Like most work environments, most people don't like working on Friday afternoons and are ready to get the weekend started. A lot of the funniest memories I have on the trading pits are people screwing around for laughs late on Friday as activity is usually slow and as they say, the devil makes work for idle hands. Clerks and brokers were generally much more lighthearted than traders as most, particularly scalpers, were only still trading on Friday afternoons because they were either stuck on a position they couldn't get out of or down money on the day and trying to get it back.
But of all the Friday afternoon memories, my favorite one is of a clerk that would stand on the outside steps of the S&P pit, his arms outstretched, facing the order desks an hour or two before the close and he'd yell, "COME ON 3:15 GAWD DAMMIT!" and everyone would clap and cheer thinking the same.
