A recent story in the NYTimes on WaMu's mortgage factory (housing boom) years pulls back the curtain on the bank's approach to loan-approvals--what it calls its "boiler room culture" . The Atlantic's Megan McArdle made note of this passage:
"I'd lie if I said every piece of documentation was properly signed and dated," said Mr. Parsons, speaking through wire-reinforced glass at a California prison near here, where he is serving 16 months for theft after his fourth arrest — all involving drugs.
While Mr. Parsons, whose incarceration is not related to his work for WaMu, oversaw a team screening mortgage applications, he was snorting methamphetamine daily, he said.
"In our world, it was tolerated," said Sherri Zaback, who worked for Mr. Parsons and recalls seeing drug paraphernalia on his desk. "Everybody said, 'He gets the job done.'"
Parsons says later that his numbers "were through the roof." This may have been the culture of a single branch, but it made me wonder how many companies turn a blind eye to bad habits when an employee is getting the job done?
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