Dating a Banker Anonymous

Have you heard about these girls? It's a group of girlfriends in NYC who have created a website to commiserate about how the economy is ruining their relationships with Wall Street bankers.

Are you or someone you love dating a banker? If so, we are here to support you through these difficult times. Dating A Banker Anonymous (DABA) is a safe place where women can come together – free from the scrutiny of feminists– and share their tearful tales of how the mortgage meltdown has affected their relationships. DABA Girls was started by two best friends whose relationships tanked with the economy. Not knowing what else to do, we did what frustrated but articulate girls have done since the beginning of time - we started a blog. So if your monthly Bergdorf’s allowance has been halved and bottle service has all but disappeared from your life, lighten your heart with laughter and email your stories to dabagirls@gmail.com. Warning all stories sent will be infused with our own special brand of DABA Girl humor.

Good God.

The New York Times wrote a story on the clan, citing that the economic downturn only became real to them when their financial boyfriends started becoming depressed. Between you and me I think they realized there was an economic crisis when their boyfriends stopped giving them money to spend on Fifth Avenue stores.

Once it was seen as a blessing in certain circles to have a wealthy, powerful partner who would leave you alone with the credit card while he was busy brokering deals. Now, many Wall Street wives, girlfriends and, increasingly, exes, are living the curse of cutbacks in nanny hours and reservations at Masa or Megu. And that credit card? Canceled. -- NYT

If you click on the link to the story above you'll see an Editor's Note in italics at the end of the first page. It seems that the reporter, Ravi Somaiya, didn't "find out" that the group was less of a support system and more of a fun way to bitch about their Wall Street relationships. I think Somaiya got caught up in the ridiculousness of it all and WANTED the girls to be more credible than they are. Hopefully Somaiya learned a lesson in skepticism. If it's too good to be true, it probably is.

“We put two and two together and figured out that it was the economy, not us,” Ms. Petrus recalled at a recent meeting in the lobby bar of the Bowery Hotel. “When guys in banking are going through this, they can’t handle a relationship.”(She and her boyfriend split up last year; he declined to discuss it.)

Many of the women said that as the economic crisis struck last fall, they began tracking the markets during the day to predict the moods that the men they loved might be in later. On big news days, like when the first proposed government bailout failed in Congress, or when Lehman went belly-up, they knew that plans to see their partners would be put off.

Thank GOD it's the economy that is ruining their relationships and not these obviously thoughtful, insightful, and caring ladies.

NYT photo by Rob Bennett