My first time working at Fidelity, I was a contractor. I worked as a contractor from 1997 - 2000. A contractor at Fidelity was just like an employee except for two things. A contractor couldn't get a white-board and a contractor couldn't go to the Christmas party. Back then, the Fidelity Christmas party was a lavish event. But most importantly, they had shrimp. Shrimp was the best indicator of how good a Christmas party was.

The day after the party, the employees would go on and on about the mountain of shrimp at the party. They would really play it up to the contractors about what they missed. I didn't have the heart to point out that in one hour I made enough extra money to pay for all the shrimp I could eat. Still, it was the main difference between "us and them".

So one time, I made a comment about Shrimp Eaters vs. Contractors. After that, Employees were nick named "The Shrimp Eaters".

I did eventually get my shrimp. During New Years of the impending Y2K disaster, they asked all of us to stay at Fidelity for the weekend. They had a party for all that stayed and they did serve shrimp!