As a young investment banker, one of my favorite parts of the job was designing and ordering the "deal toys," or "tombstones" at the end of the deal. My coup de grâce: a Lucite model of an open book, executed in yellow, to commemorate the syndication of a large loan for the publisher of yellow pages phone directories. A few large companies create all the tombstones for investment banks across the U.S., and most investment bankers would sooner give up town car rides home after 8 p.m. than their deal toys.

This week in the New Yorker, sad news: investment bankers haven't been calling companies like Icon Recognition, partially because they haven't been closing deals, and because of budget cuts. At Goldman Sachs, associates have been informed they'll have to start paying for their own deal toys.

While I was an investment banking analyst, we too suffered at the hands of the 'no deal toys' memo. The managing directors and vice presidents offered to chip in and pay for the Lucite doohickeys out of their own pockets, so key are they to the morale of fragile bankers and their clients. Also, nothing says "hands off, this is MY company" like a row of deal toys with your logo proudly displayed on the credenza of the VP of Finance of your client. Before we'd figured out which credit to charge the expense to, however, management had backed down and graciously decided to bill the client for the toys.

Phew! Icon Recognition, take heart: your bankers will be back. In the meantime, maybe you should look to some other industries for professionals whose tender egos need frequent reinforcement of a hard plastic nature. Maybe politicians?