hope she's fit.. perhaps she'll end up at my firm one day.. enjoy "barbados" knob.... Deutsche

townsend-who??, September 04, 2006 at 16:25

aaah man me again... missed a bit there.. you loser... please learn some punctuation/grammar..you appear to have been so intelligent that you ignored 3rd grade..including spelling, maths and brains.. sh1t i wish we had knobs at my school like you.. i would have caned your b1tch ar$e... hahaha loser.

On a serious note, as you'd say, your internships are regarded as the lamest in the business.. David I'd look at the types of people who pretend to be you.. It's pathetic.. people pretending to be important in the name of Citi.. An intern who's energetic 'enough' to organise her own party? wow!!! she must really be wasting your company's time... yep, sack her for sure, because this cvnt who wrote this fake email has never, ever, ever taken a minute out of their day to do anything for themselves..

David, please do me a favour and forward me the name of the wnaker (typo intended) who wrote 'on behalf' of you..happy to meet........

Nick, September 04, 2006 at 16:35


Hello guys, I hope you could be easy for this email. Don't put so many dirty words on a young girl. I believe there’s culture confliction in it. You see, I’m a Chinese. So I can understand what happened. In US, every Chinese lives under pressure. Some people are not friendly. They treat Chinese as xxx. So we have to be very carefully. We should ware better, live better and don’t let those white people treat us as lazy, dirty and impolite guys. I believe that’s why Miss Gao will mention shirt, tie, skirts in her email. Yes, I agree that it looks so rude. But please also think who made it happen? Not only Miss Gao.

Believe it or not, living in US is not easy for Chinese. There are no food, friends, family and culture in US for us. Maybe you will ask that why Chinese still immigrant to US? Money, I can tell you the truth. Yes, because in US, we can make more money. But do you think this will be forever? No, more and more Chinese move back to China now. I’m now sitting in my room in Shanghai. Yes, we come back. Why? I can make 70000$ per year in US. Not bad, but I have no future. But in Shanghai, I’m not an engineer any more, I’m a boss. I can make 1 million per year. I can speak Chinese. I can make joke with Chinese bosses. This is what I cannot do in US.

Everybody knows China is rising. My wife just gets her master degree from University of Toronto – The best university of Canada. There are 29 people in her class. 19 are Chinese. So please believe me, in long time, China will rule this world again. They are smart, they are strong. And there are 1600000000 Chinese in the world. Many Chinese are still working in US. But things change quickly. Soon, they will find a new dream in China and I believe most of them will leave US without hesitation. So what’s the future in US?

I want to tell you these only because I’m a citizen of US. I’m worrying about the future of US now. I would like to suggest you guys be friendly to Chinese in US. Please, we have different culture so please, give them more space. Don’t force them to betray US. Don’t force them to go back China. You will need their help. You will need their power.

William Huang, September 05, 2006 at 06:15

the same thing could happen on Miss Hilton or Princess Diana 's birthday party, and they dont even have to type the eamil themselves, their PA will do it.
Aren't they born equal according to your fucking books? What a hypocrist culture!

professor Mohamad,finance dept. Iran university:)

mohamod, September 06, 2006 at 02:55

William Huang, pls craw back to whichever stone that you've been hiding under b4. It's people like you and that idiot Lucy Gao that give us a bad name.

travelbug, September 06, 2006 at 18:36

What a CUNT

Minion of Doom, September 07, 2006 at 03:11

she meant the entire thinig as a joke to her friends...guess we have all lost our sense of humor..i feel sad for her and the people who are after her life...

Shayantan, September 07, 2006 at 15:15

she has obviously got a lot of people's attention....nothing better to do with your time? give it a rest and get back to work, please.....

Haberbabe, September 08, 2006 at 14:20

William Huang, from one Chinese person to another, you’re a fucking tool. China will rule again??? You will need their help and power? Maybe it’s assholishness like this that make your jokes fall flat with your US bosses. Chinese are smart, no doubt, but not particularly creative, and too often susceptible to grandiosity and materialism. I shudder to think people like you might indeed make up the world's superpower one day. Have fun with your millions in Shanghai, you pussy.

tasty_imp, September 13, 2006 at 17:27

what a asshole i am a chinese .but i have 2 admit lucy gao is a cunt as well as willam huang with a shit english name. you 2 are perthectic lossing our chinese's face,

nv, September 14, 2006 at 01:44

How utterly thick can you, and all the cretins who posted snide remarks about Ms Gao...

IT WAS A JOKE YOU MORONS!!!!!

Sheesh... We can expect American posters to have no clue about irony but if you're English and you didn't immediately spot this as a joke between friends then... the joke is on you you fuckwits.

gb, September 15, 2006 at 10:29

what's with everyone talking about nouveau riche chinese? i find that relatively offensive that people think in that generalising way that all are like that. of course, money cannot buy taste, but there are still many with taste. nouveau riche chinese with attitudes are just the same as nouveau riche anyone else with attitudes. i don't think there is any difference between the two.

plus, the email was a joke between her and her close friends that got out of hand. yes, she shouldn't have sent it out through her citibank email address but if you had received that from a close friend who you know sent it as a joke, you wouldn't think twice about it!

lighten up people.

jaui, September 18, 2006 at 08:43

Gold! Australia needs more people like this. She know exactly what she wants and how to get it. Brilliant....i wanna meet her and make love to her all night and day! Bless

Gavan Carey 1st, September 20, 2006 at 08:54

We used to refer to the Chinese as the yellow peril. Still do i guess. Chinese are an amazingly inventive people. Gunpowder, paper & the wheelbarrow to name a few were invented by these people. They once ruled the seas with a massive fleet of ships...& now their biggest export Lucy Gao has landed. I say she is one of the reasons why these maligned and misunderstood race of people will rise once again....look out world. Got a pic of juicy lucy???

Bob Maloney, September 20, 2006 at 09:03

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