TGL is awarded, and retained by, the last trader to receive a significant "gift" - a low-risk client trade that nets a decent profit on their book - thus signifying that said spot monkey has made his money through luck rather than skill. The name is a derivation from the old phrase "falling off a log", meaning something ridiculously easy to do...
There is no set value of a log and TGL is passed on by consensus of the other spot monkeys. As a result, the more that one tries to protest that gifts were actually generated from craft and sweat, the more likely one is to end up with TGL on their desk.
Trywalker, being the young, sensitive, superstitious type, absolutely detests receiving TGL, since he considers it a personal slight on his trading ability, and because Fenerbace once lost a football match within 2 weeks of him earning TGL 5 days in a row. This is bad luck for him, since all the freebies seem to come in his currencies :-)
In reality TGL is a somewhat inconspicuous yellow and black cup cooler. For months I have had the intention of replacing it with a proper piece of tackorama - I imagine a kind of plastic gold log sculpture atop a plinth and plaque - but have no clue where to even begin getting one. I've browsed in the windows of a couple of shops that do trophies, but to be honest they are near the Hauptbahnhof and I have a suspicion that if I wander in asking for "Ein Goldene Baumstamm, bitte," I could end up getting more than I bargained for. Any ideas welcome...
The closest Trywalker will come to winning Olympic gold...
Incidentally, being number 50 today, that makes this the "Golden Post", if not quite the "Golden Blog" ... orangepeel, you might want to start thinking about making space in the fridge for that bottle of Dom ;-)
